There's been a lot of changes around here! Both my parents and my BIL Josh and SIL Renae and their three kids Caleb, Chloe, and Keira have moved away this summer. The Lunns went to Monument, Colorado (slightly North of Colorado Springs), and my parents went back to their "hometown" Albuquerque, New Mexico. I know we'll see them again for many vacations and I'm hoping to get my Skype up and talk to them that way, but I still miss them. We saw each other at least every other week since from when the girls were born.
We have new neighbors that moved in next to us. One of them is a 4 year old boy named Austin. Bella, Victoria, and Austin have been playing together about every other day. Yesterday Austin told Bella that he was going to marry her, but first he had to ask if it was okay with his other girlfriend. I love listening to them.
We went to a neighborhood block party on National Night Out. It was 110 degrees outside! They set up a kiddie pool for the kids- they added some bags of ice to the water. I was so hot beads of sweat kept running down my back and I had a constant headache. I actually stuck my feet in the kiddie pool at one time to cool down. It was insane! But well worth it- we got to meet some cool, new neighbors and visit with the old ones, while complaining about the heat. This has been one of the hottest summers in Dallas history. We almost tied with the most consecutive days of over 100 degree heat-(45, I believe), came shy of the record by 2 days- when we finally got a much needed rain storm; then the next day it was up in the 100s again.
I went to Austin with Chris for a much needed girl's weekend. We ate all the wrong foods (Home Slice pizza rocks!!!), drank a couple of drinks, listened to an amazing 80s cover band, pampered ourselves at a spa- I got a message and pedicure, visited with friends, did some shopping, and slept like babies without a care in the world- thank goodness for high quality pillows and blackout curtains.
One of my friends Emily just had two adorable twin boys who I've gotten to spend some time with this summer. They've helped me get my "baby fix." Look how cute they are. Although, listening to her lack of sleep stories, makes me glad mine are grown.
I can't believe summer is almost over- it has flown by fast. The last week of summer, I tried to squeeze in as many playdates, and fun things to do as possible. We went to the Frisco Athletic Center for a last bit of swimming- just the girls and I. They played together wonderfully and our favorite thing to do was go on the Lazy River- Victoria in an inner-tube sunning herself and Bella with a life vest constantly paddling to the wall and then back to me.
I celebrated my 38th birthday by going out to Pappaduex for the best Lobster Bisque ever! Earlier that day, the girls brought me breakfast in bed that they had helped make- Bella made the bowl of Cheeries, and Victoria made the strawberry toast, Daddy made the eggs and coffee. They did a great job! In the afternoon, we went to Applebees for lunch- definitely recommend their soup and salad combo. And of coarse, the $2 brownie, ice cream, fudge dessert- yum! I had a great birthday! Thanks!
aaaaaaahhhhhh..... Even with the changes, life is good.
Victoria has been asking to go to a baseball game for quite some time. (Last year we went a couple of times and I guess she remembered what it was all about.) So we went to a Rough Riders game on Saturday night.
We ate the classic hot dogs, a couple of nachos, pop corn, and Cotton Candy (what Victoria really wanted and had been asking about.)
The Rough Riders creamed the other team- something like 11 to 2. Afterward we got to give our mascot a hug.
On Sunday we went to see Carol and Dick after church. We ended up spending the whole day with them- shopping, playing card games, watching movies, and playing the new game that Jer and Carol are addicted to Frontier'sville. The temperatures finally were nice enough to go sit outside at night. Carol was telling Victoria and Bella stories from her and Jeremy's youth. I love how Victoria snuggled into Carol's lap.
The next morning, Labor Day, I decided it was a great day to go for a hike. So I loaded up everyone and took off to Little Elm's park. We decided to take the lake shore trails. It was about 70 degrees outside and a strong wind was blowing off the lake, but it was fantastic after the 100 degree streak that Dallas was having (100 plus days for 68 days this summer- our hottest summer ever was in 1980 with 100 plus for 69 days of the summer. Yes, it was a bad summer!)
On our way to the car, there was a broken water fountain that shot water three feet away. Jer asked Bella to stand three feet away while he tried to shot water into her mouth, then he asked Victoria. They got a little wet, but not too bad. Then the girls asked Daddy to stand in the place. It was quite humorous to watch.
Little Elm park also has a man made beach. We let the kids build sandcastles, while Jer and I read from our book- the Fire and Ice series. A perfect Labor Day!
I didn't bring the girls' bathing suits because I thought it would be too cold for swimming, but they ended up getting a little wet from playing in the sand. They pleaded with us to let them go swimming- "since we're already a little wet; it'll be okay to get all-the-way-wet." I told them they would be cold, but they really wanted to go swimming so...
They had a great time playing in the water in their shorts...
until it was time to get out- and they were cold! It was 2 blocks to run back to the car.
Later that day, we had Papa Murphy's pizza and beer with Carol and Dick. We also got a couple things around the house done, like trimming the bushes. But mostly we just sat outside and enjoyed the wonderful day.
