It's 2013 and I've been MIA - July 2012

We've had a very busy year.  Once school starts, everything kind of gets put on the back burner.  It's now January 2nd and it's time to catch up on what we've been doing. 

July 2012

We spent a lot of time with Abby, my niece.  We also spent some time at the Splash Park.  They love going there.  Our new tradition is to go to the Splash Park and then head out for some ice cream. 

We took a little mini-vaca with my sister and her family.  My niece, Journey, has Cerebal Palsy (not sure if that is spelling correctly).  They have to go to Houston to the Texas Children's Hospital for check-ups periodically.  We decided to have some fun while we were there. 

This is Kinsley playing games with the volunteers at the hospital.  She was so sweet.  They all fell in love with her.

The hospital has a huge train display that we love to go and look at.  The last picture shows Super Man flying over the village.

Later on we made a trip out to the Museum of Natural Science.  They have a huge display of dinosaurs and they start with the creation of life from the earliest scientific point (ameobas...spelling?) all the way to when men became men via apes....yeah, okay. 

This guy was my favorite.  I love his expression.

Katie was scared the whole time, so poor Lindsey had to carry her.

This is the guy I wanted to see.  Ol' TRex himself.  HUGE.

After the Science Museum, we walked over to the Children's Museum.  It was so crowded.  I may never want to go back.  I was miserable.  The kids were overwhelmed by everything.  There was just way to much for them to do that they couldn't decide on what they wanted to do or they wanted to do something different from the other and there was only one of me.  Uncle Tim went with the 2 toddlers into the toddler area upstairs.  Aunt B took Journey and Brendon with her, and I had the two big girls.

The toddler area is an entire floor.  You have to take off your shoes or put on booties.  My bro-in-law never takes his boots off so he had to wear blue booties over them to play with the girls.  What a sweet uncle.

After the museum visits, we went to our hotel to unwind from our very busy day. 

Time for the pool.

Later that evening we ordered pizza and enjoyed it together.

While we were on our vacation my Paw Paw Terry passed away.  He had been sick for a long time.  We loved him dearly.  He was one of the kindest men I've ever known.

I will always remember him on his bike in Illinois.

July 23rd was my munchkin's 3rd birthday.  We decided to spoil her rotten.

We went to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch and to play.  Then we went to the Bounce Zone and to Toys R Us.  I thought we would wear them out and they'd pass out on the way home, but no.  They were way to excited for a nap.

 Katie helping Kinsley up the steps.

When we got home, we had birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday to my sweet baby.

She'll get it right one of these days.

Later that week we went to Elise's Playhouse at Nutty Jerry's in Winnie.  The girls had soooooo much fun.  The only thing I didn't like was the off and on again of the shoes. 

 Yes, I was freaking out.  She was so high up.

 Some of our friends, Brant and Allana, met us out there.  Thank goodness, because Ms. Allana rode all of the rides with them.

 They had to stop the roller coaster after the first pass.  Kinsley was screaming.

 That's Katie in there all by herself. I remember riding on one of those when I was little.



Katie and I got to take a trip with my sister's church to see an Astro's game and to watch Mercy Me in concert.  It was a great time.

This is the train that moves when they make a homerun.  It didn't move much.

We ate soooooo much.  Hot dogs, lots of peanuts, cotton candy, and a sno-cone.

She was bored.

Praising God during the concert.  She loved it.

At around 10ish she was starting to come down off of the sugar high she was on.

Katie's first time to wash the dishes.

July was one of the busiest, funniest months we had this summer.  We were ready to go back to school once this month was over.  I hope my girls cherish the memories that we made together.