James’ parents gave us season passes for Schlitterbahn New Braunfels this summer! I brought my water camera along to get some fun pictures of us at the parks!
Rilyn and Asher going down the Master Blaster!
Ella nervous about going on the Master Blaster…
Me and Ella finishing the Master Blaster! She loved it!
The kids favorite water activity was at Blastenhoff going around this “lazy river” that had waves going through it!
The girls left for week long overnight camp at Pine Cove Silverado June 1-7th! This was their first overnight camp, and they had a BLAST! Rilyn even got to have her birthday there! They are definitely going to go back to Pine Cove next summer-Asher will get to join them too!
Waiting to go into camp!
Walking into camp with their friends, Cole and Anna!
Rilyn in front of her cabin-Sunflower 4!
As a parent, I really love that Pine Cove posts pictures of everyday to their blog so I can check what my kids are doing each day! Here are some of the pictures of them doing the fun activities during the week!
Ella and Anna canoeing!
Ella and Anna water ziplining!
They have theme nights every night and this was glow night!
Club is where they have praise and worship! Ella is in the #7 yellow shirt.
Rilyn during camo night (she is in the back holding her arm up)
Rilyn with her counselor, Who Ya Messin’ With, during a water fight!
If it’s your birthday during camp you get to go on stage during lunch and they sing the Birthday Rap to you!
A snowman rapping to Rilyn for her 10th birthday! Only at camp!
Rilyn’s letter from camp!
While the girls were off at summer camp for a week, Asher had his last day of kindergarten on June 4th!
After Asher came home, we went to the neighborhood pool to kick off the summer!! I got to try out my new Pentax Optio WG-3 GPS purple 16 MP Waterproof Digital Camera with 3-Inch LCD Screen (Purple)
that I got for my birthday!
Asher and one of his best friends!
James made another cool video to capture our busy summer! Enjoy!
James and I had our 2nd annual lake day with friends! We got to wake board, water ski, and tube plus eat a yummy lunch at Hula Hut- all without kids! It was a great summer Saturday enjoying good company and fun water activities!
Last week our family headed to Six Flags Fiesta Texas with some friends! The high that day was 106 degrees so we were in for a *treat*! Because of the heat, the crowds weren’t all that bad, plus there was a water park, so we had a great day and stayed from opening to closing! Asher and Rilyn LOVE rollar coasters, Ella does not, it makes for an interesting day. 🙂
This is the kiddie coaster, which Ella still will not ride! Asher and his best friend, Caden, loved it though!
Ella did love the kiddie swings though, and my best friend went on them with her first.
my turn with my sweetie!
This coaster was one of the few that Asher could ride. This one was called Pandemonium! Do you see Asher sitting next to me?
daddy and Asher!
We let the kids play a booth because “everyone wins”!
Here is Rilyn and James on the adult swings! Can you see her waving at me?
This is how Asher feels about slow rides. 🙂
James and Rilyn went on this spinning ride!
Bumper Cars! Ella is sticking her tongue out at Rilyn behind her! Catch me if you can!
Rilyn riding with Blair, Jen’s sister.
Asher loved the bumper cars!
Our last trip this summer was to Whitefish, Montana where we enjoyed a week long retreat with our church. We took numerous trips to Glacier National Park where the scenery was so amazing!
We took the red bus tour around the park. The top rolls away so you can enjoy the scenery and learn about the park!
Sitting in the red bus waiting for our tour to start!
At a few points along the way, we stopped and stood up to enjoy the breathtaking views!
They also parked in a few places to let us walk around and enjoy the fresh air!
The next day we went whitewater rafting on class 3 rapids!
Can you find James and me?
I look scared in this picture! I almost fell out of the raft once!
The next day we drove back to Glacier National Park and took a small hike at Logan’s Pass. The scenery was unreal. It felt like I was stepping into a postcard!
We saw plenty of goats along our hike too!
This guy was just standing there like he was posing for pictures!
When I saw real live park rangers wearing hats, I just HAD to get a picture!
Our girls went to Pine Cove Base Camp last week. This is a true camp experience minus the overnight stays in cabins, (which we are planning on sending our girls to next summer!) This is their second year, and next summer Asher will get to go! I highly recommend looking for a Base Camp in your city next summer for your kids ages “going into first grade thru sixth grade.” (Base Camp will be called “Camp in the City” from now on.)
