August Phone Photos

August was a packed month - between our last summer vacation, baseball & football games, and Kindergarten...the month flew by.

Cooper loves to take photos and has figured out how to do so on both my phone and the iPad, even though he doesn't know the password. I also believe I take more photos of Caitlin than I do of him on a weekly basis. Mostly because I want to capture her in something cute...and he only wants to wear gym cloths. That said, he is often asking to be in a photo.

We had some summer days with outdoor dining.

Cooper asked to wash dishes one evening. After, he told me that was really hard work. Shockingly, he's never volunteered again.

Always excited to start a road trip.

We all had a great time at the beach with my family.

We even managed pedicures where Caitlin had her toes painted.

Kelly and I managed to take the older kids to one Astros game before the season ended. We had time before the game started to check out the Squeeze Play.

As usual, we visited Mickey.

We went to the school to meet the teacher and see Cooper's new classroom. He wore his Cowboys jersey just in case his new teacher was going to be a Cowboys fan. Turns out, she's not really a football fan.

Cooper spent his last day at daycare looking way older than 5.

She cracks me up.

The first day of school, I took Caitlin to daycare while Jason gave Cooper breakfast. She was NOT happy that he wasn't in the car with her.

Cooper's first day of Kindergarten went really well!

She's a fan of Oreo Cookies.

It's a jalapeno. On a stick.

Jason, Cooper and I headed to Dallas for our annual Cowboys game. After hitting the pool at the hotel, Cooper was excited to see the game.

August Beach Vacation 2015

This summer we decided to join most of my family in Port Aransas for the annual beach trip. After seeing how much Caitlin loved the beach in June, I was very excited to see the kids playing with their cousins.

All of the kids enjoyed building sand castles and playing in the mud. Caitlin most enjoyed knocking them down. I'm sure she did that just to make Cooper mad.

Jason had one request for our trip - to take Cooper to see the U.S.S. Lexington located in Corpus Christi. Cooper was very excited to see the ship!

Their marketing team must have children. The first airplane as you walk in the door looks just like the Skipper from Planes. Not only did Cooper recognize him, but I heard several kids yell out that it was Skipper and that's Dusty's friend.

The whole experience is very hands-on, with many things for the kids to climb in & on. Caitlin was right behind Cooper, doing whatever he did.

The top deck of the ship has many airplanes to see and even sit in.

Both kids loved seeing everything on the ship, though neither spent much time listening to stories or reading about the ship.

June Phone Photos

Now that summer is almost over, I might have time to catch up. I feel like we've gone non-stop since summer started!

We had way too many days without milk in the house. The result - Capri Sun for breakfast.

The kids joined the Astros Buddies club again this year - a big thanks to Aunt Carla!

The kids helped celebrate my birthday.

Cooper attended VBS with Eileen...and many of our t-ball friends!

We spent a weekend with Nana & Pops and played as much as possible.

Caitlin loves riding the golf cart. She thinks she can drive it, but isn't quite there yet.

Cooper wrapped up one weekend by getting stitches. He was planning to spend an extra night with Nana and somehow fell on a railing, cutting his lip. Since it wasn't severe, they brought him home so that we could go to our local First Choice ER. For the 3rd time. Cooper was champ - 5 stitches and no tears!

The last weekend of June was spent at the beach with Aly & Brielle.

June 2015 Beach Trip

Earlier this year, Bridget brought up us possibly going to Matagorda with them for a weekend. They've been several times before and have always enjoyed it. So, we decided to go for it!

We left bright and early one Friday morning with two excited kids pumped full of donut shop sugar.

Turns out, Bear & Bridget had some excited children as well!

Matagorda is just over two hours from home, which was a huge plus. After unloading the trucks, and begging the kids to eat something we finally headed down to the water.

The beach itself wasn't very crowded and the kids hit the sand right away. Last summer, Caitlin wasn't really a fan of the sand and she really didn't like the waves in Gulf Shores. This year, it was a whole new child. We could not keep her out of the sand & water! I loved seeing her run into the waves, screaming & laughing the whole time.

Cooper had no hesitations either and wanted to go far into the water to jump over waves.

These two had a great time together.

Caitlin calls her "my baby Bee-el."

We thought maybe the big girls would nap on the beach, but this lasted about 2 minutes.

Despite only staying on the beach for a few short hours, we were all exhausted. Friday night ended pretty early! We camped the kids on the sofa to rest while dinner was prepped. Cooper seems to be the center of attention.

 Saturday morning started just as early, with 3 and a half excited kids.

Poor Brielle.

We finally got everything packed up, wondering how our parents did it so often so many years ago, and headed to the water.

Caitlin loved being in the water and didn't love holding hands. Unfortunately, she didn't have much choice. As a result, one wave hit her and her elbow dislocated. I actually felt the pop. She cried and refused to use her hand. We went back and forth on another ER visit. And suddenly, while trying to smack Cooper, she landed on the elbow and popped it back in. Once she did, she was back to her happy self.

We wrapped up our last day on the water & headed back to the house for a grown up dinner with wine.

That's the best part of traveling with people who love wine - you get to share the good stuff. We parked the kids in front of a movie and started cooking.

The next morning, we had a few sad faces - the kids wanted more beach time. So much that Caitlin refused to put on her clothes and instead rode home in her bathing suit.