Vacation

Here it is for those who have been asking about our vacation. We had a good time in San Antonio and were not ready to come home. Every summer we try to make a trip to Sea World San Antonio. We have so much fun and each time we go, Anna is able to experience something new. We have gone from her not really knowing what was going on around her, to just watching the shows, to riding rides, to feeding the animals, to having Dinner with Shamu. In a couple of years, she will be old enoughto do the Baluga interactive program where she gets in a wet suit and swims with the Balugas! She is growing up so fast. In fact I will posting in a couple of weeks about her birthday bash. She will be 6 years old!!! More on that and my baby starting Kindergarten later.

As much as I want to share all of the pictures with you, I will TRY to hit the high points, but we did a lot, so be patient with the pics and I hope you enjoy.

Our first stop was the Alamo. We took the little tour and we learned all about how Santa Ana had ultimately been captured by Stephen F. Austin and his men. Anna responded simply with "Well, if they captured Santa, who will bring us presents at Christmas?"

Out of the mouths of babes!

A fun tradition we have is that as soon as we get to our hotel, Anna gets to jump on the beds (since she doesn't get to at home)

As we entered Sea World

Yeehaw!

This sealion show is great! The Walrus was HUGE. This picture does not do him justice!

After the show, we went and fed the sealions!

Right next to the sealions were the Lorikeets, so we fed them too!

Tim is not so sure about this!

Anna on the other hand loved it!

This is me taking a pic of my arm with 4 birds on it!

I don't do rollercoasters, but look at my 2 crazy people. Anna actually held her arms up the whole time! This was the first time she has been tall enough to ride this rollercoaster. She has had her eye on it and she barely made it at 41.5 inches with her tennis shoes boosting her to 42!

Off to feed the dolphins!

They come right up and you can pet them while feeding them!

Anna and her daddy always climb to the top of this ropes course. They climbed though all that you see behind her. I am so glad this has become a daddy and Anna thing! I get to watch from the safety of the ground below!

This is the Baluga and Dolphin show. PHENOMENAL! The week after we left, the 2 female belugas delivered their babies within hours of each other!

Our new thing we added this year was having dinner backstage where they keep the Killer Whales. Many of you have asked how close we actually got to be to the whales. Well, how would you like eating dinner with this as your scenery. Well worth the money!

The dinner tables are actually right there by the pool

Here they are waving good-bye to us!

Our last shot of the trip!

This was such a fun trip! We bought season passes this year, so if any of you are ever in the area and want to take a quick trip south, let us know. It will be our pleasure to let you in on our fun vacation spot!

Drama Queen

For those who have not been updated on Anna's most recent hobby, here is a little glimpse into what she has been doing. When Tim started Grad school and was competing his master's in a year (yes I said a year...and he has done it!) Anyways, he decided he could not coach her soccer team anymore and she did not want to play if daddy was not going to coach. So, I asked her what she thought she might want to do, if anything. She said "I want to take singing classes!" This was music to my ears(no pun intended) So as to not bore you with all of the legistics and how it all came about, a friend of ours told her about a local theater that was putting on "The Sound Of Music" and that she should try out. She did, and then was born Gretl Von Trapp. She did so well and really enjoyed the whole process, practices, hair and makeup, costumes, etc. When SOM was over, she wanted to know what was next. We, as her responsible (at least we try) parents decided to make her take at least a month break between plays.

Well, July rolled around and we signed her up for a drama camp put on by Missoula Children's Theater. It is a week long camp and at the end of the week they put on 2 performances. This summer the play was "The Little Mermaid." Lest you be confused, this was NOT the Little Mermaid you and I grew up watching. In fact the only thing similar was that the kids were "little" and there were "mermaids" in it. Anyways, she audtioned and got the part of a Seahorse. She had a special singing part and had so much fun! Today were the performances and it was so cute.

I think she has found something that she not only enjoys, but seems to be talented in! Next, she is off to "Seussical: The Musical" and "The King And I" auditions in the fall. We never thought our little drama queen would actually be a "Drama Queen!" She loves it, and we have fun watching our little star in the making!

