Cinnamon, Spice & Everything Nice

This past weekend the stars aligned to allow the whole family to get together to spend the weekend in Conroe - which is a rarity these days.  The timing couldn't have been more perfect because Papa Bear had been out of the country for a month doing work-y stuff, Mama Bear had been worn down by the trials and tribulations of trying to sell a house and let's be honest- Ryan & I wanted to get away from our increasingly large laundry pile.

I expected to go to the lake, relax my face off with the family, maybe teach Caddy a word or two, watch Daddio play with a nail gun and return to real life without any videos, pictures or stories to share.  Enter: Cinnamon challenge, the geyser seen down the block and some incredibly cutting edge fashion.  Never a dull moment with the family and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Friday night Julie, David, Ryan & I arrived at the lake with our respective fur-faces in tow.  We hit up Fajita Jacks for some ah-mazing TexMex and even MORE ah-mazing karaoke.  (Melissa, no performance we saw held a candle to your stellar rendition of Shania- have no fear).  Like the old people that we are, we were all asleep on the couch when my Mom returned home from the airport with Dad in tow at midnight.  Is that not the welcome party everyone dreams of?!

Saturday proved to be a much more lively day.  The morning started off watching about 5 hours of WWF (Whiskered Wrestling Federation).  Is this what having a child is like?  Laughing and interimently yelling "hey- enough cheek biting?"  If so, I'm well-practiced.

It looks like Lola is gearing up for a body slam here.

During a wrestling intermission, David and I took the beasts out to relieve themselves.  Clearly a much better natural auditor than yours truly, he took note of an unusual noise coming from our neighbors yard.  When we looked around the corner we were greeted with Old Faithful.  I took the video below really so that we could send it to our neighbors so they could see what they missed, but I'm posting it here because I think it perfectly encapsulates the chaos that 7 adults and 3 dogs in one place at one time encapsulate.  I believe it also illustrates the importance of buckets.

Dogs: Man's best friend but not their most helpful one.

This doesn't even begin to represent how dirty Dallas was.  Plllllllease let me in!

Okay.  Seriously though.  Let us in.

Success!  Our little lap dog.

Mid afternoon we wound up washing all cars in the driveway which naturally segwayed into washing... the tractor?

She thinks my tractor's diiiiiirty.

I look like such a natural.

Dallas & David are obviously impressed with my mad skillz.

Live footage of Julie's first tractor driving experience.  If this whole finance thing doesn't work out, I'd say she has a real future here.

Please note the fact that David took the tractor off-roading.

I'd like to thank the bicep curl machine for making this picture a reality.

Were you wondering what on earth would make Ryan pass up an opportunity to drive a manly piece of equipment?  A&M game was on.  Duh.

One of my favorite parts of any weekend at home is getting treated to good old-fashioned Caddy cooking.  I've said it many a time, but my mother is a fabulous cook.  Probably why Ryan was hanging out on the couch with her inside while we were playing tractor time now that I'm thinking about it.  One of us needs to learn her secrets, and I obviously haven't yet. 

My Dad: fashionista.  (This was his favorite souvenir from his recent work trip, clearly).

Is this not what family dinners look like at your house?

After dinner we decided that the perfect thing to settle our bellies would be... undertaking the Cinnamon Challenge.  I had no idea what this was until Julie, David & Ryan forced me against my will to watch several YouTube videos of people undertaking it.  Why this still seemed like a good idea after watching them is still an unknown.  

Ah, naive excitement.

David's parents must have fed him a lot of cinnamon as a child.  Ryan's parents- not so much.

The video footage of this is on Julie's camera but I think that these photos succinctly document our experience.  (P.S. The fashion apple didn't fall far from the tree- I am indeed wearing a Gallery Furniture denim jacket).

I would put this at about 2 seconds in.  Julie looks like an angel enveloped in that halo of cinnamon.

Cinnamon: 2, Sisters Boarman: 0.

On Sunday we spent the day going on a long walk, acquiring our first sunburn of the season and trespassing in very large homes under construction... so basically your typical Sunday.  Overall, it was an incredibly fabulous weekend and I returned home well-rested, happy and completely un-interested in eating any cinnamon for at least a month.  Thank you to my wonderful family for being so much fun and to my awesome parents for letting us spend the weekend with you.  I love you all!

Lola clearly did not want to leave.  Nor did we.

Until next time...