Happy Birthday one more time!

So, last night we had another small birthday celebration for Jace since we hadn't given him our gifts yet. Chuck came by for some cake-in-a-mug, to play with the boat and to witness the present opening. By the way, Mom, Jace told me he was sad that he only had gift bags and brown boxes to open (we didn't wrap Lindsey's or Grammy and Pop's, either...they came in brown boxes from shipping, too). So, these pictures are for you and Jace!

Happy Birthday, Jace!!!

I can't believe it! Jace is 7 years old today! Time flies...

We have been sort of celebrating his birthday for a week now, starting with his little birthday party last Tuesday. He had 2 friends over to swim, eat pizza and have brownies and ice cream. They had a lot of fun, but I forgot to take any pictures! Thanks to Ryan for Jace's new cool pillow case...it's got fighter jets on it just like Jace wanted...and thanks to Michael for the Power Ranger that makes a really cool sound...Jace and Brett can't get enough!

On Tuesday night, Lindsey came into town on her way back to Houston. She brought her new puppy, Presleigh, with her. Jace was in heaven. He loves that dog!
On Wednesday, we went to Fiesta Texas (which is a Six Flags park near us...not worth it in our opinion from what we were able to see before the storms from Dolly made us go home). That afternoon, Jace's gift from Grammy and Pop came in the mail. We skyped them while he opened it, and Jace was thrilled to get a telescope, something he's been saving his money for. We overheard him telling Brett that now that he has a telescope, he is a real scientist! So far it's been too cloudy to see the moon or stars or planets, but he watched the storms and gave us weather reports from his telescope...still has an imagination!
On Thursday, Linz bought Jace some new wheels for his scooter (he had worn flat spots on his back wheel and it sounded terrible). He loves his "new" ride.
Linz was supposed to go back to Houston on Wednesday afternoon, but because of the storms, she got to stay an extra 2 nights! We said good-bye to her on Friday morning. Around lunch time, Jace finally got to skype with Grandma and Grandpa in Bulgaria to open his "big" present from them (it's been sitting on top of the refrigerator for a few weeks). He was excited to discover that it is a remote control boat to drive on the small lake behind their house!

On Saturday, we took Jace out to eat for his birthday. He wanted to go to TGI Fridays...he's never been there before, but he'd seen a commercial for "Friday's" and wanted to go there. He had ribs and thought it was great when they came to sing to him and brought him a birthday sundae.

On Sunday, we went next door to take back some movies that we had borrowed, and Jean asked Jace if his birthday is on Monday. Then she said, "Do you want your present today or tomorrow?" Jace actually considered that question for a minute and then said, "I guess I'll take it today!" I'd never seen sidewalk paint before, but it kept the boys busy for 2 hours Sunday afternoon and they couldn't wait to get out here this morning to finish making their sidewalk paint scooter track from here to the Boothe's house. Thanks, Jean!
Now it's Monday, and we are going to give him our small presents today with Chuck tonight (Chuck flew in last night for some training for school, so we'll get to see him off and on this week)!

So, Jace, you've had quite a birthday week! Hope you've enjoyed it...we love you so much!

On to Lubbock...

After the mall, we traveled on to Lubbock. We got to see Hank, Gwen and Mammaw's new house (very nice) and eat with them at Abuelo's (Mammaw's favorite place).

Hank made friends with Brett. Here they are checking out the garden:
Brett, Jace, Matt, Mammaw and PJ:
And with the silly faces...
We spent the night at a hotel there and then said goodbye Saturday morning (kind of late...we had to wake Jace up! Seriously, we need blackout curtains at home!). We traveled on to Big Spring for lunch with Grammy, Pop and Lindsey...and then on home...it was a great trip!

Westgate Mall

Our last stop in Amarillo was the mall for some Lights Out Golf and Corn Dog 7...YUM!


Before I leave the Amarillo posts, I have to say that one of the hightlights of our trip for me was eating in Amarillo...I'm surprised my clothes still fit! We had Donut Stop (mmmm...blueberry cake), Belmar Bakery (Chocolate Cookie Bars...mmmmm), My Thai (thanks, Josh and Jenny!), and finally Corn Dog 7 (it still tastes the same, Mom!). Comfort food from my growing up days...

Museum and Palo Duro Canyon...

When we first got to Amarillo, we went straight to eat dinner at Fazoli's for Reilly's birthday. We just so happened to come into town on her birthday! Then we came home to do presents and and bedtime. Chuck had all the beds all ready for the kids and so all we had to do was put them in it...everyone slept good!