Here she is getting her microphone put on for the first SOM performance

"Gretl" before the show!

The family Von Trapp

Being silly after the showThe Little Mermaid Cast -she is the 2nd seahorse from the right:)

Our little Seahorse!

Family Getogether

I cannot tell you how long it has been since all of my immediate family was at the same place at the same time! Ok, I guess I can tell you...it was this past week. My brother-in-law will be deployed in the next few months and he and my sister and their kiddos came for a visit from Colorado. We had a good time catching up and letting the kids play. My brother and his wife came down from north Dallas to hang out too with their new little man! There is not a whole lot to report except that we hated to see everyine go. Here are a few pictures we took at my parent's house on Sunday! Enjoy!

Me, Tim & Anna

Ben(my brother), his wife & new son

Darla(my sister), her hubby & kids

The Folks

All the girls

All the boys

The whole gang

What a good lookin' bunch, huh? We had a good time! I will be posting tons of pictures over the course of the next few weeks. "Sorry" if you hate pictures, "you're welcome" if you like them!

Echo (echo, echo)Echo (echo, echo)

Hello to all of my 2 readers out there:) I am alive and well and enjoying summer. I feel busier now than before summer! I have a bunch of fun pictures to post and funny stories to tell, but they have not been put together in a coherent way yet. So...until then, this will have to do so that you know I have not fallen off the face of the earth. My sister and her family are here from Colorado so I will be wrapped up for the next 5 days, but you have waited longer than that before:)
Anyways, until then, I will leave you with this important question....What words of wisdom can any of you share about how you keep up with your laundry. I am DROWNING!!!! I don't know how it got this way. It has not always been like this, but oh my gosh, really? There are only three of us!!! Seriously, any help will be greatly appreciated, even if all you do is tell me your laundry issues are just as bad! Love you all and will post soon.....I pinky promise!

Thank You!

I will be back with a longer post about the craziness that is my life. But for now, I want to remind you to thank a teacher! This is teacher appreciation week and let me just say that having been a classroom teacher and now as a preschool director, teachers make the world go around! So, if you are reading this and you are a teacher......THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!! Your hard work does not go unoticed! I had a sweet mom leave a goodie on my desk today in my office! A sweet thank you goes a long way....and a little chocolate doesn't hurt!

New Every Morning!

I love how God uses little things around us to remind us how in control He ALWAYS is. As Anna and I hustled out the door this morning, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. In the blur of everything else, I noticed that the flowers I planted last summer were in full bloom. Now, let me just pause and say that I do NOT have a green thumb, or any other green fingers for that matter. About a week ago, I spent an hour in the flower bed pulling weeds the size of my non-green thumb! I was prepping the ground to plant some more flowers in the place of my dead ones....or at least so I thought, until this morning! They were a beautiful purple, pink, lavender (don't ask me what they are called, because I have No idea!) I stood there just staring at them as Anna ooohed and aaahed at the beautiful sight before us! I could not help but think that these flowers should not be here. After the weeds I saw and the bad soil they were in, there was no logical reason why these flowers were back in full bloom. Wow, isn't that how we are? We fill our lives(flower beds) wil so much junk(weeds) and there is really no reason that we should ever be back in full bloom(in the sight of God). God, however, weeds us and prunes the junk and allows us to be back in full bloom for Him. What a blessing! Our lives have been so busy over the past couple of months(I will share more later) that it was so nice to be slowed down by blooming flowers and to be reminded by my Maker that I too need weeding and can be blooming for His glory! Don't you just love the God we serve?

Ahhhh! Where do the years go?

I really have no insightful, deep thoughts to share this evening. I was going through some pictures for a scrapbook I am working on and I thought I would share some cute pictures I found. Thanks for indulging this nostalgic momma!

This is Anna decked out in her patriotic duds when we went to the airport to welcome home her uncle who had been deployed for a year!

My mom found her and one of her favorite dolls matching dresses. How do you resist?This is a first day of school shot We went to the circus for the 2nd anniversary of my 29th birthday this summer!Last but CERTAINLY not least, when you ask a 5 year old to give you their best "Game Face" just be ready for a good one! This was right before a soccer game!