BEACH

Another great family vacation at Rockport has come and gone. We left this year wishing we had another day to spend at the beach. We took Owen with us this year and the kids really enjoyed having their cousin come along.
Zoe and Owen had their own room. They spent most of their time at the beach house with the door closed pretending one thing or another. We didn't take many toys but that didn't seem to matter. Owen's little imagination led the way. Several times I would go take a peek and they were crouched behind one of the twin beds, piled high with their gear, Owen behind the wheel taking them on a journey. The said wheel was an extend-an-arm type gadget that is designed to help pick items up off the floor. In addition to being a steering wheel the "picker" had many functions during our stay. Rhett got in on the action chasing the kids around pretending to gobble them up with his mechanical hand. Henry was especially skilled at getting the clamps caught in his sister's hair and just issuing a general amount of grief to his cousin via the "picker".

This vacation was just as it should be, relaxing and enjoyable for everyone. I won't be needing a vacation from my vacation.

Reading

One of my professional summer goals is to read as many books as possible from the Texas Librarians Bluebonnet list and the Texas Lone Star book list. I picked up Diamond Willow from the library today. Flipping through the book I was first drawn to the arrangement of the words. Most of the story is told through diamond-shaped poems. Once I got the book home I read that each poem has a hidden message inside. I think it should be pretty interesting.

Daddy's Day

Franklin Barbecue

Krauss Springs

Two cutie girls headed to their camp's splash day.

Man, doesn't Benny look old!

10 year anniversary of our summer girls' trip

Girls trip 2010.

The last time we were all together, July 2008.

Highlights from this year:

We had an excellent view of the ocean from our pad.

We had the best dinner out ever thanks to Neely.

Everyone was rested (not sick) Sunday morning.

Bree was more concerned about the frequency of our sunblock application instead of how often we were refilling our drinks.

Adventures in Necklace Making

This should be me asleep. We went to Sea of Beads to make a necklace for Hannah's 5th birthday. The vision I had in my head was simple. A little piece of rope and some letter beads, tie a knot at the end and we're done. Somehow $41 later I left with two necklaces, neither of which Zoe helped string one bead.

There were a few this isn't going as I planned moments, but I was really trying to roll with it. Our only letter choice were these tiny beads so we picked out our H-A-N-N-A-H & Z-O-E and I thought we could shape our next beads based on these. Z didn't think that was a good idea. From the beginning Zoe was insistent on purchasing pink beads for her necklace and blue beads for Hannah's. When the colored beads she picked out were much larger than the letter beads we returned the letter beads and decided we were not making a name necklace after all. This probably should have been the point that I nixed the whole plan but I didn't.

We did end up with two matching necklaces that were homemade, not really by us, and I guess that was the point. So I guess I learned that making a necklace can take quite a few tools and that bead shops aren't selling the same plastic beads I can find at Oriental Trading. Also, not shocking, but friendly women just trying to be helpful can be so frightening to my almost 4 year-old that it takes all the fun out of a very fun activity. Period

We went to Granbury this past weekend and the kids stayed with Jackie in Ft. Worth. There wasn't a lot happening in Granbury but the point was to relax. There was plenty of window shopping and browsing through stores. It was very common to find kid sized shirts that said things like, save the drama for mama and sshhhh....I'm hunting with grandpa. I didn't see anything I couldn't live without except a very cool retractable pirate knife. We had to get two for each of my little swashbucklers. We also rented a jet ski and cruised around Lake Granbury.

Jackie wore the kids out with lots of swimming, baking, and cuddling with a little puppy they happened to find at the park Saturday morning. I don't think they really wanted to come home with me on Sunday.

Today we had a day filled with play at The Children's Museum . I love how I can't tear Zoe out of the Museum. She's going, going, going. As soon as we step outside onto the sidewalk she is so tired she can barely take a step. All of a sudden, we're hungry, thirsty, blah-blah. It took cookies, a race, a piggy back ride, and plenty of threatening to finally get her back to the car. SUMMERTIME!