On Thursday, we visited the Panhandle Plains Museum in Canyon, TX, which is just south of Amarillo. Then, we went to lunch at the Rock'n'Roll Sandwich Shop there. It was yummy...best vanilla cokes. Then we headed to Palo Duro Canyon for a visit to Charles Goodnight's dugout replica, a hike to a cave, and some site seeing...thank goodness Tecoa came prepared with her little backpack with water, a snack and most importantly, her camera...since Chuck and I both forgot ours.

Chuck and I decided that these guy must be blowing bubbles:
The kids:

Tecoa at Charles Goodnight's:

On our way up to the cave:
At the top:
The view from the top:
Back down to the car:

Waterpark Fun

So the day before we left, we went to a really cool (small) indoor waterpark right down the street from Kat. It's in their community center and we had so much fun there.

Matt and Brett after coming down the tube slide:

Jace, Matt and Brett:
The kids playing games in between waterpark trips:

In honor of Bayli learning to swim, here is a video of her and me coming down one of the slides (although she made me promise I wouldn't dunk her at the end). Seriously, I'm so proud of her...last year at this time, she wouldn't even get her face wet. This year she let all of us take her down slides and even swim under the waterfally in the lazy river. Way to go, Bayli!

Camping for the big kids...

On Saturday night, Matt and Ryan took Jace, Brett and Bayli camping up in the mountains. They had a great time and even visited the Railroad Museum on the way up. Here are there adventures:

Brett looked like this when they got to the camp site and this is what he looked like when they got home, too:
"We're on top of the world!"
Jace is very serious about communicating with his walkie talkie:
On a hike...
Bayli and Jace...

Happy 4th!

We got to Kathi's the afternoon of July 3 so that we could spend the 4th with them. On the 4th, we took a small "hike" to the park and played for a couple hours. Then we went back to Kat's for a small lunch and naptime. Ryan made the best roast, potatoes and carrots in his dutch oven for us for a late lunch/early dinner and he and Kat made Jordan River Mud for dessert. YUM! It was really delicious. The kids got to play in the water while dinner was cooking and then they had fun playing with those little pop it things that you throw on the sidewalk and they pop (the only "fireworks" they were awake for!). Pictures of our fun:

The kids (Bayli, Jace, Brett, and Bronco...in the stroller). They're ready for our "hike" to the park:
Brett decided this climbing contraption looked like a kitty cage, so he was meowing and being a "kitty in a cage":
Here's Bayli saying "word" to the camera:
Sisters, sisters...Kat and me:
Jace looking through the scope:
OK, so Brett has a hard time doing thumbs up...his index finger usually comes up instead. This is him at the top of the climbing wall after doing it all by himself! Thumbs up!

Teeter Totter! Kat with Bronco, me with Bayli...
Brett, Jace and Bayli race down the slides!
Jace in the little pool:

Brett ready to slide into the water:
This one's for Ryan...always sabotaging our pictures by doing something gross. Here we are relaxing after our busy and fun day (I'm really bad at the camera timer...I ran in but I covered up Jace):

Our Vacation to Colorado, Amarillo & Lubbock...

I know it's been a while...this is what vacation does to me! Despite my plans to blog on the road, I didn't even check email while I was gone. Matt was the only one that got on the computer. Anyway, I wanted to share a little bit about our trip, so I'm going to split it into each activity. Here's a quick summary of how long we spent in each place:

We left San Antonio on Wednesday, July 2 traveling to Amarillo to spend the night. Chuck and his family were still in California on one of their many summer trips, but they were nice enough to allow us to stay the night there. We got up bright and early Thursday morning and headed to the Denver area (Broomfield) for the biggest chunk of our vacation. We stayed with Kathi and her family until Wednesday morning the following week and traveled back to Amarillo that day to actually see Chuck and the girls (Heather had a training conference she went to, so we missed her again). We spent Wednesday night, Thursday, Thursday night and half of Friday with Chuck then we headed south a couple hours to Lubbock to visit with Matt's grandma, aunt and uncle. Then Saturday, we drove to Big Spring to meet Matt's parents (and Lindsey and her new puppy Presleigh...SURPRISE...we didn't know she would be with them) for lunch. Then we headed south for home. We got back to San Antonio on Saturday, July 12 in time for dinner and bed.