Splash Kingdom-Shreveport

Sam (along with his dad and brothers) spent the first week of July fishing in Canada.  Yes, that means they spent America's Independance Day by leaving the country.  Ha!

They had a phenomenal trip.  First they flew to Mineappolis, MN, where they grabbed dinner and a hotel room for the night.  The next morning they drove their rental car 11 hours North into the province of Ontario, where they were picked up by a little pilot in a float plane.  The float plane delivered them to a little cabin on a lake in the middle of nowhere.  Don't worry, though.  The pilot brought in all the groceries they had bought on the way.  And he left them a sattelite phone so they could call if the had any emergencies while they were there.  (They didn't know at the time, but the sat-phone was password-protected and they couldn't actually use it!)

I don't have any pictures from their trip, but they caught hundreds of fish (Northern Pike), had beautiful (if a little hot) weather, and enjoyed the time away.  It's not exactly my idea of paradise, but Sam can't imagine anything more fun than a week "off the grid".  He had a blast.  

The night that the guys left, the kids and I headed an hour and half east to Shreveport, Louisiana to visit a water park.  Our radio station had been giving away tickets to a closer water park, and at the end of the giveaway they still had tickets left for the farther-away park....so we got some of those!

The kids were so excited to try out a new water park.  Along the way, we stopped at Arby's for a quick dinner.  While we were there a semi-truck drove into the parking lot pulling a tank.  The kids were pretty impressed with this and we talked to the driver for a while (who told us that the tank weighs 60,000 pounds!).  

When we got to Splash Kingdom, everyone was gathered outside and they hadn't opened the gates yet. There were less than 100 people there, and the radio station people soon announced that this was EVERYONE who would be at the park that evening...no lines, no waiting, SO FUN!

They had some fun new slides...here are Henry and Jonah dropping off of these really fun short slides:

And Bridget loved every bit of it.  She was (finally) tall enough to go down some of the big slides, and her favorite one was a face-first, superman-type slide that made me scream every time I went down it.  She is such a daring little girl!

We had so much fun and we are so grateful to our local Christian radio station for the free tickets and the adventure.  :)

Policeman Jonah

Last night Jonah announced to me his intention to become a policeman when he grows up.  

He just had a few questions.

#1  Do I have to go to college?  (No, but you should.  You'll be more prepared and make more money as a college graduate than you would otherwise.)

#2  How will I know who the bad guys are?  Like, when do I pull out my gun?  (You'll go to the police academy, have lots of training, and you'll most likely know who the bad guys are.)

#3  But really, how do I know when to pull out my gun?  I don't want to shoot the wrong person.  (Yes, that would be bad.  You'll only use your gun if someone's life is being threatened.)

"I see," he said, "So when I see someone pull their sword out and try to stab a girl, then I know I should pull out my gun and stop them."

Um...yes, I think you've got it!  Lol!

Henry turns 9

Henry's birthday always falls near the memorial day weekend...which has positives and negatives that go along with it.  The weather is usually gorgeous, but lots of people are busy, busy, busy as they are kicking off festivities and welcoming in summer.  The rodeo is usually in town the weekend before that, and Sky Ranch starts summer camp that weekend as well. 

This year, Henry invited his cousin Cole over to go to the rodeo with us and spend the night at our house.  They had a blast at the rodeo, and we happened to have a field trip scheduled for the next day at the Sabine River Authority, so Cole got to join us for that as well.  

It was a great way to get started celebrating his birthday.  :)

The following weekend (on the day before Henry's actual birthday) we had a small family party for Henry at the house.  Henry requested white cake with blue icing, and ice cream cones with frosting a sprinkles on the side. 

The next day, on his birthday, the kids and I headed to Dallas.  Grandma Austin had sent Henry the one thing that he wanted more than anything else...skeletoes shoes (or 'toe-shoes' as Henry calls them).  The only problem was that they were not a comfortable fit.  So we went to Dallas to find the store where she bought them and were able to exchange them for the perfect pair.  He couldn't have been happier!  Jonah and Bridget even scored new sandals while we were there.  :)

We made a stop at Henry's favorite place (that we don't have in our area), In-N-Out burger.  It was super windy and kept blowing our napkins and french fries all over the place, but we had a great time anyway.  

