4th of July

Fourth of July was spent the way it has been for years, at the Hillcrest Neighborhood Parade. 

It was so great to be back this summer after moving away.

After the parade, we hung around the house until the night's festivities.  Dad walked in with this incredible zucchini that somehow got missed during nightly picking.

One of the many, many reasons I love my dad!

In the evening, we went to friends house for food, fellowship, and fireworks.

The next day we decided we should go swimming, since we hadn't done that in a while. :) 

July: The first half

After a crazy, fun June, it was an even crazier July.  Nothing will ever compare to the summer we had, ever!

HG and my mama share a love for blueberries.

We finally got to see a little league game,

where the girls met new friends who look very similar to them.  They even shared snow cones, off the ground.

Then we got another.  We took every opportunity we could to eat a snow cone this summer.  We don't have snow cone stands in Charleston, whomp- whomp!!

Old, forever friends got together for dinner at the place where many of the friendships began, to say "see ya later" to our sweet Symone.

We had family gym time.

Hummy found a baby bird to entertain the girls.

The two littles had spitting contests off the back porch, and I didn't stop them.

We had a fun day full of swimming, ice cream, and swimming with the McCurley's.

We spent many night cuddled up with Hummy and Deba.

My biggest girl and I spent some time working at the drugstore,

 We enjoyed Movie on the Hill at ACU,

and spent some time in the 2nd blow up pool.

We had a fun night at Primetime, thanks to some cards I had been accumulating and forgot about.

Touring Texas Part 3: San Antonio

We ended our "tour" by heading to San Antonio.  My uncle was receiving an award and invited the whole family to come for the event.  It was being held at the J.W. Marriott in SA.  If you have the opportunity to stay there, take it, it's fabulous!!!  I decided when I left Houston that maybe we should just go to Sea World since we were going to be there anyway.  

We got there a couple of hours after they opened and did as much as we could while we were waiting on the rest of the family to get to SA. One parent, 3 kids, and Sea Word in June, I don't recommend it!! It was sooo hot, but the girls had a blast!

We spent the rest of the weekend at the resort swimming and eating.  It seems as though we do way to much of that!  Most of the adults went to the dinner for my uncle and my Aunt Kris and I stayed at the pool with the girls and watched a movie from the pool.

Touring Texas Part 2: Houston

We left Lufkin and headed to Houston to see some of Mike's family.  We started with dentist appointments, with no cavities I might add.

Next we had lunch with Mike's precious grandmother at our favorite spot in Houston, Lopez.  Man, what I would do to be able to eat there all the time!  We spent the rest of the day with Memaw and had so much fun catching up.

The next day we met up with Mike's mom, Sharon and headed to American Girl and lunch.  I promised the girls if they had no cavities, they could pick out one thing.  Never did I think that would happen.  HG carried things around, and MP's McKenna finally got her mop fixed.

The girls ended up with a few special things from AG(thank you Michele)!

After lunch at the Cheesecake factory, we headed to Sharon's house for swimming. 

Thanks to our Houston family for making our visit special!!

Touring Texas Part 1: Lufkin

Every summer from the time Audrey was 2, she has always gone to spend a couple of weeks with my uncle and aunt.  We couldn't make this summer any different.  We just keep adding kids!!

Late in June, we began what we called "Touring Texas".  The first stop was Lufkin.

They never let us down when we arrive.

The next few days we spent at the pool, eating and swimming, and more of the same.

 If I remember correctly, this was her 4th ice cream of the day.  Her poor eyes!

We watched a movie by the pool,

met new friends,

went to the movies with those new friends,

 read books with "Superman",

and ended every night in bed with Pat Pat.

Thank you Patrick and Kris for making that week so special!!  A week I will never forget!