Goofing off

We've been having a lot of fun around there these past few weeks. We've been playing a lot of games, doing many puzzles, doing "school work" as the kids call it, and seeing what toys we have hidden in our closets. It's been 100 plus degrees outside everyday with it feeling like 105 or more, so we've been staying inside with the lights off trying to stay cool! Here are some pictures that I took as the kids were finding all of Mr Man's old Halloween costumes. It was a fun day of playing dress up.

The duo of Spiderwoman and Hot Bumblebee...watch out world, we are here to protect.

And maybe have a little play fight here and there.

This picture just cracks me up. She put on the Cat in the Hat costume Mr Man wore for his second Halloween...mind you she's 4 1/2 years old now. Then she had to add Spiderman's mask. Silly girl!

Of course, we can't stay inside all the time. So we busted out our little blow up pool and were swimming in it, until it started to loose air and the fun archs that go over it and spray out water lost it's battle and went into the trash. So, we went out and found a slip-n-slide. Mind you, it couldn't just be any old slip-n-slide and I knew that they would be fighting over who could go and when so when I found this double one, I knew we HAD to have it. We do still have the little pool with the slide that the kids love to run between.

It was a Hit!

Please don't look at the jungle yard. It had been over a month since it'd been mowed due to the fact that we went on vacation and when we got back, the front wheels of the mower fell right off. So we ordered parts and waited for 2 more weeks until they came and R was able to fix the mower. Just so you know, we've since mowed and our dog and children no longer get lost in what we like to call our back yard.

Racing down the slip-n-slide. Who will win?

Doesn't really matter. The fact that we are wet and allowed to be a total mess is all that really counts!

I think she likes it!

On a totally different note. The day that we were playing in the yard, I looked at our tree out back and this is what I saw. Isn't it beautiful?! I don't know what it is and it has only looked like this on this particular day. Most of the flowers have since fallen off and it's still pretty, but not like it was on this day. I just had to share it with you, I hope it makes you smile like it did for me. Enjoy your day!

Vacation

A couple of weeks ago we took our semi-anual trip up to Indiana to spend time with our families. It was so nice to see everyone since we hadn't seem most of them since Christmas. Indiana weather is so much different than Texas and we really enjoyed the "cooler" temps. It took us 20 hours to make the drive and by the time we arrived, we were more than ready to be out of the car:) I have to say tough, that the kids did a great job and didn't complain until about the last 2 or 3 hours of the ride. We left Thursday morning and arrived Friday afternoon. We were able to stop Thursday night and stay in some comfy beds. It's so nice having them bigger and in their own big beds. When they were little, we'd each take a kid and get kicked the whole night and wake up not at all rested. This time they shared a bed and we were able to rest up so that we were ready for the next days drive. When we arrived, we dropped off the kids to go to a wedding rehearsal and dinner and enjoy a night out with some good friends.

Saturday we attended our good friends wedding and celebrated with them. We were so excited to spend their special day with them. While we were there one of the grandmas was able to spend the day with the kids at her farm. I know that they all enjoyed their time together.

They "played" a little croquet.

Had water gun fights.

Washed their hands at the wash station.

Or maybe just played in the water and dumped it on their heads. But mostly just used a whole lot of water, used up an entire roll of paper towel and whole bar of soap. It was an enjoyable time.

Went for a couple of rides in the open air jeep. They went fishing, but I don't have any pictures of that...sorry. And went to have a drive in dinner at the local drive in. Then came home and spent the night outside in the tent. We were all a little suprised that they made it through the entire night in the tent outside.

While they were enjoying their time with grandma, we attended this beautiful wedding. We are so happy for our friends. Congratulations!

There was a lot of dancing at the reception and fun was had by all that night.

  

Then on Monday we went up to Michigan onto Lake Michigan for the day. We made a short trip in the boat for lunch. It was a fun trip, but really "bumpy," we had 3 to 4 foot waves coming at us. We stayed close to shore and I think that, for the most part, we all enjoyed the trip.

The beautiful lighthouse. The trip back was much calmer. The waves had laid down and we were going with them instead of against them.

We also saw this beautiful sailboat on our way back. I love this picture and think that I may have to print it out and blow it up. Good job honey for taking it :)

We headed to the beach and proceeded to burry Papa. All of the girls worked on this, not sure if there is a corrolation here?

Papa all burried. The girls were so proud and told all of us mommas and daddies that it was the highlight of their day...ha!

Mr. Man spent most of the day in water and I wasn't able to get many good pictures of him. But I will just say that the boy swam until his heart was content and had a blast playing in the sand.

Miss M swam a lot and played in the sand a lot. She was funny to watch though. I realized that she would NOT sit down in the sand. I can't blame the girl. I had fun, but I don't like sand either.

Daddie's highlight of the day was building a sand castle with the kids. They spent a lot of time working on it. Sorry to say that you can't really see it that well. I did get a picture of it, but realized that I had a lot of pics on here already and didn't think I needed a picture of a sand castle. All of the kids helped with it and enjoyed digging in the sand. They even dug a really long and deep trench to the water to fill the mote. Unfortunatly, it caved in shortly after water was reached.

Tuesday brought the local county fair with grandma and grandpa. It was a smaller fair, but it was alot of fun. We started the day with a turkey leg for the kids to share. This suprises me everytime. They devoured it in record time. They just love them! Then we moved on to the rides. They went on the swings for the first time. Don't let the look on their faces in this picture fool you. They had a lot of fun on them and really enjoyed themselves.

Then we went on the cars. This picture crackes me up. Miss M pushing Mr. Man out of the way. I can just picture them in 12 years. Her pusing him out of the way. I even overheard a man say that they must be brother and sister because of the fighting. They eventually realized that they both had a steering wheel and could drive however they wanted. And that they actually weren't in charge of where the car was going. This picture is just how our real life is everyday :) It makes me smile, because this is just my kids being themselves. They do love eachother and I am glad that they have eachother to fight with, take of, and love. And they do all of the above.

We also walked through the animal buildings. These calves were just laying there and Mr. Man asked me if he could pet them. I told him that he had to ask the girl that owned them. He did and she said ok. So off we went to pet the calf. The kids enjoy the animals and pet as many as the could.

Miss M enjoyed petting the calf as well. We were not able to go throught the entire pig building because Mr. Man thought he was going to throw up due to the smell. And the poultry building was not a hit was Miss M and we ended up leaving that building early as well. They did like the llamas and horses. We had fun at the fair and stuffed ourselves with our share of junk food for the rest of the summer. ha!

Our vacation was a lot of fun this year and we were very busy. Wednesday was golfing for the men and playing for the kids and mama's. Thursday was a party at our cousins house with all of our family members so that they were able to see us. And Friday morning brought us the road again and the 20 hour ride back home. By Saturday afternoon we were home again and R was trying to mow the lawn with a mower that lost it's front wheels. It's Friday the following week and we will HOPEFULLY get the lawn mowed tonight. It's only been a month and I worry that I will loose a kid in the forrest we call a yard while slip-n-sliding.