A Nature Outing

We have been staying in quite a bit due to the summer heat and I get tired of taking them swimming on my own with Marjorie now crawling all over the place and she won't sit in a float, so it makes it a tough outing alone.  The kids are out of school for the month too, so I think they are getting tired of just me and going to the gym.  They miss getting out and doing things.  So this week I decided no matter the heat, we would head out to the park.  So One day we hit up the All Abilities park and were the only ones there!  Then yesterday I remembered Memorial Park and how it had quite a bit of shade, so we headed there. 

I love how this park feels like you are out in the country in nature when you are actually under the busiest highway...interstate 35.  Because we haven't had rain in quite a while now, the water wasn't very high and when we walked up on a boy and his mom with a net catching minnows and tadpoles, I told the kids it was okay if they walked around in the water too.  They had a blast!  They looked all around for tadpoles and fish and waded through from rock to rock.  I think Andrew would have stayed there all day!  But that part was in the sun of course and poor Marjorie was getting red in the face from the heat, so I made them come back to the other side and the playground after about 20 minutes or so. 

It was fun getting out and doing something different though!  I need to think of more places like this to get out and see these last few weeks of summer before they head back to school.

Andrew playing in the water

sweet baby toes

wading in the water

My sweet girl...getting so grown up



Marjorie sharing her goldfish



Surprise, Uncle Clay!



My sister, Katy let us know way back in the spring that she was going to have a surprise birthday party for my brother-in-law, Clay for his 30th birthday.  So we have been planning the trip and everyone was sworn to secrecy...no emailing or talking to Katy about it in case Clay snooped and found out. So my mom, who had a longer 8 hour trip compared to our 4 hours to Abilene went down there on Friday and then we met her there on Saturday.  We had to spend the rest of that day there hiding from Clay.  His friend had taken him to play golf while Katy supposedly hung out with his wife all day.  She actually went with his wife and mom for a pedicure and then had lunch with us!  We met up with them at Abuelo's.





Marjorie at lunch at Abuelo's



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Lillian and Andrew with the Abuelo's statue



After lunch, Katy had to go set up for the party and get ready, so we went with mom back to the hotel we would be staying in.  The kids were so excited because they didn't remember staying in a hotel before since they were very young the last time we have stayed in one.  And this one had an indoor swimming pool, so that was also a fun new experience for them.



Lillian jumping into the hotel pool





Grandma Teddy and Andrew in the hotel pool

After spending some time in the pool and getting ready, we headed to the restaurant in Abilene for Clay's big surprise.  We were there about 20 minutes before his arrival and everyone was getting excited.  No one was quite sure if he would really be surprised or not.  Then when he finally arrived, we gathered facing the door and yelled "Surprise!"  and we saw Clay's surprise face.  We definitely got him.  Especially us that had come so far and hid out without him knowing.  Good job, Katy!  I think the hardest part for all of us was not being able to post any pictures on facebook of what we were doing all day because he would see where we were.



Clay, Katy, and Parker



Clay opening his gift from us while Lillian watches closely

Marjorie was excited to sit with Grandma Teddy

Clay with Andrew and Lillian definitely not posing

Marjorie with Uncle Clay..."Who is this guy!?"



And this picture pretty much sums up the rest of the weekend and Monday.  Marjorie didn't sleep well in the hotel room with me, Mom, Lillian and Andrew all there.  She went to bed late and then couldn't go to sleep with all that was going on.  We learned we will definitely need a separate room for her nexttime or suite with rooms.  She was exhausted and slept like this all the way to Katy's the next day.  Then was tired and crabby the rest of the day, so I didn't take pictures of us out swimming at Katy's house or anything and then we spent today driving back home.  It was a fun, but very tiring weekend!  We had a good time though and hope Clay had a great birthday!  We were glad we could be there to celebrate!

Tory and Drew Were Here

My sister, Tory moved to Arizona back in February and we haven't seen her since!  So we were all very excited for her to fly in to visit and for Marjorie's birthday!  We got to meet her boyfriend, Drew and we broke him in to the Pearman craziness.  The trip flew by, but we enjoyed all the time we got to spend with them.  We tried to take Drew to some "Austin" places to show him around.  Hopefully we didn't scare him too bad and they will come back to visit again!  I know the kids miss their Tory!

Tory with Marjorie when she just got to my house after flying in from Phoenix.

Poor Drew...we got him this shirt! ha ha

Tory, Me, and the kids on the cow at the arboretum.

Tory and Drew on Lady Bird Lake...I'll still always call it Town Lake!

Outside of the famous Round Rock Donuts

Drew with Andrew at the Hula Hut

We Went to the Beach

 We decided that with Lillian going into Kindergarten this fall, this was our last chance for a very long time to go on vacation in May before the rush of all the families going after school gets out.  So we rented a beach house in Gilchrist, TX for a long weekend right after the kids got out of preschool for the summer. (They had a 2 week break until summer preschool.)

The house was great and exactly what we needed.  It was beachfront so we didn't have to cross any streets with the kids and they could run back and forth if they needed to go up and go to the restroom while we were out too.  We could also go out while the kids napped.  Brandon's sister, Sherlene also came with us to help us with the kids.

We all enjoyed our time on the beach.  We swam, flew a kite, built sandcastles, and played in the water.  We also ate some yummy seafood at the local restaurant.  Before we left, we took the ferry over and spent most of the last day in Galveston and went to the Moody Gardens Aquarium.  We had taken the kids 2 years ago, but they were too little to remember it.  I really enjoy watching the seals and the penguins there.  Marjorie even laughed as the seals did flips in the water in front of us.  It was a quick trip, but lots of fun and a welcome break!

Strawberries and More

 We didn't make it out to Marble Falls Sweet Berry Farms last year with me being pregnant and tired, so when strawberry picking season came around this year, we found a day that Brandon had off work during the week and decided to take the kids out there.  They were excited and ready.  We picked 2 baskets full of fresh strawberries.  Then we all enjoyed homemade icecream that is made with their fresh berries and then the kids had fun jumping on the new bouncing pads.  It was a nice little family outing and the kids have already enjoyed eating the strawberries several times.  We froze some for later, but have plenty to eat for now!

Andrew picking

Lillian said she was done

looking for the big ones!

Marjorie was excited to be there

Yum, berries!

Homemade strawberry ice cream

Oh, Brother!

Marjorie loved it too!

Jump around

Jumping

Andrew in the air

Loving the Bluebonnets

I got a great picture of them kids altogether in the bluebonnets on the way home from my grandparents, but decided to go this week and get some of them individually since we weren't on a long drive and in a hurry like last time, so here are a few!