Friday, July 20, 2012

Audrey Swimming 2012

Swimming Lessons 2012 with Debbie Ruhde...
Audrey did 2 weeks at the beginning of the Summer starting with not being able to swim at all and being quite timid. By the end of that first 2 weeks she was very comfortable in the water, and ALMOST swimming....but she was so scared of the BIG slide.We just finished a second session of 2 weeks and she's doing amazing now. What a little swimmer we have. She absolutely loves it and is really swimming well.
...and that BIG slide
...
proud Daddy!
With her treat from the candy basket on the last day. She's so proud. We all are!

Sunday, July 8, 2012

To the Beach with the Douglas Fam 2012

We've just returned from a week with the Douglas family in Bay City and Matagorda Beach and we are sunned and tired for sure!
Our week started with a family reunion at which Troy was honored for his service as a Marine.
That was a neat treat.
And the girls were so excited to get there and see their Nana and Papa.
Monday was our 7th Wedding Anniversary. We celebrated by taking the top off the Jeep and going down to the beach for a fun drive. Then we enjoyed an awesome gourmet dinner at a little place near the beach. Same place we went last year. May be the same place we go next year too! :) Although this year we opted out of the fancy dessert (which would have been amazing I know...as last year's was incredible) and we went to Dairy Queen for dessert instead. :) Really fun evening celebrating together. How thankful we are for 7 amazing years and all that God has given us. He has been so good. And we so look forward to many many more beach drives, gourmet dinners and Dairy Queen sundaes. :)
On the 4th we went to Palacios, Tx, to visit our friends Rob and Sarentha who run a Baptist Camp down there. We had such a great visit with them, loved seeing the camp, and then we enjoyed a small...small...small town carnival and the fireworks together.

The girls loved riding rides ...
This was both of the girls' first time to see fireworks. And it did take them a few minutes to adjust. Alaina said "I don't wike it. I want to go home. It's woud."
And they both covered their ears for most of the time. :)
On Thursday we headed to Matagorda Beach for a few days of lazing around together.
Audrey and Alaina got to play with their cousins Maddie and Emma Cate.
They had a great time digging in the sand together.
Sisters ready to head out for a day playing at the beach...
Mommy loved every second at the beach. It's one of my favorite things. How fun to play with these 2 cuties in the ocean....and I did get in some good reading while sitting in the waves. loved it.
As you can see in many of the pics Nettie was never very far away.
This dog loves the beach too. Man, she can ride some waves. :)
The girls, Daddy, and Cameron built a great sandcastle.
It made for great sunbathing for Audrey's Polly Pocket.
This girl could have stayed in the water 24/7. She had a blast!
(She even got stung by a jelly fish and handled it pretty well...probably better than I would have.)


And then there was the fishing. Daddy made some interesting catches...
We brought home some good fish to fry...
And then there was the first shark...
And the second...


They caught at least 3 sharks. fun times.
Ew!
Then Cameron tossed her back...
So Audrey loved the water...Alaina, not so much. After a few times of getting the saltwater in her mouth, nose and eyes she was pretty much done.
She had more fun playing in the back of Papa's truck.
We're hoping next year she's ready for fun with Audrey.

And to show you how we felt by the end of the trip...
Worn out!!!
And really happy we had such a great time.
Thanks again Nana and Papa. We love you guys!