The Lee Family: Magnolia Market!

Yesterday my sister-in-law Julie, Sofia and I drove out to visit Magnolia Market! Julie and her son, Sam, who is planning to attend Dallas Baptist University in the Fall are staying with us for a few days to attend the school's orientation. The orientation went well on Thursday and Friday and Sam is super excited to start college in September! Since there were no activities on Saturday, Julie and I decided to visit Magnolia Market while CK took Sam and Olivia flying. Magnolia Market is such a cool place! I love going and would love to spend a full day there just poking around some of the cute shops in Waco. I always tell people that it isn't so much the things that can be bought at Magnolia Market, other than the cupcakes which are incredible, but the whole scene is just amazing! What they have created at the silos is really fun and just an impressive set-up. The bakery has delicious sweets and their cupcakes are worth the 1.5 hour drive!

Since it was a Saturday, the silos were really busy, so we parked in one of the nearby paid parking lots and walked to the silos. It was Julie's second visit - she and her family spent the day there when they visited us over Spring Break. We walked through the shops and poked around. It was crowded but not too crazy. It was just fun to spend the day with Sofia, who is generally not interested in shopping or exploring shops, but she is different when she's solo with me. She walked around and since she's nearly 12-years old I let her roam around pretty freely. Julie bought a few things for Lucy, who is totally in love with everything Magnolia. While we explored the shop, Sofia found the kid's section and found the books....she sat down and started reading, of course! At least she was easy to keep track of as we explored. After exploring the shop and buying our Magnolia things (I bought a Magnolia Market bag), we headed over to the garden center to poke around. It was a typical hot and humid day, so after exploring the garden, we decided to buy an iced tea at one of the food trucks. The only other time I've visited Magnolia Market, it was mid-week, so there were no food trucks. Since it was a Saturday, there were six food trucks! One of the them serves iced tea (or Arnold Palmer) in a huge mason jar cup that was cool but also $15 each! We each bought one and the Arnold Palmer totally hit the spot. You know its hot when paying $15 for a .50 cup of tea sounds normal! We did get a refill and the glass cup is a souvenir, so that is pretty cool. After we got our Arnold Palmer, we ordered a few tacos and sat at one of the picnic tables (shaded) to relax, eat and people watch. So much fun.

After we were done eating and exploring, we went to the bakery and bought an assortment of cupcakes to take home and enjoy with CK, Sam and Olivia after dinner. Meanwhile, CK sent pictures to us of their flying fun. He flew Sam and Olivia to a friend's place and then took them up individually in a little two-seat plane that his friend owns. His friend also has pet raccoons and skunks! CK sent pictures of Olivia holding one of their raccoons! She was offered a skunk, but CK said it is probably better to not to handle a skunk, even if it has never sprayed before....

With cupcakes in hand, we headed to the recently-opened Magnolia Outlet, which is a few miles from the silos. We drove through regular middle-class neighborhoods to get to the Outlet and it was interesting to see a "real" side of Waco. It's amazing to see all that the Gaines' have done to improve the city and help the economy. We poked around the Outlet and then headed back home. On the way we got in the middle of one of those crazy storms that seem to happen often in Texas where the clouds get together and it rains sheets of water for about 20 minutes and then it's over and it clears up. Julie was totally amazed since it doesn't happen in Oregon, where they live. We got home and shared our days over dinner and then enjoyed our cupcakes! Such a fun day!

Aunt Julie and Sofia at Magnolia Market