Playing at the Neighborhood Pool

Take Me Out to the Ball Game...

We have decided to make the most of our time with our Dad before he heads back to school.  So, Thursday we headed to the Astros game.   From singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" to watching some pretty amazing plays by the Astros ... We all had a great time!

WE LOVE CAMPING!

We had a little unfinished business to take care of in San Antonio, so we decided to make a weekend vacation out of it.  We love Garner State Park!  The weather was great, the bugs were minimal, and the treats were plentiful. :)  What more can you ask for?  

John and his troops setting up camp.

This is how Connor spent most of his time around the campfire ... 

in his porta-crib with balls.  

He was happy most of the time :).  

Abby and Dallin helping setup their tent. 

The Campfire Master.  Teaching the kids the importance of little kindling, little wood, medium wood, the teepee and the log cabin.  Abby is now well versed in the ways of fire building - thanks to her Daddy :).  

[can't figure out why this one wants to be underlined... 

oh well, I give up :)]

Dancing the night away at the "Pavilion Dance"

Making Smores and Roasting Starbursts

 (thanks Auntie Becca for the tip)

Two happy boys after a pretty good nights rest.

Just getting started on our mid-morning walk.  

John, Abby and Dallin at the "Overlook"

Poor Dallin... his little ankle was so swollen from fire ant bites, he spent most of the hike in a pack. I don't think he minded too much :).  Shade, sitting, enjoying the sights... without any effort :).  

"Overlook #2" 

Checking out the map

Downhill from here... Hooray!

Abby got a little tired toward the end.  John finally gave in and let her ride on his shoulders up the last hill.   I don't know how he does it!  I was tired!!!  At this point we had been hiking for a little over 2 hours.  

After lunch, We headed down to the river - to cool off and rest a little :).  

Abby loved to float around and find "Friends."  More like ... hover around until someone decided to talk to her :).  She is such a social butterfly ... always finding friends where ever we go. 

After Daddy pushed them in the boat for awhile ... he got a turn of his own.  

We love Garner State Park!!!  We had a great weekend!

From treats to sunburns we loved it all.  

We really have to stop going back to San Antonio... Pearland is never going to feel like home.  :)

Our New "Home Sweet Home"

Our new house ... soon to be "Home Sweet Home" 

Our little sitter ... Connor is officially sitting really well and scooting across the floor these days.  It is the end of leaving him on a blanket.  He is official a mobile baby :). 

Our newest favorite toy... LEGOS!!!  The kids are loving creating all kinds of things with their new legos.  While trying to find the Mac stores in the area, we stumbled upon the LEGO store.  The kids were able to fill a bucket full of whatever legos they wanted (great idea!).  

Enjoying the weather.... Monday we decided to time the walk from our house to Abby's new school.  It is a little longer than I thought it would be, but it will be good me :).  If we are late however... we will be jumping in the car :).  

FHE activity: After a short lesson we headed to the park for Family Night.  Our new neighborhood has tons of these little parks all over the place.  The kids are in heaven.  

Tuesday morning we headed out to the Splash park only to find it was shut off.  The matinence man said they ran out of chlorine... what???  What waterpark runs out of chlorine??  I guess the public ones do :).  So after playing on the playground for about 40 minutes the kids were dripping with sweat and we decided to head home to the sprinkler.  

Afternoon Fun:  Later after lunch, we headed out to a new park across town.  It was nice to get out ... enjoy the weather... find more park toys.... swing on the swings... practice our baseball skills, and enjoy some melon.  The mosquitos were not on our favorites list.. but still part of the experience.  :)  

So far ... Pearland has been good to us.  We'll see how the rest of the summer goes :).  

Oh My Goodness!!

I can't believe how long it has been since I have updated this blog.  I am terrible.  I am so sorry.  Hopefully, now that things are slowing down a bit I will be able to catch up and start anew :).  I am afraid too much as past in the last 3 months to document it all, but I will hit on the highlights ... hopefully.  

First... my baby is losing her teeth!!!  Can you believe it???  She lost two teeth in a matter of one week.  We are hoping the rest don't follow as quickly.  :)  However, Abby was very excited to learn about the tooth fairy - who I have been told is "so tiny she can crawl in my jammies!!"

Preschool Graduation:  I really had a hard time with this one.  My baby is really growing up... it is official.  Abigail is done with Preschool and moving on to Kindergarten. (We officially registered her today) I can't believe how fast the time has gone by.  I know she is ready for school ... Ready for a challenge ... and ready to be rid of Mom :).  

Saying Goodbye:  Too many friends to say "Thanks" to for all the years of memories and fun - but we tried.  We really are sad to leave San Antonio.  We have made so many wonderful friends here... and San Antonio has really become "home" to us and our little family.  Thank you to so many of you for being there for us ... to cry with... to play with...  to laugh with ... and to be best of friends.

Our final week in town we had to clean the house. We moved our stuff to Houston the weekend before - I know - Crazy.  But we had a lot to do the next week with all the graduation festivities - So, we moved and then came back to clean and celebrate.  Here we are just minutes before the new owners arrived.  I must say...  it was hard to leave my little house.  It truly had become our "home."  We will never forget our little house on Fishers Hill :).  

GRADUATION!!!!  The big day has finally come.  John is officially a dentist!!!  We are so proud of him and all of his efforts.  He has done incredibly well the past four years.  Congrats, John!  Now we are moving on to another chapter... Residency!  John will be starting an Orthodontic Residency in Houston this summer.  Only two more years to go!!  I know you can do it, John!  

We were so blessed to have my Dad come down to help us move.  He was a tremendous help and it is always fun for the kids to spend some time with Papa.  Thanks Dad for making the effort - we really appreciated it!   Please come back to Houston soon :).  

Other news... besides graduations and moving... Connor has two teeth!!  Hooray!!  One step closer to real table food :).  Here he is with a basket full of toys (thank you, Abby) - happy as can be.  All the kids were really good to entertain themselves while we have been packing and unpacking  for weeks :). 

I think that catches us up for now... I will soon be posting pics of the new place.  Stay tuned ... :)