A quick Visit from Grandma

Why am I so bad at taking pictures when it is important?  Grandma Rowles came in town for the HomeSchool Conference so we were able to spend some QT on Sunday.  Saturday night we met her out at Bass Pro Shop in Grapevine so we could stock up for the big camping trip next week.

This was as good as the zoo for them!



 Then we headed over to Rain Forest Cafe.  The line was long, so we sat at the bar and got seated right away.  Pretty cool chairs, eh?

We are so lucky this summer!  We have seen Grandma twice in a month and will see her again while we camp, plus the girls will be out in CA for a week while I train and prepare my classroom the week after we camp.

Bunk Beds are bunked!

While we were in St. Louis, Chris officially bunked the beds.  There is so much space in their room now!  Thinking a little rearrange might eb in order.  The girls want to sleep in each others bed.  I like that they aren't too tall so an injury is less likely.

St. Louis Trip Photo Dump

My mom stayed in AtL for a few days and then we drove back to StL on Wednesday.  We stopped at Patty's, a restaurant in Kentucky that we always stopped in growing up after family reunions.  I felt like it was a right of passage for my girls to be there and eat!  It is very old time, they serve drinks in mason jars, have the most wonderful fried pickles and strawberry butter, and their bread is baked in flower pots!

We were only in StL for 72 hours, but we packed it in with a visit to the zoo, play time with Baby B, and lots of quality family time!

G said the bread grew out of the flower pot!

The girls helping Grandma make hamburgers.

Tummy time for baby Brendan

Photo-op at the zoo!

New Sea Lion exhibit that Uncle Tom's firm helped build!

This orangutan (sp?) got so close to Elia!  Their faces are so weird looking!

Bobby, the ever patient and fun loving Uncle, teaching G to pump gas. 
She held her nose the while time!

Baptism/Atlanta trip Photo Dump

It took us 14 hours to get to AtL.  We ended up stopping at Cracker Barrel for dinner 12 hours in.

The star of the weekend: Anna

Dad and Anna

Bath-tism dresses as Elia called them.

Uncle Ryan showing off his skills.

Grandma and Anna

God-Parents and God- Child

Gettin baptized.

Love this one.  Its like a family with 2 sets if twins and a baby!

The McHugh side

Sweet Uncle Ry holding back the hair.

I made bubbles for all the kids at the Baptism reception.  A pinterest find.  Bubble solution was great but the pipe cleaner wands didn't do as well as I hoped. 

Slippered cousins

G, as usual, always helping when a baby is around!

How cute is her swim suit!

Sweet action shot.

Skyping with Aunt Shanny and Baby Brendan.  All 4 cousins were pushing and shoving to be front and center.

It was a fabulous trip!  Plans are in the works for a 2 week stay at Aunt Megan's house next summer.  It is the perfect hosue for cousin camp.  Miss those crazy boys and sweet Anna too!

Poison Oak attacks!!!

This literally could be a picture of Chris' leg.  I got it from here.

After our glorious hike on July 4th, we were noticing that we kept getting bug bites.  We thought maybe we had some chiggers or mosquitos on the hike, and in our own yard.  But then my skin started getting rashy and even more itchy and so I got an appt with my doctor.  She promptly diagnosed me with poison oak, and gave me a cortizone shot.  (I dont recommend this.  The results were not immediate, and I woke up at 3:30am and couldnt get back to sleep.  I can tell a difference for sure, the itching is considerably less, but I like my sleep!)

My doctor said I had a particularly bad reaction so that is why she gave me the shot.  She also prescribed some pills and a cream.  Chris has more of it all over his legs but the reaction was not as bad as mine.  So we are just slathering oursleves with cream and taking the pills.  Hopefully we should be good considering we are driving to AtL tmr!  eek!

oh, and the girls are mostly unscathed.  G has one spot and Elia has a few.  They start out looking like mosquito bites so sometimes you just don't know!

Gianna's Swim Lessons

Gianna can really swim. I dont mean just splash around, but she can get in water that is over her head and swim more than 5 feet! Its really amazing to watch.  

Ready for lessons

On diving board day she was one of the only little kids to jump off the board without first clinging to the lifeguard for dear life. I feel bad for those kids- the lifeguard peels them off and then drops them in the pool, crying, kicking and screaming too!

new swimsuit.  Doesnt she look like a ballerina?

Elia found a hideout by the concession stand.

Back float

passing

swimming back to the others

Gianna and Melissa

Weekend Shenanigans

Saturday started early with a garage sale at the McBrides.  She was wanting to have a sale and I had a lot of junk to get rid of so I brought all my stuff over.  I made cloud dough, a pinterest find, to help entertain children.  Chris had to work so there were only 3 adults to corral 5 kids.  The cloud dough was a hit but only lasted an hour before most of it got dumped in the grass.

We came home, rested, and then had a barbecue with the Carses, McBrides and Kiowskis.

For some reason a table full of children eating makes me so happy!

Then Sunday was as usual- cartoons, church, and lunch.  We took Daria to Lake Lewisville to meet Matt and Sarah's dog JuJu for some playtime at the lake.  Fun times!