4th of July

We had a wonderful, lazy holiday weekend! Still being camper-less we stuck close to home. Our plans had been to go down to Boca Chica (my parents bay property) just for the day on Saturday. Eat some yummy bbq, and watch fireworks over the bay. JD and I both decided we didn’t want to make the trek down there, about a 2 hr drive, with it being sooo hot. So instead we went and sat OUTSIDE on the hill at Miller Outdoor Theater for a free Houston Symphony patriotic concert and then fireworks display. It actually wasn’t to hot once the sun went down, with a nice breeze to keep the bugs away. The kids loved the big hill, although it was was too crowded for the all important rolling of the hill. They had to settle for a couple of runs down before the spot we claimed filled in. We even brought Ginger along for the fun… forgetting that they were going to be setting off canons during the closing song. She is quite the big chicken and doesn’t like loud noises!

 

It really was a lovely evening building family memories together!!

Gateway Challenge Course

Jonah and I went this past Friday with our Homeschool group to Gateway Challenge Course in Lufkin. It was specifically geared for jr. high age boys, to allow them to do some team building exercises, and of course to have some good ‘ole fashioned fun! Jonah LOVED it!! We had a fairly small group, only 5 boys went, and that ended up being perfect. They breezed right through the team building games, and after only one low ropes course, their guide told them he was very impressed with them. He decided to take them right into the high ropes. Doug from Gateway was our guide, and if you ever go, I highly recommend him. He was awesome! Very patient, very encouraging, but at the same time pushed the boys to step out of their comfort zone. Check out their website… www.gatewaychallengecourse.com!

Team building exercise – the floating hula hoop!

Low course team building exercise – log jam –

Jonah and his good friend Dakota Harlan

Harnessed in for “The Screamer” – a basic rope swing – that drops you from 47 feet!!

Waiting at the top…

 

The upswing on the other side…

Starting off on the Heebie Jeebie

Waaaayyyy Up in the air!!!

Wooo-Hooo – I made it!

Next challenge… Raider’s Bridge

Nothing to it!

Next element… I don’t remember what it was called. It seemed the hardest so far though! Jonah made it look like a piece of cake!! He was having the time of his life!!

 

Conner Gressett, Jonah, Tony Mirasola, Dakota Harlan, Jonah Roybal, and our tour guide Doug

Flat tire

Yesterday afternoon as we were coming home from a very fun field trip I had a flat tire. More like a tire puncture! Check out this big ‘old piece of something that got stuck in my tire!

I was prepared to change it myself – my dad insisted that I learn how, start to finish on my own. But a very kind gentleman drove by, saw a woman and her kids stopped on the side of the road, TURNED AROUND, and came back to help!! Who says chivalry is dead?? I for one very much appreciated his act of kindness :0)

Goodbye to an Old Friend

Last week we sold our camper of the past six years. It was such a sad moment for me! We have built many, many fun memories as a family taking camping trips in the prowler. It has taken us across the vast state of Texas, and although we intended to take more, just one trip out to Oklahoma. We aren’t saying goodbye to camping, just looking to upgrade to a little more room. I’m sure it won’t be long before we are camper owners again, but I am feeling a little out of sorts just now. Fun Memories… and more to come I’m sure!

 

Spring Break #4

Looking back I realized that I never finished off our Spring Break trip. The last couple of days were spent in Colorado, one day sight seeing galore, the next day relaxing before the big drive back to Texas. We went back to Four Corners for the obligatory pictures and shopping.

The whole group! You can see just to the left of us the covered row of booths. There were quite a few Indians set up selling their wares. Everything from t-shirts to hand made knives made out of bone. Lots of homemade jewelry too! It was a fun side trip and I am glad we made the trek back to experience it.

Next we loaded back in the cars and headed to Mesa Verde National Park. We pulled into the park entrance, paid our fee, and were told it was another 20 miles to the visitor center!! 20 miles UP the mountain, on a very winding, twisting road often without a guardrail. YIKES!! Did I mention I am afraid of heights??? But once we arrived it was definitely worth the trip! The cliff dwellings were so cool! And the kids were really interested in seeing them since we had studied about them back in fall. The only disappointment was due to it being early spring, there was only one cliff dwelling open. Being on top of a mountain there was still ice and snow all around! But we had perfect weather the day we were there – bright blue sky and sunshine!

The above photo is of the cliff house, which was closed. If I remember right, it is one of the biggest dwelling in Mesa Verde.

Grandma and Grandpa with all the kiddos… Collin 15, Keegan 12, Ellie 7, Jonah 11, Jordan 9

One of the few pictures of me… I am always behind the camera!

Our last day in Durango we totally chilled. We ate lunch at a fun mexican restaurant in downtown, then the boys headed off to go snow boarding, while the girls shopped through the little town. Neither Jimmy or my dad thought about bringing a camera with them, so we have no pictures of the boys fun, fun afternoon. That was definitely a highlight for all the boys, they came back soaked and a muddy mess!

