Summer Vacation

We spent the week of July 4th down at Matagorda beach.  No, it's not the prettiest beach, but it's close to home and quiet and had everything we needed.  The kids loved it and it was nice being away without having to travel too far.  Aunt Dana, Uncle Ryan, Clay and Reed came and visited for a few days too.  We had fun at the beach and kayaked and cooked out and had a great time!

Graduations!!!

Jackson and Jordan both had graduations of some sort this past year.  Jackson was graduating from Kindergarten moving on to the "big" campus at his school.  To conclude the school year, the Kindergarten classes had an end of year celebration.

Jordan had a ceremony as well.  She graduated from the Pre-K program at daycare.  Even though her birthday is on the cutoff date, Jordan was always with the "older" kids.  Especially since she's taller than most of them. :-)

Easter

We had the traditional Easter this year.  We spent Good Friday at Aunt Edie and Uncle Norbert's and had the traditional Easter Egg Hunt. Then we spent Saturday at Nana and Papa's.


Easter Sunday, we went to Church, then went to Grandma and Popo's for lunch.

Spring Break

We had a great Spring Break.  Kenny and I were able to take some time off late in the week with the kids and head to the Blue Bell Creamery in Brenham.  We had a great time as some good freinds were able to join us.

After our visit to Brenham, we headed to College Station for a weekend of Aggie Baseball.  Jackson enjoyed running on the field with Brandon for every game that weekend.

On Saturday, we had lunch at the Dixie Chicken.  Kenny and I spent more than our fair share of time there as students, so we wanted to share it with the kids.  As he was eating his burger, Jackson proclaimed, "I LOVE this place!"  I was one proud Momma!  The kids also liked looking at the snake.  We also spent some time in Bottle Cap Alley.

Most weekends, we don't get to explore our old haunts, so this was a special day for us.  The kids still ask to go back to the Chicken.  We'll have to do that again this spring.

Spring Sports

Both kids were involved in sports during the spring.  Jackson played Flag Football while Jordan had fun playing soccer.  Kenny did a great job coaching both teams.

Got that flag!!!

Better Late than Never

So, I'm back... at least for now.  Life's been pretty busy, but everyone is busy, so I really don't have an excuse.  So hopefully I can catch up and make up for the last 8 months.  Yikes!  8 months!!!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and is looking forward to a great New Year!  For selfish reasons, I'll be trying to add some 2012 posts so that I have a decent snapshot of our year.  So, here we go!

My lapse started in mid-April when I went to The Hague, The Netherlands for my work.  It was my first time in Europe, and it was great.  I'd be lying to say I wasn't nervous about the long flight and being away from my family for so long.  But, it was great for my career.  I was there for a full week, and really only saw the inside of the Shell offices and my hotel with a few restaraunts along the way. 

On our last full day, we were able to sneak away mid-afternoon and visit a famous tulip farm called Keukenhopf.  We were there at the peak of tulip season and it was just breathtaking.  These pictures don't do it justice, but I had to share my favorites.

This first pic was taken on our way to the farm.  These were tulip fields that I can only relate to rice/cotton/milo fields from home.

RodeoHouston!

We've been on Spring Break this week, so there's been lots of fun going on!  Monday, we went to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.  Boy, did we have fun.  This was Jordan's first time to go.  We took Jackson to the Livestock show when he was 1, and then he went on a field trip last year.  Neither had been to a real-life rodeo, so this was all new to them.

We started the day by touring AgVenture.  They had a birthing center with lots of animals being born. Here are the baby chicks.  This was Jordan's favorite.

The kids also collected trading cards from each center to learn more about each display.  Here's Jackson petting a bunny.

They also liked milking the cow!

Then it was time for Fun on the Farm.  They harvested fruits and vegetables, eggs and milk and sold it at market.  With their money, they bought a snack.  I loved this one as much as they did.  It was so cute and fun.

Then, it was off to the carnival.  Where they rode and rode and rode.

The tea cups were voted the favorite!!!

In between rides, we watched Muttin Bustin' and the Pig Races.  Sadly, the A&M pig didn't win his race.  But we moved on and rode more rides.

The afternoon flew by and we headed to the rodeo.  Jordan just didn't understand why someone would want to rope a baby cow.  I had to explain to her several times that they weren't being hurt.  We had great seats and were 10 rows behind the bullriding chutes.  Jackson LOVED the bullriding.  And on Monday, not one cowboy rode the full 8 seconds.

Then it was time for the Zac Brown Band.  They were so, so, so good!!!  I loved the show.  Jordan informed me that she was bored, but quickly got over it when they sang a fast-paced song and everyone stood up to dance.  She loved that part!!!

The kids were already asking to come back to the rodeo before we even left.  We all had such a good time.