Ahhhhhmazing Vacation!!

Friday afternoon after work, we finished packing up, picked up our friend (my 2nd daughter) for the week and headed out!  We drove to Slidell, Louisiana on the first half of our journey, then traveled the rest of the way on Saturday. Here are the girls in their cramped quarters.   They handled it like rock stars though.

 

 

Of course, what is a road trip without a crochet project.

 

 

AHHHH sweet condo!!! Here is our room.

Living room

 

view.... I cannot get enough of the view.

 

 

 

The girls' bedroom.

 

The night time view.  I read out here every single night...and morning before anyone got up.

 

The girlies!

 

 

 

Yikes, these whales were/are VERY loved!!!!  They took forever to blow up but I'm soooo glad we bothered with it, they LOVED them!

 

 

They are HUGE HUGE HUGE! 

 

 

 

 

 

When I say loved...I mean loved...... they were tucked in every night....

 

 

We went to "The Track" and the kids rode rides....

 

There were two boys

There were two girls....

 

I think there's nothing better than fond memories of summer crushes that make vacations WONDERFUL! (as long as there's not drama...there wasn't too much)

 

 

 

 

 

 

They were SO serious on the rides... not one smile... serious driving!!!

 

We went on sea shell hunts

 

 

 

 

Sat in big silly chairs.

 

 

Took our traditional boat ride to crab island. (blowing up more floats....the whales did not get to come along)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Always time for crafting....

 

 

 

 

They made treasure boxes out of altoid mint boxes.

 

 

I forgot to take a picture of Mikay's "shell" initial...but she has one too.

 

 

CRASHED on the way home...they slept the first 3-4  hours of the drive home out like lights!!

 

They both learned to crochet on the way home!  (look at all that junk in the back, we need to rethink our paking process....too much stuff inside there!) 

 

 

Seriously - AMAZING.

 

I'm on a severe vacation hangover this week.....

 

To say it was great is an understatement.... it was amazing, it was absolutely everything we needed it to be, it was awesome, it was our best trip there so far to date. 

 

It was perfect.

 

Father's Day

After our one day (8 hour drive time day trip) we went and dad-napped dad for the day.  He didn't know why but I did tell him we were going to monopolize his whole day so he knew not to plan anything.

 

We were able to get some Astros tickets - he LOVES baseball....so this was right up his alley and it was for THAT day!!!

 

Here he is when he realized what we were going to do!

 

 

SOOOOO HAPPY!!!  Just seeing him so happy about it made us so happy!!!  It's seriously fun to give some fun!

 

 

 We're on our way! He made sure to change into his Astro's shirt before we left.

 

 

 

 

GREAT seats!  We are spoiled forever.

 

 

I had to share Mikayla with my guys...she got to sit by both of them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seriously - Best Father's day so far!

 

Our AC went out  at the house so for dessert I had to come up with something no bake (didn't want to heat the house up any more at all with the oven) ....Mikayla actually made them - little individual cheese cakes!  They were amazing! 

 

It was truly an amazing day!!!!   AMAZING!!! 

 

So now we are back and tired from our incredible weekend...and gearing up for Destin!!!  WHEW cannot wait for that!!!!!

Some Dallas Fun!

Michael's cousin Dave moved to Dallas and we were going there for a childhood neighbor's family reunion so we met up with him first and then went to the party.  I am SO glad we went. 

 

 

Um..... Mikayla is almost the same height..... his eyes bugged out of his head when he saw her, I think he was thinking she was still tiny.

 

 

From Dave's house we stopped at Kroger for some picnic food..... and for a cool $100 later we were armed and dangerous.  (yes... $100 for hamburgers, buns....and who knows what else)...  We got there and were more than welcomed into their group.   The sign below is how we knew we were at the right pavilion LOL!!  Hello Italy!

 

 

 

Bocce Ball is VERY serious business around there....

 

 

 

it was SOOOOOO hot!  Thank goodness for the slight breeze we had.

 

 

 

"Grandpa"  was the most serious player of them all.  His shirt said Bocce KING.  LOL.

 

 

 

Funny part....

Dave-new to the group

was on the winning team! 

 

 

 

 

Michael grilled and we fed (I say we because it was part of our $100 food feeding them all) in less than 10 minutes...it was gone!  We brought 20 hamburgers!!!

 

Hungry group and good food!!

 

They had some fun games, shave the balloon, water balloon toss, ring toss onto antlers.... Mikayla had herself a GREAT time too.  Although her favorite was swimming.

 

 

We are SOOOOO happy we were able to go!  Michael had such a GREAT time reconnecting with them...of course with time and age.... the stories are better and funnier than they were the first time around. 

Last day of 4th Grade

I will not cry.... repeat

I will not cry.... repeat

I will not cry.... repeat.... she's getting so grown up on me.

 

Here is Mikayla on her first and last day of school.

 

 

Well repeating that isn't working.... how on earth does this time go so fast.  Mikayla made such HUGE strides this year.  My heart beats with more pride than I ever could have thought possible.

Here is a quick look back at our other last day's of school.  WOW.  This made me cry, not going to lie.  She was so little!!

 

 

And now for 4th Grade.

 

 

(little Bella was peeking through the door to see what we were doing out there)  ha!!

Next stop.... 5th Grade!!!!!  How did THAT happen?

I am so proud of Mikayla!  She earned a perfect attendance award an the Crimson Crusader award!!!  (All A & B average for the whole year)

 

 

The principal hugged every single kid that came up for an award...her love tank has to be full because she dished out about 200 hugs this morning.

On a side note to this post.... the school already has just over 400 students registered for next year (currently we have 312) and it's just the beginning of summer...they're expecting another full house....can you imagine-on the 3rd year, they are already going to the 7th grade (a full 3 years earlier than expected)!!!!  It is unprecedented that a school would grow so fast, full capacity in 4 years....The  newest building will start construction this summer and be open for the 2017/2018 school year.  It will have an 800 person auditorium, gym, middle school class rooms, stream/tech lab, offices, music room..... I think it's going to be amazing!!!    

WOW.