Trail West - Day 1

We are spending this week at Young Life’s Family Camp, Trail West. We are so excited!!! It is going to be an awesome week, and I am so excited to see what God has in store for us this week. There is no place like up in the mountains of Colorado to remind you of his beauty. 



I grew up attending and loving Young Life and am very glad to introduce Noah at such a young age. I am going to try to post everyday this week, so I don’t forget anything. We don’t have the best internet service though, so I will try my best.

We have never attended the camp itself before. In the past, we have attended some of the meals and Clubs with Billy and Corinne, but this year we are actually staying at the Lodge and participating in all the events. 

Today was the first day of camp. We met some of the other guest at the entrance this afternoon, and we were escorted into the camp by the wranglers on horses. Noah enjoyed the horses. When we got to the Lodge, there was music, laughter, and fun skits. True Young Life fashion!!!! However, it was nap time for Noah when we arrived, so our first activity was a great Turkey dinner with the group. We then headed to Club and again were surrounded by music, skits, and a wonderful speaker. I didn’t take as many pictures today because a lot of the pictures were taken by the staff when we got here. I will post those as soon as we get them. Here are a couple I took. I will do better the rest of the week! J 

The start of Camp!

At dinner. Noah refused to let me take a picture of him in his cowboy hat. Hopefully, I will get one tomorrow.

Smiling!!

Frowning!!!
I didn't realize Ben caught this picture of us. We were sticking our feet in the pool after dinner and before Club. Not my best idea since Noah ended up getting soaking wet and needing a change of clothes. 

Family Pic!!

The Last Petersen Girl in Houston

On Thursday, I officially became the last Petersen girl in Houston. There will now be two girls in D.C. (Nicole and Britni), one in Virginia Beach (Brooke), and me in Houston. Will and Nicole headed out with Dubya and Brie mid afternoon on Thursday for a long drive up to D.C. to begin a new adventure.

We are very excited for them. They found a fabulous apartment in a fun neighborhood (Fairfax, VA) only 15 minutes from Britni, and this is something they have wanted to do for awhile. We are sad not to have them so close, but we know this is a great opportunity for them. They will get the chance to experience the East Coast and be closer to my parents.

To celebrate their new adventure, we had Mexican food, cowboy boots, and beer at Armadillo Palace last Friday night. What says Texas more than that :). We had a fabulous night. Unfortunately, Ben and I had a real babysitter (when I say real babysitter I mean not Nicole, Ben's mom, or one of my friends, but a high school girl from the neighborhood), so we only stayed for a view hours. Below are some pictures of the festivities.

Armadillo Palace!

Will and Nicole before the night started.

Will and Nicole with their close friends Wes and Kelli

The Four of Us!

Sisters!

The food and flowers. We kept it simple with Queso, Salsa, Guacamole, and Quesidillas.

The Boot Cake!! Abbey did a great job with the cake. It turned out awesome and was delicious.

The Girls!

The Girls again.

The Boys.

The Smith Family

On Wednesday night, we did a last minute dinner at Lupe's (yes, we love Mexican food) with two of Nicole's best friends, Laura and Abbey. It was relaxing, fun, and Noah didn't end up with stitches so that was a plus :).

Laura, Nicole, and Abbey

The Group!

Good luck in D.C. Will and Nicole. We will miss you, but we are ready for our NY trip :)!!!

So . . .

So, last week, Noah purchased these -

Why you may ask???

Because Noah is POTTY TRAINED!!!! We are very excited and my check book is even more excited as I am no longer paying for diapers.

For the last couple of weeks, we have been asking Noah if he had to go potty and trying to encourage him to use it. It worked a couple of times, but we weren't really getting anywhere. Finally last weekend, we decided to go cold turkey. On Thursday, the 14th, we told him in the morning, he was no longer wearing diapers and put him in big boy undies. After a couple of accidents that day on himself and a traumatic #2 accident on the floor, he decided it was time to start using the potty. By the end of the weekend, he almost had it down.

