hill country lovin'

Baby's just a little bit tired of the city,

Billboards and bullshit got her down,
Seem like you need a little hill country,
A little back roads driving, little bit of the old top down.

-Pat Green, Carry On

if you are a texan, you know that the hill country is special.  this year, we celebrated a big anniversary and decided to share some of that hill country magic with our little guys.  i cannot adequately express how perfect this trip was for our family (inspiration was found here).  i will break-down our trip for you in case you want to make a similar one someday.  i sure hope you will, friends.  you will not be sorry, promise promise.

DAY ONE: thursday, travel day (which just happened to be our tenth wedding anniversary.  holla!)

we left dallas early afternoon to start the four hour trek to marble falls.  we chose marble falls because we had holiday inn hotel points to use and it was centrally located for our swimming hole destinations.

we stopped in lampasas, texas for dinner at a highly recommended little german restaurant (thanks, yelp.)  we ate schnitzel, drank a german beer and toasted to happiness.  let the long weekend begin.

DAY TWO: friday, hamilton pool

after reading reviews, we arrived to hamilton pool when they opened at nine after a fourty-five minute srive from our hotel.  that drive may not sound ideal, but the views were stunning.  they only allow seventy-five cars in the parking lot.  once the lot is full, it's one car in, one car out (so get there early).  it is quite a hike down to the pool, so wearing tennis shoes and carrying a manageable cooler was necessary.  once the pool reveals itself after the hike down, you are rewarded with one of those rare moments of take-your-breath-away beauty.  what a gift.

we kept thinking, "where are we"?  it was like we were on mars.  the pool is spring-fed and water falls off the cliff above.  the water is cold, the beach is pebbly, the people-watching is phenomenal.

there is a trail around the pool perfect for exploring.

we packed a lunch so that we could leave when we were good and ready, not because we were hungry.  and it turned out that with two young kids, the longest we could last was until just past lunch anyway.

bringing a float is crucial.  the water is deep in 80% of the pool.

we wore ourselves out enough to recover by watching movies in our hotel beds until it was time to leave for dinner.

if you are texan or a foodie or a foodie texan, you may have heard of cooper's barbeque.  we have had the pleasure of eating at the original before, and this trip made it possible for us to indulge again.  good lord, it's delicious.  

this is a picture of a very, very happy man.

DAY THREE: saturday, krause springs

just twenty minutes from our hotel is a privately owned campground and swimming hole called karuse springs.  it was completely different than the day before but equally as gorgeous.  once we arrived we took a stroll through the butterfly gardens on the grounds, which was a treat in itself.  if you go, don't skip this part.  while heading to the springs we passed a beautiful man-made pool and hiked down a very steep staircase (wear tennis shoes, if you go) to be rewarded again with a take-your-breath-away beauty.  two days in a row!  that doesn't happen often.

this pool feels smaller and it's a bit tricker to get into and out of (think moss covered rocks).  but once you are in the water, you're golden.  it also has a muddy bottom, so i recommend wearing those super stylish water shoes.  safety first, people.  we did not have those fancy shoes, so my feet got a little beat up on the rocks.  i also recommend bringing floats.  this place is perfect for sitting in a chair float and drinking cold beers (like lone star, because when in rome...) all. day . long.

we did not do these things since we had our children with us, but in another life we would have, fo sho.

there was a rope swing where ben spent all of his time.  krause springs was his favorite swimming hole, hands down.

and just so you know it wsan't all rainbows and unicorns, here is a picture of my darling crosby who cried to get out of the water and once out cried to be back in.  good times, y'all.

i would suggest not taking kids younger than three to these places.  some people definitely do, but it would be difficult.  there is a lot of swimming, maneuvering on rocks, and hiking involved in both places we went.  ben was the perfect age.  we were cutting it close with cros, in my opinion.

after lunch at the swimming hole, we changed clothes, hopped in the car and headed to luckenbach with waylon, willie and the boys.  just kidding, they weren't there.  but i'll tell you what was: ice cold shiner bock beer, along with sausage on a stick, mandatory luckenbach souveniers, and live texas country music.  texas perfection, y'all.  the last time we went to luckenbach was with friends, pre-kids.  then i never would've imagined that on my next trip there we would be with our two young sons.  they were the best sports and let momma and daddy get nostalgic about old times.

that evening we ate dinner in marble falls and took it easy at the hotel.  you would think we were staying at the four seasons and not the holiday inn according two our boys.  they thought they were in the lap of luxury laying in the hotel bed and watching karate kid.  sweet babies.

