The Ornelas' Odyssey: Spring Break in Midland

We spent the first half of our lovely week off of work in Midland visiting my family. It's quite nice to have Spring Break even as an adult. I used to enjoy the week off from school as a student and it's definitely still enjoyable and refreshing! We had a couple of big reasons to make the trip to Midland and then the usual reason of getting my family fix! My sweet seester Allison just had a new baby boy so I have been anxious to meet my new nephew Easton. Her beautiful daughter turned two on March 12th so we were able to celebrate her birthday with her while we were in town also. We had many nice dinners with family and friends and just a lot of time to relax and enjoy each other's company in my parents' home.

We all enjoyed a picnic at the duck pond one sunny afternoon and Santiago climbed his first tree with the help of his Poppa. Blake and Santi loved feeding the fish and ducks and we all strolled around the pond.

Another fun thing we got to do was go to Blake's Music Class that she has been going to weekly with my mom before Alli was on maternity leave with Easton. It was a nice small little class with cute songs, sticks, and bandanas to make music to and dance. Santi was a little shy at first and then he warmed right up and started participating like he was an old pro in the class. It was fun to see him and Blake and the other kids listening intently and following along with whatever the teacher asked them to do.

A couple of weeks before our trip to Midland, Hector and I started talking to Santiago about it and reminding him of all the fun things we get to do when we visit Grandma "Nana" and Poppa. He doesn't need much reminding because my little boy has the best memory ever...it's quite impressive at times!

These are the things he said on a daily basis before heading to Midland:

ride nule (mule which is a little like a golf cart), no ride tractor look tractor, Poppa's boo (blue) tractor, no ride horsie look horsie, see PoppaNana, ride nule cockadoodoo (this means to ride the mule to see the chickens)

Santiago got to do all of those things and he even surprised me and Hector on the last day as Hect and I were packing up to go. My dad had taken Blake and Santiago on a mule ride around outside to help keep them occupied when the phone rang. When I answered Poppa said you better come outside to see this....this is what we saw:

And then Poppa put Santi in the front and Blake in the back and she wrapped her little arms around his waist.

Then Santiago got real comfortable on the horse and began to swing his arm around to show Poppa that he knows how to rope too!

I really couldn't believe Santiago got on the horse and loved riding him! Blake loves to ride and rides all the time with my dad but Santiago hasn't had the opportunity to be around horses as much as her so he was a little hesitant at first or at least I thought he was! He really loved it and it was hard to get him off. He can't wait until he gets to ride the horsie again!

I wanted to hold my new nephew every chance I got while I was in town since it's going to be awhile before we get to see him again but the little man in my life wasn't too happy about that. Santiago didn't really know what to think about the baby and when I would hold Easton, Santi would come up to me and pull on my pant leg or something else and say "me up Mommy". He was a little jealous so Hector had to take Easton from me a few times so I could give my baby some lovin' too! I guess it may take Santiago a little time to adjust to the thought of having a new baby to share his attention and time with but I know he will be just fine when the time comes in a few months. Hector on the other hand looks pretty comfortable holding sweet Easton! I think he is ready to have a little baby around again real soon!