Summer Fun: Week 9

This week was a girls only week, during the day at least.  Dalton was invited to take a little mini vacation to Boston with Macca and Poc.  Addie and I didn’t take any pictures since we sent the camera with Dalton, but we had lots of fun hanging out together.  We enjoyed the last week of the Summer Family Movies at the local theater by enjoying both $1 movies, hung out at the gym with some of our favorite friends, went swimming, and tried out a new open gym time at one of the local gymnastic studios.  We missed Dalton, but it sure is fun to have some one-on-one time with the kids every now and again.

Now an update from Dalton about his trip…..

We stayed at the Liberty hotel.  It was really cool because it once was a jail.

We went on a really cool whale watching trip.  We saw at least 15 whales.

Next, we went to the Aquarium.  I liked all the touch tanks.  I got to touch string rays and star fish.  I was too afraid to touch the crabs because I knew that they could snap you.  I didn’t get to touch the sharks either because they stayed under the rocks.

Poc had to come and go between meetings, but we caught up with him at the hotel after our trip to the aquarium.

I really liked taking pictures behind all the old jail doors at the hotel.  I even found an old jail key to one of the doors hanging up in our room.

We even got to go to a Boston Red Sox game at Fenway Park.  The best part of the game was when some lady ran out onto the field and all the security guys had to tackle her and put her in handcuffs.  I also talked to the lady sitting beside us throughout the whole game.  Poc called her my new “girlfriend”.

Here is the view from our hotel window.  You can see all the sail boats and even a few duck tour boats in the harbor.

Here are a few pictures we took as we were walking around town.

We also went to the IMAX theater.  We watched a 3-D Deep Sea Movie.  I learned that we are taking away more than the sea can offer. 

Here I am standing in front of the Duck Tours boat.  We didn’t get to go on it though.

We did get to go on a Water Taxi.  It was pretty fun.  We rode on it to go to the No Name Restaurant.  They say it has no name, but it’s name is really No Name.  Can you believe it?  Pretty funny, huh?

Finally it was time to go home.  It was a fun trip and I’m so glad that Macca and Poc took me with them.

Summer Fun: Week 8

Apparently the camera was neglected during week 8 of our summer fun.  I’m sure we had lots of fun, but since I’m playing “catch-up” with the blog I don’t really remember what we did that week.

Here are the only two pictures I took during week 8.  I think the first one probably captures a lot of what we did during that week.

Belle:  “Seriously, it’s time to get up already?!? Someone turn the lights back off.”

Belle and I have a nice little morning routine.  Basically, since it’s summertime and the kids and I don’t have to get up early, we tend to stay in bed a little later than I would like to admit.  Blake usually lets the dogs out of their kennel.  Belle gets to crawl in bed with me and Rudder gets ushered outside.  He hasn’t quite mastered the “lazy dog snuggle” that Belle has down to an art.  There have been a few mornings that I’ve had to force Belle to get out of bed well after 9 am.  This was one of those mornings.  The kids and I had already been up and about for more than an hour and there she was still snoozing away.  She’s covering her face in the picture because I told her it was time to go outside to potty and this is her way of telling me she’s willing to hold it a while longer for five more minutes of sleep.  Sometimes I swear that dog is more human than the rest of us.

The second picture I took was just a quick shot of the kids playing nicely together. 

Addie loves to have little tea parties and apparently talked her brother into playing with her one afternoon.  I love the way she insists on lining all of her teacups and snacks just so.  It’s also sweet to see them enjoying playing with one another.  I’m hoping they are always able to keep that special sibling bond between them that they seem to have now.

Summer Fun: Week 7

The rains of the previous week have come and gone.  Once all the clouds cleared and the puddles dried up, we realized a shark had washed ashore AND managed to swim all the way to our house.  Okay, so maybe not a real shark, but we did discover we had a shark-like boy living among us.

Notice the two rows of teeth on the bottom?  Yeah, so apparently it’s not “normal” but more common than you would think.  The funny, or maybe not so funny, thing is that Dalton didn’t even notice the extra row of teeth.  I happened to be bending over the table helping him with his homework when I caught a glimpse of them.  After a quick trip to the dentist, we decided to wait until our regular six month check-up appointment at the end of August to decide if the baby teeth need to be pulled.  For the time being, we are having fun calling him “Sharkboy” and making shark related jokes regarding his eating habits.  We even had a shark themed bedtime that evening.  Blake thought it was terrible, but I think Dalton enjoyed all the attention.

Addie was a little disappointed when we didn’t have shark pj’s for her, so she is holding some matchbox cars that are shaped like sharks. 

Sharkboy taking a bite out of reading.

Once all the excitement surrounding the new found shark teeth subsided, we started packing for our trip to Angelo over the weekend.  We had a fun-filled family weekend planned. 

We started off the weekend letting Sharkboy (and the rest of us) enjoy some time by the pool at Macca and Poc’s house.  The kids had just finished up their second week of swim lessons and were ready to show off their new skills.

Dalton LOVES being thrown into the deep end now and although his strokes could still use some work, he is doing excellent at getting around the pool without any help. 

