Welte RVentures: Waco

DJ ended up having Monday off, so he wanted to get away for one more camping weekend before we put the camper away for the Fall. With football season happening, there's no way we will use the camper in the Fall months :( He had to work Saturday morning, so on Friday afternoon, we loaded the camper, and Saturday morning, he went to work while the girls and I drove to Waco, Tx which is just an hour and a half north of Austin. 

Even though we don't drink soda, I thought it would be fun to take the girls to the Dr. Pepper Museum. Dr. Pepper was founded by a pharmacist in Waco in the early 1900s. 

There were lots of pieces from the original building, and even a well that had once been used to gather the spring water. It's funny that when soda was first developed, it was believed to have healing abilities and was drank for health! 

We explored the museum, learned all about soda and the Dr. Pepper brand, and I let the girls sample it at the end of the tour. Megan and Addy both tried 7Up, but Gretchen wanted the Dr. Pepper- she loved it! I told her to enjoy because she wouldn't be having it again- ha! 

After we toured the museum, we met DJ at the campsite and hit the pool. 

The girls had a blast swimming and jumping in and having a diving competition. 

Addy meets friends wherever she goes. She isn't shy of anyone and we laughed because she had told one man her entire life story! 

After swimming well in to the evening, we had dinner, smores, and called it an early night. 

Sunday morning we decided to head to Waco's water park and ended up meeting up with friends we worked with at Tulsa who had recently moved back to Waco. It's been a few years since we've seen them, but the older girls remembered each other and ran off to have a blast. Us mommas enjoyed each other's company while all of the kids and husband's went off to have some fun. Let me tell you, it did my heart good to sit and talk with a friend and catch up. Football families are pretty special people. 

After lunch, we played and explored the waterpark some more. Adalyn loved playing in this area.

Megan was all about the smaller tunnel slides. 

Gretchen and DJ spent most of their time racing down slides. 

We stayed at the water park until 3, and then headed back to the camper to shower and get ready for dinner. 

We tried out a steakhouse in Waco and DJ ordered the girliest drink ever! He thought it was frozen; I thought it was hilarious. 

This sweet girl was my dinner buddy. The food was yummy and there was a little shop inside, so I came home with a few new goodies. Since we had an early dinner, we headed back to the campground so the girls could swim a little more. 

After swimming, it was time for s'mores and fun drinks. DJ mixed orange juice, pineapple juice, and passionfruit juice together for the girls and they loved it! 

The girls stayed up well past bedtime, and Megan and Adalyn decided they would sleep together on the top bunk, which was great because then I didn't have to put the table bed up for her. 

Three little girls all cozy in their beds. Lots of giggles too.

And I realized DJ and I didn't have a picture together at all, so I snapped one of us, just because. 

We've had so much fun camping together this Summer. It's definitely helped to have some slow and relaxed weekends. Right now, the camper is put away in storage, but we can't wait to break it out as soon as we can again! 

Favorites

Happy Tuesday Friends. 

Last week was busy. We've had evening activities every single day of the week, and then we headed off on another little camping trip, before getting right back in to the grind of this week. We have really enjoyed having slow months. Our family has needed it. But, we're also so ready for a normal, whatever that might look like, and right now, life looks fairly normal for us. 

I'm sharing a few random favorites with y'all today. 

Like when we left a restaurant and the girls were hugging each other and walking down the side walk just because. 

This girl stole my favorite sunnies. Curling up and sucking her thumb are still her favorites. 

When Megan got back from my parents house, she had learned all about Smokey the Bear. She was watching YouTube videos about Smokey and turned her Build-A-Bear in to Smokey. 

Young Living released a new skincare system in June and it's my new favorite. I love that I have products that are safe, plant based, and don't contain any harmful chemicals or additives. This is a 3 step cleansing trio and it's done wonders for my skin already. 

The girls were playing one afternoon, and made a "person" using clothes, a chair, and a balloon as a head. The next day, half of the person ended up under the garage, and we all thought it was hilarious. 

Last weekend, I decided that it was time to take back my kitchen table after DJ's birthday, and I was really feeling the black and white from his birthday decorations. So, I found all the black and white things I could and ran with it. 

A distressed pine cone, a piece of coral rock we found in the ocean, a tray from Magnolia Silos, a candle and candlestick, a little succulent, and a block that I had my mom make for me inspired by Rae Dunn. 

Redecorating the center piece, meant that I also had to change out our tiered tray in the living room and our sideboard. 

Since the sideboard is close to the dining area, I tried to stick with the black and white theme as much as I could.  Anytime I feel like the house needs an update, I just change around some of the accessories and decor and it feels like an easy, instant update. 

This cutie has decided to teach herself Latin and learn sword fighting thanks to the world wide web. We are really still up in the air about school this Fall, but we've talked about homeschooling and I've told her she could learn whatever she wants, so she ran with it and started learning Latin and eventually incorporated sword fighting in to her days at home. 

Bucees is Adalyn's favorite, so when I picked her up from her week at my mom's house, she asked if we could stop. She wanted to buy her babysitter some chips, and then take a picture with the Bucee statue, and friends, if you haven't been to a Bucees in Texas, then you're really missing out. 

One of my favorite dinners is all this random stuff thrown on a cookie sheet and baked in the oven. Friends, if you don't cook all your dinner on a sheet pan, you're doing it wrong. 