I just love of my big 9 year old!  Henry is so responsible that I sometimes forget that he is (only) nine years old.  He continues to amaze me with his willingness to work hard, help others and watch out for his younger siblings.  He has a natural ability to care for animals and he is athletically gifted and good at any sport that he tries.  Henry reads his Bible every morning and diligently works on his schoolwork without complaint.  He is friends with everyone he meets.  Henry, I love you so much and am so very proud of you!!!

Cub Scouts

Sam and I ended up being Cub Scout leaders for the 2011/2012 school year.  We were in charge of the Tiger Cubs (Jonah's troop).  Henry was a Bear Cub in another troop.  I'm not exactly sure how we got signed up to be the troop leaders, but we did enjoy the experience-especially the super cool shirts.

 Jonah was the reason we got involved with cub scouts in the first place.  

 He had heard about it and thought that it would be the very best activity for him.  Since Henry was involved in other sports at the time, we initially told him that he couldn't be in cub scouts, but it turned out that he could go on the same nights that we were there with Jonah.  So it actually worked out wonderfully for everyone!  Bridget came along with us to Jonah's class and was able to participate in the crafts and snacks and games.

The meetings were fairly structured but required a lot of parent participation-and our group's parents weren't very interested in participating.  So we just tried to keep it fun and get the requirements done as best as we could.  :)  We set up a snack rotation, planned games and crafts, and made sure the kids were earning their patches and beads as we went along.  We were also required to set up one field trip a month.  We went fun places like the fire station, and the local Christian radio station:

The cub scouts also had a chance to be in a parade!  When we got to the meet-up place the morning of the parade, it was raining and kind of cold.  Both my boys decided they wouldn't prefer to be in the parade after all, so we opted to watch from the sidelines. 

 Some of the meeting were super fun, like the one where they brought in "The Creature Teacher", who let everyone touch a tarantula.  Yuck!

Before the big cub scout camp out, we had a tent-building meeting.  The kids really enjoyed learning to put up a tent, and we packed them each a s'mores snack in a ziploc to enjoy while they played.

Near the end of the school year, we had one final meeting and had everyone come to our house for a bonfire.  The kids roasted marshmallows, met our goats, and ran around outside for a while.  We had mostly city kids in our group, and they all really enjoyed coming out to our place and having some freedom to enjoy nature a bit.  They all had so much fun!  

   It was fun to be a cub scout leader for a season, but at the end of the year Sam and I passed the torch to another parent to take over the leadership.  We decided that since we have so many other activities throughout the year that cub scouts wasn't the best one for our family.  We also spend lots of time outdoors and enjoy the experiences they were focusing on as a family.  We are thankful for the year that we had with such a fun group! 

Bridget the Bookworm

 One thing I learned quickly when I first met my husband (and his family!) was that I had better use proper grammar or I should expect to be corrected.  (This is all in good humor, of course, and I have to admit that it's a trait I rather like.  I've always been kind of particular about getting words right.)  One of their pet peeves is improper use of adverbs (think "I feel bad about.." vs. "I feel badly about..."). 

So it should be no surprise that my children have always spoken well and used correct grammar (for the most part) since they were toddlers.   Bridget cracked me up with this one today...

She has a book reader that reads the words aloud to her when she flips the pages.  I was in the kitchen working and I could hear her play the same page over and over, about five times.  Finally, she said, "Mom, come listen.  There's a problem!"

I assumed the problem was a low battery and that it wasn't moving on to the next page properly.  I couldn't have been more wrong.  She wanted me to listen because they used the word "townsfolk" and she thought that sounded downright wrong.  "Mom, can you believe they messed up like that?  It should be 'folks' not 'folk'.  So silly!"

She didn't exactly spot an error this time, but I imagine in no time she'll be following in her father's footsteps and correcting my mistakes!    :)

Jonah and Bridget-best of friends!

Am I the only one who got to see a parade today? 

This morning Jonah and Bridget came downstairs to the living room, marching and playing drums. They circled Henry and me once, then grabbed walmart sacks full of candy and started launching the candy at us. 

They followed it up with one final circle and then left with no explanation.

 Life with these two around is never dull.  They are such good friends and whenever they have free time, they are usually together.  

Jonah and Bridget...you crack me up!  Thanks for making life more fun and always reminding me to seize the day.    :)