Neighborhood Pool

One of the many cool features about our neghborhood in Houston is that we have access to 6 neighborhood pools within our community. One is within walking distance of our house and the others are probably within a 2 mile radius. We headed up to the boys' favorite, which is the one with a slide. We managed to get a couple of pictures of them going down the slide.

Aunt Missy visits Houston

Aunt Missy came to visit and the boys could not have been more excited. We started the trip by picking her up from Hobby airport and driving directly to Galveston. The boys had so much fun on the beach. During the week, we shopped and went swimming. We also had fat Wednesday where I skipped the gym, baked muffins for breakfast, went to the outlet mall and had mocha frappachino's from starbucks, free Antie Annes pretzels and then rounded out the day with chocolate molten cakes and ice cream. Missy and I decided that we should have fat Wednesday every time she visits. The boys had so much fun and were sad to see her leave. Come back soon Aunt Missy, we miss you already!

Sister Marie Ellen Moir

I wanted share some of my favorite photos of visiting Great Aunt Marie over the last few years.

April 5, 2006

October 15, 2007 October 13, 2004

April 5, 2006

I'll never forget the many years Marie would come down to visit us in Texas during the summers, the many card games we would play in the kitchen, the discussions of baseball and her '84 Tigers, and the stories of me as a child visiting her in Michigan. My family especially enjoyed the times we were able to spend in Monroe over the last several years visiting her and will definitly miss her.

Marie Ellen Moir 8.9.20 - 7.19.08

Zoo trip that............

lasted about 1 1/2 hours. Michael had a genius idea to make a trip to the zoo on Saturday. We have a zoo pass so the boys and I have been several times, but Michael has never had an oppurtunity to go. We thought we had better get there right when it opens before it gets too hot. That was an understatement. Being from Dallas, we forgot to add in the humidity factor when looking at the weather the night before. We did not spend much time at the exhibits and were both drenched by the end of the visit. The boys had a great time as always and despite the humidity we were able to get some good pictures of the boys. I think that we will wait until late fall before attempting another trip.

Chuck E. Cheese - Where a kid can be kid

For those of you who know Jacob, he is an as seen on tv product fanatic. He can recite all of the infomercials on tv and is always wanting us to buy the products. The most advertised is the aquaglobes and purse organizer. He always tells me that they have four different colors and wants to know which I would like and then even tried to get Grandma Denton to purchase one. Jacob has tried to talk Dad into buying the purse organizer for me and tells me that I really need one. Today the boys were watching cartoons and he ran down the stairs and told me that "If you can just drive us to Chuck E Cheese's today kids can play and moms can relax. Thats what the abertisement says." Too funny! Companies sure do now how to use product placement on kids.

Relaxing Vacation

Michael decided to take a vacation last week so we headed up to Dallas for a few days and then worked around the house the rest of the week.
We began the vacation with my birthday. We ate homeade ice cream, roasted marshmallows and made s'mores

rode the tractor and bikes,

and played croquet. Then we headed up to the city of Melissa for an evening of fun and fireworks.

The city of Melissa had a big bash before the fireworks. Josh was so excited when we drove up and he saw all of the bounce houses. Grandpa had no choice but to pay the $2 for the bracelet so he could participate in all of the festivities.

The boys saw a helicopter up close,

bounced 'til they couldn't bounce anymore,

had their faces painted,

and had a go at the dunking booth. Josh truly thought that he was going to walk up and throw the ball, hit the bullseye and watch the girl dunk in the water. Well, it didn't go quite the way he had planned. He tried three times and then walked up and pushed the bullseye, maybe next year Josh ;)

We had a fabulous time and Josh made it through about two fireworks and slept through the rest.

Take notice to the halo that suddenly appeared after he fell asleep, Yeah right!! Nice try Grandma Denton.

Mike and I are city kids so we have never gotten to experience doing our own fireworks. We drove up to the local fireworks store and purchased some low key items such as tanks, worms, sparklers and these little cone things. We had so much fun setting them off and the boys wanted more and more.

We attended a roughrider game with G&G Patton and Aunt Missy on Saturday. They had fireworks after the game also, which was really cool.

Jacob loved singing "take me out to the ballgame" during the 7th inning stretch. (which he had practiced the entire drive to the game, lucky mom and dad).

Josh's favorite part, I would have to say, misting himself with water, taking pictures and drinking and eating again. :)

We headed to Mike's parents for a few days where the boys spent much of their time in the pool playing. They had a lot of fun in Dallas and did not want to leave. They were happy once we arrived home and reunited with their playroom. What a great trip and now I guess it is back to the grind.