DAY FOUR: austin and home

our original plan was to drive our tired (and cranky) crew back to dallas after breakfast.  but we had a last-minute change of plans and spontaneously drove to austin for one last hurrah.

we rented a canoe on town lake.  we sweat (sweated??) through our clothes and took in the beautiful sights of our state's capital through our boys eyes.

we saw turtles and hippies and graffiti and tall buildings and runners and gorgeous scenery.  i love austin.

before we hit the road, we swung by chuy's for some a/c and enchiladas.

and for dessert, the boys had amy's ice cream and the grown-ups had iced turbos from jo's.

we finished our treats as we strolled up and down south congress, stopping for live music and photo ops.

the perfect ending to a perfect trip.

here are the cliff's notes of our trip (click for links):

eve's cafe- german food in lampasas, texas

hamilton pool

cooper's barbeque

krause springs

luckenbach

chuy's tex-mex

amy's ice cream

jo's

what we listened to (aka mandatory hill-country road trip music):

girls trip 4 mix, volume 1

willie nelson

robert earl keen

p.s. here's a video from our drive from luckenbach that i titled, "bonner family fun time".

to see more, follow me on instagram @ cortneybo

greatest hits

you guuuuuuys,

i just got back from an awesome long celebratory anniversary weekend trip with my little family.  i am so sun-drenched and tired, i can barely stand it.

i can't wait to tell you all about our trip, but can't without unloading all of these pictures first.

it's the responsible blogger thing to do.

i made that up.

let's play catch up, shall we?

1) in case you don't follow me on instagram or never see me in real life, my baby wanted a buzz cut.  i was pretty emotional about it before hand, but then pep-talked myself with an "it's-just-hair-it'll-grow-back-grow-up-cortney" lecture, and in a moment of insanity let the nice woman SHAVE THE BLOND OFF.  he looks like a new man and i'm not sure i'm feeling it.  but it's not about me, right?  riiiight????

2) i don't know what's going on here, but our summer has been awesome.  i mean, it usually is, but this summer feels even better than ones before.  

on the third of july, we randomly decided to participate in our neighborhood's fourth of july parade the next morning.  having never even seen it before, we were rookies, but i sure am glad we got our feet wet.

after the parade, we hustled to the lake where we ate too much, rode on the boat and shot off fireworks.

{i love how redneck crosby looks in this picture}.

3) because my sister is the shit, she offered to watch our kids overnight (brave soul) so that chris and i could have a few hours of grown-up time to celebrate our anniversary.

we had a delicious dinner here and then our friend bryant generously treated us with admission to see bob schneider at the granada (always a good time, btw).

ten year anniversary, for the win!

4) pawpaw went with us to ham orchard to buy some delicious peaches (and peach ice cream. duh.)

how are you, my friends?  i would love to hear.

looking forward to sleeping in my bed and truth be told, going to work in our newly renovated office tomorrow.  woot!

what are you looking forward to?

love,

coco

ten years ago

at this time ten years ago, i was getting my hair done with my sister.

it was the first step of the day to look the part of a bride.

i was excited and antsy and giddy and confident.

i knew without a doubt that i was doing the right thing.

