Simple Summer Start

This weekend we made a trip up to Houston to visit Nonnie.  I love how the kids show us time and time again how it is the little things that make life so grand.  We all had such a pleasant, relaxing weekend just hanging out with Nonnie and being together.

Nonnie bought kid-sized chairs for the kids, which were a big hit.
What's more relaxing than  sitting in a comfortable chair, in pajamas, no less?

As I said, the little chairs were a BIG hit.

Another one of life's simple pleasures?  Digging in the dirt!

Tell me what beats playing in the sprinkler in the backyard.

Walking through a puddle without clothes, of course!

An Adventure For Mom and Dad

At the end of 2011, instead of making one New Year's resolution, I made a list. (Oh yes I did.)  This list contained 17 things that I as a mom and a person would like to accomplish in 2012.  Over the past weekend, we completed list item number 11..."Take a vacation WITHOUT the kids".... We still have yet to complete item number 10 (Take a vacation WITH the kids.), but at any rate, we took off our parent hats for a little while. While this vacation only lasted over the weekend, it was all we needed to feel refreshed and ready for whatever else comes our way in 2012.

We drove our boat down to South Padre Island for the weekend with our long-time friends James and Christie.  The vacation started Friday morning, when we boarded the boat and began the 120 mile boat ride down the Laguna Madre to the tip of Texas.  A picture is worth a thousand words, so here is our vacation in a nutshell:

We passed such desolate landscape.  At times it just felt like we were nowhere.   The only thing of note we saw were the numerous pods of dolphins.

Leaving Port Mansfield, we were thrilled to be 2/3rds of the way there!

South of Port Mansfield, the scenery started to change.  The land got greener and the water bluer.   Here is a view of someone's tropical paradise.

A South Padre signature landmark...the causeway.

We docked the boat at the first bar we came to.  After 5.5 hours on the boat, we were ready...

Our happy vessel, docked at the condo where we stayed.

Another South Padre signature landmark.

Day one comes to a close.

A view from our balcony...rise and shine!

We actually walked 27 blocks to cocktails and dinner, only to realize our destination was on the water, and we could have taken the boat!  (Noted for next time.)

Day two comes to a close...

On the four hour boat ride home, we learned the proper way to live and work on a barge.

Oh yeah, where were our sweet Cooper and Penny?  They enjoyed a glorious two and a half days of ultimate spoilage...Ma-Mas and Pa-Pa in charge!

Happy start of Summer!!

Last Day of School

A shot of Cooper and Penny on the last day of school (YEA summer!)

A shot of Cooper and Penny on their first day of school back in August.  Just a little more than our house color has changed, I'd say!

Scenes From a Perfect Mother's Day

Cooper's and Penny's Mother's Day gifts to me.  

Cooper did a dance in his boots. Love this little spirit!

Penny ate yogurt.  Love this little face!

We enjoyed a quiet, relaxing day at home where I felt appreciated, loved, and so grateful that I get to be the Mama!  We hope all the Mom's in our life enjoyed their day.  Happy Mother's Day, especially to Ma-Mas and Nonnie.  We love you!

On the Days it Rains

As this storm blew in we...

Let the dogs inside.  Ralph has become terrified of storms in his old age.

Played with trains, of course!

(The cute smile is because I haven't yet announced that it is nap time.) 

Then, while the kids napped, I attended to my usual piles of P.L.A.P...

Paperwork...

Laundry...

And Projects!

I hope you are having a serene Thursday!

Where We'll Be This Summer

 In the fall, the kids will be starting at a new school.  We are excited to get into the new school, but the 3-day-a-week class was full for Cooper, so we opted to see how he does going five days a week.  Really I think he will get along just fine, but for the summer, I want to make sure we fit in a lot of easy-going fun!  We plan on taking advantage of my still part-time work schedule and all the fun kid things South Texas has to offer.  The idea is for our activities during the summer to be easy, cheap (or free) and of course FUN!  I'll be posting regularly through the summer all the fun things we find to do.  We started our fun kid activity tour this week with a trip to the Texas State Aquarium splash park.  We have a membership, so admission and parking for us and one guest are free every time we go, since our membership has already paid for itself with our trips to the aquarium earlier in the year. 

I highly recommend the splash park for little kids!  It is clean, well maintained, and perfect for small children to splash around.  It isn't that exciting for bigger kids, which was nice, since my little kids tend to get trampled at a lot of play areas we go to.  This was not an issue on this particular morning.  We were joined by my cousin Ashley and her little one, Charley.  Charley is not quite a year yet, but had a really good time too!

Penny getting more than her feet wet!

Charley is enthralled with the spewing water.

Cooper waits patiently for the water.

There it is!

On This First May Morning...

This morning as I was eating my cereal and gazing out of the breakfast room window, I spied a dolphin fishing for his breakfast.  Wanting Cooper to see the dolphin, I ran with him into the sun room to get a better look.  By then the dolphin had moved on and we were left looking at an uneventful bay.  Cooper said in an annoyed sounding voice, "Mama, I see Dooley, but Dooley isn't a dolphin, she's a dog!"

Maybe next time...