Skip to main content

It’s Summertime!

I keep thinking that things will slow down as soon as the “next” season gets here, and so far, I have been wrong.  During the fall its about tailgating and football, then its the holidays, then its birthdays and anniversaries in the spring, then its summertime.  I imagine lazy days in and around the pool, weekend cookouts and camping trips.  Thankfully, we do find time to fit some of those things in, but it seems we are having to work harder and harder at squeezing in these little jewels into our busy, hectic schedules.

We have just returned from our vacation and as usual are exhausted and ready for a vacation from our vacation!  We packed up our travel trailer for 5 nights in Sam Houston National Forest on Lake Conroe (near Houston, for those unfamiliar with the area).  We swam in the lake and hiked and biked around the trails.  We also spent a day in Houston, taking the girls to the zoo and to the Children's Museum.  It was a great week with the family, even though it was pretty miserably hot outside.  Seems strange to say we went camping even though we never lit a campfire.  Heck, I didn’t even take the foldout chairs out of the trailer stowage compartment.  It was simply too hot to sit outside much.  After our camping trip it was a quick day and a half at home to clean up the trailer, do some laundry, have dinner with some friends and then we were back on the road.  This time we went to Abilene for a 1 year old birthday party.  It was a quick overnight trip but we got to spend some time with good company and wrap up our vacation week.

On Sunday, we drove back home in time to get the grocery shopping done, unpack and grab some dinner with Gram and Granddad, who had also spent a week of kid-free relaxation in Florida.  I never did get to float in the pool Sunday, which was definitely on my list of things to do for Father’s Day.  Oh well, plenty of time for that I suppose.  Tonight, we start swimming lessons with both girls, and then its going to be time for me to pack for another work related trip.  This next weekend, we are excited to welcome Dawn and Nathan back from Lithuania!  The grill will be fired up, smoking some tasty treats, the pool will be clean and ready and it will be great to spend a couple of days with them before they return home to Canada.

Like I said, we keep things pretty busy at our house.  I have updated the public photo album with some albums from our vacation week.  There are zoo pics, and museum pics and pics from Abilene.  There is a link on the right-hand navigation to our public photo albums.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Type 2 Diabetes - An Inconvenient Journey

I wish I wasn't the type of person that needed to get hit in the head with a 2x4 before I take action.  I really do want to be the type of person who heeds the warning signs that appear when someone else is walking through a challenge and is able to apply them to my own life.  I am 44 years old and I have a literal lifetime of warning signs, sounds, flags, banners, smoke signals and alerts that have been going off all around me. It isn't a news flash that obesity causes a variety of health-related issues.  I took health in junior high and high school.  I have been told many times by teachers, trainers, coaches, doctors, and nurses that I cannot outrun or outlive poor choices in diet and exercise.  As an adult, I have read many books on topics of health and self-improvement that encourage healthy habits and stress the importance of using daily exercise to reduce stress, improve cardiovascular health and increase energy.  I have read about the importance of...

Grace goes to see Elmo's Green Thumb

Brenda and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary and Valentine's Day on February 12th with a nice dinner out, just the 2 of us. You couldn't drag me into a restaurant on Valentine's Day night with a pack of wild horses, so we take advantage of having our anniversary so close. Plus, when I send flowers on the 12th, I get a 2 day head start on getting the freshest, most beautiful flowers delivered to Brenda and she gets a couple of days longer to enjoy them in her office. So what did we do today to celebrate Valentine's Day? We took Grace to see Elmo's Green Thumb! We didn't tell Grace until this morning that we were going, so it was a complete surprise. So, was it worth it to spend Valentine's Day at the Erwin Center surrounded by enough toddlers in diapers to make anyone nervous? Take a look at the grin in the first picture. It was definitely worth it. I don't how to say this without making us sound incredibly pretentious, but Brenda and I decided...

C'mon Mom, it's just PB and J!

When Mommy makes Grace a sandwich, she takes lots of time to cut the sandwich in small, manageable pieces for Grace. Mommy also has a thing for clean fingers, clean hair and hopefully clean ears. There is certainly nothing wrong with this approach. I applaud her enthusiasm for Grace's manners. However, sometimes... well, come on... really. It is just peanut butter and jelly. At this point, I should probably take a moment to thank the sponsors of this particular blog entry, Peter Pan Peanut Butter and Gramma's Strawberry Preserves. Gramma's Strawberry Preserves and Peach Butter is only available at a small pantry in Tyler, TX. She doesn't advertise, she doesn't sell her products online, heck, she doesn't even sell her products period... But those in the know, know where to go to get their jelly fix. Since I am down to my last jar of Strawberry Preserves, and I am completely out of Peach Butter, it must be about time for another journey to East Texas. Since Gramm...