Ella cried on Friday at the closing ceremonies. Ella always cries at good-byes. But James reminded her there will be no more good-byes in heaven! And going to Base Camp this past week was an earthly taste of what heaven will be like: dancing and worshiping Jesus with joy, laughing, neon colors everywhere…(okay maybe not that part!) 🙂
Ella with her counselor, Wala Wala!
Pine Cove is all about crazy and silly!
At the end of the closing ceremony, the counselors present their camper with a character quality that they saw in them during the week.
Ella’s was, “Ella is virtuous. Her authentic personality is refreshing to those around her. Ella is faithful in her words and actions.”
Rilyn’s character quality was, “Rilyn is nurturing in the way she encourages others. Her enthusiastic attitude inspires others to be engaged. Rilyn is respectful.”
Rilyn with her 4th grade girl group and counselor, Minty.
The night of the fourth, we went to watch the George Bush library firework show. We had to drag our kids to it, because they were scared to death that another fire would start, but we assured them that these were professionals lighting fireworks!
reactions to watching the beautiful fireworks!
LOL…these are obviously FAKE reactions to watching fireworks!
again, fake reactions…maybe we need to work on our acting skills!
My dad turned 60 on July 6th, and we celebrated some more at the Octaranch, despite having almost burned down the place! 🙂 James and my brother worked hard on the ranch, doing as much manual labor they could for my dad! Even Ella joined in! Dad is a godly, hard worker, self-less man who is all about making fun memories with his grandkids!
Me. my sister, dad, and brother!
For my dad’s birthday, we transferred all our old VHS tapes and Super 8 reels into DVDs! It was definitely a good idea, can you tell?
happy tears…
I always thought that playing with fireworks was just fun and innocent, (I grew up lighting fireworks in the neighborhood streets), and all those warnings about starting fires were for dummies who lit a firework in a dry cornfield or something…well…fireworks are DANGEROUS and I learned that first hand this July 4th!
Let’s start out with a sweet, patriotic family picture before the chaos…
We were in College Station, at my parents Octaranch having some family fun!
water gun fight!
James trying to shoot my dad!
water gun rage!
having some of aunt Jessica’s birthday cake!
look at all the danger…
So all was fun and games at first…
sparkler fun from Asher
look how high!
Then my brother and James paused before lighting a 9 tubed firework. It had lots of “cautions” on it but they figured as long as they set it on a flat stone, it should be fine. Based on the previous pictures, you can tell that I was not with the rest of the family. As soon as the firework lit and blew out it’s first tube, it turned sideways and started blowing 8 more rockets of fire out in a clockwise direction. It shot one under our car, one at my sister’s car, (causing a dent), one right past me in which a small fire immediately started, one rocket across the street that started a larger fire, one at my sister-in-law’s leg that caused a 6 inch bruise and one at Rilyn’s boot! Chaos immediately ensued as this was the size of the fire:
sorry for the poor quality, but I was shaking pretty bad and screaming for someone to call 911. And that is my dad running into the fire with a bucket of water
The fire by me was pretty small, but still the size of an extra large pizza. My dad came running with a bucket of water, but tripped right in front of my fire and spilled it all, so I was forced to put it out with stepping on it (thank goodness I was wearing tennis shoes!) The kids were all in hysterics by this time screaming and crying and I just kept on taking pictures because that’s just what I do! 🙂
again, apologies for the poor quality, I was shaking too!
aunt Jessica and aunt Becca trying to comfort them
I’m pretty sure we scarred our kids for life on enjoying fireworks.
Thankfully, my dad had a very long hose ready in case of anything like this happening, and so with the help of 4 men together, they put the fire out. The fire was about 4 feet deep, 5 feet tall, and 4 feet wide. It could of been MUCH WORSE if the winds were any stronger, because the firework landed in a pretty dry area. My mom was just about to call 911 when my dad had it out. The whole incident took about 2 to 3 minutes, but it felt like eternity as I thought we were going to be the ones responsible for burning College Station down. Our adrenaline didn’t come down for hours after that and we couldn’t stop talking about how blessed we were.
Even after the fire, we lit a few more fireworks so as not to live in fear. Rilyn was the only one who would watch them though. All the other kids hid in the house. 🙂
We went to the George Bush library firework show after MUCH coercing the kids. I’ll save those pictures for another post though!
the paquettes 