Waco, TX | July 2025 | Part 1, Souvenirs
I recapped our Waco/Dallas trip from a little over a week ago on Instagram (the likes of which I haven’t done in a long time), and I thought I would do the same in a (really) longform blog post. But I haven’t. Simple as that. I still want to, but not all at once. Otherwise, I’d probably be posting it in December. Anyway, I think I’m going to just put out bits and pieces here and there as I feel so inspired. I’ll still have it to look back on that way.
So starting backwards, here’s my souvenirs from our trip:
IN WACO
Magnolia - I got a cute spoon rest. We’ve been here before, so I have a magnet for our fridge and a couple of other things. The spoon rest was the perfect little souvenir.
Dr. Pepper Museum - Again, we’ve been here. My husband got a lot of stuff because he’s a big DP guy, but I just did a smashed penny. Might put a pin backing on it and add to my travel pin collection.
Waco Mammoth National Monument - I got a pin for my travel pin collection.
Homestead Heritage - We’ve also been here. This time, I bought this beautiful matted roadrunner watercolor to add to my bird art wall.
IN DALLAS:
Globe Life Field / Texas Rangers - This was a revisit too, so I have things from here. This time, I got another pin for my travel pin collection.
Sweet and simple things. I didn’t spend way too much. Not everything is “branded.” And I really like it all. Exactly how I like to do souvenirs.
Tea party florals, me and my girl
I’ve had 2 cups of coffee today, but considering making another. Probably won’t. But I might. Making myself decide in the next 11 minutes.
Summer colors. Hot coffee. ☀️☕️💚
Organizing thoughts and things after a trip last week (arrived home yesterday) and yard work this morning. ✨
Coffee at home is the best. And even better when it stays hot in a fun Yeti (we like Yetis).
I just saw a Baja Blast in a Taco Bell commercial. Haven’t had TB or a Baja Blast in YEARS, but I could allllmost taste that bubbly blue drink for a moment.
June Monthly Round-Up: Zoosiana, Oysters, Dot-to-Dots, + Flowers
In just three months of recapping my months, I’ve realized how quickly we move from one thing to the next. Not necessarily in a bad way. But it does make me want to slow down even more. I’m pretty intentional about not saying “yes” to everything. In fact, I’ve probably lived the opposite of that in a negative way at some points. Mostly since having kids. Because they definitely make you reevaluate everything (and for the better in most cases). But I do want to be more intentional about saving space to just be versus getting caught up in the “do everything” mindset. Even at home sometimes (which is its own can of worms). It’s nice to not have plans all of time. Actually, really nice.
June was a pretty good mix of planned things and not planned things. Here’s some of what we did…
ZOOSIANA
I already posted a few pictures from a zoo outing last month, but wanted to journal a little bit more about it. It was really such a great day with my kids. Just me and them. We were supposed to have gone a couple of weeks before we actually did. But, rain. Lots of it. And there was threat of it (and existence of it) on the makeup day too, but we still went for it. Zoo memberships helped make that decision easier knowing if we needed to leave, we wouldn’t have wasted our money.
So, we planned this out, but it didn’t involve meeting anyone else and was easy and relaxing. Woke up, ate breakfast, then headed there. My kids have been many, many times with their grandpa, so they know the layout well and are always excited to lead the way. So, they did. And I just went at their pace. It was wonderful. We all had a great time taking in each animal, them spouting off allllll the facts they know (mostly from Wild Kratts), and enjoying just being outside. Thankfully, most of the zoo is shaded and a lot of renovations have taken place over the last year or two to make it nicer.
I’m pretty certain we saw every animal, which was awesome. There were tiny baby squirrel monkeys and red ruffed lemurs as well as 1-day old peacocks (SO CUTE). The tiger and porcupines were especially entertaining. We got caught in a super heavy downpour while feeding donkeys. But we were close to the train pavilion, so were able to take cover there (along with a few other visitors and about 20 peacocks). One of the keepers gave the kids peacock feathers while we waited for the rain to stop. I think that’s a fairly common thing if you catch them with enough to hand out. Super fun (and cheap) souvenir. After the rain subsided, we picked up the pace to see the last little bit of the zoo we had not seen up to that point and left just before another rainstorm began.
OYSTERS
I like oysters. At least the smoked, chargrilled/charbroiled, or fried varieties. I’ve yet to try them raw. Maybe one day. Anyway, even though I like them, I don’t eat them often. But they made it to my monthly round-up because I ate them two different times in June. Matt and I went to Uncle T’s Oyster Bar for our anniversary (ha we’re fancy). It was our first visit there. As an appetizer, we got the Holly Beach sampler, which includes four different kinds of fancied up charbroiled oysters. They were good. And when we told our son about it, it piqued his interest. He requested he and I go to Uncle T’s for our next date night together. So, we did. Ordered the same thing as when Matt and I went: the charbroiled oyster sampler and alligator tacos. He loved it all too. Yum.
