Happy 32nd Birthday James! I am beyond blessed to have this man in my life for 12 years now.
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| James at age 10ish |
Archive for the 'James' Category
02
Oct
10
Happy Birthday James!
18
Sep
10
schlitterbahn in september
Water parks. They are frustrating for a person like me. Why? Because I feel that it is an event with my kids that I MUST document with high quality pictures, however, a water park is not exactly the best place to bring my very nice camera and lenses. So, I did take pictures today, (with my friend’s camera), but begrudgingly. I really wanted to get ‘the shot’ where the girls are flying down the slide in their tubes, but of course, I can’t. So if we were near our locker, and I was in the mood, I got out the camera and took a few shots. So what I’m trying to say is that I’m not super excited about these pictures. 😛
We thought today would be a good day to take the girls on their first trip to Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels. Today is the second to last day that the water park is open this year so I thought it wouldn’t be too crowded. We had promised the girls to go this summer, (they had even been saving their chore money for tickets), and summer came and went so fast that before you know it, September was here and we were down to the last weekend it was open! So we really were praying for good weather! As I checked weather.com in the car halfway there this morning, it was slightly nervewrecking to read 95% chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. We told the girls our game plan-go on as many slides in the morning as possible! But after we bought the freaking expensive tickets, I decided we would battle the rainstorms and spend as long as possible there! 🙂 When we got there, the girls were excited and then Ella, after seeing the tube slides, quickly decided she was scared and wanted to go home. You can see the fear in her face in this picture.
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| Ella is not so sure about this place! |
We forced our girls to go on the tube slides (another drawback of uncompassionate parents), and the water was FREEZING! After all, it was an overcast day and it was only 80 degrees outside! Ella was not a fan of any of the tube slides. But we promised we would head to the kid section and then she relaxed a little.
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| Rilyn |
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| Ella |
James really wanted to do the Boogie Bahn ‘ride’ where you try to boogie board. He asked me if he looked like a Californian after the ride and I told him Californians don’t boogie board with their glasses on. 🙂
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| time to boogie |
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| good thing I have my glasses on so I can see the water splashing in my eyes! |
The lazy river was a hit especially when they found an alligator to ride on! James was having fun trying to tip them over!
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My thoughts that Schlitterbahn wouldn’t be crowded were wrong. We waited on a slide that was labeled “high thrill” for an hour and a half and Ella fought us the whole time. She made up excuses, cried, made us hold her…but we didn’t budge. Remember, we have very little compassion. After the slide was done, she told us that was best slide ever. (Using lasers, they project a dragon head on a waterfall that is falling over you in a dark tube so it looks like the dragon is eating you.) It was Rilyn who was complaining how scared she was!
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| my freckled beauty |
Then came the rain. It poured for like 30 minutes. We were COLD and WET. Not fun. But we walked to the last park (there are 3), to try and enjoy a couple more slides. The girls were done with slides though and we didn’t want to really wait in the long lines, so we opted for the kid area again. This park had a pirate ship.
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| Ella going down! |
Rilyn took it upon herself to be the ‘slide lifeguard’ at the pirate ship area. For 20 minutes I saw her at the top of the slide making each child give her a ‘ticket’ (a high five) before they could go down the slide. She made them go one at a time and told them “No alcohol.” (I’m sure she said this because every time we went into a new park, they would check our cooler and say, no alcohol or glass bottles inside.)
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| Rilyn making the boy give her his ‘ticket’ |
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| Ella always looks so funny going down slides! |
And finally, did you know Schlitterbahn has a mascot? Apparently, Schatze the dog represents!
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| Rilyn with Schatze |
We decided at the end of the day (we stayed about 6ish hours), that we will go back in a couple of years. We want Asher to go with us next time and he needs to get older, and we want the girls to go on the slides because they want to and not because we are forcing them to!
My favorite season is upon us! Football season mixed in with cooler weather (that technically won’t get here til Novemberish but hey, a girl can dream!) Ever since I graduated from Texas A&M (2001), my parents have had four Aggie football season tickets in the Zone and we have shared them with my brother and his wife. Here we are at our seats before the game started in 2004.
