Our Week Back Home

Peyton attended a water camp this week with his friend Thomas. They got to wear their swim suits and do different water activities every day. Peyton loved it! While Peyton and Thomas were at camp, Mommy, Reagan, and Andrew (Thomas' little brother) got to play. We had fun running errands, playing at the gym, and playing at the mall. All four kids had a great time playing together in the afternoons. Daddy finished the swing set on Monday night, so the kids were finally able to go up into the crow's nest part. Peyton and Reagan have spent every moment possible on their new swing set! They are out the door as soon I give the word! Peyton has insisted on eating several meals out there and has begging to be allowed to sleep in it all night long. He has been told "maybe when the weather is cooler".

Friday was Mommy and Daddy's 10th Wedding Anniversary! We had been explaining the anniversary concept to Peyton for a couple of days. When we asked him again on Friday about what was so special about the day he said, "I get to take a Lunchable to camp!" Ahh, the things that are important to a 5 year old. (Lunchables are rare treats around our house!) Mommy and Daddy celebrated the day with dinner at the Olive Garden, and the kids celebrated with a trip to Adventure Kids.

Reagan is starting to string a couple of short sentences together since her second birthday. She will say something like, "I want bear. Find it pwease." She has been tacking on "pwease" to most of her requests lately without being reminded to. It's really sweet! She will also say "tank oo" without being reminded as well! Peyton's idea of good manners lately is to say "excuse me" after he burbs. Of course, the burb is usually done on purpose!

Reagan got a baby doll for her birthday, which she has had a lot of fun with. She loves to give it a "booble". Peyton has enjoyed taking care of Reagan's baby as well - he even insisted on sleeping with it one night.

Last night, after Peyton had been in bed for about 45 minutes, he came out of his room saying, "There's bug in my bed, Mommy. There's bugs in my bed!" Thinking it was a ploy, I went into his room, ready to be "strict Mommy". I looked in his bed, and, sure enough, about 8 ants were crawling around on the sheets. Poor little guy - he really did have bugs in his bed. Daddy's help was attained, the sheets were changed, the perimeter of the bed was sprayed and Peyton was finally able to go to sleep. Fortunately, none of the ants bit him!

Peyton has really been expressing his love for things lately - people and objects. A couple of weeks ago, we were getting out of the car at Target. Peyton got crocodile tears in his eyes and said, "Mommy, I love your sunglasses. I love them." I held him for a few minutes and told him I was glad that he loved my sunglasses and that loving something should make him happy. He said, "I just want to be close to them!" He will also randomly say, "I love ______" referring to someone. If they are nearby, I've been telling him to go to that person and tell them, and he has. Last night, he said, "I love you, Daddy" without Daddy telling him first. He also tells us what he does not love. "I don't love ants," he'll say.

Peyton has also been into learning how to count to 100 (and beyond!) lately. He is always asking what comes next and want is __ and __ . This has been great for Reagan, because she is learning to count, too! She says "2,3,4,5,6, 70!"

Comments of the Week

Peyton (as we began our loooonng road trip to Tennessee): "Daddy, if you drive faster, we'll get there quicker."

Peyton (on the 4th of July): "God shoots the firecrackers out of his gun."

Reagan (to answer any question you ask her): "No, I don't."

Peyton (referring to The Incredibles): "I'm Dash. Daddy's Mr. Incredible. Mommy's Elastagirl. Reagan's Jack-Jack."
Daddy: "Who's Violet?"
Peyton: "My girlfriend."
Daddy: "Who's your girlfriend?"
Peyton: "A girl from my class at school."
Daddy: "Which girl?"
Peyton: "Wren."

Week at Grandma & Grandpa's House & Reagan's Birthday Party

The kids and I spent the week of July 12-19 at Grandma & Grandpa's house in South Texas. Grandma flew to Dallas the Saturday before, and the four of us drove down on Sunday. Here is an overview of our week:

