Fun in Austin!

While Wayne went out of town for business, we went to Austin to have some fun! Pearce is always so happy to see Nay Nay and Charlotte. It is the cutest thing to see how excited he gets! And Nathan and Charlotte love feeling like the big kids taking care of him. Auntie Carrie planned so many things for us to do...she even had an itinerary written out, that's our Carrie. When we first got there, they played for a while and then we went to Mt. Playmore which is a cool new indoor play area.  They had the best time at this place!  Then we went to get a burger and one of Carrie's favorite burger places and then of course, we had to go get ice cream :)  Monday, we had to wake up Pearce early so that he could go to his 2.5 year well check.  Nathan and Charlotte went with them while I stayed home, got ready and watched Real Housewives. While I was relaxing, Carrie called me in a panic, because she couldn't find Pearce's BB (his blankie). He got out of the car with it, but then lost it. I told her it had to be there somewhere if he got out of the car with it, so calm down. Well, BB is very important to Pearce (maybe Carrie more)...and we know how Carrie can get a little stressed, so she hung up with me quickly and said she had to look for it more. Ok, back to the show for me. A few minutes later, she calls again, still upset that she can't find it. And then she asked me to drive over there to look for it! Seriously?! It's there! You'll find it! Click...she hung up. So 30 minutes later, she calls back and is so happy. She ended up finding it in the waiting room (she sent Nathan out to look for it earlier and it wasn't there so someone probably found it between the chairs and set it out). When they got home, Nathan couldn't wait to tell me that Auntie Carrie was so grouchy to them because she couldn't find BB. It was so funny! They were laughing about it now, but I don't think anyone was too happy earlier. Nathan used his favorite line, "Somebody needs a nap." HA!

So after that excitement, we headed to the splash pad.  We went to the Quarry splash pad which is huge with lots of sprayers.  After Pearce's nap, we decided to go swimming since we were already wet from the splash pad.  Pearce and Charlotte loved swimming together and Nathan decided to brave the big slide!  He loved it and did it over and over.  On Tuesday we took the kids to the movie to see Planes, Fire and Rescue.  We totally thought Pearce would love this movie because it was about planes and fire AND because Nathan and Charlotte would be with us.  Well, we got all the kids their snacks and settled in and about 15 minutes later, Pearce was restless and wanted to walk around.  After trying to get him to sit in his seat, Carrie gave up and went to sit with him on the steps.  He watched the  movie off and on, but mostly played on the steps...I think it'll be another year before we brave the movie theater again :)  That night we went to Carrie's other favorite burger place and let the kids play on the outdoor playscape.  Then we decided to walk next door and watch people do the indoor skydiving. I casually asked how old you had to be to do it and the guy said 3 and up....when Nathan heard that he went crazy and begged asked if he could please do it.  I said yes, wondering if Wayne would kill me when he found out how much it was, yikes! But oh well, I thought he was so excited about it now, we might as well. Nathan  took a little 30 min class to learn the signs and what to expect and then it was time to get suited up!  I could not believe he wasn't the least bit scared!  He even got to go up with two instructors and they did twists and turns and took him to the very top!  It was so fun to watch Nay Nay!!  

Wednesday, we decided to take the kids to the children's museum, The Thinkery.  They loved all of the hands on activities.  We decided to let Pearce skip his afternoon nap so we could go to this neat pool I had heard about.  It's called the Veteran's Memorial Pool and it was kid heaven!  Waterslides, fountains, a huge wading pool for toddlers.  We packed a lunch and then headed over.  Nathan was once again Mr. Brave doing a tall water slide and also jumping off a tall platform!  Pearce and Charlotte did the toddler slides and playscape.  I loved this pool because of the large shallow area...Pearce and Charlotte had so much fun swimming together.  We went home on Thursday. Pearce was so sad to see us go but excited to see them again this week for Nathan's birthday party!  We had such a great time together, as always!!!! 

 

Golf Camp

We signed Nathan up for 2 big camps this summer. His first was golf camp and then next week is indoor flag football. Golf was great because he also got a new set of clubs as part of it. The camp lasted a week and started the week after Logan and Landon visited. It was from 9-12, so not too long and was at The Tribute golf course which is really nice and also close to my house. 

