Lil’ A Year and a Half Portraits

Here you have ‘em. The portraits I did of my year and a half tot. The real ones this time. No more silly bloopers.

She’s one of the best things that ever happened to me.

“The Fun Club”

When we were in Texas a few weeks ago we had a low key morning before we met friends for lunch. So we hung out in our room for awhile. My kids amaze me sometimes how they happily occupy themselves. It’s great whenever it happens! :)

Hanging out on the bed.

H reading to the girls.

Precious snuggles. Isn’t this the best?

Now N reads to the other two.

They did lots of other fun things after this and my boy deemed it “The Fun Club!”

I love them all.

Pool Day

Our last stop on our summer road trip was Texas.

Home of the big sky.

And home of pickup truck rides and beautiful sunsets and special friends.

And the blue ‘swimming pool’. It’s actually a water trough or some such thing. But it makes a PERFECT swimming pool for kiddos.

I popped my baby’s Bumbo chair in the water and she splashed around.

She was pretty happy about it too.

‘Til she tuckered out in her Daddy’s arms, that is.

Gorgeous day. Fun times.

OKFSCMST for Short

I don't know if you remember or not, but I promised you about a million years ago that I’d share some photos from our time in Texas. I don’t like to be a liar (except outrageous exaggerations, like in the previous sentence) and I want this to be included in this blog (aka my online family photo album), so here is a long post of photos from the amazing week we spent in South Texas at the end of June.

By long, I mean loooong.

We only make it down there every few years, but it sure is one of our favorite places to visit. The friends and hospitality are incredible! It was our first time visiting with two kiddos. And if you’ve ever traveled with two kiddos then you know that sitting around ‘relaxing’ just doesn’t really work. Staying busy is better, in many cases. So the week we spent down south felt a lot like summer camp to me. Yes, we did feel relaxed and we took it easy (and did a lot of other things and got to catch up with other amazing people who aren’t pictured or mentioned here), but we also did lots of fun things together… summer-camp like!!

Let's call it the One of a Kind Family Summer Camp Week in South Texas. That's OKFSCWST for short.

This is the location of our 'summer camp'. I love the Brown Ranch. And the people there. Love love love.

And the cows that surround it. (Sweet N learned to “Moooo” while we were there. Ha!)

So here comes a long list of camp activities in no particular order:

1. Swimming!

Big water tanks meant for large bovine animals to drink out of also make fabulous swimming pools.

Little fishy H practiced swimming underwater.

Then Sweet N grabbed a territorial bee and got stung in the hand. She cried for about 4.5 seconds and then got royal treatment from the compassionate medics. ;)

Sweet lil’ friends. One of the major highlights. (Along with their parents!)

2. Paddle Boating

Oh my word. Why does it look like he’s grown up so much since June?!

The kiddos fed the fish while we paddled around.

3. Fig Jam Canning (I know… something for everyone!)

The figs were from a tree in the front yard.

This was my first canning experience… which I was grateful for! I hope to start canning when we get back home. Except I don’t have a fig tree in my yard. Boo. In fact I don’t have a yard.

4. Bird Watching

Road Runners are smaller than I thought! And they don’t actually say “MmnnBeeepBeep” either. Bummer.

5. Front Porch Chillin’ (Captions not necessary) :)

6. Water Balloon Fighting

Mike and Kasey spent at least an hour filling these balloons.

Then the kids chased,

tossed,

dodged

and laughed!

And then the basket was empty again in less than five minutes. Oh my!

7. Pedal Go-Karting

Check out that sky. There are not many places I have seen a sky so amazing and huge and beautiful as I have seen in Texas.

As soon as N would climb on the car, she’d whip out her toy cell phone. Gee, I wonder where she learned that?!

8. Day Tripping

We took a day trip up to San Antonio to visit several old Missions. It was fascinating!

We also visited a museum where the rangers looked strangely familiar. Or strange and familiar.

and the kiddos were especially cute.

9. Date Time!

I explored the RiverFront in San Antonio by myself when I lived in Texas for the summer eight (eight?!) years ago, but Mikey had never seen it.

So we accepted the generous offer of our hosts to take our kiddos home after we toured the Missions together and we had some date time looking around! Wow! It’s such a beautiful place to explore.

10. Worm Wrangling

Ever heard of worm castings?

Me either, until a few years ago when the Browns started their own operation. It fascinates me, so we always have a look around and ask ten million questions.

Questions, for example, about this neat-o contraption that gently separates the worms from the dirt from the castings (aka poo).

And we are always, always kindly given ten million answers with utmost patience.

Hi worm! Thanks for your poo that is organically fertilizing many crops!

N loved it. H didn’t as much.

And last, but not least…

11. Eating Nacho Cheese by the Spoonful

(This activity was led by my daughter) I don’t think even real Texans do that. She is an over-achiever, to be sure. Ha!

Wow. We sure do miss all of our friends down south! What a fabulous time we had together!