An Afternoon at the Fort Worth Zoo

The company that Justin works for had a family activity at the Fort Worth Zoo a month or so ago.  Sadly we weren't there for very long so I don't have any animal pictures! However, we had a great time just being together. And as you can see below, the kids loved getting their faces painted.

Kevin decided to do half incredible hulk and half Dr. David Banner. :)  Thank you Netflix for introducing our children to cheesy '70's and '80's TV shows.

I can't tell you how happy it makes me that Kenzie is still a very girlie-girl! 

Kate, who used to be completely girlie-girl decided this year she didn't want to have anything to do with pink, or ruffles, or sparkles of any kind. *Sniff, Sniff.*  So, keeping up with her brother she went with the full Incredible Hulk face. She was so proud!

It also makes me really happy to see Kelly not too grown up to get her face painted. Tigers have always been her favorite, so it's no surprise that's what she chose.

Nothing says "Hello to Summer!" like a Rainbow Sherbet ice cream cone.  Especially one that's as big as your head!! :)

In case you were wondering about the little train ride at the zoo--so not worth it. We waited in line longer than the ride itself and didn't see any animals. Thankfully, we had been given tickets as part of the company picnic so we didn't pay for it. Next year we will definitely get to the zoo earlier. All in all, it was a great afternoon just being together!

Things that I loved about today

Kenzie wasn't afraid to talk to Snow White--She was thrilled and gave her a big hug.

That these sisters actually wanted to have their picture taken together, (or at least they were willing to humor me).

That Kevin loves this fedora Kelly gave him so much he's been wearing it ever since.

I always knew where Kenzie was.  I just had to look for the shiny pink coat.

That I caught Justin laughing at something that Kevin did.  Such a handsome guy!

Daffodils beginning to bloom!

That it took at least 5 takes to get this one great shot. And that Grandma T was here to enjoy this holiday time and beautiful day with us.

"Momma, my legs are tired of walking."

This golden hair.

That my teenager wasn't too cool to sit on a bench, enjoying the sun and talking with me all about her video ideas.

That Kevin can jump from the ground onto a waist-high picnic table.

Every so often Kate would just lay down somewhere and talk about how she was too tired to walk.

Kate's Best

Most nights while we eat dinner we take turns sharing our "best, worst, weirdest, & service," for each day.  It makes for some great dinner time conversations.  Anyway, tonight Kate's best went like this:


My best is I learned how to talk with a British accent!!  That way if we go to Britain I will be able to talk in Britain to them!


It's not easy. You have to practice really hard.  You can't talk regular to them because they won't understand what you are saying.


So funny!  She was really animated when she was telling us about it and you could tell how excited and proud she was.  So, if you ever travel to Britain and you want to take Kate along, just let us know. ;)

Catching Up #1 Company Fall Picnic

A couple of weeks ago we had the pleasure of attending Justin's company fall picnic.  The company he works for recently purchased a new building and to celebrate, they had the picnic at the new location.  It just happened to be an old corporate YMCA building and has tennis courts, indoor pool, rock climbing wall etc.  Sadly, the building had been vacant for a while.  The pool was empty, etc. so it wasn't really ready for anyone to go inside, but the grounds were beautiful and even though it was in the 80's we had a great time.

Kelly took this picture and it is straight out of the camera.  I just love it!  Looking at it makes me feel happy, hopeful, and grateful.  Good job Kelly!

Try as I might, I couldn't get Kate to smile normal!

Livin' it up!  We usually don't drink a lot of soda and so these girls were loving this!  

I had never heard of the game "Washers" until moving to Texas.  It's sort of like horseshoes, I think.  I've never played either one so I could be totally wrong.  You have these large metal washers that you're trying to throw into a box about 15 feet away.  You get so many points for where it lands, and or if you knock out an opponents washer, etc.  When Justin told me he'd signed us up to play in a washers tournament I told him that Kevin would be a better partner.  I turned out to be right and Justin and Kevin won the whole thing!!  They got a Chipotle gift card and used it for a fun Dad and Kevin night.  Great job guys!  I am so proud of you!

Kelly took my camera for a little while and took some pictures of the area, and her feet. :)  It was fun to see what she had come up with.  As you can see it's a beautiful place.  It was nice to do something fun on the weekend instead of the crazy running-around-to-get-things-done that we usually do.

Some of the other activities that they had (that unfortunately I didn't get pictures of), were a scanner scavenger hunt and pumpkin decorating.  With the scanner scavenger hunt you had to use your cell phone to scan various digital codes (the ones that look like black and white tetris blocks), to get answers to different trivia questions.  It was pretty cool.  All of the kids really got into the pumpkin decorating too.  They must have cleared out Micheal's for all the cool crafty stuff they had available.  I'm telling you.  I think that's my favorite way to do pumpkins.  No mess and the kids can do the whole thing themselves.  It's definitely a new favorite for me.  Especially when it's way too hot for Halloween.  Our pumpkins actually lasted a little while longer this year.  Maybe I will get a picture of them and post it later.

All in all it was a great day!

Indian Summer

Thanks to some wonderful, wonderful friends we enjoyed a weekend at Holly Lake Resort.

Thankfully we did not see one alligator! Despite that, I felt a little nervous about it the whole time.

Canoeing with the kids.  It was a beautiful morning.  We were sad that Kelly and Dad weren't there yet. They came up later due to Kelly's drama rehearsal.  This was a lot of fun.

When you can't get the ball in with your club....

Just use your hands. :)

It was a beautiful weekend.  We had a great time getting away and hope to be able to do it again soon.

Having Fun with Grandma & Grandpa

Last week we had the pleasure of having Justin's Dad and S'mom visit.  We had such a great time and really enjoyed giving them a little taste of what it's like where we live.  As you will soon see, I didn't make taking pictures a huge priority.  These pictures are definitely true to life in that the kids didn't really want to sit still for them. 

At the Heard Museum.

Kenzie's actually trying to pose, as far as the other kids, who knows?!

At the Dallas Museum of Nature & Science--yeah for air conditioning!

It's hard to tell from these pictures but we really had a lot of fun.  We love you Grandma and Grandpa!  Thanks for coming to see us!