Summer 2017

I glimpse into our summer 2017. Click the link to see the video! It took me a while to get it all put together, but I finally got it! We had a blast this summer--water parks, New Orleans, Destin, Vicksburg, Eustace and lots of time with the cousins! Summer culminated with us finally moving in to our new house! God has blessed our little family more than I could ever imagine. There's a song that says, "Where there is no way, You make a way!" And that's exactly how I feel about our house. God made a way for me to be a homeowner and for me to give my girls a home.

For my 38th birthday, we went to Keller Pointe, which is a local water park. They have an indoor section with a slide and play area, as well as a large outdoor park. It's intimate enough for us to be able to just play and not worry about our stuff.The girls were on the swim team for the Northwest YMCA. They practiced during the week and had meets on Saturdays. Macey went to Gym n' Swim camp at Sokol the first week of the summer. Another reason I love living out here--I used to go to Sokol when I was her age, as well as swim at the YMCA for swim team. Mikayla went back to Leta Andrews' basketball camp at Country Day.

Lauren, Sadie, Titus, Eli and Emmie returned with us to Miramar Beach this year as well. We took an extra day to drive down and stayed for an evening in New Orleans. We stayed at the Hilton, and Mikayla was in awe of the hotel. She mentioned several times that it was the nicest hotel we've ever been to. The next day, we went to Cafe DuMonde and ate beignets for breakfast. I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting, but it was a donut with powered sugar. They were good, but I just thought there would be more to it. The cafe doesn't serve anything else, either. After breakfast, we went walking down the French Quarter. We went to St. Louis Cathedral, and it was overwhelming. It was so beautiful. We walked out on Jackson Square, and there were lots of palm readers and voodoo booths. The girls did not like it one bit. They could feel the presence about the place, and it wasn't one of the Holy Spirit. Before we left, I took a picture of myself reading "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" while standing on the banks of the Mississippi River. I'm sure I'm the only one who would think that's cute.

We stayed in the same condo complex in Miramar Beach that we stayed in last year. It wasn't the same condo, but it was the same floor plan. We were on the 4th floor, and it actually worked out really well. It rained on us a couple times, and a torrential downpour let loose the day we left. We went on a shelling and snorkeling tour this year as well. We saw several dolphins, then went to a shallow coastal area to look for shells. The captain found a blue crab for us to all hold. We found a ton of seashells. When La-La and I got back to the condo, we were cleaning the shells, and two hermit crabs had made it in the shell bags! We took them back to the ocean so they might be able to live. As we were washing the shells, we were talking about how clean they already were, and how it was odd that there were so many shells right where we docked the boat. It then dawned on us that the Destin Snorkel Company planted the shells! They had to go out prior to our boat trip and place all of those shells there. We felt pretty foolish and laughed about it. I guess it's more fun to at least pretend we are finding the shells than just to buy them in a store. Then we wondered where those shells actually came from.

On our way back to Texas, the girls and I stayed in Vicksburg, Mississippi. We stayed at a casino hotel on the Mississippi River. The view was breathtaking. There was a pool, so of course the girls jumped right in. We ate dinner in the hotel that night, and it was half price appetizers. We had shrimp and crab claws. The girls were still wet from the pool, and it was so cold in the dining room. We shivered all the way through dinner.

The next morning, I found a Chick-Fil-A, because we all wanted Chicken Minis. When we pulled up, there was a man cutting the grass. When we got out of the car, Macey said, "It smells like grasshole!" We all got a good laugh out of that one. We then went to the National Military Park Museum. I didn't know what it was, but I thought it looked interesting, and it delivered! It's a drive-through park with monuments all throughout it that honor the men who fought in the Civil War. We got out of the car several times and took pictures and read the monuments. There were cannons, and the girls pretended to shoot them. After having read a lot of men's names on the monuments and tombstones, Mikayla said, "Where are all of the women's names?" I explained to her how only men fought back then--not women. She was incredulous. "But why?" she demanded. "Women are just as capable as men to fight in a war." The USS Cairo is also on display in the park, so we got to walk through the warship. Macey was especially interested in the museum artifacts. We had a wonderful time at the beach and our stops along the way.

As soon as we got back to Fort Worth, we spent a couple days at home before heading to the farm. We spent the 4th of July there, and the kids loved it. We went fishing, and there was a giant waterslide for the kids. We shot fireworks, and even started a fire! The fireworks smoldered and caught fire in the middle of the night. Quick thinking Papa Rock saved the farm from going up in flames. Mama Rock had just gotten two barn kittens, and the girls were smitten. The girls caught their first fish, and Mikayla wouldn't even hold the line to take a picture with it.

The cousins came to Fort Worth later in July as well. We went to Burger's Lake with them, as well as Eagle Mountain Lake. Justin rented a boat, and the kids got to wakeboard and tube. The girls had never gotten to do that before, so they had a blast. I'm so thankful for a sister and brother in law who can give my kids these amazing experiences that I can't.

One night, I couldn't sleep, so at about 2:30 in the morning, I pulled Mikayla and Macey out of bed, and we went to Whataburger to eat breakfast. The only reason was just to make a memory. Because sometimes, it's just fun to do wild and crazy things to make memories.