What a Week!

We started Jas's vacation week with a road trip to Gigi and Grandad's house in the Texas Panhandle. It was HOT and DRY, but we had a really good time. We celebrated Mason's ninth birthday with cake, ice cream, and a new Flip camera. Jas and I also celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. After all the trials we've been through with our marriage over the past couple of years, we no longer take anniversaries for granted. God is still in the miracle business, and He gets the glory for holding us together "in good times and bad." Our anniversary outing was at the Hudspeth House bed and breakfast in Canyon. I think I liked the Texas musical better than Jas did, but we both loved the breathtaking views of Palo Duro Canyon. After all of that, we came home to prepare for Mason's tonsillectomy. He did great, and is now on his third day of recovery. It's been a very full week! The only regret I have, now that I'm looking at the pictures, is that I neglected to put self-tanning lotion on my legs. Those are some seriously white legs! Oh well.

River Country Water Park

The boys and I had such a fun day at the water park in Muskogee. It's the perfect size for a five-year-old and an almost-9-year-old. There were just two pools and a lazy river. I stayed near the kiddie pool with the slides that were Carter's size, and Mason ventured off by himself to the slightly larger pool (3 feet deep) with two slightly larger slides and an obstacle course. We all took a few trips down the lazy river together - even though the first trip was a total disaster, with a screaming Carter clawing at my arms. Once he got his life jacket on, though, he was hunky dory. It's too bad the park is in Muskogee - an hour from here. Maybe they'll build one closer someday. Maybe...

Thank Goodness for Bunk Beds

This "fort" project has kept the boys busy all morning. They set up the portable DVD player in there, and I haven't heard from them since.

We had a great weekend with Gigi and Grandad. The highlight was a trip to the REAL movie theater (rather than the free summer movies we usually go to) to see Mr. Popper's Penguins. Great kids movie! The low point was the dead battery in Gigi and Grandad's car when we came out of the movie theater. Thank goodness Jas stayed home to rest instead of going with us to the movie! He came to rescue us...and to take us to eat at Abuelo's...yummm.

The 5th of July

Carter has decided that every day in July deserves the same distinction as the 4th. He refers to the rest of the days as the 5th of July, the 6th of July, etc.

On this particular 5th of July, we're resting from a fun-filled Independence Weekend. We went to a good old-fashioned fireworks display in Kiefer on the 3rd. Our photographer friend Emily took some amazing pics. We spent the 4th with the Spangler family (great name for the 4th of July). We ate Jas's grilled delicious creations and shot off the fireworks that Mason has been begging to shoot off every five minutes since the day we bought them. Thank goodness they're gone! (The fireworks...not the Spanglers)

Today Mason went to his first day of baseball camp. He wasn't very happy that the coach told the older kids to shut up or that he called Mason "Manning" because of his Colts hat. But he did learn to spit on the ground and kick dirt over it. Tomorrow is batting practice...should be interesting.

Gomstomper Races

The boys wanted to make a marble racetrack out of a pool noodle - something they saw on FamilyFun.com. Our version doesn't have the fancy "Start" and "Finish" signs because the boys were too excited about the races to stop and make signs. We didn't have marbles, so we bought a box of Gobstoppers to use instead. Carter tries really hard to say Gobstoppers, but it comes out Gomstompers every time. Of course, the fun only lasted so long - it eventually morphed into all kinds of fights over where to put the track, how high, whether or not to hit each other with it, etc. It was fun while it lasted!