DOT-TO-DOTS
Every so often, one of the kids decides to pull out a dot-to-dot book. Not just any dot-to-dot book, though. Ha.
I stumbled across a 1,000 dot-to-dot activity book at Sam’s a lot of years ago. I did a couple, then stuffed it away and rediscovered it a few years back. My son, who was (I think) 5 years old at the time took a big interest. So, I shared and ordered another. In fact, he really learned counting to 1,000 well doing these dot-dot-dots. And June happened to be the month for my daughter to start doing the same. She actually started in an up to 500-ish dot-to-dot book that I got at Dollar Tree. Went from needing help several months back to plowing through them fairly quickly. She requested her own 1,000 dot book. I have to admit, they are super cool. Frame-worthy.
500 dot-to-dot book from Dollar Tree
1,000 Dot-to-Dot Wonders of the World book
FLOWERS
I love having flowers at home. Here’s just a few from June:
Bachelor’s Buttons
Montbresia
Zinnias
Watching the Homerun Derby with my bud. He makes infinitely more exciting!
When I first saw this beautiful viceroy, I thought it was a monarch. I was slightly unsure, though, and went inside to look it up. Didn’t have to. Showed the photo to my son, and he quickly schooled me on the mimicry of a viceroy to a monarch and pointed out key differences. Thanks, Wild Kratts.
Favorite Olipop flavor
My girl picked this pretty vase out herself and bought it for me with her own money last week. Using it as a table centerpiece for dinner tonight. She LOVES putting thought into what others would like and gifting to them. ✨💕
Summer Schedule Inspiration For The Kids
Someone told me last week that her kids were halfway through Summer break (from school). That genuinely surprised me. I learned last year that Summer was the perfect time for us to homeschool pretty consistently, so we’ve still been going (with the intent to use our breaks more in the Fall and during the holidays). And knowing we’d still be schooling, I’ve had some Summer activity ideas brewing in my head since before the season started that fit right into our Summer of learning. But these are great activities for anyone not homeschooling and just looking for a little more structure or even just some random suggestions for things to do. As usual, I’m late to put my thoughts down on paper (or digital notepad). But here I am at the halfway point (for at least some) finally doing it. Not too, too late.
Anyway… I created this schedule with flexibility in mind. Take a trip on Thursday instead of Tuesday, Build stuff on Friday. Make something on Mondays. Or just do one or two of these things in a week. You get the idea. It’s just inspiration.
I also created this schedule knowing that having set days for certain activities is helpful not only to me, but also the kids. They enjoy knowing what to look forward to and can make plans in their heads better with that knowledge.
So, here’s the schedule in written form with a bit more detail than the graphic:
Monday - Build Something
There are really so many ways to bring a building day to life. Use a specific type of building item, theme your build, race to build something, have a building challenge, work together to make something awesome, and so much more.
The suggestions I put in the graphic for building items are LEGO, magnetic tiles, wooden or unit blocks, dominoes, a blanket fort, and a stick teepee. A few other suggestions are Lincoln Logs, a marble run, something with cardboard boxes or popsicle sticks, and a building kit (like this one my kids loved).
We’ve invested heavily in LEGO and magnetic tiles (Picasso sets are our favorite, but we have a few different kinds) since my son was old enough to start playing with them. They were birthday and Christmas gifts from us and other family members, which made it easier to enlarge our collection. So it’s really fun now to have a lot to use to build!
For unit blocks, I’ve found that Jenga blocks are absolutely perfect for building! My kids have reached for them more than anything else recently. They build mazes and castles and pretend wars and forts and lots more! They’ve even used them to make indoor putt putt courses. They have 2 sets each that I purchased when on a BOGO sale at Target.
Several of the other items—like dominoes, blankets, and Lincoln Logs—I’ve collected through thrifting. The dominoes double as pretty decor in a glass container!
Tuesday - Take a Trip
My suggestions are pretty common, but they are easy to do in a day without much (or any) planning. I’m going to divide them into free and paid options below.
FREE - park, nature hike, library
PAID - zoo (a membership is typically totally worth it if you live near one), museum, lunch out, indoor activities (like ice skating, roller skating, a trampoline park, indoor rock climbing, Top Golf)
Wednesday - Play a “Game”
I used the word, “game,” here a little loosely because I couldn’t think of a better term. But basically I just mean anything that challenges the mind a bit without a lot of mess. So things like:
Board Games - A few of our current favorites are Sequence, Blokus, and Sorry. Card Games - We LOVE Play Nine and Skyjo! Puzzles - I pick these up at thrift stores if they’ve never been opened, but also occasionally grab a pretty or seasonally appropriate one elsewhere. Activity Books - Our absolute favorite activity books for a couple years now are these 1,000 dot-to-dot books. They’re frame-worthy once completed! Coloring Books - We’re partial to more detailed coloring books. This Audubon one is on our wishlist right now. Paint-(or Color-)By-Numbers - We’ve done a few of the Mondo Llama brand paint-by-numbers in the past year, and they’re good (not tooooo overly detailed).
