The VandenBerge's Texas Adventures: Beautiful People!

(I have borrowed this quote from another blog that I follow)

As I sat down to update our blog, I did my normal routine of reading the few blogs that I follow and I came across this quote. It really resonated with me and I thought it fit well with my post for this week. I deeply believe this to be a true statement, and am truly thankful for all the beautiful people in our life who have been through struggles and hard times and given us the courage to make it through our own struggles in life. I feel so thankful for the wonderful family that Jamie & I have been blessed with!

Aida, Jamie & I got to spend this past weekend with one of those beautiful people in our lives, Aunt Paula. She was in desperate need of an "Aida fix" and it worked out that she could come the weekend of Jamie & I's 6 year anniversary. Thank you again Aunt Paula for allowing Jamie & I to have a nice evening out! We both needed it; the laughing, talking over dinner and relaxing while watching a movie.

I had been telling Aida all week that we would be picking Aunt Paula up at the airport of Thursday afternoon, but I truly don't think she believed me. Kind of like the Santa Claus idea...it sounded too good to be true. It wasn't until we were sitting at the airport that she finally got a little excited. She couldn't even contain her excitement when she finally saw Aunt Paula, running to her and jumping into her arms to give her a very big & long hug!

The weather was nice for the weekend, so we spent our time showing Aunt Paula the zoo, playing outside at the park and doing lots of playing around the house. Aida loved telling Aunt Paula about each of the animals and showing her how to get from our apartment to the park across the street. I think she would have stayed at the park for hours playing with "my Aunt Paula".

We also took a trip down to the Fort Worth Stockyards. Aida loves this idea of Texas and seeing "Partners" and cowboys all over. She even got brave and sat on a steer for a quick picture. We watched the steers being cattle driven through town at the end of the day and boy are they big! The stock show was going on, so there were cowboys and cowgirls riding their horses throughout the streets. Aida was very excited to watch all of this and soon became interested in riding her own horse. We found a place were she could take a pony ride and she could hardly contain her excitement. She sat in the saddle, petting the pony and loving her ride. When the ride came to an end, I went to take her off the pony and this she was not about to have! She expressed to me that she wanted to now ride the pony out of the ring and down the road just like the other cowgirls. Needless to say, I think she is going to take after her mommy and love riding! I have already started looking into places where she can take riding lessons when she gets a little older.

It was a weekend that we all needed; filled with lots of playing, laughs, snuggles and everyone catching up! Once we were home from taking Aunt Paula to the airport, Aida said to me "Mom, when I grow up, I want to be Aunt Paula"! This is the first time she has ever said anything about what she would like to do when she is older and it brought tears to my eyes! I could not ask for a better role model for Aida and feel very blessed that she in fact has so many people in her life that all would be wonderful role models in one way or another!