Lake Whitney State Park

During our vacation we spent a wonderful day at Lake Whitney State Park. They have a nice sandy beach (for a lake beach) and you have to walk a long way into the water before it gets deep. Erin and Garrett had a great time playing in the sand, even though we didn't bother bringing any beach toys. I thought they would spend more time in the water, but apparently the sand is much more interesting than the water. Here are some pictures:

Garrett tried to eat some sand. If you look closely you can see sand on his tongue.

Daddy had to help him get the sand out.

After showering and changing, I took pictures of the kids in these beautiful surroundings. Here are some of my favorites.

We had a lot of fun at this beautiful state park.

I'm back, finally!

School is back in session, so now I have more time to update my blog. We were very busy the last month of summer, trying to get all our fun in before school starts. We had a great time staying at some cabins at this lodge on Lake Whitney, TX. Erin and Daddy went fishing. This picture was taken from outside our cabin.

They didn't catch any fish, but they had fun trying.

And this is another cute Daddy/Daughter picture from our deck. It was a beautiful view.

We spent a lot of time at the pool.

And enjoyed beautiful views of Lake Whitney, even if it was 12 feet below normal. Lake Whitney is right on the edge of the severe drought situation in Austin and San Antonio. The peer in the picture below should be much closer to level than this sharp drop. They had to close the peer.

But the lake was beautiful anyway. Check out these pictures.

Next time, I'll post pictures from Lake Whitney State Park.

This is why I haven't been blogging

I realize I haven't been updating my blog as much as I used to. One reason is that we have been spending a lot of time at our community pool(provided by our Home Owner's Association). It's the only thing to do when the temperature is over 100 degrees day after day. Garrett has recently learned to "swim" using his life jacket built in to his swim suit. He can actually get around the pool by kicking his legs. He loves the freedom and I think it's good therapy for his balance and muscle coordination.

Erin can now swim without a life jacket and spends most of her time either trying to swim under water or jumping off the side of the pool. Here are some cool jumping pictures.

Now that you've seen the pictures, which would you rather be doing: spending time at the pool or blogging?.......That's what I thought.

Father's Day Spa Therapy

I know I'm a little late on the Father's Day post. I've been a little lax in updating my blog in general. It's hard to keep routine in the summer. Between volunteering for Vacation Bible School (which was exhausting) last week, going to the swimming pool almost every day, etc., etc., I just haven't found much time to blog. So, one week after the fact, here is my Father's Day post.

Erin decided it would be a good idea to give Daddy a spa treatment on Father's Day. She thought of all these ideas herself. I have no idea where some of this stuff came from, but here it is.

Father's Day Spa Treatment

Step by Step

By Erin

Step 1: Cool Daddy's head with a nice baby wipe and feed him some grapes.

Step 2: Put toe sponges between Daddy's toes (a therapy we used to do to Garrett to improve coordination).

Step 3: Massage Daddy's hands and feet with nice smelling lotion, then wipe clean with a baby wipe. Notice the stuffed animal in Daddy's arms. Also part of the spa treatment.

Step 5: Give Daddy a nice shoulder massage.

There you have it. If you follow these steps, this spa therapy is guaranteed to give your father much more joy and relaxation than the most expensive treatment at a real spa.

Cheap Summer Fun

Summer is here and we have been exploring new and exciting (and cheap!) ways to have fun. This activity is about as cheap as it gets and both kids had a lot of fun with it. We made "kites" out of plastic shopping bags. We just tied some fishing line (but I'm sure any string will do) around the handles and ran around the back yard. There was some wind that day, so the kites flew pretty well, but when the wind was calm, the kids made their own wind by running.

Erin pretended her kite was a circus performer and made it do "tricks." She would order it to "Go up," "Fly in a circle," and "Come back." It was quite amusing.

I also invested $9 in a Slip-N-Slide. That's about the most fun you can have in the back yard. Garrett spent most of his time playing in the water that jetted up through the holes.

