Oklahoma Repeat

Well, Amy and I made our annual trek to Oklahoma with all of the kids to visit my grandfather. After last year, just the thought of this trip made me tired and cranky. But, we are older and smarter: this year we made sure to plan the trip when both husbands could come!

Thankfully, the trip turned out to be much more calm. Still hard, but I think any trip with 4 small kids is bound to be exhausting, and maybe more so when you are 6 months pregnant. For only being there about 36 hours, we packed in the activities: lots of swimming, horse rides, visits to the animal refuge and playing by the lake and pond.

Yep, this is where we stayed. I think the picture says enough. I kind of felt like we were at camp!
The pond at the Indian Lodge provided some good entertainment.
Playing 'swamp monster'. Sophia of course is the most dramatic and Joshua is just confused.

Riding on King Kong with the help of Uncle Mike.

When it's all said and done, I'm so glad we made the effort. Having Grant get to spend time his great-grandfather is so special and I hope that next year he will get to meet the baby!

summer days

This summer has been marked by one thing so far - lots of swimming and lots of being around and near the water! Makes me wish I was Grant's age again - when you could spend the entire day in the pool and never get tired. I have been having a great time too - just beginning to feel a tad too much like a whale in my maternity swimsuit...!

May finished with 2 weeks of swim lessons. While they weren't without tears, they were hugely successful and turned our frightened little guy into a confident and happy (even under-water!) swimmer.

sprinklers are the ultimate investment. $5 for hours of fun, especially when you add such things as a umbrella into the mix.
lazy day at lake whitney
pure happiness at port aransas. (don't be fooled however - all good things must come to an end. a huge wave rudely knocked him out of the boat and he was finished with the water for the day!)
fishing with his spiderman fishing pole on the pier at port aransas. grant actually gave it a whole hour and wasn't even upset that we didn't catch anything. i'll call that a successful fishing trip any day.