Good-Bye Summer

 Every year, on the last week of summer, we do a different surprise activity every day to say goodbye to summer. This year, some of the activities included:

MAKING TIE-DYE CUPCAKES:

PLAYING WITH HOMEMADE CLOUD DOUGH:

AND EXPERIMENTING WITH FIZZY FAKE SNOW:

Usually we have a water fight, too, but I didn't capture any pictures of that.

A Fun Day With Friends

Hudson, Tanner, Jaimason, Maj-Lis, and Maleah in front of the Baylor Bear

My friend Catherine Glazier called me up to invite our family to go to Waco to a children's museum with them. I'm sure glad we accepted the invitation; we had a great time!

That is one giant piano!

Jaimason, Maj-Lis, Tanner, Maleah, and Hudson at the water table

Just 2 cute girls driving a car

Jaimason was pretty good at getting big bubbles!

Cameron Park Zoo

Ben and I had the brilliant idea to visit the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco last Saturday. The temperature was only forecast to be about 90 degrees, so we thought the heat would be manageable. Well, there's good news and bad news. The bad news is that it was, in fact, NOT only 90 degrees; it was over 100 degrees and stiflingly hot! The good news is that we chose to go on a day where the admission price just happened to be half off, so we saved ourselves a good deal of money. SCORE!

 This slide was really cool. It is a clear tunnel that goes through the otter exhibit, so the otters swim right above and below you as you're going down.

 We had to take an obligatory picture on the zoo statue--a MUST when you visit any zoo. It's a miracle the kids didn't burn their skin off though. It was mighty hot!

After the zoo, we stopped for a bite to eat at a well-known, but oddly named, burger and shake joint called Health Camp. Good food and even better shakes! A perfect way to end the day!

Happy 4th of July!

 For the 4th of July this year, we spent the day with our good friends, the Heaps and the Jones. We had a barbecue at their house, then headed to a park in Georgetown to watch the firework show. We found a great spot to watch that is super close, practically right under the fireworks, so they're big and they're loud!

 Maleah loved it. I wasn't sure how she was going to react, but she had a great time. She sure is a brave 2-year-old.

Jaimason was an old pro--he's been watching firework shows since he was a baby. Look at this weird picture of him; he's such a goofy kid!

Father's Day 2013

Ben has really gotten into smoked meats lately. He has always loved eating them, so he thought he'd like to try making them himself. Enter his Father's Day present: a new electric smoker! He sure was excited to get that baby!

 The kids are so lucky to have a dad who works hard at his job to provide the best life for them. They sure do love him, and so do I!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, BEN!

A Trip to Fort Worth

Ben had a business trip to Fort Worth recently and we decided it would be fun if the whole family tagged along! We went to museums, visited the Stockyards, and attended a Rangers game. It's fun to get away from "normal" life for a while and do something different, even if it is just a trip to Fort Worth.

Pinewood Derby

Jaimason participated in his first Pinewood Derby this week. He and his dad didn't have a lot of time to make the car, so we weren't expecting too much out of it, but we were very pleasantly surprised! Jaimason won EVERY SINGLE round he raced in, and ultimately came in first place! Happy day!