(ah, and what a good feeling that is....)

 my memories of our wedding day are a little fuzzy now, ten years later.  at the time chris and i were adamant about not having a videographer.  we did not want a cameraman in our face and in our way on our special day.  

but now i sure wish i could hear my pop's voice giving a touching toast at the reception and our officiant's joyful voice because they have since passed and we will never hear those precious sounds again.  my attendants gave a thoughtful and hilarious toast, the hard-copy has since been lost, and now we'll never remember (cause we've had two kids since then and they have drained our memory.  damn kids).

thank goodness we did heed one piece of advice given to us on that day: write everything down that you can remember.

so on the airplane to st. thomas bright and early the next morning, chris and i jotted down some things we never wanted to forget about our wedding day.

my cousin jake (then 4 yrs. old) told the groomsmen before the ceremony, "i'm the cutest thing in here."

singing the aggie war hym at the reception.

when prompted by the dj, my mama (now gone), gave the marital advice: "love each other".

when paw was asked the identical question, he replied, "keep your mouth shut".

my friend becky dancing the running man.

spilling hot wax from the unity candle on my fingers during the ceremony.  i may or may not have used profanity.

our flower girl (then 5 yrs. old) passed out wedding programs during the reception because her name was on them.  in her mind that was a big damn deal.

sneaking booze in the bridal room.

being left alone on the dance floor during last call for alcohol.

but most of all i remember feeling loved and beautiful and special (and sweaty, to be honest),

which is all you can ever wish for on your wedding day (especially if you are armed with a good anti-perspirant).

thank you for a fantastic ten years, mr. bonner.

you are the best partner (dance and life) that a girl could have.

xoxo

greatest hits

i am currently avoiding my youngest child's meltdown in time-out (i can tune out a crying child like nobody's business) because it's saturday.  and not just any saturday, a saturday free of training runs, t-ball games, nary a birthday party in sight.  we are free as a bird.

all that's on the agenda is a grocery trip to target (wild-and-crazy, y'all) and a date with my husband to sit on our patio after the kids go to bed.

cue the cartwheels.

here's my attempt to catch you up on the crazy:

1) sarah came in from portland for mystery girls trip.  and since she hasn't been home in a long while, we planned a playdate so that we could love on her boy ike and let the kids play before we left for our getaway.

we used this as another opportunity to take pictures of ourselves.

plus a few shots of (most of) the kids.

ikey's ringlet's had to be documented.

2) we said good-bye to kindergarten.

let me just say that kindergarten in amazing.  ben entered knowing the fundamentals of phonix and left knowing how to read fluently, add, subtract, infer, solve multi-step problems, on and on.  pretty remarkable what this cute little 26 year old accomplished with our boy.

3) daddy was celebrated on father's day.

the ladies went to pick up lunch for the guys at pecan lodge's new location, per request.

since we were ordering to-go, we were able to stand in the express line.

for two hours.

it seemed that every other father in the metroplex wanted pecan lodge bbq for their special day.

for good reason.  it was delicious.

4) summer break has made addy and cros even weirder.

5) the cubs wrapped up a season.

chris coached this year, which completely stressed him out, but it was so sweet to watch for this momma.

some of the boys teachers even came to a game.

go cubs, go!

6) my mom had knee replacement surgery recently, so on the weeks ben doesn't have camp, often times i bring him to work with me.  he loves it because he gets to do this:

7) ben had an adenoidectomy which has changed him into a happier boy.

8) we had two spraypark parties in one weekend.  crosby started staking claim on his turf.

9) crosby is going through "the change".  the transition from a delicious little snuggly two-year old into a three-year old.  for those that have experience raising three-year olds know exactly what i am talking about.  for those of you who have not yet, consider yourself warned.  two has got nothing on three.

looking forward to an upcoming holiday weekend at the lakehouse and celebrating our TENTH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY a little bit early.

how was your week?  what are you looking forward to?

love,

coco

local fave: hiatus spa

the year i planned our mystery girls trip, i was doing some online research for spas in austin.  hiatus spa kept popping up in my search, so sight unseen, i booked services for each of us.  the staff was incredibly accomodating and helped me arrange this surprise entirely over the phone.

