A Whole TON of Summer FUN -- July Edition

In case it's not obvious, I'm WAY behind on the blog posts again. Let's go back to July to try and catch up!

The kids summer of fun continued into July with so many cool activities that it was hard to keep track! Family games, trips out for ice cream, movie afternoons...we made sure to pack in just as much fun in July as we could.

A summer family game night of Chickenfoot. I was surprised at how well the kids picked this up. We LOVE our game nights!

Cool for the summer.

A Daddy-Daughter ice cream sandwich date.

My 4th of July cuties.

Summer day at the movies.

My brother Ben had a week of training in Houston, so he came to visit for the weekend before his class. We love having Uncle Ben for a visit, even though we missed Aunt Charlotte this trip.

Pool time.

Dinner at Lupe Tortilla, Ben's favorite!

Uncle Ben fits right in with our silly kids!

Along with the typical summertime fun, the kids have to tag along with us on errands when they aren't already occupied with friends or summer camps. Sometimes that can be fun, but other times not so much...

Running errands with Mom in the summer can be a SCARY situation! haha

Family trip to Chuck E. Cheese, because Dad promised!

Do you think they were excited about their tokens?

My personal favorite part of July was when the time came to replace my old car. That's right, it was now MY turn! We actually weren't planning to replace my Expedition until later this year, but we ended up finding another one with all of the options I really liked. And when you buy used like we do, it can be tough to find everything you want in a vehicle. Jeff and I had a date night and went to test drive some cars, just to see what I might like. We saw one I liked, drove it, and bought it in less than 24 hours. That's just the way I do things, ha!

The kids came along to say goodbye to the old Expedition and welcome the new one. It's almost the same exact vehicle but is about 10 years newer, 100K fewer miles, and lots of new features that I'm loving already.

Bye to the old Expedition. It was a GREAT family vehicle for us!

Yay, a new vehicle for Mom!

All smiles in the new ride!

To wrap up July, the kids participated in another Vacation Bible School at a church near our neighborhood. It was a superhero theme and they had a great time.

Superhero VBS - fun!

Jesus is our superhero!

So I know I said that wrapped up July, but I actually left out a few big updates on the kids' summer camps and an awesome vacation for Jeff and me. Those are up next, stay tuned!

A Whole TON of Summer FUN -- June Edition

When I looked at our summer calendar for this year, I was amazed at everything we were planning to pack into our summer. I've been working quite a bit more this year, so I had to make sure I had various camps and activities lined up for the kids so that I could get my job done. It's definitely been a bit chaotic and hectic every week as we juggle all of our commitments along with two working parents, but I'd say the kids are enjoying a whole TON of summer FUN so far!

To kickoff the summer, we made sure to enjoy some backyard pool time. And along with the usual summer appointments and errands, we have also been taking advantage of some yummy summer treats.

Our kickoff to summer swim at the Courtright pool.

Woohoo, it's summer time!

Not so much fun, but a necessary event -- well visits for the kids.

Connor's new favorite summer treat - Big League Chew bubble gum.

And Kaitlynn's favorite -- ice cream!

We sometimes stop at Connie's Frozen Custard after Kaitlynn's weekly reading class. Yum!!


Soon enough, it was time to begin the many weeks of camps that we had lined up for the kids.

One of the first camps of the summer was Faith West. It's kind of like a Vacation Bible School in the mornings followed by lake time in the afternoons. There's an onsite lake with trampolines, inflatables, zip line, rock wall, you-name-it! The kids LOVED it and came home happily exhausted every day. The only downside was the life jackets created some minor injuries, but it was a small price to pay for all the fun they had that week at Faith West summer camp.

Packed and ready to go to Faith West summer camp.

Here they are on site at the camp. Too bad I couldn't get any lake photos.

Our solution for the life jacket injuries, ha!

The week after Faith West was another fun camp called Daycation at Houston's First Baptist Church. We signed up for this camp so that Connor could spend some time with his buddies, Brady and Tanner (from WAC fame).

