No waking up early for a 10k race this year on Memorial Day. Nope, after watching 3 episodes of The Walking Dead (we only have 2 more left of Season 5!!), we woke up after a good night’s sleep thanks to Avery. She totally skipped her nap the day before, so I’m sure that helped a lot!

I had a giant bowl of blueberry NuttZo oatmeal ready for Going Mom and Avery to eat and Going Mom made coffee. It’s like a clockwork every weekend and works so well for us. Except I made the bowl a little too giant and I ended up making oatmeal bread with my microwave omelette cooker.

We were heading to Nana and Papa’s for a small Memorial Day gathering but needed to get there earlier than others for Steve (aka Papa/Kelley’s Dad) to take pictures of our family of three. I brought Avery in the garage with me for a quick workout while my wife got ready. I can be drenched in sweat and just stuck my head under the shower, change into nice clothes, and be ready in 10 minutes. My wife, on the other hand…well, I’m sure most guys know how long it takes the ladies in their life to get ready, and, ladies, you can’t deny it!

Hey, that’s okay, it gives us guys something to sit around and complain about. Without most women taking a long time to get ready for anything, guys might just sit around in silence with nothing to say. So, for that, thank you, ladies. 🙂

After an intense dead lifting session, we finished getting ready and took off for the 45 minute drive to my in-laws. In classic Texas weather fashion as of late, it was cloudy all day and started to sprinkle just as we arrived. Good thing we weren’t planning on taking pics outside or anything……..NOT!

Luckily, the precip held off long enough for us to get as many pictures as Avery would allow. The pics are all on Papa’s very nice camera, but I’ll share the best ones on the blog soon. Kelley did use our camera to snap a few shots of Avery and me to help show off my Kore Essential Trakline Belt though.

It’s seriously the only belt I own now, and really all you need. That said, the belt and the rest of my clothes were off immediately after this picture (and approval from my wife of course) so I could jump in the cold pool.

Fast, huh? The temp dropped just in the short time it took for our photo session and with the water already in the 60’s, I was hesitant. Can you tell from my uneasy smile? Best to “rip the band-aid” in cases like this, so I sucked it up and made the jump.

Yeah, it was cold, as referenced by my scrunchy face.

A little over 30 minutes of constant goosebumps and I was done. Just in time for the heavy downpour of rain to start.

While I was busy with my shiver swim, everyone else was keeping warm outside of the pool. Kelley was trying to get a good shot of Avery and Nana, but Avery had her demon face in full swing all day which made it hard for a good pic.

Good thing Kathy/Nana has plenty of patience….

….because it was like this for several shots.

Between the camera not focusing and Avery’s still cute but equally freaky demon face, this is the best we got.

Two beautiful ladies and no demons = success!

Obviously, Papa knows how to keep the demon at bay by busting out the iPad and a water bottle.

Maybe being indoors, out of the sun also helps. Oops. Then again, maybe not….

Meh, at least it lasted a few minutes. And I think it’s safe to say she was all non-demon smiles with Aunt Lindsay too.

The chicken we were going to have grilled ended up having to be baked since the propane decided to run out, so lunch was delayed a couple hours. Not a big deal, we all hung out and talked as Nana quickly improvised in the kitchen. The food turned out delicious and worth the wait thanks to her skills, and not a single belly remained hungry in the end.

Avery spent most of her time playing with her cousins, Ashlee and Taylor, and had so much fun she completely skipped her normal nap time. All parents know a missed nap time can go one of two ways; bad or really bad.

Lucky for us, Avery took a Cliff Notes Nap on the drive home which only made dinner time slightly bad with a little bit of the usual tired toddler fussiness. At least the demon face had disappeared for a final photo with Mommy.

Our Memorial Day weekend flew by, just as everything does it seems, but overall it was a good time. I’m looking forward to seeing the pictures Papa took of us, and hopefully the demon was hiding for most of them!

How was your Memorial Day?

Did you get to see the sun or were stuck under clouds all day like most of us in Texas?

Ever run out of gas or charcoal for your grill and have to take things inside for your cook “out”?