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| Kyle Field before the game started |
And here I am in 2005 all hot and sweaty because I’m 6 months pregnant with Ella!
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Rilyn gets to go to her second Aggie football game tomorrow with grandpa, uncle Jeff, and aunt Becca. Next year, it’s Ella’s turn!
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| Rilyn’s first game last year at Kyle Field |
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| Cheering the Aggies last year! |
02
Aug
10
lake day
Here are more pictures of our afternoon at the lake on Saturday! We went to Decker Lake which is only 10 minutes away from us!
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| James and Ella |
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| me and Rilyn |
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| James |
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| air borne |
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| love this pic! |
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| all good things must come to an end! |
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| water skiing |
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| Me water skiing after 12 years! I was really surprised that I could still get up! It is such
hard work on your arm muscles! |
30
Jul
10
americana at our house
When we got home from Pine Cove, we were very anxious to pick up Asher! We missed him! After we unloaded the car on Saturday afternoon, James wanted to wash the car. A perfect father/son photo op!
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| precious |
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| Asher even cleans tires! |
Asher got a little carried away with the soap and soon he looked like this:
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| soap in your eye is never fun! |
So naturally, someone had to spray the soap out of his eyes!
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Who volunteered to do this? Ella had no problem spraying him!
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| getting hosed |
Now that he was ‘clean’ and could see, he could get on to other activities!
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| soaked (and loving it) |
He got his truck and we filled it with water, and then his job became pushing it up and down the driveway!
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29
Jul
10
pine cove day 6
Friday was our last full day of camp. We took it easy because well, we were tired! James and the girls played frisbee golf during free time.
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| frisbee golf |
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| interesting form Ella… 😉 |
That evening, Wild Kids (Rilyn’s program), had a “Character Quality” ceremony. Her counselor, “Half Asleep” presented her with her certificate.
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| Half Asleep reading it to Rilyn |
It read: “Rilyn is a good listener and is thoughtful of others. She is insightful, making it easy for her to understand those around her. She is generous of her possessions and time.”
That night we prayed with “Spirit Fingers” and thanked her for such a wonderful week with us!
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| Ella, Spirit Fingers, and Rilyn |
We thank God for blessing us with the chance to attend Pine Cove family camp last week!
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| mommy and her girls |
28
Jul
10
pine cove day 5
Thursday was all about banana boating! I’m so glad Jen took pictures of our family because Ella’s expressions are priceless! (Once again, Ella was scared, but asked God for courage to ride!)
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| banana boating time! |
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| Rilyn can barely keep her helmet on! |
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| Ella is screaming! |
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| Jen said she made this face the whole time! |
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| ella: terrified |
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| Rilyn being a little daring! |
After we went, we decided it would be fun(ny) to have a ‘kids only’ banana boat ride. We were definitely the mean parents, making the boat driver go faster even though the kids would put their thumbs down to slow down. We were laughing so hard at their expense!
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| Cole had his thumb down pretty much the whole time! |
I’m sad this next picture isn’t clearer, but I had to post to show these bff’s and their personalities! Anna is holding her thumb up to go faster and Ella is holding her thumb down to slow down! 😉
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| anna and ella |
At one point, the boat started sinking because of the speed and it was hilarious!
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| sinking |
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| they were so scared but we were dying laughing!! |
After banana boating, we went to the pool where we all took turns going down the slide!
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| Rilyn |
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| Always following the rules! Her arms are crossed perfectly! |
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| The second time Rilyn went down, she didn’t enter as graceful! |
27
Jul
10
pine cove day 4
Wednesday morning started out with a 7 a.m. trail ride. (We had a counselor come to our cabin and take our girls to breakfast for us!)
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| James and I in the stable |
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| James |
After the trail ride, we had a southern breakfast at a little cabin overlooking the lake. So yummy and relaxing!
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| relaxing |
In the afternoon, during free time, the Richardsons and our family took the kids tubing!
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| Love this picture of Rilyn and Cole! |
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| Go Rilyn! |
Ella was very nervous about tubing. Once again, we took her fear to the Lord and asked Him for courage!
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| Ella scared before her turn |
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| Ella going very slow! |
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| looks like she had fun! |
After tubing we headed to the pool so Rilyn could go on the Blob. Unfortunately she landed wrong and slid off quickly and was too scared to try again.
