July 4th

We spent the 4th of July at home this year.  When we moved out here, everyone told us that fireworks were a big deal, but we couldn’t have anticipated how big.  We heard fireworks every night for a full week, and the actual 4th of July was like a war zone.  Booms were coming from every direction.  It turns out that Broady and Nathan were pretty terrified of the fireworks, so it made for a long week.

The evening before, we went down to the First Fridays event with free music and kids activities.  Nathan liked the race car.

On Saturday morning, Hannah and I did a flag craft.

That evening, our neighbors had a party and we went over there. There were lots of kids the same age running around.  We had a really good time.  Here is Nathan and his friend from across the street.

They loved the trampoline!

Here is Nathan preparing for fireworks.  Our neighbor put on a pretty good show, but he had one fall over and shoot towards the crowd and start a small grass fire. That was the tipping point for Nathan and I had to take him home.  It was probably for the best because I found Broady in a full panic when I got home.

Hannah liked the fireworks.  She had a big time at the party.  I think she ate about a dozen cupcakes.

This looks like it might become an annual neighborhood tradition.  Hopefully Nathan likes the fireworks better next year!

Galveston

In July, we headed down to Houston to celebrate O’s retirement.  We drove down on Friday and arrived just in time for the luncheon.  They threw him really nice party in return for his 35 years of service. 

After the party, we went to Devers for the weekend.  This was the last weekend before Candace, Kolby and MIcah left for Russia, so it was nice to spend some time with them. On Saturday, we went to Galveston and played at the beach.  This was the kid’s first time at the beach, and they had a great time.

Uncle Will helped the kids build a well fortified sand castle

Here are all the cousins with Aunt Candace (except Nathan)

It’s always a party when we all get together!

64th Annual Fling Reunion

The second weekend in June, just like I’ve done for the past 30 years, we headed to the lake for our family reunion.

Actually, the kids and I went down to my parents house the week before the reunion to get some more time in with all the family.

We did a little horse riding…

a little tractor riding…

and a little visiting with loved ones we don’t get to see that often.

Then, after all this fun, we hit a rough patch. My mom got a REALLY bad virus and I had to watch all the kids. A big thanks to O and Mimi for saving us on this one. I took all the kids (mine and my sisters) over to Devers while Mom fought the virus on her own. I ended up coming down with the same thing before we left for the lake and then Hannah had her own version of it a few days later. BUT, did we let it keep us down? No way!

On Friday, we headed to the lake and had a great weekend full of too much fun and too much sugar!

The kids both participated in the fish tournament this year and although they didn’t win, they each “caught” a fish.

Hannah wasn’t interested in fishing until I showed her the trophy she would win and then it was game on…she got serious.

Hannah and Betsy were pretty much inseparable all weekend. They fought as much as they played I think.

Here they are holding hands and jumping off the pier. I used to do this exact thing with my cousins off this same pier. Pretty neat.

Little boy had a great time, too.

He really loved the golf carts.

Then on Sunday, Hannah and Nathan led us in song before my Dad led the devotional. We didn’t think they would sing, but they didn’t shy away from the microphone and the approximately 100+ crowd of Flings.

We were so proud of my dad for speaking so honestly about his struggles and his faith with the family. It was a true testimony of the redemptive work of Christ and it had a tremendous impact. Thanks, Dad!

Dance Recital

Hannah had her first ballet recital back in June and it was OH. SO. CUTE! She was so precious up on stage and knew all the steps for both her routines, tap and jazz. I have to admit I cried the whole time during the ballet dance. They danced to Come to Jesus by Chris Rice and although it sounds cheesy….trust me…if you where there, you would have cried to.

We gave her flowers after her performance and she thought that was the best thing ever.

She was also very proud of her medal!

Good job, Hannah Mae!

Memorial Day in the Hill Country

Sorry for the radio silence on the blog.  We’ve had a busy summer and now its time to catch up on some posts.

To kick off the summer, we had a great time at Lake LBJ with some friends over the Memorial Day weekend.  We all got there on Friday afternoon/evening and stayed through Sunday morning.  It rained on and off which kept the temperature cool, and it was just nice to get away and catch up with some good friends.  This was also the first time for all our kids to play together, and they had a blast.  We didn’t do a whole lot, just sunned by the lake, played with the kids, took boat and tractor rides (Thanks Papa Steve!), and generally just ate too much.  In the evenings, we put the kids to bed and stayed up late visiting and talking.  We try our best to relive our college days when we get the chance.  We didn’t take many pictures but here are a few that we stole from Carrie.

Hannah LOVES baby Micah.  We couldn’t keep her away from him.

We ate outside several times which was nice.

Nathan stayed busy on his bike.

The lawn tractor was popular

Group shot

Special thanks to the Zinneckers for hosting us!!  Hopefully this becomes a Memorial Day tradition.

Mother’s Day

We celebrated Mother’s Day with a lazy Sunday.  The kids and I made Jennifer breakfast and we ate in the “fancy room.”

Broady found his usual spot under the table

Jennifer - We are so thankful for everything you do for our family.  We love your warm, generous heart and your many talents. You take care of us, keep us fed, dressed, and clean.  You are the perfect mother for our kids, always teaching, protecting, and having fun with them.  I don’t know what we would do without you.

Thanks also to all the other mothers in our lives.  We love you!

Dinosaur Valley Day Trip

On the Saturday before Mother’s Day, we took the kids and Broady down to Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose for a day trip.  We left the house around 8:30 and got back home that evening around 6:30. It was a long day but we had a great time.  The weather was beautiful, mid 80’s with a breeze. 

The first thing we did when we got there was take a hike up to a scenic overlook at the top of the park.  I think it ended up being a little more than 1.5 miles.  Hannah hiked the whole thing and Nathan alternated between hiking and riding in the backpack.  Here are some pictures of our hike

Great view down to the Paluxy River with a few fishermen

Hannah likes to be the line leader

We took a break at the top and had some snacks

Broady had a great time.  We debated over bringing him but were glad we did in the end.

After we got back down to the river, we decided our hikers were pooped and we needed to head back to the car. We could either finish the loop, backtrack to the trailhead, or take a shortcut across the river.  We opted to cross the river.

Here are the girls climbing out of the river

We ended up getting kind of wet and muddy and had to change shoes.

Next we went to eat lunch in the picnic area and the kids played on the playground.  Nathan took a little rest in my lap after lunch, but not long.

After lunch we went to the swimming hole on the river and swam for about 1.5 hours. We didn’t take our camera down there so we don’t have any pictures to show. This was a great swimming hole with cold and clear water that ranged from 6-13 ft deep.  I jumped in the swimming hole first to test it out and then helped the family cross the shallow part to a gravel beach on the other side.  Nathan threw rocks and Hannah played in the water.  Jennifer sunned on the beach.  Broady wouldn’t cross the river again, so I started to carry him across and of course I fell half way across and everyone was watching so they got a good show.  When we got there, I was the only one swimming but by the time we left, several other large groups had come and there were 20+ people swimming.  It was a lot of fun.

After swimming, we cleaned up and put on dry clothes and stopped to see the dinosaur statues.  This was really the main draw for Nathan.

Then the kids played in the wildflowers for a little bit.

By this point, it was probably 3pm and we were wiped out. We loaded up and headed home.  The kids were asleep in their car seats before we were out of the park.  As we were passing through Granbury, we went by the square and decided to stop for some shopping.  I parked the car in the shade with the windows down and let Jennifer do some shopping. When the kids woke up, we had an early dinner at Babe’s Chicken Dinner.  We finished up with some vanilla ice cream.

What a great day! Nathan is already asking to go back as I type this.