 

It was so fun to walk up and down the street with the snowy mountains as our backdrop! And it was very fun to visit the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (the original one we were told!) for some yummy treats! Here is Miss Ellie in front of the store with the bear? (who knows why there was a bear out front?)

We had an absolutely wonderful time on this trip!! I was so happy to be able to go with my family and have the kids make such priceless memories!!

Moore Fun :0)

We had the privilege of having my friend Beth Moore’s girls for a few days the last two weeks. (not THE Beth Moore, but Beth formerly Landon Moore) Ellie has been in hog heaven! Living with two older brothers, she is greatly misunderstood. Or so she believes.

The noise that commenced… squealing, shrieking, screaming was enough to send the before mentioned brothers into hiding for the duration of the 4 days we had Julia and Emma with us. Now to clarify for Beth’s sake… it WAS NOT only her girls that were loud. Miss Ellie just needs some conspirators and she can raise quite a ruckus herself!

Fun in the pool… Emma, Ellie, and Julia

Hours of fun… playing with a bottle of water… seeing who had the funniest faces!

They even got me to play along… it was pretty funny!

I am always glad for my sweet girl when she gets a chance to have special girl time! Thanks Beth for letting us keep Julia and Emma! It was great fun!

the snake man field trip 3/23

This is several weeks past but the kids wanted to share! We had Mr. Clint, aka The Snake Man come out with all of his slithery friends at the end of March. My kids seriously adore Mr. Clint and his friends. I’m even a little taken with them. Who would have known? I will admit though, there is a BIG difference between holding a snake that you know is someone’s pet, and seeing a random snake in your yard. (like a 3+ foot black one the boys found out by the trampoline and wanted to keep as a pet) Mr. Clint brings with him not only his non-venomous friends everyone gets to hold and handle, but he also brings along the four different kinds of venomous snakes that live in the different parts of the United States. And being Texas, where everything has to be bigger and better, ALL 4 KINDS are found here!!  The venomous snakes are contained in a box made of plexi-glass, so you can see but not touch. We have learned a lot over the years from Mr. Clint, he gives you a healthy respect and appreciation for snakes as one of God’s creations, through his love of reptiles. If you are in the Houston area, check out his website, www.texassnakes.net, he does birthday parties too! Jonah had him out for his 9th birthday, and it was great fun. We are still working on JD to let Jonah get a corn snake!

Jonah (above) with an albino python

Jordan (above) with a ball python

 

Ellie with a king snake

poor miss ellie…

Ellie had to have a cavity filled yesterday morning (stink!) and came home feeling just fine. But due to some pain the tooth had been causing her, she had been up late the night before, and woke up early that morning. 5:15 to be exact. So after lunch I had her lay down to take a nap. 2 1/2 hours later (smile for mom, she was getting WAY crabby!) she woke up with her poor little cheek all swollen up and very tender. I wasn’t to worried, figured it would go back down during the day, or at least after a night of sleep. No such luck, she woke up with it still swollen and hurting this morning. So back to the dentist we go this morning. Our dentist wasn’t sure exactly what is causing the problem, could be one of several things she said. Most likely it is an infection that has sprung up due to a reaction from the anesthesia. So a round of antibiotics for Miss Priss and hopefully she will be back to normal soon!!

Great Job, Jonah!

Jonah has started seeing an instructional baseball coach, to help step up his playing. Jimmy mainly wanted to focus on Jonah’s batting, but Coach Rick does it all. At tonight’s game his hitting was AWESOME!! They ended up losing their game – big bummer- they have not had nearly enough practice this season. But that’s another loonngg story. Jonah has great hand eye coordination, and rarely strikes out. Most often he ends up being walked! But tonight he had 3 BIG hits, while putting into practice the new techniques he is learning. It was so fun to watch him succeed – and to see him having such a great time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dying Easter Eggs

It’s so sad to me that my boys now consider themselves to big to dye easter eggs. And Jonah informed me he was WAY to old to participate tomorrow morning in the easter egg hunt. Huh…at 11 1/2. What he is looking forward to is the making of the resurrection rolls. We have never made them before, but I thought it would be cool to try it out this year. With the kids helping out you make bread dough, roll it out, cut into squares, put a marshmallow per square, then wrap the dough around the marshmallow. Once you bake the rolls, the marshmallow has melted, and the roll is empty inside. Great object lesson for the kids on the true meaning of Easter – that Jesus LIVES!!

I didn’t have to push to hard to get Jonah to dye the eggs with us… that is fun! We’ll see what he does about tomorrow morning. I also forgot to remind him that I hide the resurrection eggs too during the hunt.  That’s a big favorite for the kids going through the easter story while eating candy from their baskets. Usually before breakfast :0)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A work in progress…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All finished!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a wonderful Easter – celebrating that Jesus LIVES!!