Addie also loves to be thrown but still had to be bribed to take off the floaties for little mini practice sessions.  However, by the end of the weekend, she finally swam about half the length of the pool unassisted.  Both Blake and I were in the water with her, so we didn’t get any pictures but hope to soon.

A weekend at Macca and Poc’s is not complete without bringing out all of Daddy and Uncle Tyler’s vintage boy toys.  Addie has found a way to make them her own though.  Don’t you think the Ghost Buster house looks better with the new necklace accessories? 

Next, we headed over to Patsy’s to help with party preparations.

Sophie and Asher helping prepare the cupcakes.

The decorations!

The “Thing 1” and “Thing 2” cupcakes!

And finally Thing 1, Sophie (she was born first) and Thing 2, Asher!

It was a swim party, which meant Blake got volunteered to help get the pool ready.  This is him “helping” backwash the pool.

Almost 30 and still very much a kid at heart or maybe just a guy.

Swimming with the cousins.  Asher decided the pool was not his thing during the party.

Blowing out the candles.

Enjoying the cotton candy yumminess (aka icing).

All the party-goers.

A quick shot of mom and I since we always seem to be behind the camera rather than in front of it.

One of the hubs and I.  And yes, we do only own A&M t-shirts.

After the party, we headed back over to the Lacy household to hang out with some more cousins.  It’s summertime and we live in Texas, so of course more swimming was in order.

Baby Lane enjoying his first swim in a big pool.  I think he liked it.

Laura, Lane and I enjoying some pool time.  After spending a few hours with such a happy baby I often think I should find a few wee ones I can bring home with me.  Six months to 18 month olds wanted….after that you can have them back until they are about 4. 

And finally, Sharkgirl chasing Sharkboy around the pool.

Sunday morning we got up early to head out for some four generation family photos.  We definitely learned a few lessons in our photo endeavors that morning.

1.  7am is not too early to take pictures in the West Texas sun.  Unfortunately, we planned to be there at 10 and it was already HOT!

2.  Make sure everyone goes to the bathroom before you get there especially if the bathrooms at said place are locked and the husband has to drive the kids across the bridge to use the bathrooms at the nearby park.

3.  Most importantly, don’t try to learn how to use the tripod/remote control picture taking method on the morning of said photo shoot.  If you do, you may not realize that NONE of the pictures took until after half the party leaves.

So, we didn’t manage to get any four generation pictures this trip and will have to try again in the future.  We did get a few pictures of our family with our point and shoot camera while we were waiting on everyone to arrive.

The kids all dressed up and ready to go.

Our family of four at the Visitor’s Center.  It’s far away to see faces, but I like the architecture of the building and surroundings.

Addie (giving me the “why are you taking my picture” look) and Dalton (with his cute but cheesy grin) having a snack between pictures.

Patsy with the kids.  After “pictures”, we headed back over to the house to celebrate Patsy being 72 years young.

It was great to get to catch up with so much family on this trip.  Hopefully we can do it again soon….or maybe you guys could come visit us?

Summer Fun: Week 6

The theme of last week was “Beating the Heat”.  Well, this week we spent the week hiding from the rain.  The rain is much needed in the area right now and I am grateful for it.  You just always hope that God blesses you with bright sunshine on the weeks when the kid’s have swim lessons.  Luckily, the rain managed to come mostly in the late afternoons and evenings so the kids only had to endure one make up swim lesson for week 1.
Getting ready for swim lessons to start…

I had warned them that morning that because of the recent rain, the water might be a little cooler than normal.  Can you see the excitement on their faces about the thought of having to crawl into the cold water in just a few moments?  I remind you these are my children who OFTEN wear sweatpants to bed in the middle of summer.



Addison is learning about pool safety with the class.

Practicing her “scoops” around the pool….

Shortly after this photo was snapped, I was asked to put my camera away which is why I don’t have any action shots of Dalton.  Apparently the Y has a policy against posting pictures of kids in bathing suits on the internet and has asked parents to refrain from taking photos which I completely understand.  These pictures didn’t seem to compromise the integrity of  any of the children, so I felt okay to post them on our “somewhat” private blog.  However (and this is somewhat of a rant), perhaps someone should let the Y know that the Y is posting pictures of the kids in their bathing suits on their facebook page.  (Okay, rant over and moving on!)
Since rain was in the forecast for most of the week, we took advantage of yet another Groupon (have I mentioned I love all those coupon sites?) to visit one of the many inside play lands around our great city.  We met up with some friends there.  The kids had a great time playing and I enjoyed catching up with some ladies I don’t see often enough. 

Friday the 13th rolled around and we celebrated the day by scoring some free food at our nearby Chick-fil-a. 


In years past, I’ve only dressed up the kids for Cow Appreciation Day.  This year I decided to join in the fun and made myself a costume as well.  Unfortunately (or fortunately), there wasn’t anyone around to snap a group photo.  We did get several chuckles and a few compliments on our cow costumes.  I felt pretty silly walking in at first, but the excitement on the kid’s faces quickly helped me to get over my feeling of embarrassment.  Hopefully the day earned a place in the memory of my precious children.