Long Awaited for Trip

oh my, the time has finally come - the long awaited for - VACATION! Not just any vacation, but our 10 year anniversary vacation, by ourselves, to Washington D.C. I dropped the boys off with my mom this morning, ran a few errands by myself and am about to wrap up the packing. We'll start the vacation tonight by going out to dinner because I AM NOT COOKING! We're excited to spend some time by ourselves, hopefully not spending all our time talking about the boys! I got the chance to go to DC when I was in the 7th grade, but Jeremy has never been. Going as an adult will be more exciting and interesting I'm sure. We're looking forward to our cool hotel in Alexandria, leisurely walking the streets of the old historic town, and sitting in a cafe' listening to music and people watching as long as we want, without telling anyone to stop fighting and without taking anyone to the bathroom! I'm not taking my computer because hubby doesn't want me spending time on it every night :-) so when I get home I'll post some great pictures and hopefully some fun stories.

Traditions in the making

For the boys - there is nothing more fun than heading to the woods! They love to go exploring, hunting and splashing in the creek. Of course in the summer they have to be prepared to fight off chiggers and ticks - little pesky bugs that you don't know are there until after the walk in the woods!

Ryan loves hangin' out with Papa. They were 'resting' on the boat while the other boys were swimming in the pond.

Jackson and Austin decided it would be way cool to cover themselves in mud from the pond. Maybe my parents could charge money for a spa retreat - complete with mud facial and sun bath.
Papa was helping Austin with one of his Cub Scout electives - fishing! Austin and Papa made this fishing pole and Austin had to help put the worm on the hook. He tried to get a fish off the hook but wasn't quite ready for that - after all, those fish squirm and move when you try to take them off that hook and save their lives!
Jackson was proud of his catch - a little perch.

Ryan took his turn fishing too. He caught a few little perch as well.

Just so Nana doesn't feel left out - she does lots of things with the kids as well! One of their favorite things to do is make cookies with Nana! yum yum...

So in love with my boys!

Aren't they just precious. God sure makes some wonderful boys! Granted they need a lot of training to be wonderful sometimes - and mine are fully enrolled in the training program. These are some pictures I took in front of a barn at my parent's house. This old barn is so charming and so full of creepy crawly things :-) It is over 100 years old and makes for a great back drop. I told my dad we needed a bench in front of it for better picture taking - I'm sure he'll get right on that - haha. I may be using these for our "yearly pictures" - now I just have to work on getting one of all 3 boys - that in itself will take some work - and patience.

Geronimo!

It's official...I have boys that are destined to grow up! I know I can't keep it from happening - and I'm actually excited about all the fun the lies ahead - but sometimes it gets a little scary watching them grow up. A few weekends ago we went to the family vacation house in Wimberley. We had such a great time hanging out at the creek. As the boys get older - they get more and more daring. They've seen their daddy do stunts for years and now it is their time. This year they were both jumping out of the BIG Cypress tree by the creek and swinging from the huge rope. They also swing from a smaller rope swing - that makes me feel better at times.

Of course Ryan just swam by the dam and laid around eating snacks - but his time will come too.

Welcome to Cub Scout World

We have officially begun our trek down the road to Eagle Scout - (that's a long road, come back in 10-11 years and see if we made it :-)

Austin is so excited to be joining the local Cub Scout pack. He is a new Wolf and can't wait to start earning more badges and belt loops for his uniform. These pictures were taken at the annual "crossover" meeting. Austin was sworn in as a member and received his neckerchief and slide. I'm sure there will be more posting about cub scouts as we work our way down this road. I was never in Girl Scouts, but as a young girl I considered myself a cub scout since my mom was the Den leader for my brothers and my dad was involved so way in the Pack. I was at all the meetings and some of the camp outs. I guess that's goes along with being the only girl in the family. I sure don't remember my brother's coming to any gymnastics events though!

Jackson's Graduation

We will now have 2 children in Elementary School! Jackson is the new graduate in our family. He was in a 5-year old pre-K class which was designed for older pre-K kids. Jackson has a summer birthday so he fit into this program so well and has grown so much as we waited a little longer for him to start Kindergarten. He is so excited to start at the "big school" with Austin next year. The end of year program that his pre-school did was so cute. They sang a song that I learned as a kid and it was so cute. "I am a promise, I am a possibility, I am a promise- with a capital P. I am a great big bundle of...potentiality!" We are so proud of Jackson and so excited for him as he is so eager to learn. God has great things in store for him!