once we arrived in austin, we were treated like queens.  there i had a pedicure unlike any other i had before.  it has turned into the pedicure that all of my future pedicures will be measured against.  does that sound dramatic?  likely, but that doesn't mean it's not true.  now granted, it's a pricier pedi than say, at that place down the street from your house where you sit in a massage chair and soak your feet in a giant tub while you read an us weekly.  no sirree, bob.

because my husband is a genius and/or a really good listener, he bought me a spa package at the hiatus spa in DALLAS (there is one here, too, hallelujah!) for mother's day.

i could finally have my pedi repeat.

let me explain the glory.

they soak your piggies in a copper basin and pour warm water from a pitcher over them to start.

then, once you select your color, they recline you in your zero-gravity chair (i'm talking, laying almost flat on your back, people).  

the manicurist then asked me to close my eyes while i selected my aromatherapy scent, just before she placed the neckroll behind my neck and a weighted mask over my eyes.

and the finishing touch, before she began the tedious work of srubbing the god-awful skin of my feet, she said, "enjoy your time.  see you in a bit", as she placed headphones on my ears which played thunderstroms for the next EIGHTY minutes.

my goal was to not fall asleep because a) i wanted to enjoy every second consciously and b) i thought i might snore and/or drool.  i entered some blissful zone between consciousness and unconsciousness for the remainder of my mani/pedi.

once it was over, i walked slowly in my comatose state to the locker room (surely they don't call it that in a fancy spa) where i saw a sign placed between the sinks which read, "D Magazine, Best Mani/Pedi 2013".  well, duh.

i think i'll go ahead and give them my vote for 2014 as well.

now go treat yourself.  

it's an order and you deserve it, i'm sure.

p.s. you are welcome.

xoxo

hiatus spa + retreat

5560 W. Lovers Lane | Suite 250 | Dallas, TX 75209 | 214.352.4111 

on my radar

dear readers, i have so much to tell you about; mystery girls trip, my recent spa day, a mini-camp with wee volunteer, plus a whole slew of goodies i've been saving for this and that.

but for now i will just leave you with a song.

you see, my big boy had his adenoids out this morning. so we are at home taking it easy. (side note: parents, always, always trust your gut.  ben has been a mouth-breather his entire life, and the older he got, the more problems it caused with the quality of his sleep.  i expressed a concern to his dr. long ago, who kind of swept our concerns under the rug.  eventually, we had to get a second opinion to confirm that in fact, his adenoids were incredibly large and impeding his breathing.  we are looking forward to meeting the well-rested version of benjamin).

what was i saying?  oh yes, the song.

i. am. obsessed.

i haven't been this in love with a song in a while.  while i love this artist's first single, take me to church (ben and i love to sing it at the top of our lungs in the car), the radio plays it approximately 42 times an hour.  this is hozier's second single, from eden.  it's still new and not over-played.  yet.

turn it up, friends.

have a fantastic weekend, lovers.  

i'll catch you on the flip-side.

love,

coco

p.s. here is a video we have already watched four times today on youtube, per ben's request.  he wants to grow his hair out, and i think jack white may be part of the reason ;)

hot tub mix

guess what, guess what, guess what?

mystery girls trip is this weekend!!!!! (if you are thinking to yourself, "what in the hell is mystery girls trip???", read here)

and even better, i am not planning it this year.  all i have to do is show up.  the mystery is bliss.

however, i never show up empty-handed.  i make a soundtrack of sorts every year for the trip to give to the girls.  usually i make one "mix-tape" but last year i made three because, well, i was in charge.

i shared each mix with you here and here, but i just realized i never shared my favorite mix with you on the blog.  so in the spirit of girls trip week, here is the final installment of last year's mixes.

*preface: the cabin we rented last year had a hot tub.  i got the giggles everytime i envisioned a bunch of whitey-white girls in their mid-thirties, sipping cristal bud light in the hot tub while listening to biggie.  it still makes me laugh just typing it.*

girls trip 4

girls trip 3

enjoy the music.

NSFW!!!!

love,

coco