DeGray Lake State Park, Bismarck Arkansas

We just got back from another fantastic trip to DeGray Lake and I tell ya, that place just gets better and better. Now that the kids are growing up and are more self sufficent, these kinds of trips are much more laid back. We took some friends from our Sunday School Class, The Johnsons, and had a blast. They are a great family, their kids are super sweet, and we all just had a total laid back, relaxing weekend. We spent a lot of time just chilling out at the campsite, fishing right down from our Yurt/Cabin, and visiting. The weather was amazing. Low 50s, High 70. We hiked a new trail, did some Dutch Oven cooking, went on some walks, got to go on a hayride (although the driver went about 3omphs) it was the just the act of it that made it fun.

It's always great to have a weekend where nobody thinks about work or the daily grind. Our only thought is....who wants to pull out the chips and dips...or "Mommy, come lay in the hammock with me". Gotta love it!

John & Colton's Indian Guides Camp Out

This was Colton's and Daddy's 1st boys campout with their Indian Guides group. They went up to Camp Classen in Oklahoma. Colton got to hike, shoot a rifle, shoot a bow & arrow, and fish. He had a blast and so did John getting to know the other Dads and getting some real quality time with Colton

State Fair of Texas 2008

It was great that our schools Fair Day was the 1st day of the Fair. There were pretty much no crowds and we never had to wait in any lines. Celeste, Julie and I took our kiddos. The highlight was the kids getting to see a mama goat give birth to 2 baby goats. It was pretty unexpected, pretty gross, but amazing:)

PLANO BALLOON FESTIVAL 08

Last Saturday Jen and I took all the kiddos to the Plano Balloon Festival. It was a beautiful night and lots of fun. The lines were long but it was great to be out there. Good times!!!!

GIRLS NIGHT OUT

Well, Friday night Cole and Daddy went to the Mckinney Boyd v. McKinney North HS football game, so Cassidy and I had our 1st official Girls Night Out. I asked her "you can pick, whatever you want to do" and she said MERRY GO ROUND. So, we headed over to Stonebriar to ride the merry go round, shop, and go skating. She got her self all dressed up, put on a neclace, filled her purse with all the important things a 4 year old needs, and we headed off. We started at the Merry Go Round, hit a few girly stores, ate in the Food Court (I tried to talk her into Cheesecake Factory but she wanted nothing to do with it) and then down to go skating. By the time we got to the rink I was exhasuted but she was very persuasive in getting me to go skating. And the tears and look of "ok mom, don't let me down here" pushed me toward the rink. After the 15 minutes it took to lace up our skates, we hopped onto the rink. Now I haven't been ice skating in probably 18 years so I was a little shaky. Cassidy was giddy! She kept squealing "I'm skating mama, I'm skating". I don't think that smile left her face for the whole hour we were there. It took us 15-20 mins to go around the rink once but that didn't matter to her. She was just happy to be challenging herself and doing something she's only seen in books or on TV. It made me a little sad in that I grew up in the North and skated my whole childhood. We had a pond/small lake down the street from our house that would freeze over every Winter. We would spend our days skating and my brothers playing hockey. It was just what we did ever season and everyone had their own skates. I would love for my kiddos to have that opportunity but for her, this is all she needed. To be able to roll down to the mall and skate when she wants (even though it cost us $15) :) At the end of the night she was wiped out. We didn't get home until 10pm, which is probably the latest she's ever been out. But loved EVERY minute of it! We're definatley going to make Girls Night Out a quarterly tradition in our house!

Picture Day at MCA

It was picture day so of course I had to take a few candids not knowing how the real pics will end up turning out. Last year Cassie despised the photographer so much she gave him the evil eye in all the pics. I still kick myself for not buying any.

MCA Cheerleading Camp 2008

Cassidy had her 1st cheerleading camp this weekend and loved every minute of it. She's been begging to be a "cheerleader" for a year now (since she watched them at the Homecoming Game last year). So finally this year she was able to take part in the McKinney Christian Academy Cheer camp up at her school. She knew some of the Varsity cheerleaders which made the whole experience that much better. Plus some 1st graders, who are in class with Colton, were excited to "take care" of Cassie during camp. Such great perks to having an older brother.

Gulf Shores Alabama, July/Aug 2008