Still Hot and Humid

Remember that really fun playground we got back in March?? My kids had six glorious weeks with it before it became to unbearable to be outside (and not in water). We thought today we'd give it a shot...the kids had a friend over and they went out to play. Twenty minutes later we had three of the sweatiest little beings I've ever seen. They were soaked!! I guess we'll have to wait and try again another day.

Brody's First Day of School

Brody started school last Tuesday September 7th. He was excited to start another year of preschool...our last year before our schedule becomes dictated by the school calendar for who knows how long! He is in class twice a week with four of his friends from church. Brody is a smart little guy who is constantly keeping us on our toes with all his "why" questions. He'll talk your ear off. We are excited for the upcoming year and can't wait to see his progress.

It was a fun day for all of us...as you can tell by our individual shots with the star student.

Ella is not a happy girl on school days. She cries and cries when we drop Brody off. Hopefully we can make next year not to sad by having her in her own preschool.

Amy & Aiden Visit

Amy & Aiden came and visited and played for a whole week! We were very excited to have some time to play with them. We were hoping for some fun in the sun, but instead it was just hot and rainy most days. We did get a visit to the pool in to see the kids and their swimming skills.

We also got our can on and (finally) canned something. I say finally because I have wanted to do this for a long long time, but just got up the courage. We did salsa (regular and a peach version) and it is delicious! With the right tools it was a smashing success...and since then my mom and I mustered up the courage to do applesauce as well. So yummy! Im hoping to make this a more frequent occurance. I just need to get used to the idea that we are supposed to eat it...and not just let it look oh so pretty on the shelves. (Brandon still thinks I am a hoarder...whatever...all those jars and boxes of cereal are just sometimes too pretty to eat!)

We had a great time with them and we can't wait to have them come back!

Then and Now

On the left: Ella and Brody laying on our carpet about a month before we moved in the Texas house

On the right: Ella and Brody laying on the carpet at the Burton's new Texas house about a month before they move in

They've grown a little, ya think?

Lake Granbury & Dinosaur State Park

When you can't have daddy come home at night...you take the kids to daddy! This is the first time we've ever been to visit Brandon during a work week and the kids were so excited. Brandon is working in Granbury, a small tourist town about 30 miles south west of Fort Worth. His hotel is more of a resort that sits right on Lake Granbury. With a beach, splash park and board walk it was the perfect place to go on a hot August day. We got there late in the afternoon, but went right over to the lake to swim.

Ella getting ready for a dip...you can see the Hilton in the background that was the hotel
Brody wading in the lake

Once they tired of the lake we walked to the splash park to play in the water and rinse all the sand off the bathing suits (I loved that part...sandy bathing suits are not my favorite)

We went out and got pizza to eat by the lake and then spent a little while fishing. We didn't catch anything, but we saw lots of fish jumping.

After a late night, the kids and I hung out at the hotel in the morning while Brandon did some work. Then we headed back over to the beach to play. After lunch we drove over to Dinosaur State Park in Glen Rose.

We weren't as prepared as we should have been, we should have stayed in our swim suits! It was so hot we sort of rushed through it.

Dinosaur State Park has fossilized footprints of dinosaurs preserved in limestone

We thought we'd head over to Dinosaur World to hang out in the air conditioning, but we soon found out it was an outdoor attraction too. We stayed in the gift shop for a half hour debating if we could make the mile walk outside. We decided to do it so that we wouldn't have to come back...

Had to have a picture of Ella in front of the giraffes

Brody

Ella

In front of the t-rex...we didn't stop for many pictures because it was SO HOT!

Ella feeding the "prehistoric" koi

searching for fossils

Holding up their treasures found in the sand

The drive home...

For how easy our drive to Branson was, we got pay back on the way home.

We left the city at 5:30 pm. It should have put us home somewhere in the midnight hour. Only 65 miles out of town, on a one lane mountain road, a car wreck happened (not involving us thank goodness) but it stopped traffic for almost 2 hours. We couldn't see the wreck from where we were, but we saw the life flight helicopter come and go. It was so frustrating! The kids slept through most of the wait, which was great for them, but we would have loved 2 hours of sleeping kids while driving! After that the whole drive just felt slow.

We got home just before 3 am and rolled into bed. It was so nice to be HOME!

Kirby Van Burch - Prince of Magic

The Magical Mansion

The kids in the lobby

We also saw the Kirby Van Burch magic show. His was more "Harry Houdini-ish" then the Hamner's magic tricks. It definitely kept the kids entertained. I have been online trying to find out how the tricks are done now...I still don't get it! He would make big tigers appear on stage. His biggest trick was supposed to be making a helicopter appear, but something went wrong right before he started it and he never even attempted the trick. That was kind of a bummer, but it was still a really good show. We had a backstage pass and got to go see the tigers and leopards that he keeps for his show. They were really pretty and we got to see them really close up, but they didn't allow any pictures!