Moody Gardens-Palm Beach

Today, we loaded up the kids and headed to Moody Gardens, Palm beach in Galveston.  We had never been there before and Allison had received 2 free tickets for completing the Houston Public Library Summer Reading program.  Of course, she had a little help.

I’m not sure if I would pay full price to come here, but it sure was a lot of fun.  Allison was able to walk and swim by herself in the pool and Will looked so cute in his life jacket (provided by Moody Gardens) and sun hat.

After playing in the water, we headed over to the waterslides.  I think this was Allison’s favorite part about Palm Beach.  She went up and down the slides I think around 30 times!  Will was also able to play, in a small splash pad by the slides.  He would walk up to the shooting water, get sprayed, and quickly walk away to avoid any further water.  Of course,  he went back and forth doing this about 30 times!

I loved sharing this time with my children and making lasting memories.  I told Brad how fast time flies and how quickly our children will grow up.  We need to take every opportunity to make special time for our family.  Normally, Saturday’s are for shopping and running errands.  It felt so good to take a day off and just enjoy being with my husband and children.  No one cried or whined while we were there, so it was a BIG success!

After the water slides, we hit the main splash pad and then went to build a sand castle.  Allison LOVED  the beach and I definitely think we need to plan a beach vacation for next summer.  Will was intrigued by the sand and just wanted to dig his feet in it.  I said to Brad, “Can you imagine how it must feel to touch sand for the first time”!  How exciting!   Below are some pictures with the kiddos.

My sweet boy!


What is he thinking?


Will, what’s wrong?  I think he wanted to go back over to the sand.


Even though he looks uncomfortable in this picture, Will did enjoy the water.  Brad referred to him as Roly Poly!


You can never get a shot with both kids smiling at the same time.  It is absolutely impossible!  Picture #1.  Let’s try that again.

Picture #2, nope not gonna happen. Will is thinking, “forget the picture, I am not going to smile, let go of me!!!”


Father and son having fun.  Hey, that rhymes!




This picture is sooo Allison.  She was trying to spit at the camera, thank goodness she missed!

Dog days of Summer

I am starting to get a little bored with Summer.  I am not traveling anywhere until Labor Day and really don’t have much planned before school starts.  This may seem like a dream, but when you have two active children, this leads to trouble. Trouble meaning tantrums, being mean to siblings, disrespecting mom and dad and wrecking the house so bad that it takes hours to clean up. I have been racking my brain daily to entertain Allison and Will and so far, it has worked but I am quickly running out of ideas.

Today, I found Will entertaining himself in Abby’s crate.  Amazing, who needs toys when you can crawl in and out of a dog crate!

This is how I found Will in our bedroom.  Perfectly content!

 

I think I will crawl out and shut the door to the crate.

 

That was so much fun, let’s do it again!

 

Look at me mama!

Allison and Sydney

 

Last night we had dinner with the McMeans’.  We had such a good time eating Mexican food at La Hacienda and invited them over afterwards.  Sydney and Allison decided it would be fun to paint each other's nails and toes and we discovered them in the act.

Your turn

 

Now it’s my turn.  Will no nail polish for you, girls only!

 

We have a lot in common with the McMeans’ which includes the ages of our children.  Allison and Sydney are two months apart in age and Will and Alex are three days apart in age.

Play dates and salt

Yesterday we had Barbie and Wyatt over for a play date.  Allison and Wyatt had so much fun and got along great.  They played on the swing set, in the playroom, ate gold fish and even made salt dough creations.

Barbie helping Wyatt make his handprint

 

After our art project, the kids were tired and enjoyed watching Thomas the Train and holding hands!

Sweet Baby Will

 

Will turned 15 months old yesterday and I can’t believe how fast he is growing up.  He started walking last month and is now into everything!  Climbing, opening drawers, and even sliding down our slide outside, he has no fear and wants to do everything that big sister Allison can do.  Here are a few things I never want to forget about Will:

1. His beautiful hair-he has the most beautiful strawberry blonde curls.  I love to hold him and rest my face in his hair.  Brad thinks it is time for a haircut but I cannot part with one single curl quite yet.