After the first day, Nathan told me he had homework and was supposed to go online and look up the rules of golf. He was then to pick one and write it down. We were going to do it first thing on Monday but I ended up forgetting about it.  At 11:00 pm, Nathan came downstairs and was so worried that we hadn't done it! So we went into daddy's office, and Nathan picked rule #1 (the longest one) and wrote it down. The next morning, he kept checking to make sure he had it. I didn't really think much more about the homework. At the end of the week, parents were able to stay for camp and watch what the kids learned. Before they got started on the course, the head guy got all of the kids in a group and went over what they had learned that week. Then he told them to get out their homework assignment. I kind of panicked because I just assumed he had turned it in on Tuesday, and today is Friday! I never saw it in his bag and my heart sank for him...he had worked so hard to get it done, and I was sure he had lost it by now. Well, Nathan completely surprised me. He reached into his pocket and pulled out this folded piece of paper. His homework! Then the coach went on and on about how rule #1 was the most important and if you just know that rule, you'll know golf. At this point, I was wondering if Nathan even remembered which rule he had. So then the coach said, "Where is my little guy who had his homework ready 4 days ago AND wrote down the first rule?" Nathan raised his hand, and the coach called him up to the front and asked him to read it to the group. He did such a great job!!! And the main coach told him he was proud of him for taking his homework seriously. He then gave him a golf ball as a prize. 

After all if that excitement, Charlotte and I got to go with his group to see what he had learned. And the day ended with an award ceremony. Nathan got the award of being the most encouraging and best attitude. Sweet boy!

Logan and Landon

Our nephews, Logan and Landon spent a week with us and grandmother! Nathan and Charlotte loved being with their cousins and especially had fun because Helen planned a fun activity every day. The best part was that all the kids spent every night at grandmother's house. Wayne and I really loved that part.  She wanted me to be well rested for each day. Thanks Helen!

Although it was tiring, we had so much fun and got into a good routine. I picked them up each mornng, did our fun thing, came back to my house to swim, play, and eat dinner, then go back to grandmother's to sleep. Although grandmother said they always went to bed late because they stayed up playing on their iPads, watching a movie, and snacking on all of her good food. 

On Saturday, we just swam and cooked out with Wayne. Sunday, we went to The Lego Movie, Monday was the Sea Life Aquarium at Grapevine Mills Mall, lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, and shopping at Old Navy. Tuesday was Gattitown and a trip to Five Below. Wednesday was Legoland where they all wore the matching shirts we got them at Old Navy and then yogurt at Orange Leaf. Thursday was a trip to the Frontiers of Flight Museum near Love Field, lunch at the Grand Luxe. Oh and they all got gliders from the dollar store to decorate. Logan and Landon (but especially Logan) love planes!!! Logan wants to be in the Air Force and also a pilot for American Airlines, so every time a plane flew over, he tried to identify it. His excitement for planes transferred to the others and we were spotting planes left and right all week. So the flight museum was really cool for them. Friday was spent at the splash park near my parents' house. We were there for several hours and completely wore them out! We took a picnic and played in the water, on the play equipment, and football in the big field. When we left, everyone fell asleep in the car! So grandmother and I found this cute jewelry store I had been wanting to go to, and she stayed in the car while I rewarded myself for being a good mommy/aunt/daughter- in-law!  Then we went to Pirate McDonalds for dinner. Aren't you exhausted just reading this?! But the kids had so much fun!!! And they all get along so great. Plus Helen and I had fun together too. 

On Saturday, I gave Helen the day off and took the kids back to the dollar theater to see Mr. Peabody, which was really cute, then we swam and hung out til Stuart and Tiffany, Lexa and Layton, got here. Now everyone is staying at my house! Nathan, Logan and Landon made a pallet in the play room, Charlotte slept with us, Lexa was in Charlotte's room, and Layton stayed with Stuart and Tiffany. On Sunday, Lexa, Layton, and Charlotte spent the day with Grandmother while the rest of us went to the Rangers game. It was fun but EXTREMELY hot!! We had great seats...in the sun...at a 2:00 game! I was sweating more than I've ever sweated before, and Nathan started the trend of pouring his drink on his head! It was so funny! We'd go to the bathroom just to fill up water bottles to dump on the kids. The next day, Stuart and Helen kept the boys and Tiffany and I took the girls to the American Girl store for lunch. They loved it! Since neither one of them have a doll of their own, they got to borrow one to eat lunch with. Charlotte adored her doll and now wants one for Christmas. 

It was a crazy, fun filled week! Thank you grandmother for all you did for us!