the REST of labor day.

**warning: picture-packed post**

friday afternoon i picked the hubbs up from work and we attempted to head out to the 'country' for a few days. BUT because of the holiday weekend, the traffic was awful. what would normally take an hour and a half at MOST.... took 2 and a half hours. whew.

by the time we got out of the city.... we really needed to be out. of. the. city!

so - where was our destination?

mt. vernon, texas.

woo-hoo! sounds like fun, right? right!!!

you may remember a while back when i went with a few girlfriends from high school to the lake for the weekend. well, my parents bought a lake lot soon after that, so we were headed out to 'try out' the town with my family before they start to build.

we stayed at a little ranch about 10 minutes from their property. we. loved. it.

by the time we arrived friday night, it was pitch black so it was such a wonderful surprise when we woke up saturday morning with 'neigh-neigh's' right in our backyard! brady was THRILLED. he didn't want to touch them, but he wanted to be close to them. every morning we were there he would wake up and the first thing he'd say is "neigh-neigh!" it was so fun.

saturday morning we went on a little walking tour of the ranch. {yes, brady was still in his jammies with a sweatshirt}...

we made friends with a little kitty - that brady kept asking to go back and see. he's going to follow in his momma's footsteps with this one. everyone else in my family {including the hubbs} does NOT particularly like cats. i'd go so far as to say that some even HATE cats. but me? nope. i love them - especially the friendly ones like this little barn cat. he followed us everywhere.

saturday morning my sister, mom & i went 'into town' while the boys went to go get their fishing licenses. sweet jeff was determined to catch a fish this weekend. he took brady the weekend before to get a little fishing pole. {brady was uninterested for the most part - but jeff had a great time.}

jeff & trent {my sister's BF} tried their hand fishing in dream lake, which was right in front of our cabin, on saturday afternoon. no luck, but they both said it was very 'relaxing'. it sounds {and looks} boring to me.

saturday night we went into winnsboro {a CUTE little town} to eat dinner at one of the only places to eat dinner. sibo vino {i think that's how it's spelled...} they are a little family owned restaurant and you definitely get that small town feel - but it's a really nice place. and super yummy, i might add. but we did have to wait a while for our table so we walked around down town.

they had a mock choo-choo-train that b. was of course pumped to see. we made the mistake of doing that first and he didn't want to leave!

then we ate dinner. yumm-o. b. got a little antsy around 9:30 and jeff took him to see the choo-choo one more time as we were paying the check. when we came outside there was a real 'choo-choo-twain' {as b. pronounces it} going by. he even honked his horn {or is it blew his whistle?} for brady. jeff said it was a 'moment he'll never forget' because brady was beyond excited!

sunday morning we met jeff's colleague from the legal world who has had a house on the lake for 15 years. it was brady's first boat ride. {and this momma has no pictures....} the weather was gorgeous.... and b. fell asleep in big daddy's lap because he was so relaxed on the boat. too cute.

{side note - about lake cypress springs - we LOVE that you don't even know the lake is there until you're right up on it. it's surrounded in pine trees & beautiful houses. there is only one public 'marina' and campground... so it's really clean and pretty!}

sunday night we went to our friends' house for a cookout. darrell & paula were so kind to take us out on their pontoon boat before dinner. brady even got to drive this time - and honk the horn!

{i love this picture because they look exactly alike!}

{the water was rough - so b. & the hubbs got splashed a few times}

{this is my dad - a.k.a. big daddy - kayaking while we were on the boat}

when we got back, jeff & trent tried their hand at fishing again... right off their doc. with stink bait. and let me tell you - stink is an understatement. gross!!!! the hubbs caught a catfish! yaya!



then as we were about to have dinner another boat load of people came by. it was so fun. and packed. so we waited a bit longer, threw on some more burgers and got to see some fireworks across the lake! brady liked them because they were so far away.

i wish i had a picture of this - but when we finally ate dinner - i think my dad counted 31 people! what a fun dinner! the mccutcheons are incredibly generous with their home and of course - the food was excellent.

the weekend was great - thanks to nana and big daddy. we loved evey second of it and can't wait to be out on the water more. we were only sad that uncle cammie had to work... {and this preggo momma can't wait to be on the jet skis!}