I'm not sure about y'all, but I was in a kick butt routine of working back in the Spring and in June. Then vacation happened, football started up again, my workout routine has been anything but steady. The girls were in gymnastics, and I had about 30 minutes which was the perfect time to squeeze in a run. I ended up getting caught in a downpour and was soaked through and through!

I found these flashcard boxes at our Target's Dollar Spot, and I thought they'd be perfect mask holders. I've seen videos floating around of masks on a lanyard, and the thought of them hanging down, made me want to hurl. I've thrown our masks in these boxes, and keep them clean in my purse. When I get home, the masks come out and go in the wash, but I love that this little box holds several (i've put up to 4 in one box) and I can wipe out the inside as well or even run it through the dishwasher. 

I was also thinking of having my mom put the girls name on a box for each of them, for when they go to gymnastics, and have to wear a mask... they only wear them in and out of the building and take them off, but Megan said they just lay them on their shoes. #gross

The other day, I was cutting a bell pepper and decided to try to sprout the seeds to regrow. I have a ton of baby sprouts, but I have no ideas what to do next! Help! I think I can plant them, but I don't know if I need to plant them in cardboard cartons first or just throw them in a planter. If you garden or grow veggies, please help me out! 

Alright, that's it for our Favorites!!! I'll be back sharing our camping recap soon! 

Dyeing Hair with Kool-Aid

The girls have been asking to dye their hair since last Summer, and when quarantine started last Spring, I decided that it would be the perfect time. 

We attempted coloring their hair with a Moroccan Hair Mask back in April. Here was their before. 

and the after in Gretchen's hair. 

and Adalyn's hair. 

Megan's hair was too dark and the color didn't show in her hair. 

It showed up just enough that thee girls were happy with the results and it wasn't all bright and in your face. 

To apply, the girls washed their hair, and I combed the mask through their hair when it was damp. They sat and watched a show for 15-30 minutes, and then hopped back in the shower to rinse their hair. We dried it with the blow dryer. It was easy, but my hands were pink- ha!

Since Megan's hair didn't dye well with the mask, we wanted to try the kool-aid method. I looked up two different methods, and decided that the dip dye method would be the easiest. I boiled water, and then added 4 packets of grape kool-aid to the water, mixed, and divided in to 4 glasses. We put the girls hair in pigtails, and the sat the end of their pigtails in the water. 

The girls ended up sitting with their hair in the kool aid for about an hour. Every 15 minutes or so, we'd pull their hair out, dry it off, hit it with a blow dryer, and saw that the color wasn't deep enough for us. They later went to bed, and none of us were really happy with the results. 

But, the next day, we were able to see the color more. Because their hair is so dark, it was just a subtle difference.  Above is the end of Megan's hair compared to the top of her hair. 

And Gretchen's hair, which is slightly lighter than Megan's hair. 

We'll have to try out other colors to see how well they stick to the dark hair, and since Adalyn wasn't home when we kool-aid dyed their hair, I'm sure we would have had better results with her since her hair is lighter. 

Eventually, the Kool-Aid will wash out of their hair, and they'll have fresh hair cuts soon because they're so desperately needed! 

Have you tried Kool-Aid dying your kids hair? What color would they want?

Laundry Room Makeover

We've lived in our house for almost 2 years and we have finally painted some walls! DJ and I were sitting around on Sunday morning and trying to figure out what we were going to do for the day. I joked with him that I wanted to paint our laundry room or the downstairs bath, and somehow he agreed! I had been asking for a year, and he finally agreed! I was shocked- ha! Once I had his yes, I ran to Home Depot and picked up a can of paint and some rollers. 

Here's our Laundry Room before. 

I knew that I wanted a dark paint. I really wanted black, but the thought of it scared me, so I went with navy. We have lots of navy throughout our house, and going that dark in the laundry room didn't scare me. 

I taped off the baseboards, and the lower half of the room, and DJ cut in the ceilings and taught me how to cut in at the bottom. 

Megan really wanted to help, so we let her roll on the wall that the washer and dryer cover. 

It was slowly coming together. 

He may have scared me with this one! 

Eeep!! Dark walls everywhere! 

I purchased a new laundry basket a few months ago from Amazon. It's divided in to two sections and has a liner that is removable, so if it gets nasty, I can wash it. It also has a lid, so it has a clean look. 

I found these signs on Pinterest and had my mom recreate them. We had them already hung, but now I feel like they "pop"

I purchased these baskets. 

I received magnetic oil holders from Young Living, but you can find similar ones here.

Rather than dryer sheets, which contain carcinogens, we use wool dryer balls with a few drops of essential oils. I typically switch out which oils I'm using, but a few of our favorites are Lavender, Citrus Fresh, or Purification.  

We use Boulder Clean laundry detergent. I can sometimes find it at Costco, or I order from Amazon. 

For stain removers, we use a goat milk stain bar, but I've also made our own spray using Thieves Household Cleaner, Thieves dish soap, and distilled water. 

I changed out the rug, just to bring all of the colors together. We bought this rug years ago from Target and had it by our garage door. 

And our finished look! 

I'm absolutely obsessed with the dark navy walls. I feel like our laundry room actually looks bigger and it makes me happy to be in there when I'm folding laundry now.