Going Swimming

While in Ohio, we had a day at the beach. The kids loved it.

First we had a wonderful picnic lunch provided and prepared by all the mommies.

These were all the cousins with Grandpa, and an aunt and uncle thrown in...

While we all played out in the water, Grandma and Aunt Chelle helped us take some pictures.

Noah is totally going to be our child that wants to try every sport imaginable. He picked up this bat and was banging it up and down.

The little girls playing in the sand together...

And those of our party who didn't want to swim.

What a fun little beach. I loved that there were no waves in the water because Gabs and Noah were more outgoing and excited to be swimming.

Road Trip

Kyle's Grandpa passed away a couple weeks ago. While this was a sad time for the family, it was also a very happy time. We were surprised with a phone call from Grandma asking us to come to Cleveland where the rest of the family was going to be and spend some time together. This was on a Saturday morning so we packed up all our stuff and hopped in the car to head out for the two day drive.

We stocked up the car with the kids' toys from church, packed a cooler, and took off. They were both pretty excited to go see their cousins...

Gabbie decided to investigate the purpose of the shower cap when we stopped at a hotel for the night.

The next day of driving was a hard one. We were pretty tightly packed into the car and the kids were getting bored. Gabs asked for some snacks and the next time I turned around to see what she was doing, I saw this...

She had lined her teddy grahams up in a row, was making a merry-go-round, and having a family of a mommy, daddy, baby, brother and sister talk to each other.

Noah had a hard time taking naps during our trip in the car but whenever he did fall asleep he sure looked cute.

Daddy driving...

And this is what happens when an 11 month old gets bored in the car.

Here's the merry-go-round...

And this is what I looked like on the second day of our drive. I woke up that morning with terrible allergies and even after 2 different allergy pills and some other medicine, I still didn't feel better. Needless to say, I was not very happy about the picture.

More pictures from our trip to follow.

Running/Walking

A few weeks ago we finally went to one of the running trails near our house. We thought it would be a good habit to form and do some type of exercise every day. Gabbie thought it was awesome too because there was a playground along the trail that we promised the kids we would stop at if the kids behaved.

Gabs asked if she could get down and run with Daddy.

She didn't last very long but it was fun for us to hear her ask to run.

We stopped to play at the playground and I had to relive some of my childhood by jumping on the tire swing. Didn't work out as well as it did when I was eight years old.

And Noah playing on the ground. Of course he had to pick up the rocks and some sticks to taste.

We've been gone for a week and now I'm babysitting so I'm not sure how often we will be able to make it to the trail but I hope we can get there again soon.

Hurricane Preparedness Convention

Every year right before hurricane season, the city of Houston puts on this emergency preparedness fair. We went this year to see what advice they could give us on how to stay safe.

There were a lot of giveaways and free stuff, but not a whole lot of information or advice on how to take care of your house during hurricane season.

They had these awesome mascots come that we were able to take pictures with. Here is Gabbie with the Reliant Energy bug...

and the Energizer Bunny...

This was her first time getting her face painted. She chose a kitty cat.

These awesome guys sang songs and told us stories about how to prepare ourselves for hurricanes. Gabbie was a little scared of them but went up to get their trading cards anyway.

By this point, we were all so ready to go home and didn't even want to take the picture so that's why Gabbie is no where to be seen.

It's great that the city is trying to make sure we have the know-how to stay safe.

First Steps

From June 2010

What Happens When Daddy Gets a Squirt Bottle and Brush...?

This....

Beware!!

Stewart Beach

While we are waiting for Kyle to find a summer job, we have been trying to make use of the family time we get. Last Monday we headed down to the beach on Galveston Island. This was the first time we had been to a beach and the kids were so excited. There are a lot of picture so I apologize in advance.

Our cute big girl...

And our handsome little guy...

Gabs was so excited to be at the beach, up until we walked into the water. It wasn't what she expected and I believe it scared her when the waves hit her legs and the sand came out from under her feet.

We never quite figured out how Noah felt about the waves. We couldn't tell if his laugh was from excitement or the weak laugh he gives right before he cries.

After wading out once, we came back to the sand and sat down. The waves slowly reached us and there wasn't much force so the kids started to get more adjusted.

Gabbie loved the waves after she first went in. She knew what to expect and kept saying, 'Here comes a big one, Yay'.

Playing in the sand with their sand buckets from the Easter bunny was a favorite too.

Gabs and I packing the sand in to build a tower.

Noah trying to sneak away.

He decided that he liked the taste of sand and salt water. We couldn't keep it out of his mouth.

Bubby destroying the tower that Gabs and I built.

We had so much fun at the beach. However, we are not beach people. There was too much sand and too much dirtiness. We will probably drive down to Galveston once a year and just stick with the little kiddie pool in our backyard to cool off. Since that's all that we did at the beach anyway, it's not like we will be missing that much.