A Trip to Abilene

A couple weekends ago, we went to visit our good friends, Phillip and Heather and their girls, Emily and Anna. It was a HOT weekend in Abilene, but lots of fun. It's always nice to catch up and hang out with friends you don't get the chance to see often. We stayed very busy and didn't let the heat interrupt our fun. We walked around ACU's campus a bit so Kevin could see how things have changed in the last 10 years. One thing that was new for him was this beautiful sculputre. Here's Kevin and I...

and a close-up...

and here are the kids (at least the older ones)...

One more pic of the kids, although this one is really capturing the sculpture since they look a bit like ants...Here's a cute pic of Jake and Emily ready to eat. For the most part, they got along really well. They did have their moments where they seemed to bring out the "toddler" in each other, if you know what I mean...I think they both decided Kevin was their favorite toy of the weekend...

The girls and kids went to the Abilene zoo Saturday morning. The guys were doing a catering job for Phillip's restaurant, Bogie's. Phillip and Heather own a sandwich shop in downtown Abilene, so if you're ever in Abilene, you should definitely check Bogie's out. Yummy! Here's Jake checking out some animals at the zoo...

I think the heat prevented any cooperation with pictures from happening, but they had lots of fun. This is the closest to a posed picture that I got...

This picture, on the other hand, was much easier to get. The kind when their backs are turned and they don't know the camera is out. Still cute...OK, I'm saving the best for last. Phillip and Heather have a "new" baby girl. She's actually 6 months old, but we'd never met her, so Anna was new to us. It was so much fun to be around this precious baby girl. Even Jake thought so...She's beautiful and a very good girl too. I hardly heard a cry from her the entire weekend...This is my favorite picture. Anna makes this face a lot, and it is super precious!

Farmer Jake

Our church puts on events called Krazy Praizy during the summer for preschool age children and their parents. Every Tuesday they had fun activities at the church, then would follow it up with field trips on Thursdays. We didn't attend too many things since I was working in June, but we did get to go on a fun trip to Crowe's Nest Farm in Manor. It wasn't a bad drive at all, and it was a really great place, so it was a day very well spent! Despite the heat, I think the summer is a good time to go b/c you avoid all the huge school field trips. There were very few people other than our group when we were there, and it made it even nicer. They had a barn area with several tanks of fish and frogs, along with other reptiles. Here are Jake, Levi and Colt checking it out...

Jake quickly found his best buds, the Dishman boys, and was pretty much glued to them the entire time. At one point, as we were walking around looking at all the animals, Levi and Jake took off ahead of the pack liked they owned the place...
There were LOTS of fun animals to see. I don't think I've ever seen as many different chicken and roosters before. They also had a presentation about milking cows. The guy who led it was very friendly and had a great message to the kids that all our food is provided to us by animals and farmers, so we need to be appreciative of their hard work. Here are the boys intently listening...He went through the whole process of how milk comes from the farm to the grocery store...We also got to go on a hay ride to tour part of the farm. Here's Jake enjoying the ride...and here's the best picture we could get of the 3 boys...

Port Aransas 2011, Part 3

We stayed in a great condo called Port Royal. Our condo was perfect for us, we just had to walk down the boardwalk to get to the beach, and they have a beautiful big pool. I'd definitely recommend it. Our balcony overlooked the water and dunes. Here's our view...The beach was definitely the big attraction of this trip, but one day we headed into Corpus Christi to go to the aquarium. It was a great break from the sun and waves, and Jake loves looking at all the sea life. Here's Jake with Papa and Grandmama at the entrance...One thing that made this aquarium especially great were their shows. They had a few shows that were like a mini level of Sea World. The dolphins were my favorite...This was Jake the entire time: nose glued to the glass taking in all the amazing creatures...This was an area where you could pet sting rays...Jake and the sea turtle are keeping an eye on each other...
They also had a wild bird show. They had a few different types of hawks, plus some non-bird animals were involved. I was actually called up as a participant for one part, and a hawk flew just centimeters from my head! Here's the crew waiting for the show to begin. This part was outside, and although it was shaded, we were all pretty hot.
It was a really great trip. I LOVE the beach, and I'm so glad that Jake loves it too. This was the perfect time with family!