2.  New words-he can say Mama, Dada, Sissy, ball, Jiggs, Nana(Graham), Bye-Bye, Dog, this.  He sisses “S’s” like a snake all the time.

3.  He can climb up the outdoor play set ladder and go down the slide all by himself.  Scary!!!

4.  He is on zinc, has not made the switch over from formula to milk, and we are trying to get him to eat more finger foods but we have come so far.  Will looks very healthy and I know one day, he will be eating everything in the house!

5.  I love cuddling up with him to give him a bottle in the rocker.  He is so cuddly and I enjoy this special time just with him.  Also, he goes down for nap and bedtime super easy as long as he has his stuffed dog, blanket and nunnie (pacifier).

6.   He is always happy and loves Thomas the Train.  He squeals when it comes on TV.

7.  He enjoys playing basketball and can even dunk the ball into the basket.  College scholarship here we come!

8.  Will loves bath time and crawls all over the place in the bath tub.

9.  God is good and has truly blessed me with my sweet baby boy!  Thank you Lord Jesus.

A Day on the Farm

This past weekend, we went to Columbus, TX to visit an old acquaintance of my dad’s.  His name is Ed Alley and you would never guess where these two men met.  The year was 1969, and it was Vietnam.  My dad had enlisted into the U.S. Marine Corp. and was shipped off to Camp Pendleton, the Marine Corp. Recruit Depot in San Diego, CA for boot camp training. At the time, my dad was scared to death of Ed, see Ed Alley was one of my dad’s drill instructors.  This man was tough and intimidating.  His job was to break young recruits down and build them back up.  He was there to teach them how to survive in combat. 

A few years ago, a man in my father’s boot camp class decided to search out his old buddies and former drill instructors.  He contacted everyone he could find and set up a boot camp reunion.  So far, they have had two reunions in Branson, Missouri.  Both, have been wonderful experiences for my father.  Though their lives may have taken different paths, they all have a common bond.

So, over the course of the last two years, my dad had gotten to know Ed Alley and the two have become friends.  As my Mom said, “you never know God’s path for your life and the people in it.”  I know my dad never dreamed he would see the man he feared most during those days much less been invited out to his farm. 

Mr. Alley, Dad and Allison in front of Mr. Alley’s smokehouse

 

 

We toured Mr. Alley’s farm and saw horses, cows, cardinals, big grasshoppers, jackrabbits and lots and lots of deer.  The black horse is so thin because he is over 50 years old!

 

The kids enjoyed playing on Mr. Alley’s tractor, especially Will.  He wanted to drive it and cried when I took him off of it!

 

I think my Allison is a country girl at heart!

 

Before leaving, the children and I took a ride on Mr. Alley’s mule and went down to the pond to see if we could find an alligator Mr. Alley had seen earlier, No Luck!

 

Allison got to try on Mr. Alley’s “Smokey hat”.  How surreal for my Dad.

 

We had a wonderful time on the farm and hope to go back over Labor Day.  Mr. Alley is so nice and hospitable and it was an honor to meet him.  Thank you Mr. Alley!

Being Cool

We took this picture today on our way to my parents house to celebrate my dad's 62nd birthday.  We were going swimming, and Allison decided she would wear her goggles like sunglasses, all the way to their house.  It was hilarious to see her so serious about her goggles and the fact that she was going swimming.  It was as if she was going to fly out of the car and land in the pool!  Swimsuit on-check, diving sticks in hand-check, goggles on eyes ready for a big splash of water-check!

This reminded me of those embarrassing photos my parents have of me and how when we are kids, we all think certain outfits, accessories and hair styles are so cool, yet looking back we laugh at how cute, yet silly we really looked.  For me, it was the E.T. pajamas that were yellow and blue with E.T.’s face plastered on the center of the shirt, my brown braided belt that went with everything and looked just right when the end was flipped over, any picture from junior high, Units(you remember them because we all wore them in the ‘80’s) and most of all my silk blouse that looked like every color in a rainbow had been splattered all over it.  This fabulous shirt was worn tucked into a red suede skirt, classic!  Oh how I am glad I do not own a scanner for I would never live these moments of fashion disasters down.