Sunday - Drive, drive, drive. Met Grandpa in Kenedy for dinner at Pizza Hut.
Monday - Play, play, play. Grocery store and Dairy Queen. One of the kids' favorite things at Grandma and Grandpa's house is the clock that plays one of six tunes every hour. The face also opens to show the mechanics and the music plays. Every time the kids hear a song begin, they race into the entry to watch the clock. They also have several antique clocks that just "bong" on the hour. Reagan had fun saying "bong" with the clocks!
Tuesday - Play, play, play. Trip to Beeville. Peyton got his haircut by Sid, who's been cutting Grandpa's hair (and Uncle Brett's sometimes) for 30 years. Peyton helped Grandpa mow. Swam in the "country swimming pool".
Wednesday - Trip to downtown San Antonio to the Children's Museum with Grandma. Fun museum. Kids LOVED the ball factory! That evening Mommy's friends from high school came over for dinner.
Thursday - Feeding the cows with Grandpa. Reagan loved to "mooooo" with the cows. She was not afraid of them at all! That afternoon, Mommy went to San Antonio to shop and pick Daddy up from the airport. Mommy and Daddy enjoyed dinner at Mi Tierra in the downtown Market Square.
Friday - Happy 2nd Birthday Reagan! (See previous post)
Saturday - Party Day! Kids played with Bob the dog. Mommy and Daddy picked up the cake and groceries for the party. Spent the afternoon getting ready for the party. Aunt Stephanie made homemade ice cream. Kids loved helping to blow up the balloons with the helium tank. Peyton wondered if swallowing helium would help him fly up high like the balloons. Party started at 6 pm. Cousins arrived and played for a while. Uncle Brett grilled burgers and hotdogs. Everyone munched on chips, hamburgers, hotdogs, and watermelon! Then everyone headed outside so the kids could hit the pinata (or kinyanta - as Peyton said it). After the kids destroyed the pinata and grabbed up the candy, it was hay ride time. Grandpa had attached a hay-filled trailer to his ranger. Everyone piled on and Grandpa drove us all over the field. After the ride, we headed back inside for cake and ice cream. Reagan loved hearing everyone sing "Happy Birthday" to her! Peyton insisted on "helping" Reagan blow out her two candles. After cake and ice cream, the kids made watermelon hats and then went on another hay ride. We spent the rest of the evening playing and visiting with relatives we don't get to see often enough! It was a wonderful day! Grandma and Grandpa sure do know how to throw a great birthday party! :) The Birthday Girl crashed as soon as her head hit the pillow, and Peyton (unbeknown to us at the time) crawled into bed fully dressed and went to sleep!
Sunday - Drive, drive, drive home. Another fun trip comes to an end. :(

Happy Birthday Reagan!

Today was Reagan's 2nd birthday! We are celebrating her birthday at Grandma and Grandpa's house after a week-long visit.

Reagan woke up this morning to - Daddy! Daddy stayed at home this week to work, and just got here last night after Reagan went to bed. So Reagan was super excited to seeing Daddy first thing this morning!

Peyton said, "Reagan, you're 21." Reagan replied, "No. I two!"

For breakfast, we all enjoyed Mexican breakfast pastries from the Mi Tierra bakery in San Antonio. Reagan got a birthday candle in her empanada. We all sang "Happy Birthday" to Reagan - Reagan even sang it to herself. Peyton "helped" her to blow it out the first time. Then we re-lit the candle and let Reagan have her own turn.

After breakfast, Reagan opened a few presents, including a kissing Elmo doll. We spent the morning playing at Grandma and Grandpa's house and being happy that Daddy was finally here! Reagan got to talk to Granmommy on the phone and got to watch a SmileBox videe of of herself from Granmommy.

After lunch, Mommy, Daddy, Peyton, and Reagan packed up the car and headed to the beach on Padre Island (North Padre Island, the part close to Corpus Christi). Reagan had never been to the beach before, and Peyton had been to a small one for just a few minutes. Reagan was super excited excited to get to "see water"!

After finding our perfect beach spot (close a restroom/shower, not too crowded, etc.), we spread out our blanket, got out our sand toys, drenched ourselves with sunscreen and began our afternoon at the beach. Peyton was anxious to get in the water, so we waded in. Peyton loved it immediately, but Reagan was a bit more apprehensive and wanted us to "care-we me". But by the time we left the beach, Reagan would go out in the water with Dustin farther that Peyton would. She loved it! Both kids got hit in the face with waves a few times. Both enjoyed "wave jumping" and digging in the wet sand. Peyton loved to let his feet sink down in the wet sand. Reagan liked watching the sea gulls (no - we did not feed them!) After a couple of hours, Mommy and Daddy decided that we had had enough beach experience for one day, and we packed up to leave.

We traveled across Mustang Island and headed toward Port Aransas. There, we ate dinner at Whataburger and then caught the ferry back to the mainland and began our 2 hour drive back to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

While we were gone, Brett, Stephanie, Bob (the grandog) and O'Reilly (the grancat) arrived. The kids were excited to see Bob again - Peyton had been anticipating his arrivaly all week long. They checked out Bob and Bob checked out them! Since it was already way past bedtimes, Reagan and Peyton had to take baths and head to bed pretty quickly. It was a happy, happy birthday and there will be more celebrating at her party tomorrow!

The Kids' Vacation

While we were cruisin' in the Gulf and in the Carribean, the kids spent a special week at Granmommy and Grandaddy's house. Here are a few of the fun things they got to do:
1. Play putt putt
2. Swim at the Y
3. Go to the splash park
4. Go to the Science museum
5. Go to church with Granmommy and Grandaddy
6. Eat lots of ice cream!
7. Go fishing - Peyton caught a fish!
8. Go to the park
9. See "polar bears" and and dragon mosaic
10. Walk the golf cart trail

We got to Nashville on Thursday afternoon, just a short time after Kelsey, Bethany, and Banzai. Peyton and Reagan made friends with Banzai almost immediately. We had a fun evening hanging out at the house.