Port Aransas 2011, Part 2

I'm dedicating one entire blog to fishing. First off, my dad and Kevin went deep sea fishing one morning and loved it! I got up early to drop them off, so here they are on the boat before heading off...

We got a call a little earlier than we expected to pick them up, so I was a little worried at first. Fortunately, there was no need to worry b/c they made a killing...They caught all red snapper, and caught b/t 15-20 total. You're only allowed to bring in 2 fish per person to keep, so that's what they did. We even brought their fresh catch with us to the restaurant that night and we were able to eat it...delicious! When they got back, we let Jake walk around the boat to check it out. Daddy and Jake...Papa and Jake...We also wanted Jake to have a try at his first fishing experience, so on another morning we drove to a shallow area so Jake could try his skills...He ultimately had to go pant-less to avoid getting entirely soaked...Papa was in heaven fishing alongside his grandson...We didn't really have an expectation of catching anything since we just randomly picked a spot, and we were using salami as bait. It was really just for the experience of it all...but God was shining down on us and Jake actually caught something!
Here's Jake showing off his very first catch...I love his face in this shot. It's a cross between grossed out and worn out. Jake actually didn't like pulling the fish up out of the water. He wanted to let it stay in to swim around.After a picture of the prize, we let the little guy go, and shortly headed back to the condo. I'm pretty sure all of the adults were way more excited about the catch than Jake. I think it's the fact that we actually know that fishing isn't as easy as it looks, but for now, Jake can live in a world where it's easy as can be. A couple days after our trip, I was asking Jake some questions about it, and asked him, "What kind of fish did you catch?" My mom told him many times it was a perch, so I was wondering if he remembered. His immediate response was, "Nemo!"To go along with the fishing, I'll include a quick note about the wonderful food we ate. My family LOVES seafood, and I am proud to say that Jake did a great job eating several kinds of fish, shrimp and crab. I was very proud of how well he ate and how adventurous he was. Here's everyone the final night about to enjoy an amazing key lime pie!

Port Aransas 2011, Part 1

We had a great trip with my parents to Port Aransas right after the 4th. It was really a great and fun family getaway. We did lots of fun, fun stuff, so I'll break the trip down into what I consider the highlights. First of all, we (especially Jake) loved feeding the seagulls every night. Right when we got there, Kevin and Jake went outside to check out the view and quickly made a seagull friend they named Sammy. Here they are with their friend, Sammy...

Jake carefully pulled apart the bread and would also carefully decide where he threw it...

Yeah for the seagulls!I think the biggest highlight of all was the beach! Probably a good thing since this was a beach vacation. My parents took Jake to the beach in Galveston a couple months ago, but this was the first experience Kevin and I had with him at the beach, and it was awesome. I was so proud of him. He is not scared at all of the water. He never once cried or whined, even when a big wave would splash water all in his face. He wasn't even phased by the saltwater. He just seems so brave to me, and it was so obvious he was having fun it made it that much more fun for all of us. Here's Jake's beach bod...He liked to play on a raft we brought. As soon as we got down to the ocean, he would grab the raft and head to the water, regardless if anyone was with him. He definitely kept us on our toes. Once in the water, one of us would hold the raft and bring him out into the waves and he did a great job of riding the waves...

He also loved just going in on his own. Here are some shots capturing that...I can't get enough of the joy he exudes...We also picked up a little inner tube for him, and it turned out to be a great purchase. He loved it and was good enough at holding on that he could float on his on in the deeper water...Jake really didn't want the fun to stop in order to take posed pictures, but Kevin and I took the sneak-up behind approach to document our being there too...And with all the fun, it was definitely important to take some rest and snack breaks. Here are all the boys chillin' on the sand...