Deep in the Heart of Texas

The first week of June we headed south to Texas for Aunt Wendy's wedding to Mr. John and since we were going to be in Houston, why not drive over to Austin for a few days? This is such a difference between the East Coast and Texas. Here, I complain about driving someplace that is 30 minutes away but for some reason in Texas, three hours feels like nothing. Jim isn't quite on board with my thinking, surprise surprise. Incidentally, we also discovered our new favorite family resort, Lost Pines in Bastrop. We could have stayed a week and not done everything. For the most part the kids wanted to spend every waking moment in the pool. And "pool" by the way, hardly describes this mecca of water activities. A lazy river complete with your own inner-tubes  a sandy beach, kids pool, adult pool that I longingly looked at from afar and a ninety-five foot high twisty water slide. Can you guess where we spent 95% of our time? You would be correct. 

We finally arrived back in Houston for the highlight of the trip, Wendy's wedding!! She looked absolutely stunning and the service was one of the most heart-felt weddings I've ever attended. We kicked off the festivities with a family dinner at Aunt Tracey's where both boys attached themselves to sweet Elijah. They are still talking about how much fun they had and asking when we can go back to Elijah's house! I mean seriously, they asked me this morning when we were going back to their "big kid" cousin's house. 

The following evening Mr. Fred and Ms. Linda hosted a wonderful rehearsal dinner at their house. It would have been a perfect evening had one little stinker William not fallen head first into the pool while I was inside and John's sister-in-law had to rescue him. Needless to say I was a hot mess for the rest of the night. The one moment of hilarity came as I was collecting his wet clothes and he was wrapped in a big towel facing the stunned gathering of say 30 people? He unwrapped his towel like it was Superman's cape and flashed the entire party! I'll say it again, we are nothing if not classy!

Till Next Time, 

Frog & Toad

Labor Day, Plus Mini Golf! Cause, Why Not?

 We kicked off Labor Day weekend with a trip to Annapolis and a pirate ship adventure. I'm so glad that Jim was able to take off the day and join us because this really was the highlight of our summer. Hands down the best little pirate cruise two kids could hope for, we will be returning for sure! The kids were a little unsure about getting "tattoos" or mustaches painted on their face but when Pirate Rusty suggested a batman and superman tattoo they were on board. 

 The pirate "staff" were totally committed to their story and kept the kids engaged and active the whole time, from learning how to raise the jolly roger flag, to growling "arrrrrrgh"when they saw the dread Pirate Pete. They used a treasure map to find a clue in a bottle floating by our ship. They got to use their water canons to defeat the dread Pirate Pete, take his keys and then eventually hauled in the sunken treasure! There was pirate grog to drink and treasure to distribute. They kids were in heaven! And Will even stopped a moment while collecting his treasure to pick out a ring to give to mamma. It was sweet even if he took longer than any of the other pirates to collect his booty!

Post pirate adventure lunch!

What's the fun of having daddy home for a long weekend if there isn't wrestling involved, right? Well I'm glad he is the one to rough house with the kids because that is not exactly mamma's thing. The boys (all three of them) loved it of course and I'm just glad no one threw out their back. Yes, yes we're getting old and these are the nagging things I think about. 

A little blurry because they could hardly be still for even a second.

Some friends were sweet enough to host a little ice cream social in their back yard for the incoming St. Paul's three's class. We all had a ball catching up with friends and meeting some of the new families. Will was especially exited to see his little friend Lainey, whose family was hosting the party. 

And Monday we hit the pool for what might be our last visit of the summer and if I have my way the last time period. I'm trying to convince the kids to switch pools to one with actual bathrooms and locker rooms and a snack bar. So far we've taken two votes and I've lost twice. I'm considering a hostile coup come next summer if  our club doesn't start providing real bathrooms!

Here is Colin trying out his new "trick," holding his breath under water with out actually holding his nose. Big things going here people, big things. I will say, in the last few minutes before we left Colin tried out the back stroke and did an awesome, awesome job! Maybe a little back-stroker in our future? 

We capped off the weekend by having some great friends over for chicken bombs, smashed potatoes with bacon and super hero popsicles.  All said it was a great few days! Oh and here is the boys' favorite new joke, courtesy of one of the kids' popsicles.... What word is spelled incorrectly in the dictionary?....

... Incorrectly.  Its official, my sense of humor can be found on children's popsicles. 

And well, a week doesn't seem to go by with out a trip to a mini golf course and this week was no exeption. We tried a new (to us) course, Top Golf in Springfield today and brought a long a few friends with us to make it more fun. Aside from a few (too many) trips to the potty, one (accidental) club to the head and more than a few tears toward the end, a good time was had by all! Or at least I hope.

Till Next Time, 

Mamma, Toad & Frog

Busy Little Bees

We stayed closer to home for the rest of this week but kept up a busy pace with oodles of things to do, not to mention calamities that only two brave super heros could resolve! 

After a morning spent learning about dolphins at science "class" the boys spent the afternoon hitting the links! We took our darling little neighbors, Channing and Lyla to the near by mini golf course. I don't need to tell you how much the boys like mini golf, I know but Colin was giving Channing *8 years old* pointers. It was hilarious. We usually only play 9 holes at a time so playing a whopping 18 holes was exhausting for these little ones, thankfully Mamma was a sucker and bought everyone ice cream popsicles to boost moral. 

This is my favorite picture from the day. Four kids in four directions, pretty much sums it up! 

Thursday we were off to the National's game. We really have our routine down at this point. We arrive an hour early so that the boys can run roughshod on the kids' zone playscape. Then meander up the "escamalator" as Colin calls it to begin the gorging of ballpark food! This trip is was popcorn, peanuts, hotdogs, french fries and cotton candy. Oh and a vanilla milkshake to kick things off, natch! We got to see a few friends who stopped by to say hello which was fun and as always, we hung out with the best usher in the park, Mr. Mike. I didn't get a picture with the boys and Mr. Mike but that's a must for our next game. He is so sweet to the kids and even bought them both boxes of crackerjacks last game! 

Mr. JT comes to visit while Jim is getting drinks.
Will told him, "you're in my daddy's seat." Nice welcome.  

Friday we hosted an 80's dance party in the morning for Channing and Lyla and then headed over to the pool for lunch and a lazy afternoon. Later that evening we held our first family movie night with pizza and popcorn. The boys picked Wall-e which was a new movie to all of us. I must say, I feel like the boys miss out a little but just downloading a rental instead of roaming the aisles of blockbuster narrowing down the seemingly infinite choices. 

Saturday we had some fun friends over for a bbq. The boys husked their first corn! I'm a little embarrassed I haven't made them do it before now. Will whined about it (shocker I know) but all in all they did a great job!

And of course a little Saturday afternoon baseball practice before fall baseball classes with Coach John start back up!

We're off to North Carolina later next week for a long weekend with Tia (Colin's godmother) and Naya and Babs & Brent! We are all super excited for one last get away before school starts. I'm sure I'll have a million pictures upon our return. 

Till Next Time, 
Mamma, Frog & Toad