We took it easy on Friday as well. Saturday was the Fourth of July. We had traditional hamburger lunch and anticipated the festival at Long Hollow Baptist Church that evening. As we prepared to leave for the party, it began to storm - big time! The rain finally broke, and we were able to go to the church. The coolest activity was a long "Soapy Slip N Slide"! Peyton and Reagan also got to go down a few slides and ride ponies. The fireworks began just before nightfall - and just before another storm! We had the best seat in the place! Front row - almost right underneath the firecrackers. We huddled under umbrellas to watch the show. Peyton loved it but was a bit disappointed that he couldn't shot off the firecrackers himself! Reagan insisted on being held the whole time and refused to look at the firecrackers. She never fussed, but she didn't want anything to do with her first fireworks show!

We had to leave Nashville bright and early Sunday morning - our wonderful vacation coming to a close.

Our Vacation

For our 10 year anniversary, Dustin and I went on a 5 night Carnival cruise out of New Orleans. We loved every minute of it and can't wait to go cruisin' again!

We arrived in New Orleans Friday night (June 26). We stayed in the Hampton Inn, close to the French Quarter. On Saturday morning, we took a walking tour of the French Quarter, ate Beignets from Cafe du Monde, saw Jackson Square and Bourbon Street, and bought Mardi Gras beads fro the kids. At 12:30, we headed over to the Port of New Orleans and began the hour long process of parking, going through registration, and finally boarding the ship, the Fantasy. Our room was on deck 6 - the Empress Deck. It was definitely cozy but comfortable for just a few days! We left the port at about 4:00p.

For our first evening on the ship, we ate dinner in our assigned dining room - the Jubilee dining room. We spent the rest of the evening watching the banks of the Mississippi from the upper decks of the ship. It takes about 8 hours to get the ship from the Port of New Orleans to the Gulf of Mexico, so we were already asleep before we even hit the ocean!

Our first day at sea was spent relaxing, eating, and exploring the ship. That evening was "formal night", so we got to dress up a bit! Dustin enjoyed lobster for dinner!

During the night, we docked in Progreso, Yucatan, Mexico. For our shore excursion there, we decided to take a bus to the Mayan ruins at Dzibilchaltun. It was an interesting, but hot!, tour!

Back on the ship, we again relaxed and ate! We also got to Skype with the kids that night! It was always exciting to return to our room each evening after dinner and be greeting by our towel animal (and turn-down service!) What a treat!

The next morning, we docked in Puerta Maya in Cozumel. The Carribean waters were beautiful! We ate breakfast on a patio in the back of the ship (our favorite eating spot) and watched another ship dock. Then we packed up for the day and headed off the ship. We shopped at the dock for a while and then took a taxi into downtown. We shopped some more and then had a delicious lunch at Pancho's Backyard. We returned to the ship to take our afternoon vacation nap - a daily routine at this point! :)

Our fourth day on the ship was spent at sea. We watched as the gorgeous blue waters of the Carribean turned into the murky waters of the Gulf of Mexico. During the cruise, we enjoyed watching the stats on the tv in our room. We were able to see our position and know the sea depth. The deepest we saw was over 11,000 feet! It rained a little on this day but not a big storm. It was actually a really cool experience! Dustin took advantage of the top deck water slides. We tried to get in a game of putt putt, but the wind made it too difficult to utilize any kind of skill! We enjoyed our last dinner in the dining room and then sat out on the top deck and watch the oil tankers, the oil rigs, and the pilot boat coming out to meet our ship.

Thursday morning arrived much too quick! We had to be off the ship around 9:00. So we packed up and headed out to begin our drive to Nashville.

The cruise was perfect! Relaxing and peaceful - exactly what we wanted for our anniversary trip!

Comments

Peyton: "A spider web is a spider's kitchen."

Peyton (referring to the world of superheroes): "I would turn the bad guys into good guys."

Peyton: "...because when Mommy uses Daddy's drill, it's dangerous."

Peyton: "What floor is outer space on?"

Peyton: "Why does it take so long to grow up?"

Peyton: "I want to go to work with Daddy. The boys can go to work and the girls can stay at home."

Peyton: "Are we going to Taco Banana for lunch?" (referring to Taco Cabana)

Peyton (as he and Daddy worked on the swing set): "Are we construction workers, Daddy?"

Peyton: "But I don't want to be patient!"

Peyton: "If Weagan were a boy, she would be Peyton."

Peyton: "Weagan's drip-ping."

Peyton (looking at the palm trees outside of Chick-fil-a waving in the wind): "Those are palm branches. They are waving to Jesus in Heaven."

Reagan: "Air r oo, Peyt?" (Where are you, Peyton?)

Mommy: "You have one minute." Reagan: "Un min-it."