Fiesta Texas

We were so blessed to get 2 free tickets to Fiesta Texas this summer through the Read to Succeed Program!  This is a program where the child’s reading ours are logged, and, if they read a certain number of hours, they get a ticket to the park.  Because we homeschool, the teacher gets a ticket too.

This year was extra-special since we met up with Reef’s good friends for the day!  He had such a blast with Ethan and the Crafton boys, and it was nice for me to have some company too.

 

Our trip was on a Thursday, which was SOOO much better than last year’s Friday trip! We never waited in line for more than 20 minutes!

About mid-day, we all splurged on the unlimited refill Slurpee boot.  Ummm, can I just tell you that Reef was IN.LOVE?  This was his first caffeinated drink experience, and I had to fight him for a taste! (This came back to haunt him when he was still awake at midnight struggling to sleep because of the caffeine.)

We got to the park right when it opened and actually stayed until it closed!  We spent a few hours at the waterpark too, and Reef got to see his first fireworks as we headed to the car.

Let me tell you, this kid isn’t afraid of anything.  If he was tall enough, he rode the ride.  He wore his “tall” shoes throughout the park to bump him up to the 48 inch mark; thankfully it worked!  It was a closer call in the water park, but we got lenient lifeguards everytime they made him get measured!

We had a great day together and can’t wait for Jonas to join us next year!

Lachlan’s 4th Birthday

For Lachlan’s birthday, we planned to take the kids for a special cupcake to celebrate since his party wasn’t until later.  My cupcake shop of choice was closed, so we picked a different one.

Look at that icing!

The girl behind the counter brought us a candle since we totally forgot!

We brought along his presents from Oma and Opa and us to open.  He was so excited!

He couldn’t wait to get home and put his new legos together!

So, what is Lachlan like at 4 years old?  He is definitely our funny child.  He loves to make people laugh!  He probably won’t be our athlete, but is very slowly learning to pedal a bike with training wheels.  He loves pizza, chicken nuggets, “big” legos, and still dinosaurs.  He loves preschool and being Ms. Berta’s class.  His best friend is Liam (most days).  One thing we are working on with him is working not whining and using his words when he needs things.  I think there is slow improvement. 

We can’t wait to spend this next year with you, Lachlan, and see how much you can make us laugh!

Ice cream truck!

You remember when you were a kid and you heard that unmistakable jingle of the ice cream truck?  Well, we heard that jingle one day as we were getting out of the pool.  Throwing caution to the wind, we ran out to meet her.
Note the pajamas…and the fact that Lachlan’s are backwards.  Like I said, we rushed.  They loved picking out an ice cream and giving the lady money from their piggy bank.  We had just barely enough money, though, because the prices have gone up in the last 20 years!

Liam saw us racing out, so they joined in the fun.

Lachlan going in for the first bite.

Yay for ice cream!

They were a total mess when it was all over, and Patty (whose yard we totally invaded) supplied us with LOTS of wipes.  What a fun summer memory!

Landa Pool

After our trip to the Landa spring fed pool got rained out, we decided to head over there one day at noon, skipping naps and making a day of it!
Ummm….that water is really cold!  It was actually pretty crowded for a Monday, and we were sad to learn that the rope swing and zip line had very high height requirements.  Thankfully, Emily and Reef were tall enough for the big slide and the daddies enjoyed taking them.  Jonas sneaked in one time, and, while he says he loved it, he did NOT ask to go again!
This girl was not happy to stay in the shallows.  She wanted to be in the deep water!  Did I mention it was freezing?

This slide was a big hit with Lachlan.  It took some convincing that it wasn’t scary and that the landing was very shallow, but he was all about it after the first try!

The bigger kids didn’t love the little slide, and it took me 3 hours to even get Poppy to try it, but they still had fun just being together.  Daniel, on the other hand, was like Lachlan- love at first slide!

While we won’t be racing back to the spring fed pool anytime soon, it was still a fun day spent with friends, and we wrapped it up with dinner at Cici’s, so what’s not to love!

Tooth Fairy Visits #2 and #3

After much anticipation, Jonas’s first tooth finally came out at the end of July.  Daddy had to help pull and there was bleeding but no tears.

He was excited to put the tooth in the special envelope and get his $2 the next morning.

He lost his second tooth a couple weeks later, putting him one tooth ahead of Reef (but who’s counting?)!  There are no pictures this time, as that would get old on the blog!  Funny story, though….I was gone the evening the money needed to be put in the envelope.  I woke up early the next morning to work out and realized at 6:45 that the tooth fairy hadn’t done her job!  I RACED across the house to stick the money in and get the tooth out and made it back to the kitchen with seconds to spare before one of the boys came out to use the bathroom!  This tooth fairy almost lost her job!  We won’t let that happen again!

Ringing the bell

Jonas and Lachlan are taking swimming lessons this summer.  They’re doing so good, and we are so proud of them!  Jonas had moved up 2 levels, can swim across the pool with ease, and is working on side breathing, butterfly kicks, and breaststroke.  Lachlan has also moved up 2 levels and is amazing us with how fast he is overcoming his fear!
Each time you complete a level, you get to ring the bell in front of everyone.

Then they give you a ribbon, a tattoo, and a new bracelet for your next class.

As a special treat, we let each child choose the dinner restaurant whenever they ring the bell.  They both rang on the same day the first time, and we headed to Chuy’s.  Then Jonas rang again, and he chose Pizza Hut.  The next time Lachlan rang the bell, we headed to Chick Fil A! 
We are loving Love To Swim and are considering continuing year-round!

July dates

Apparently, my blog is angry with me for neglecting it so long.  Many technical difficulties occurred while trying to do this one little post!

Anyway, we did our one-on-one dates in July.

 Jonas chose an eat out date with Mom and was not to be talked out of IHOP.

 

 Lachlan headed to Orange Leaf with Troy.

 That was one loaded cup of ice cream.  They love going with daddy since he lets them fill it so much more!

 Reef also chose frozen yogurt with Troy. 

 He got to fill his cup without assistance, which was a new thrill.  Add the TONS of toppings and you've got a happy camper.

 

Poppy and I headed to Starbucks after the grocery store one day while her brothers were at Reading Camp.  The look on her face at the cabinet of goodies was priceless.  She exclaimed, "OOOHH!"

In the end this pink cake pop won out.  Here is the progression of eating said cake pop.

Oh, sprinkles too!

I can totally fit this in my mouth.

What?

Note, there is no picture of the two of us.  Either she refused (not shocked by this) or the camera battery died (equally un-shocked).  It was still a priceless date to see her so excited!