Beach and Egg Dying

Today is Kate's "Special Day."   I love that name because she came up with it.  Today is the anniversary of the day Kate came home from China.  Will and Dave met Kate in China at the end of March but they arrived home and we became a family of five on April 4th, 2007!  We will spend some special time together as a family and I will post about it in a few days.  As I type this, Harry is outside playing basketball with his sister.  I never imagined the incredible bond those two would have.  They are best friends.  It is such a gift to see.

Anyway, over Spring Break we spent some time at the beach with our good friends but I never posted about it.

Kate and her friend, Layne.

They dig a big hole and pretend it is a foot spa.

Kate's bathing suit is from here.

Kate is so close to getting her aerial.  She has done a few but she often puts a hand down at the last second.  She loves to tumble around at the beach.

Harry spent his time skim boarding and fishing.

Due to circumstances, he was the only teenaged boy there but he had a blast nonetheless.

Kate did some skim boarding too.  I LOVE that Harry taught her how to do this last summer.

Drippy castles were built...











Here is Harry fishing...







Catch and release...



We also went to Galveston last weekend to visit Dave's sister who was in town.

We only went for a quick day trip but it was fun...



They fished off the dock and we went to the beach too.

Yesterday, we planned to dye eggs in the morning.  I have been having upper and middle back pain lately and then yesterday morning I started having chest pains.  I was lightheaded and did not feel right.  These are classic symptoms of a heart attack in women.  I got concerned so we went to the ER.  It was very scary but I they immediately got me an EKG and a chest X-ray.  I was treated very promptly.  They do not think it was a heart attack but something is going on in the left side where my heart is and around back too.  I am having some sort of spasms or inflammation.  I have another doctor appt on April 20th with a neuromuscular specialist.

We did end up dying eggs when I got home from the ER.





A very sweet instagram friend sent us the monogram egg kit.  I tried to find one here in town and could not find one, so she sent it to us.  It was so thoughtful of Rachel to send us one.











Even Will was home which is so rare these days!








They got quite creative with the eggs.

You might be able to tell from Harry's shirt that he chose a high school.
We are so happy he will get a Jesuit education too.


Happy Easter everyone!!

spring break beach day

Each year during Spring Break, our good friends invite a group of us to their beach house.  Due to Harry's Spain/France trip, Will's water polo schedule, Kate's intense gymnastics schedule and my work, only Kate and I could slip away for about 24 hours.  It was so needed though and it was very relaxing. We had an awesome time.

I did not take a ton of photos (like I usually do at the beach) but Kate had a ball with her friends.

Kate looks so grown up to me in this shot.

This is Kate's friend, Layne (her family invites us each year).

As an added bonus (and surprise) there were come other little friends from Kate's school there too.



The girls dug a hole and all sat around it with their feet inside.  They took turns filling a bucket with water from the cold ocean and pouring it in the hole. They did this forever and laughed and giggled each time.  It was so cute!

Kate loves her girlfriends but she is equally as happy and comfortable playing alone (which I love).




She is just the HAPPIEST little girl!



The water was really cold but it did not stop them...





And of course, cause my girl's gotta tumble so there was some of this going on...






Her muscle tone astonishes me.  I wish I had it!

This was Kate's first time in the sun this year but she looks SO dark to me in these photos.

And my favorite photo of the trip...




Both of Kate's bathing suits are can be found here.

rodeo time

So, it was just Rodeo time here in Houston.  Dave and I went a few weeks ago to the BBQ cook-off.  That was interesting and fun. Loads of good people watching! Will has gone a few times a night with his friends.  But we usually go as a family during Spring Break.  I remember last year thinking it might be out last year to all go together.  I knew that at almost 17, Will would be going with friends this year.  And Harry was in Europe on the coast of France and Spain this day so he missed it too!

I invited one of Kate's good friends from school to join us and they were sooo cute.  They walked around the whole rodeo carnival either hand in hand or with an arm around one another.  It was so bright and one of my cameras is broken so I am not thrilled with the shadows/overexposure of some of my photos but I LOVE looking back over the years at our rodeo photos. It brings back good memories.

Kate and her friend, Maria.


They held hands the whole time...so cute!

First, we rode the ponies.  We always do that first because the line gets long.  The sun was so bright that each photo has Kate in the shadows of the tent.  I tried a fill flash and that blew the photos out.  But I got this...

Immediately after the pony rides, we went to the petting zoo. 

I love how I caught the cone mid-air in the photo below..  Dave was feeding a goat and he pulled it right out of his hands.  That little deer came right up to Kate's face:)

Kate's friend Maria was really nervous in the petting zoo so she did not last long. I cannot blame her. Years ago, I was was thrown down by a mean llama in the rodeo petting zoo and I still have flashbacks! Kate and I do love petting on the little goats though.  They were sweet.

After the petting zoo, the girls wanted to go on some carnival rides...

I think we went to eat after that. Rodeo food is awesome (it's all junk food). It is not the way we usually eat but we throw caution to the wind and eat the decadent food that is there. I had cajun shrimp and Dave had sausage. I think the girls had burgers.

I love this shot of Kate and Maria just before the pig races.

After lunch, we went to the pig races. This is a rodeo tradition too.  Both of our boys used to love the pig races.  They pick kids from the audience to lead the crowd cheering on a pig for that section.  Will and Harry had been chosen when they were younger but Kate has always been pretty reserved (shy).  This year, she was picked though!

After the pig races, the girl did a few more rides...the carousel and the swings/spider thingy.

We promised the girls a"sweet treat" of their choice on the way out.  If you've never been to a Southern carnival, you will not appreciate the "fried" food options available at Rodeo.  The girls chose fried ice cream.  I think they liked it!  I opted to try fried Strawberry Shortcake.  It looked tasty but it was not so good.

 

 Bye bye Rodeo 2014~See you next year!


UPDATE: A few of you are praying for the girls injured on Harry's trip.  One of them returned to the US and needs surgery on her ACL.  The other girl was moved out of ICU this week and is still recovering in Spain.  She will be there another month due to the extent of her injuries.  Her name is Leslie and I am sure they would appreciate continued prayer.