Goodbye Summer

Well, it's time to say goodbye to summer.  We had lots of fun, much of which I have blogged about already.  Here are just some of the "everyday" experiences we had this summer (the things not glamorous enough to get their own blog post)!

We grocery shopped (despite protests):

We started cooking together more.  Our specialty?  Friday night pizzas!

We also made "pizza rolls" one night:

We had tea parties...

...and went to the Thinkery, where the kids could have their funny faces projected on a big screen for all to marvel over:

We spent lots of time getting wrinkly in the water, whether it was at the pool or the water park:

Every Wednesday morning when I picked them up from their dad's was "Workout Wednesday."  The routine included breakfast at Dunkin Donuts before the play room opened at the gym.  Apparently that makes me mom of the year:

We made a movie:

And the most exciting thing we did all summer was... YARDWORK!  Ha ha!

I must have worked them hard because we also had several "crashes" throughout the summer:

Now it's time for BACK TO SCHOOL!

SplashFest

I took the kids to Round Rock's "SplashFest" and they had a ton of fun going down the inflatable water slides. I took lots of fun pictures, but here are some highlights:

Afterwards they showed "Jumanji" in the park, which was really fun too.  Gotta love summer days!

 

Hawaiian Falls

A new water park just opened this summer about 5 minutes from our house. We splurged on the season passes, so we have been going at least once a week this summer to get our money's worth! We have spent our summer in their pool, the lazy river, and the wave pool... but Chase has been too nervous to try any of the water slides. Today I figured out a way to get him to go. Get his sister to go down first!

I took her up with me and Chase waited for us at the bottom.  She was really excited about it all the way up the stairs, and then got a little nervous once we got to the top.  I had to go down the slide first so I could tell the lifeguard at the bottom to catch her when she came out after me.  I was nervous she would chicken out on me after I went down (since I had to leave her up there alone and couldn't give her a little "push"), but my brave girl did it!  I was so proud.

Once Chase saw how much fun we had he decided to give it a try.  I must admit, I was a little nervous he would chicken out when I saw his wheels turning at the top...

...but he had a blast!

We all went down that same slide several more times.  I am so happy I finally got him to try it.  Now maybe we can try some more!

 

Summer Reading

This summer the kids and I all participated in our library's summer reading program.  We each were assigned a different colored team and we worked to earn as many reading hours for our team as possible.  In our house Chase got first place, I got second and Chloe was a close third.  We all got really into it.  Even I read way more than I normally do!

At the end of the summer we went to their Summer Reading Carnival, where they revealed the winning team!

Overall, Chase's team won first place, Chloe's won second and mine came in dead last.  Ah, well....

The party was fun!

The kids played tons of games and walked away with lots of prizes (74 stickers and 2 free books, to be exact)!

But my favorite part of the carnival was the dress-up photo booth.  That had my name written all over it!  I love this photo of us!

Sums us up perfectly!

 

Hunter Jumper Horse Show

I don't know if you remember, but for Chase's birthday I took him to a Harlem Globetrotters game, and it was so amazing that I decided to start giving birthday "experiences" for the kids instead of just "stuff."  I'm hoping I can make it a tradition (or at least enjoy it until they stop wanting to hang out with me).  After Chase had his birthday "experience," Chloe kept asking what her birthday experience was going to be.  Of course a lot of thought has to go into what kind of experience would be the most exciting for them, and for Chloe it was pretty easy to zero in on a target:  My daughter loves horses.  I'm sure I've mentioned that before.

So today we had our "girlz day" and went to a hunter jumper horse show.  I know very little about that world, so it was a new experience for both of us.

I picked her up from her dad's and we started our day with freshly painted toenails and a pizza lunch (her choice), and then headed to the horse show!

We spent a lot of time just walking around and looking at the horses in their stalls and watching them warm up:

Chloe's favorite horse was one that we found chewing on his stall.  She found him so absolutely hilarious that we had to go back to see him later in the day, only this time he had found something more edible to munch on.  Still, she begged me to take his picture so she could remember him forever.  Meet Oliver:

We also watched some of the competition, and we both decided this one was the prettiest horse we saw:

After awhile it was time to go and Chloe turned to me and said, "Mom, will I ever see these horses again?"  I told her she probably wouldn't see these exact same horses again, but that there would be other horses.  The poor girl burst into tears:

(Only I would take a picture of this moment.  But I promise I did it on the sly!)

Fortunately, frozen yogurt cures everything:

To end our super fun day we curled up on the couch and watched a horse movie together.  Chloe loved her "girlz day," and asked if we could have another one some time.  Well of course!  

I love both my babies so much!  Quality one-on-one time with each of them is really awesome to have every once in awhile.

 

Family Vacation

For our annual summer family vacation, we decided to explore east Texas and into Louisiana.  Since my friend Katie and her daughter Ashlyn live in Houston, we picked them up on the way and did a joint trip!  It was packed with adventure.  The kids were so excited when we left for Houston...

...and Mom was excited we made it there without killing each other:

After staying the night at Katie & Ashlyn's we squeezed all the booster seats into Katie's car and hit the road!

First stop: Beaumont.  Day 1 was pretty chill....  Picnic lunch, sprinkler pad, hotel check-in, and POOL TIME!

I should mention we also had dinner at a fantastic seafood place that was recommended to Katie, and the kids thought we had completely lost our minds:

I thought all I would be able to get the kids to do was take pictures with the crabs...

...but all three kids actually tried it!  We couldn't believe it.  Here are the results of the taste test:

Chase's "half-way" thumb rotated to a "thumb's up" only after Ashlyn gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up.  Chloe's vote was a hard thumbs down.  She did not give in to peer pressure!

The next morning we headed to Port Arthur and walked the boardwalk:

And then after lunch we headed to Orange to check out the Shangri La Botanical Gardens.  It was hot:

We interrupt this post for an obligatory crazy family selfie:

We all felt much cooler when we got on the boat for the swamp tour (as long as the boat was moving)!

We were looking really hard for gators but we didn't see any.

We did, however, see some amazing trees and other wildlife.

After the gardens we headed into Louisiana to check out a horse race.  Chloe loves horses, so she definitely inspired this part of the trip (and she was so excited)!

There were storms in the area so the races were delayed.  The kids waited pretty patiently:

Ice cream helped:

And suckers (which they got from a nice man on one of the horses they got to pet):

While we waited we also checked out the area (stalls? stables?) where the horses and riders waited for the storm to pass:

Chloe picked out her favorite horse (of course she picked the purple one!)...

I totally should have bet on it, too, because it WON the first race!  She thought that was so cool. 

We got up close and personal to watch the last race (well, it wasn't the last race of the night, but it was the last one for us because it was getting late):

The next day we headed back to Houston to check out the Barnum & Bailey circus!

We saw tigers...

...and high wire acts...

...and a woman shot out of a cannon...

...and of course the elephants!

It was a slightly crazy weekend but the kids had a blast and the moms had fun, too (though we are definitely ready for a little R&R)!

The kids took a ton of pictures with their camera and tablet, too.  I created a Shutterfly site for all kid pics from here on out, but you have to have permission to view it.  Contact me if you want to see them and I'll add you to the site!