For their week of Daycation, the kids were able to participate in the week of Vacation Bible School at the church, along with the other fun camp activities like volleyball, dance, and lots of group games. The kids really loved this camp, but of course their favorite part of it was the VBS.






Morning drop-off at Daycation.

The church has an awesome activities building for the kids with courts, indoor play structure, bowling, and lots more.

For the Vacation Bible School part of the camp, the parents were invited to attend a family night. We got to enjoy hearing what the kids were learning about, participate in the songs and worship, and even visit the kids' classrooms. What a great job the church leaders did with VBS; the kids loved being a part of it!

Arriving for Family Night at VBS.

The stage decorations were awesome! This year's theme was "Journey Off the Map."

For Family Night, the church hosted a Chick-fil-A dinner, yum!

First to arrive for Family Night.

Selfie with my kiddos.

Kaitlynn's classroom at VBS.

Connor's classroom.

As if that wasn't fun enough, Granddaddy was able to visit during the same week of Daycation. He took Kaitlynn on a very special date night to Rainforest Café and USwirl, her two favorites. His trip was planned to accompany Connor on 2 golf tournaments, but the weather didn't cooperate for either one unfortunately. Of course, the kids didn't mind one bit. They enjoyed every second of Granddaddy's visit -- the games never stop when he's around!

Kaitlynn's very special date night with her Granddaddy. She picked a special dress just for him.

Her favorite spot, Rainforest Café.

Granddaddy followed directions very well and took lots of cute pics.

Granddaddy even let Kaitlynn pick out a gift, a special Rainforest cup.

Back home, let the games commence. Uno was Kaitlynn's choice and she LOVES to dish out the Draw Four cards.

Haha Granddaddy, Draw Four!

We taught the kids how to play Chickenfoot Dominos, our new family favorite!

Well, that about wraps it up. The month of June, that is. Stay tuned for lots more summer fun that we've been having (or will have) in July and August, too. Are these kids spoiled for the summer or what?! :-)

Special Summer Visitors -- The Ewings

The week after the Webbs visited, we were blessed yet again with more special summer visitors. This time it was the Ewing family -- Dana, Jackson, and Ryan. LOVE the chance to catch up while our kids soak in the summer fun.

We packed in lots of activities, including swimming, Uno, and many games of Wii. I have a feeling that Santa might need to consider some video games for the Ewing kiddos this year, hint hint! :-)

I didn't do near as good of a job taking photos this trip, but we still had such a great visit and were sad to see the Ewings leave. I am so thankful to you guys for making this trip!!

Never a shortage of fun in the sun around here.

Lunch at our favorite spot for kids, All Star Grill.

There's ice cream for dessert every time!

Video games keep us happy when the sun gets too hot.

Special Summer Visitors -- The Webbs

We are enjoying some super fun visits with friends this summer! I've been working more this summer, so we're extra thankful that these friends are willing to make the drive to come see us and spend some time together while the kids are out of school.

First up, our awesome friends, the Webb family -- Katherine, Jacob, Luke, and Sarah. The Webbs visited us for a couple days of fun in the sun along with a few other cool activities. We usually only get to see each other around Christmas so it was a special treat to have a warm-weather visit. And we took advantage of that warm weather; the kids swam multiple times during the 2-day visit!

Silly pose before a big jump.

Look at those girls; big jump!

What could be cuter than these bedhead princesses?

Another round of swimming.

We enjoyed some pizza for lunch before heading over to JumpStreet for some indoor fun.

This place wears out the kiddos every time!

A little cookie treat before heading home.

Sweet girls.

We stopped at All Star Grill, our favorite family place, to eat and play the next day. No playing this time due to rain though.

After the skies cleared, it was back to the pool for one another swim.

The homemade slide started by the girls was the hit of the trip.

Breakfast time.

One last swim with these cuties.

And these cool dudes!

We packed a ton of fun into the 2-day visit. Thanks again to the Webbs for driving south and working us into your super busy summer! It was so much fun!!