Thursday - Create Something
A painting, a drawing, something with air dry clay, a Perler bead creation, a sewing or knitting or embroidery project, an outdoor chalk masterpiece, and more. So be crafty, yes. But you could also take this in a whole different direction and do a science experiment!
Friday - Have a Party
Make this anything you want! Bake a cake just because. Have a cute little tea party. Plan out a fun charcuterie board for lunch. Have an ice cream celebration and make it extra fancy or super simple…I’m sure it’ll be well received either way! Or do a book party where you read a book, make a craft, and have some sort of related food item. There are so many options here. And anything you call a party is sure to be exciting for everyone!
One of my kids is reading about Genghis Khan and the other is drawing fireworks.
Spent a huge chunk of today organizing and reorganizing things in the house. Felt good.
Feels like of 90 (which is welcome on a Louisiana June afternoon), hot coffee, and a fire.
I didn’t plan it all out. But it was nice.
My girl made me a plate and served it to me with pistachios and pecans. ☺️
Sunset driving over the lake by my dad’s house last night.
Sad my post-trip afternoon coffee is finished.
Learned about and watched some dock diving yesterday!
I had no idea it was a real dog sport. Fun to see!
We had the best day at the zoo yesterday!
It was overcast and thundering and not super busy. We saw every single animal, which included lots of babies. Got caught in a heavy downpour and waited under a pavilion for a while, which was fun. And a zookeeper gave the kids peacock feathers.
May Monthly Round-Up: Butterflies, Mother's Day, Yetis, + Summer
I started a monthly round-up last month, so I’m sitting down again to do one for May.
It was a sweet, busy month. We’re not far into June, but when I looked through photos I have from last month, some of those things seem like they were multiple months ago. Time is weird sometimes.
Here are some highlights from our May, which was really just a couple of weeks ago.
BUTTERFLIES
My girl got a National Geographic butterfly kit from her Paw for her birthday. It comes with a voucher to order Painted Lady caterpillars when you’re ready. So, we decided to do it a few weeks after she got it. The caterpillars arrived, and we got them set up in their jar. The info packet says you’ll get five, but she got six. I think it took about seven-ish days for them to start making their chrysalises. Only three appeared to have made it through the process as only three were hanging from the jar lid. The others ended up in chrysalises but were on the bottom of the jar. But when I transferred the three that were hanging, Ro said we needed to keep the others just in case. As you can expect, she was right, and one of the ones that was on the bottom of the jar emerged from its’ chrysalis as well. We got it into the larger container with the others and observed them for a day, then released them. It was a neat learning experience for her.
MOTHER’S DAY
Mother’s Day is really special to me. I always, of course, think about my mom (who passed away when I was 10) and my Memom (who pretty much raised me after my mom died and passed away herself 5 years ago). I desperately wish they were still here with me and my family. But, I’m a mom too now. And it is really, really, really one of my very favorite titles and responsibilities in my life. So, I’m just really grateful that I get to celebrate that and be loved by my children.
The actual day was a good one! My kids (and husband) celebrated me well. We went to church (Matt spoke, and it’s worth a listen), then I chose to go to a restaurant we had not been to in a long time—La Cuisine de Maman. They gave me thoughtful gifts that I really like! And we spent the rest of the day at home together.
Waiting to be seated for lunch. The restaurant–La Cuisine de Maman–is on the grounds of Vermilionville, which is a really cool and beautiful historic and folklife park that is situated alongside the Vermilion River in Lafayette, LA.
My gifts! A LEGO set to add to my Botanicals collection, a 10 oz. YETI that my bud picked out for me, a super cute set of anklets that my girl picked out for me, and a beautiful great blue heron art print from a local artist.
YETI DRINK DATES
As I just noted in the photo above, my bud got me this little YETI for Mother’s Day because I had mentioned that I liked them! My girl already had one from a couple of years back. So, I guess B felt left out. Ha. He decided to get him one with his own money for his weekly coffee.
Since we all had our own, we decided to have a YETI tea time one evening when Daddy had a meeting out. We had a few other YETI drink dates in May as well. And they’re just the best.
Ro made place cards for the occasion. Sweet girlie!
PLANNING SUMMER
Our entire Summer isn’t planned out, but I did manage to get a few things set in stone. I also have several things that don’t require much pre-planning saved in my brain (or maybe on a piece of paper somewhere) that I’d like to do when it works out.
A few things we have planned:
- Some fun activities with our homeschool co-op, including: “tech apart” day, bowling and laser tag, volunteering at a local organization that serves our local homeless community, a patriotic art lesson, and an island survival game day
- A couple of baseball games in Dallas
- Some swimming, hopefully
A few things I’d like to do at some point:
- Build bird houses with some inexpensive bowls, cups, and plates
- Do a watercolor tutorial from Brighter Day Press
- Sun prints (I already have the supplies!)