Now if anyone out there is trying to potty train or in the process of starting, I promise it was not as easy as I just made it sound. We actually tried to do it the weekend before, but if you are going to go cold turkey, it is very hard to do if you are running here and there or have stuff going on all weekend that involves you being away from the house. At least that was our experience. So, last weekend, we basically stayed at home for 4 days straight and if we went anywhere it was quick, we took the potty with us, or we asked him every ten minutes if he had to go. He didn't even have an accident during our hospital visit for the stitches which I was so proud of.

I am sure he will have an accident here or there, and he still needs to work on his aim :). Either way though, he is officially out of diapers. He is a "big boy" now which makes a little sad and happy at the same time.

Not sure how much help I can be, but if anyone has any questions or needs any tips let me know.

Poor Little Guy!

On Saturday night, Noah got his first stitches. Poor little guy!!! He was such a trooper though.

Noah was playing in the sandbox at Lupe Tortilla (one of our favorite Mexican food places and perfect for kids) when he decided that instead of sliding down the slide normally, he would jump from the top of it. It was one of those things where his chin landed before his feet; straight onto a toy which sliced it open.

When I first saw it, it didn't look too bad and apparently didn't bleed much; however, when he moved his head back to show me his chin, it opened up. I knew he needed stitches. We took him to Texas Children's and 3 hours later, Noah left with 5 stitches in his chin. On a positive note, I was very impressed by how fast (relatively) Texas Children's got us in and took care of Noah. He did great for such a little guy, all things considered. The most difficult part for all of us was when they put him in a full body "strait jacket" in order to keep him still. Certainly it hurt, but I think he was most upset because he could not move. He didn't understand what was going on, so he kept saying "Mommy, come on, let's go, let's go".

I am praying that this is the only time he will visit the emergency room (knock on wood), but I also know boys will be boys and this probably won't be the last.



Ready for the bandage to come off and not sure what is going on.

 

We did everything we could to keep him busy. I think we went through ten sets of gloves just to amuse him.

Now you can see why we went through ten sets of gloves. I am sure Will is so glad I posted this. :)

"Oh no, who are these people and what are they doing here?" Poor guy had no idea what was coming.



ALL DONE!!
Popsicle and stickers in hand. It was a rough 15 minutes getting the stitches in. There was a lot of crying and sweating, but as soon as they let him out of the strait jacket and gave him a popsicle, he was good to go.



Ten minutes after being in the car. He was worn out.



Noah gets his stitches out tomorrow, so we are praying everything goes well and after a couple months there will barely be a scar.

Memorial Day Weekend

I realize that Memorial weekend was more than a month away, but hey, at least I am posting it now instead of never:). Will and Nicole invited us to spend the weekend with them in Austin. Honestly, I have not been to Austin just to enjoy in the city in a long time. We always have an event or something going on, we never just go for fun. We had a fabulous time, and I would have no problem moving there.

On Saturday, we spent the morning, biking and running in Zilker park. Noah rode the train, we got snow cones, and we put in our feet in the Springs to cool off. We weren't planning on staying that long, so we didn't bring the camera.

That afternoon, we headed down to Gruene to do some shopping and eat at the Gristmill. It was very hot, but we had a great time.



The Gristmill

Enjoying the view

Playing in the park after dinner and listening to the band.

So goofy!!

Very excited!

This is the best family pic we could get. Not the best, but at least we have one to remember.

After dinner and playing, we enjoyed a glass of wine at the Wine Bar while Noah enjoyed running around playing with the bubbles. It was a great end to the night.

On Sunday, I took Noah back to Zilker park to ride the train again and play on the playground. In afternoon, the boys headed to play golf while the girls and Noah headed to the outlet malls in San Marcus. That night we ordered pizza and just hung out.

On Monday, Noah woke up with a slight temperature. The plan was hang out by the pool and grill out. We got a couple of pictures of Noah, but after about 30 minutes, he really didn't feel good, so we headed back to Houston earlier than expected.

Playing baseball with the noodle.

All in all it was great weekend. We will need to go back soon!