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| Rilyn jumping off the board to the blob |
That night was the talent show! James and Rilyn did the Father/Daughter dance to Jai Ho with Dave and Anna Barrett that they did in their dance recital in May.
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| Rilyn almost hit her head on the beam above. The
whole audience gasped, but James had no clue how close she came! |
They got a standing ovation and if there was a prize for first place, I’m confident they deserved it!
26
Jul
10
pine cove day 3
On Tuesday, Rilyn got to shoot BB guns during her Wild Kids program!
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| wow, the counselor looks pretty intense here! |
During free time, our family headed to the zipline! Both Rilyn and Ella were pretty scared (you start ziplining at about 3 stories high!) What is neat is that at Pine Cove all the counselors pray with you and your kids before every ‘event’. So when Rilyn was up there with James about to zip down, one of the counselors prayed with her for courage.
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| Rilyn with James on the zipline next to her in the back |
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| rilyn |
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| rilyn |
Ella’s turn was next and I went with her. She acted so scared before she went up and I honestly thought she wouldn’t go through with it, but as soon as she climbed the stairs up there she never said a word and just went into ‘game time’ mode! She was so brave! We learned a lot this week about trusting God when you are fearful!
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| I am ziplining first in the yellow shirt. Ella is next to me. |
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| ella! |
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| so ella screamed a little! too cute! |
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| ella |
At night, the kids went to their programs and the adults got to have a romantic picnic dinner and then a sunset cruise on the lake. Well, our boat never started and so we technically had a ‘sunset boat park’ 😉 It was still fun because we were with all our friends who came to Pine Cove with us (sans the Barretts).
Warning: kissing picture!
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| me and James |
The Pine Cove photographer took this picture of our ‘cruise’. 😉
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| can you spot me? I’m fiddling with my camera of course! |
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| from L to R: Shawnda and Jason Kovacs, Jen and Jeff Richardson, Kevin and
Leslie Peck, James and me, Olivia and Todd Engstrom…oh and our boat captain “Rando” trying to dodge our picture! |
25
Jul
10
pine cove day 2
We got some swinging time in Monday morning!
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| daddy pushing rilyn |
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| high flyin’ ella! |
In the afternoon, we had free time. James and I signed up for the ‘Superman Swing’ at the ropes course. (You had to be over age 12.) I volunteered to go first, (little known fact: I am an adrenaline junkie but have not had many chances since becoming a mom!)
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| all harnessed up-NOT COMFORTABLE! |
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| posing like Superman before the freefall! 😉 |
To explain how this ‘swing’ works, I will have to show you the picture I took of James because I got a good angle of how high up they put you. (Estimation about 35 feet high)
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| James at the top ready to free fall and swing into the trees |
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| Here I am free falling! |
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| I’m swinging in the trees free as a bird! |
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| James looking all manly and stuff before his swing |
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| James’ superman pose |
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| James swinging in the trees…I wonder why his arms aren’t spread out free as a bird… |
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| Looks like he’s having fun, but you can see he’s holding something… |
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Here he is being taken down and you can only imagine how much pain he is in because of the tight harness! And I thought I was uncomfortable…poor guy!
Monday night was a theme night and our theme that night was “Great Scot!” and we were supposed to wear lots of plaid. Warning: this next picture goes against every grain in my well-being.
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| We were supposed to mix and match and clash-the sillier
the better! This is the best I could do. |
I know I have officially engrained Rilyn with my OCD in fashion because when I took out the red, white, and blue dress for her to wear she stared at it for awhile and then said, “Is it still July? Oh, ok, I guess I can wear this dress. But NOT in August, ok, mom?” 😉
Monday night we played games in the field that were supposed to be “Scottish”!
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| we had war paint because we were in teams |
The pretty girl behind Ella is “Spirit Fingers”. She was our assigned counselor this past week and took care of my girls and loved on us! She is super sweet!
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| Ella and Spirit Fingers |
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| James participated in the dad tug of war. He was the anchor, but unfortunately wore
flip flops. So as you can guess, they didn’t win. |
the paquettes 