Pioneer Day - Texas Style

What a great Saturday! We woke up, piled the kids in the stroller, and had a great run to the grocery store for pancake supplies. Then we ran home and had a fabulous pancake feast. We tried sausage pancakes (I highly recommend them), banana pancakes (inspired from the song) and blueberry pancakes (of course). The morning continued with our normal chores... but it was so nice to get the house clean and the lawn mowed. Around lunch we couldn't decide how to proceed... it was hot... really hot :). Should we go out? Put Connor down for a nap? Do something fun indoors? What to do... ??

Eventually we decided to put Connor down for his nap and plan a picnic for dinner at Brazos Bend State Park. We picked up some hot dogs and melon. Lucky for us, a storm cloud passed near the park just as we were arriving, which brings down the temp considerably. It goes from miserable to tolerable heat :). And it actually turned out to be a beautiful evening. We had our picnic and the kids ran around playing tag and chasing squirrels.

After dinner, we decided to do some walking - it was Pioneer Day after all :). So we "walked and walked" around the lake hoping to spy some alligators. Usually in the summer they are harder to find because of the heat... But not today!!! We were no more than 5 minutes into the walk when we came upon this guy... he was a bit too close for comfort - about 2 feet from the trail! You can see in the picture below how close he really is...

We picked up our kids (yes, we carried them), held our breath and walked along the opposite edge of the trail hoping the alligator would remain where he was. Thankfully he did. :)

So, the walking continued....

Abigail helping Dallin see the alligator hiding by the edge of the water. Can you see his eyes?

Connor was a trooper. He walked most of the way, but occasionally had a ride on Daddy's shoulders.

It was a beautiful evening....

After another 10 minutes of walking we came upon this fella.... again too close for comfort. You can't tell from the pictures but this alligator was about 2-3 feet longer than the first. We decided he was just too big to chance crossing... and it was about time to turn around anyway for the kids sake :). Thank goodness!

Looking for tadpoles in the lake

However, on the way back another alligator decided to sun himself! Way too close!! Every time we crossed in front of one of these large creatures, my heart was raising and I kept thinking in my head ... "nice alligator... nice alligator... please... stay where you are.... please!" It is one thing to put yourself at risk and an entirely different situation to be holding your child/children.

And this guy was looking RIGHT at you!

I just loved this... the tree.. the birds... I love nature!

Abby and Dallin with their treasures. Dallin's treasure (a feather was cut off... sorry Dallin)

Along the way back we decided to learn some primary pioneer songs and talk about the pioneers. The kids were good to participate :). We finally made it back to the picnic table after an eventful walk :). My heart was happy to be a little farther away from the water :). We gathered the kids and watched a short pioneer movie on John's computer and then told them about some of our family "pioneer" stories.

As we were driving home, I thought to myself... today really was a wonderful day! We had fun together, we worked together, and we even were able to share testimonies together. A memory we will all share forever.

Surfside

Another day at the beach... We love this place!

The beach was covered with seaweed, but we dug ourselves a spot anyway. I was just surprised at how well the kids played in the water with TONS of seaweed floating all around :). We have been when there was seaweed on the beach before... but this time the water was filled with it too. Crazy! I still need to figure out why sometimes there is seaweed and other times there is not... ?? Time to do some research :). Either way... it didn't slow us down :).

Connor loving the swimming pool.

One of our friends always brings a little plastic pool to the beach for the younger kids. It is a fabulous idea.. they love it!

Abigail boogie - boarding with a "new friend."

The waves were great this time! I only saw Abigail long enough for her to stuff a sandwich in her face and she was off... back to the water. And of course, she is always finding new friends wherever we go.

Dallin was a little more mellow today. But he enjoyed the water still :).

Maybe he was feeling a little like me... this seaweed is crazy!

Connor loves to chase the waves.

We stayed all day. 5 hours at the beach and we loved every minute.

Everyone slept well that night :).

It's that time again...

for Swim Lessons!

The kids are really loving swimming lessons again this year and are almost always eager to get out of bed for their 8:30 and 9:00 am lessons.

Dallin is working hard on floating on his back, his monsters arms, big kickers, and, of course, monkey-airplane-soldier. He loves and trusts Sis. Taylor (his swim teacher). It is amazing... she can get him to do things that he won't even come close to doing for me in the water. :)

Tonight at dinner he just couldn't understand why swimming had to end :).

Connor is a trooper. Every morning while the other two kids are finding their towels, he is loading up his bag with cars to get ready to go to swim. He quietly and patiently plays around the edges. Occasionally trying to stick a few fingers in too :).

Abigail is really loving swim, too. She is working hard at kicking with straight kicks and not "riding her bicycle" in the water :). Their class goal is to be able to swim across Sis Taylor's pool by Friday! A week and a half ago I would have told you NO WAY.. but today... well I think it just might happen. Abigail is also working hard on learning to roll over and breathe and then go again :). She is really having a good time ... especially because she has so many friends in her class :).

Way to go my little swimmers!!!

Hopefully soon your Mom won't have to worry as much in the pool. :)

Summer days...

Our summer has been lots of fun so far. We don't have many pictures... because Mom has been having fun playing with the kids too. We have spent many days at the pool... the beach... the park... the library... jumping on the trampoline... the bookstore... and indoors with movies (trying to escape the heat and the rain). The past two weeks have been a bit rainy and the weather has been a bit unpredictable ... but we have made the most of it. One of our favorite activities ... Tent City. The kids love to get out all of the extra sheets from the linen closet and the heaviest books we can find (thanks John for letting us use all of your Ortho books).... and before you know it ... we have tent city all over the family room. At one point last week we finally moved tent city to the play room so we could actually use the kitchen chairs for dinner :). After the city has been built the kids run and grab all kinds of stuff... books, dolls, cars, board games... and we spend the afternoon playing in our tent. Sometimes (when Mom is feeling nice) we even get to watch a movie and popcorn inside our tent!

Hopefully I will be able to get some pictures this next week to share :).

Hope you are all enjoying your summer days too.

I can't believe it... only 6 more weeks until school starts again!

Happy 4th of July!

Our 4th was a little quieter than normal this year... it was Sunday :). But we did have some friends over to play and enjoyed some ribs and flag cake. No fireworks for us this year... but we still had a great time spending time with our friends and celebrating the freedoms we all enjoy.