I can’t wait to show Allison this picture above when she is about 13 or 14 years old and at the age where she knows everything, and I know nothing.  I will tell her how adorable she was and reminisce about her days as a 3 year old.  I cherish these young years with her, watching her develop into a young lady.  She has her personality, good looks and a definite since of style!

Somewhere over the rainbow

Tonight, as the rain came down and I waited for Brad to come home, the telephone rang.  On the other end was Brad saying, “Load up the kids, I’ve got something pretty exciting to show you”.  My curious nature took over and I quickly picked Will up out of his crib and told Allison to throw on her flip flops.  Brad quickly arrived and told us to come with him.  I wondered what he was up to and before long, I found out.  At the end of our driveway, we saw the most brilliant rainbow I have ever seen.  It was breathtaking and showed me what an artist our Creator is.  Allison was super excited and shrieked “that’s the first rainbow, I’ve ever seen.”  What an awesome moment to see what you’ve only dreamed about right before your eyes.  We took this time to remind our daughter what the symbol of a rainbow is-God’s promise to never flood the earth again.

 

^{Genesis 9:12-16}

¹² And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: ¹³ I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. ¹⁶ Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."

Froggy

When Will was born, he was given a frog puppet that rib bitts children’s songs.  “London bridge is falling down” for starters.  Frequently, I put the frog over my hand and make the frog’s mouth move causing it to start singing in a frog sort of way.  Sounds silly I know, but he loves it.  Well today, Will decided that he was going to make the frog sing!! I heard the frog’s  rib bitts coming from his room and was shocked to see that he had the frog in his crib and was opening and closing the frog’s mouth making it sing.  He would take the upper and lower lips of the frog and press them together.  It was hilarious!!! What a smart boy!

Independence Day

Today, on this 4th of July, we celebrate the birth of America and America’s independence from Great Britain.  Our forefathers knew what it meant to be patriots, sacrificing their own lives for the greater good.  This is declared in the last sentence of the Declaration of Independence: “And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.”

Patriotism means devoted love, support, and defense of one's country; national loyalty.  I wonder how many Americans would call themselves patriots?  We take for granted our freedom without even realizing what a blessing it truly is to live in this country.  Equality, education, the right to vote, freedom of religion, are all attributes of freedom in America.  Oh, how so many people around the world look at America and only dream of what it must be like to live here. 

Today as we enjoy swimming, family barbecues, fireworks and apple pie may we also remember the magnitude of freedom and the US soldiers who are true patriots.  Risking and sacrificing their lives to keep our country free.  Always remember freedom is not free.  God Bless America!

The Prophets and Apostles you read about in Heb 11, faced persecution just like our forefathers:

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised.  God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.”

So, now that I have gotten that off my chest, how did you spend your Fourth of July?  We had a day full of swimming, relaxing, barbecue, more swimming and fireworks.  We spent the weekend in The Woodlands where Brad's parents and extended family live.  The kids woke up full of energy, so we decided to head over to the Rob Fleming Family Aquatic Center, one of the community pools in The Woodlands.  This place was awesome!  Not only do they have a massive water slide, but they also have a lazy river and interactive play structure, complete with a 150 gallon dump bucket.  Allison must have gone down the slide at least 50 times and Will was able to walk around in the shallow water and float with us down the lazy river.

After our fun-filled morning, we headed back to Mamaw and Bobo's and enjoyed some fabulous brisket, beans, potatoes, fruit and rolls.   Then, it was time for a long nap!  When we woke up, Allison was ready to get back in the water, so we swam in Mamaw and Bobo's pool.  Cousin Matt even came over for swimming and hot dogs.

When the sun went down, we headed over to the golf course where I proceeded to douse the children in bug spray! We had a great time enjoying the fireworks with family and friends.

                               Brother and Sissy all dressed up in their Fourth of July duds!

Our Family

The boys-Matt, Don, Reed, Brad, Will and Bob

Allison having fun with Aunt Pat

The Ladies plus Baby Will- Meredith, Will, Pat, Lisa, Me and Pam

The fireworks were beautiful and we had perfect seats to Ooh and Ah!