Erin spent her time slippin' and slidin'.

First day of swim class

Erin had her first swim class today. She will go once a week almost all summer. She was so excited she has been asking "How many more days until swim class?" for weeks. Here she is waiting for swim class to begin.

And here she is in the water with the instructor.

This is a beginning class. There are two other kids in the class in addition to Erin. The goal of the class is to be able to put your face in the water and swim 10 feet using the freestyle stroke. At the end of the first class, the instructor said that all three kids have already mastered

several of the class goals, so they may learn a few more skills beyond beginners. That would be great.

After the swim class, we went to a nearby bouncy house play area. The kids wore themselves out on all the bouncy houses.

It was a really fun day.

How Quickly they Grow

In the blink of an eye, the first school year for both kids is over. Here was Erin on the first day of Kindergarten, all excited to start school.

And here is Erin on the last day of school, now able to read and write and has a group of friends all her own (not Mom and Dad's friends' kids).

This was Garrett on his first day of preschool.

Notice how nervous he looks. He didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew something was different and he wasn't sure if he was going to like it. This is Garrett on the last week of school.

All happy and relaxed and loving life. What a difference a school year makes. And even more new adventures in learning will await them next school year.

Sad Last Day of School

Most kids are happy to have summer vacation, but not Erin. She loved her Kindergarten friends and teacher. It was a safe, familiar environment and she enjoyed going to school every day. She's a bit apprehensive about going to first grade and has told her Kindergarten teacher that she doesn't want to graduate from Kindergarten.
Wednesday was the last day of school. There was an award ceremony where Erin earned the Reading Olympics Gold Medal, Superstar Math Award, Academic Achievement Award, and a Commended Attendance Award (I think she missed one day). She is very proud of all her awards. She also brought home a memory book that she has been working on all year. It's a collection of pictures from various events throughout the school year that the kids pasted onto construction paper, then the teacher laminated them to preserve them forever. It was a great keepsake. After the award ceremony, Erin said goodbye to all her friends. Here are some pictures from her last day.

Erin and Shannon looking at their memory books.

And here she is with her beloved teacher, Mrs. Wilsie. Notice the necklace and earrings Mrs. Wilsie is wearing. That was Erin's teacher gift to her.

After Erin left school and got home, it took about 30 minutes before it really sank in that Kindergarten was over. Erin started crying and whaling that she missed her friends. We looked at her memory book together so she could remember the good times, but that just made her cry more. We played the DVD the teacher sent home of all the pictures from the school year. Erin just sobbed and sobbed about how she didn't want Kindergarten to end. After some good tears and talking about her classmates, she calmed down and was able to accept that play dates with her friends during the summer would be good enough.

Some kids jump for joy at the last day of school. My Erin bawled her eyes out.

Zoo Field Trip at Last

Garrett's field trip to the zoo that was cancelled a few weeks ago because of the swine flu was rescheduled for today. I went with him and his classmates and we had a great time. We rode in a big bus and saw lots of cool animals. Here are some highlights.

We got to feed parakeets with bird seed on a stick.

And there were some barnyard animals to pet.

This is how Garrett psychs out a goat:

Garrett: "Look over there!"

Goat: "Where?"

Garrett: "Ha Ha!! Made you look."

Goat: "That's not fuh-uh-uh-uh-uh-ny."

Sometimes, it was hard to tell who was observing whom. This flamingo stared at us almost as long as we stared at him.

Then there was the non-animal fun, like riding on the carousel.

And getting water sprayed on him from a water tank.

And this is one of my favorite Garrett pictures ever. I took it outside the orangutan exhibit. It looks like a fake background, but it's not. There is no glass divider between Garrett and the exhibit. The lighting just makes it look surreal.

I am so glad we got to have our field trip to the zoo. It isn't often that Garrett and I get to do something by ourselves. It was a great Mommy/Son bonding experience.