Girls Weekend Texas Style

Another Girls Weekend has come and gone.  As in true GW fashion, our time was defined by "go time" or "down time."  Prior to everyone's arrival, Mom sent out an email that looked like this:

 It detailed what everyone needed-and didn't-need to bring.  Kind of a 'get excited' letter.  

Upon arrival the GW gang found this on their bed.  An hour-by-hour, day-by-day itinerary of what's to come. 

Mom and I took great effort to make sure our days had a good amount of activities mixed in with some downtime.  Think you could hang with us?  I'll give you a blow-by-blow of our six days together.  Yes, six days!  Girls Weekend just doesn't cut it anymore. 

Day 1-  Our celebration officially kicked off around 3 p.m. after all the planes arrived.  Our first stop was a late lunch at Chick-fil-a.  This may seem a little lame, but for our Northern family members, this place is a gem!  They love it! 

After lunch we headed over to get pedicures (gotta start off right with nice looking toes!)  

We ended day one with sundaes, snacks, and lots of chatting.

Day 2-  Our day started off early with our large ten party crew heading to the new Bush library and museum at the SMU campus.  However, before our tour started we stopped off and had lunch at this fantastic burger place.  I highly recommend the bison--covered in cheese and mushrooms!

As museums go, this one was entertaining.  There's a 'decision room' where you get to pretend to be the president and make tough decisions based on the briefing of various people.  Also, there's an exact replica of the oval office.  

We arrived back home around five, just enough time to get started on our pie night!

That would be dinner consisting of ordered pizza, homemade Pillsbury veggie pizza, and a sugar cookie and fruit pizza for dessert.  

Is there finally some down time?? No!  It was now time to exercise with an evening walk and then back home for gel nail manicures.  

 Whew! Now it's officially down time!

Day 3- This day started off doing something none of us have ever done before.  That would be climbing aboard this unusual-looking thing and pedaling our tushies off throughout downtown Fort Worth. 

This beast, otherwise known as the Cowtown Cycling Pub, is a mobile bar on a bike.  Or, a series of bikes, in this case.  Grandma got the best seat in the house--that would be the only seat without pedals at your feet!  She was right, though, when she said her 77 years of life has earned her a pedal-free ride.  She was the official "waver."  She smiled and waved at everyone as they gazed upon our odd vehicle.

But, for the rest of us, it was the furthest thing from a free ride.  It was two hours of sweating and working!  Along with donuts, sausage rolls, trail mix, and perhaps a margarita or two.  

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Now, this was a GW first.  Gasp!  Are those outsiders?!  Why, yes they are.  Outsiders by the name of Nancy and Shanita.  See, I was slightly concerned about our ability to move this pub with only eight of us pedaling, so....I enlisted the help of my two good friends.  Friends I knew would meld well with all that makes up a Pitsenbarger girl and also friends that have some good leg power.  No wimpy friends allowed!  

 

We did get to take a couple breaks during our two hour adventure.  One of them was a stop at the Fort Worth Water Gardens.  Here's a little video of what that looked like.  

After the cycle pub we headed home for much-needed showers and then out for some much-needed shopping. 

 Below is a little collection of pictures taken to show how much you do not want to tell a Pitsenbarger where you're going to be and then not be there. 

You will get a butt-chewing!

For dinner we headed to the Fort Worth food park. This is where multiple food trucks are gathered, along with live music and shady trees.  It made eating a little more exciting!

Day 4- Started off with a few Pitsenbargers going on a hike.  The rest of us stayed home to get ready for Cannon's second birthday party!  That's right, my baby boy turned two!

Cannon has a post all his own for his second birthday, but here's one little picture of the festivities.  After lunch, presents, and cake, we headed over to our neighborhood pools. 

This is one of the biggest reasons I love my neighborhood.  This swim center has brought us hours of entertainment this summer.  We spent our afternoon here and then headed home to get ready for our evening activity. 

 Steve was a GW champ this year, because he volunteered to watch cousin, Henry, not once, but twice!  (I think he really enjoyed it! Especially giving Henry all the off-limit foods!)  It was nice for Ashly (Henry's Momma) to get to participate in some activities baby-free.  Our next activity was one of those things.

I'm not sure when it started, probably about ten years ago or so, but the tradition of having a craft has grown strong.  Mom and I were excited when we came up with the idea of  'Painting with a Twist.' 

Painting with a twist starts with a blank canvas-very overwhelming-but with the help of an instructor giving step-by-step instructions (and perhaps a glass of wine or two), you end up creating a picture you didn't think possible.  

Grandma rocked the painting!

Like myself, Aunt Mindy had to look to others to see what we were supposed to be doing.  Sometimes the drinking left us a little behind!

For the Chinese, the cherry blossom is a very significant symbol of power. Typically it represents  feminine beauty and sexuality and often holds an idea of power or feminine dominance.  Yep, that's exactly why we chose the picture.

Aunt Patti enjoyed the painting the least.  I think there was too little wine and too much pressure!   Next time, Aunt Pat, next time.  

We made it home sometime around 10 p.m.  After some late night snacks and chatting we made it into bed.  Man, these are long, busy days!

Day 5- We finally made it to our relaxing day.  And by relaxing I mean it started with a morning exercise/visit to the splash park followed by some afternoon shopping.

Harrison and Gavin had their first swim meet that afternoon.  Typically  I would feel bad about this interrupting GW, but since we were into DAY 5!! I thought it would be okay.  

 This is Gavin's serious don't-mess-with-me face!
The fact that he placed sixth doesn't matter, he's got the face down!

After the swim meet we said adios to the boys and went to dinner at BJ's 

We wrapped up dinner and went over to G-Jo's house for game night.  

 The game was fun and as a result we didn't make it back home until midnight!  Ugh! So much for  relaxing day!

Day 6- Sadly, the close of Girl's Weekend Texas Style.  This day was spent packing, snacking, and saying goodbyes.  I'm not positive, but my guess is the next day everyone spent catching up on sleep!  Next year is slated for Michigan. Happy planning you Michigan girls!