Princess Camp

Today and yesterday was Princess Camp.  It was a lot of fun and the girls did such a great job planning a fun morning for the cute little princesses.  I was surprised by how notalgic it felt to think back to when my 3 little princesses played all day.

Julianne is a licensed learner!

I can't believe that Julianne is old enough to learn how to drive.

But it is true.  She got her permit today.  Watch out world!

Madelyn's birthday

It is amazing to think that 11 years have passed since she was born!

Tuesday night everywhere

Trent flew to San Franscisco and went to a ball game and I headed to the movies to see the live broadcast of cast party.  A live show with 5 podcast hosts.  I think we both had a great time!

There is a reason to blog every day

Today was kind of plain.  I did go to the gym. I found a new lady who likes to play volleyball and so we played pepper for a while. That was fun. And then I read. I read Harper Lee's new book. It was so good. I am still thinking through my thoughts on it.

I even read outside in a bikini -- that belly of mine doesn't see the sun a whole lot!

The kids had friends over and played games.

I ate this delicious homemade chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich.

Sunday again

It was a busy day. I had the girls working on this princess camp project. They had to plan and plan and then promote it. Thye are super excited about it!

Saturday randomness

"Mom you'd better eat this heart cereal because I love you!"

Hurrican Harbor and the return of Julianne

We have Six Flags season passes and finally made it over to Hurricane Harbor -- the water park. We had a lot of fun and will go back for sure, but we learned the hard way that on 100 degree days all the sidewalks are so hot you WILL burn your feet.





Julianne had a great week in New Orleans.  She worked hard and served the community there.




But we were glad to see the busses pull in!

My kids and their shaved ice stand

We lucked into the group of bikers. They happened to ride past us on our first attempt at having a shaved ice stand. The main road was closed and their detour brought them back to our part of the neighborhood. They were so excited to have ice that we have become a part of their route! They come by every Thursday. It is a quick 8-10 minutes as they power eat their shaved ice and hit the road. The road is now opened, but the bikers keep the new route just so they can swing by for a treat!

Meanwhile in New Orleans

Julianne spent the first 2 days working at a center where individuals with disabilities sort Mardi Gras beads to recycle them and sell them to raise money for their center. Somehow sorting Mardi Gras beads seems only fitting for New Orleans.

This summer's game

We try hard to play games all the time. Board games, card games, and more. I think it helps the kids have fun and not realize they are doing math and logic and strategy. So far we have played lots of nines, memory, and sequence.

Monday and the British Open

For  a variety of reasons Golf has captured our attention this season.  Jordan Spieth has been fun to watch.  So I found myself parked in front of the TV -- first at home, then at the gym, then at home, then at a friend's house.

All is quieter at the house

Julianne left at 6 am for her mission trip to New Orleans and Shad and Amy headed home at 8:45 am.  Seems pretty quiet around here (except for the 4 kids)!

Tool dropoff and NRH20

Julianne had to drop off all of her tools for her service mission trip this morning. The buckets looked pretty cool all neatly stacked.




Then we went to NRH20, a local water park and had fun, followed by Freddy's for lunch.

Cousins!

Shad and Amy came to visit and we swam and played!

Art camp, swim team party and shaved ice stand

Owen got his first medal and he was very, very excited!

After the meet we hurried home to provide shaved ice to the peloton of bike riders.  It was a fast and furious 12 minutes, but we served 25 bikers shaved ice in record time!

Last swim meet

The four older kids qualified for the regional swim meet and had a great day racing.

Shaved Ice Entrepreneurs

The kids have set up a shaved ice stand twice today.  After swim team practice and then again in the neighborhood.  They have had lots of luck, generous clients, and fun!

Lego Camp was a success!

The halfway point of summer

With swim team concluding this week, I realize that we are halfway through with summer. And now I'm facing down keeping everyone entertained and busy and productive. With the kids going to so many camps and EFY's and mission trips it's hard for a 15-year-old like Julianne to hold down a summer job. So today we came up with a plan. 

Ira Glass

This American Life is one of my favorite podcasts to listen to.  Ira Glass is the host.  His personality shows throoughout the stories he tells and I am a huge fan.  When I noticed the #thinkspeak series in Dallas this summer and saw that he was one of the shows I was intrigued.  But as summers go, I knew that I couldn't plan too long term.  The summer schedule is ever changing.  By around 1:30 though, I started to see this as a distinct possibility for the evening.





The kids were home, Amber and Dan had hit the road.  With all the kids sporting ring pops from Aunt Jamie!!!










I called to see if there were still tickets available.  (there were) and then I started texting friends.  

Also, I took the kids to get slurpies since it is 7-11 after all.
We found another couple to go with us-- Ken and Camille were also available.  Then I started looking up dinner choices.

We decided to head to Klyde Warren Park and try out the gourmet food trucks that are there on Summer Saturdays.  With 4 of us, we decided to just buy one thing from each truck and split it 4 ways until we were full (or out of time).



The first truck was Ruthie's rolling cafe.  We tried the brisket grilled cheese.  It was delicious.

Next up was the Crazy Fish food truck. We had the geisha rolls.  (Spicy Tuna, Smoked Salmon, Crab and Avocado topped with Tangy Ginger Sauce and Roasted Almonds)

We were quite full after these 2 and decided to move onto dessert.  The coolhaus truck caught our eye immediately.  






They were delicious!  We walked back to the winspear opera house and had the most entertaining evening.  It is described as 3 acts, 2 dancers, and 1 radio host.  It has all the stories of a "this american life" episode.  You laugh, you think, you maybe tear up a little.  And more.  Trent's favorite scene was the middle school dance.  Mine was the repitition dancing while waiting to see if they won the lottery.  Honestly -- you just had to be there.  It was awesome!

Amber's kids and the pool

We have had so much fun with Megan, Brooke, Candace, and Jack.  Swimming and shaved ice.  Swimming and shaved ice.

The rangers game that didn't happen

In typical summer day form, we swam, played with friends and had snowcones and picked tomatoes from the garden.






Then Trent called and suggested we head to a Rangers game. We quickly got ready and were in the car the minute he got home from work! It's just that, they weren't playing that night. So since we were already there, we went to Six Flags instead.