We had a fun start to summer with family in town for a few days. I tortured them with touristy "stuff" (heehee...hopefully I didn't REALLY torture them) The first day we spent several hours at the Kemah Boardwalk. Our kids love it out there and our cousin, Christopher did also. The 3 kids played in a dancing fountain for quite a while. I think they would have stayed much longer, but the adults were melting. We were just about to the point of running through the fountain as well. We also took them on the little train ride, had lunch, and fed some sting rays. They have a large tank full of sting rays that you can feed. Clark just couldn't get up the courage to stick his hand in the tank....so Mama had to feed those STINKY little fish to the rays. My hands smelled forever after that. LOVELY!! After Kemah, we hit Dairy Queen on the way home for some much needed ice cream. That evening Ali had swim practice, so we just stayed around here. The next morning we got up and headed to Galveston for the day. We took a drive down the main drag to see the beach and then we stopped at the state park to let the kids play in the ocean. They had a great time. Clark is always content to dump out all of his sand toys and go to town digging in the sand. There was a storm out at sea, so there was a lot of seaweed and rough waters. The children didn't seem to mind at all...despite the not so pretty water that left their white shirts discolored. Oh well!! We then headed to The Strand District to visit Ali and Clark's favorite old fashioned ice cream parlor and candy store. All in all we had a great time and enjoyed their visit VERY much. Lisa, you didn't think I would include that picture of Clark with that *funnel* did you? Ok, I will explain...we were in a Wings beach shop and Clark spotted a beer bong....his Aunt Lisa just COULDN'T resist getting a shot of him with it. I know it was a little tacky of me to include it...but what can I say? Let's hope he isn't a future wild frat boy!! Ha! Mom, I know you are thinking "oh we raised her better than this." Ha!! No, I lied and told him it was a huge funnel to play on the beach with...heehee. Don't worry...we didn't buy it!!
T.C. is officially a chaplain in the Texas Air National Guard 147th Reconnaissance Wing........FINALLY! This has been over a year in the making. He transferred out of the Air Force Reserve into the Guard. We just didn't know it would take SO long. But, the wait is over and he is very excited about this new chapter in his military career. He began work this weekend. He will pull one weekend a month and 2 weeks a year (or something like that). Today we attended a family day at the base. It was fun and the kids enjoyed it. They were changing from a fighter wing to the reconnaissance wing, so they had a ceromony for that. Afterwards, there was a catered lunch, bouncy houses for the kids, car displays, plane displays, booths, etc. Ali loved looking at all the cars as she is quite a fan! Clark loved the bouncy houses and literally cried when it was time to get out. I was able to meet the other chaplains and a few wives. We are excited to see what ministry opportunities the Lord opens up for T.C.
We hung a bird feeder in our grand oak tree the other day. Ok, it isn't so grand...it is a baby actually! T.C. still questions why a builder would plant the slowest growing tree in the yard of a new house. Ha!! He wants to uproot it...but I have become quite attached to it. Anyway, Ali and I were doing school the other day when I looked outside. I thought the bird at the feeder looked odd. I went outside for a closer look and low and behold it was a parakeet. I am guessing someone in the neighborhood is missing their pet bird. It has returned several times since then...quite an odd little sight.We have very much enjoy watching all the birds that show up at our lone little feeder. We have quite a few birds despite our lack of trees in this neighborhood. Lisa brought us a hummingbird feeder this past week, and we are anxious to see if some hummingbirds find it soon!
Clark is continuing to do well. His speech still needs quite a bit of work, but maybe this is to be expected with changing languages only 9 1/2 months ago. If we still feel he is behind in a few months I will have him re-evaluated by the speech pathologist. We understand a lot of what he says, but others don't always. Aside from that we are having some whining/crying issues, but we are really working on that. I think it will improve over time. He just gets upset easily...I am sure it somehow stems from orphanage life. I don't mean he throws fits, it is literally just a true cry. (but still grates on the nerves after the millionth time..haha) Anyway, when the fam was here this week we took the kids to our pool one evening. Clark was really getting the hang of the whole swimming thing! He just might take after his big sister after all. He was really moving those arms and kicking those legs. You could tell he had watched Ali a zillion times as he was trying to move his head like on freestyle. Now that was quite funny! We also think he is going to love music. He hums to himself non stop. He will start children's choir and hand bells in the fall. He loves it when the children perform a hand bell special in church. He stops what he is doing, stands up, and doesn't take his eyes off of them until they are finished. Uncle Jay, does that just warm your heart?
That about sums up our start to summer. Leave comments on what is going on with you guys and your summer plans!
Here are some photos from the week. It is not letting me post captions with the pictures. I will try again another time....blogger is giving me a fit tonight.
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| some summer fun |
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