More pictures from Kacy's birthday :)

 Henderson girl birthday celebration selfie!

 Brooke was NOT happy :(

They were getting pelted with sand and raindrops!

 Ice cream makes everything better!

Kacy's 6 today!

My little Kacy is 6 years old today! It was a summer day, so I let her choose our activities for the day. She chose to go to the butterfly museum (which she did on her 4th birthday) and go to the beach afterward. Cory was out of town, so it was just the girls. We headed to see the butterflies, and we walked through the new Centennial Gardens on the way. It was really pretty, but really, really hot! We were all a bunch of sweaty gals by the time we got into the museum. The museum was pretty busy with day camp field trips, but the butterfly exhibit was pretty empty. We took our time searching for our favorite butterfly, the biggest butterfly, and the most camouflaged one. Thank goodness Adilyn wasn't terrified this time, so we could stay for a while and hang out in there. After the museum, we headed back out to our car, which was about 1/2 mile away. Once we got to the door, we realized that it was pouring down rain! So, we headed back in to the gift shop to waste a little more time. It finally let up a bit, and we ran to the car. It started raining pretty hard when we were out there, but we hid under some trees. We are survivors :)
Even though it was raining in Houston, the radar for Galveston looked clear, so we headed out. It rained the whole way down there, and I started to think that our beach fun might be ruined. Once we got to the park, it seemed okay. We headed out to the beach, and it seemed a little windy. Then, a few minutes later it got a lot windy!!!! Everyone's umbrellas started blowing out of the sand, boogie boards, and towels were flying everywhere! Most people started packing up to leave, but we had just gotten there. I was determined to stay. It started to rain, and the raindrops were hitting us like little bullets! We got in the water, hoping it would help and the storm would pass. Brooke was freezing, so we got out and wrapped up in a towel. The girls tried to tough it out, but they were done in just a few minutes. It was a bummer, but a pretty funny story to tell later! It was blowing so hard that Brooke literally couldn't walk. She was screaming, I was loaded down with stuff, but I snatched her up anyway. It was all very dramatic :) The girls thought it was hilarious that we all almost got blown away! We went to the showers and got all warm and clean. We stepped outside, and realized it was once again pouring rain! Seriously?!? We wrapped up in some towels and ran to the car. Once again, we were soaked. I really wanted to make something of the day, so we went to the seawall and got some ice cream. By then, it was cleared up, so we went to the souvenir shop and walked on the seawall and a jetty. The girls had a lot of fun, despite our issues with Mother Nature!

Kacy is still my tenderhearted little cutie pie! The girl's emotions are all over the place, which is terrifying for the future :) Her little heart can get so broken, so quickly. She hates to get in trouble, and if she gets caught doing something wrong she automatically lies about it. I am trying to help her break that habit, but it's hard for her. She loves her friends, and they love her. She hugs everybody and it seems that everyone is her best friend. She has deep thoughts about life and always has fabulous questions and amazingly random thoughts. Her speech is still a little problem, and I think that it's affecting her spelling. I am hoping that she will grow out of it sooner rather than later. I love to hear her stories, and I love her hugs!

Here are her annual birthday questions:
What is your favorite color? Purple
Who is your favorite friend? Marley
Who do you think you will marry? Nobody
What do you want to be when you grow up? K12 online teacher
What is your favorite food? Sushi
What is your favorite show? "Liv and Maddie"
What do you like to do at home? Play with my sisters
What is your favorite animal? Bear
What are you good at? Volleyball
What is your favorite season? Fall
What is your favorite holiday? Valentine's Day
What do you want to be better at? Volleyball
What are you most proud of? Learning to read
What do you want to do now that you are 6? I want to do everything better that I can do.

Huntsville Camping Trip

We had a fun, but hot camping trip to Huntsville State Park with some friends this weekend. There was a lot of fishing, and each of the girls caught a fish. There was some hanging out, and some swimming in some pretty gross water. There was not much of a choice with the water since it was 95 degrees outside, but I was pretty grossed out. I usually don't care too much about the water that I swim in, but this was particularly yucky! Anyway, we still had fun. I was so proud of Kacy for actually holding her fish in her bare hands, she is braver than I! I truly love all these camping that we are experiencing as a family. I know there will get to be a time that we are too busy to go as much, but for now I will enjoy every hot, sweaty moment!

Red, White, and Blue Invitational

So, just when I thought swimming was over - we had one more meet. Adilyn qualified in the backstroke for the Red, White, and Blue Invitational. It was some of the best swimmer in the whole area competing in a high school natatorium. It was a completely different experience than we have had so far. I was a little intimidated, so I am sure that Adilyn was also. We were waiting forever for her race, so we grabbed a snack and went outside. When we got back in, we realized that it was almost time for her race! She had to run into the ready bench area, and pretty much go right into the water. I felt bad for her, because she was kind of unprepared. Honestly, the way that Adilyn does things, I don't think she would have done better with 20 minutes of mental prep. :) She got in the water, and did great! She got her best time ever, and she ended up 9th in her age group of 14 kids. Pretty fantastic in my book! I am glad that we went out on a high note, and we will be ready for next season. :)

Volleyball Camp!

My old friend, Jason, had a volleyball camp for elementary school kids at the high school that he teaches at. It was quite a drive, but we decided to do it. The girls had a lot of fun! They were in separate groups, and they made some new friends. I'm not sure how much they learned, but they had fun! It was great to see Jason and his wife for a little bit, also.

Swim is over!

Swim team ended up being a pretty great thing for everyone. I definitely hated waking up and getting going so early on Saturdays for meets, but overall it was a lot of fun. The girls got some great exercise, made some friends, and found a little competitive spirit in themselves. Adilyn had a lot of fun, and she made a great friend. She learned how to dive after working on it over and over! She got her best freestyle and backstroke time in the very last meet. Kacy improved so much, it was amazing! She went from a 55 second backstroke to a 38 second, and she improved her freestyle from a 45 seconds to 34 seconds. I am so glad that we did it, though! It was so much fun to see them compete in something more individual. They weren't the best and they weren't the worst, and we all learned a lot. I am sure that we will do it again next year, and I will be more mentally prepared for it all this time :)

Party at the Movies!

The girls took a while to decide on what they wanted to do for their birthday, but when we saw that "Inside Out" was coming out in June we decided! I think I was more excited then the girls were. The movie looked so cute and having a party at the movie theater seemed like a lot of fun! I let the girls pick a few friends from school to invite. Although, a lot of people were out of town that weekend, the girls had their besties there, so they were happy! The movie was adorable, and the kids seemed to have a great time. We were lucky enough to have Mimi and Pops here to join in the fun, also.

San Antonio Trip

We had a fantastic long weekend in San Antonio with Brandon and Mom. We rented a house that looked amazing in the pictures, but was a little surprising looking when we pulled up. It looked like it was in on a huge lot in the country, but it was actually in a neighborhood and literally right next door to a random family's actual home. It was just a little awkward to pull up at our rental house for a vacation when the people were out mowing their lawn. Luckily, the house inside was wonderful! The pool was really fun (and private), the rooms were comfortable, and the house was clean. The only thing I didn't like was that the girls slept in the bunk room downstairs. I am used to them being upstairs, so it was a little unnerving to have them so far away in a different way. Mom bought the girls little mermaid tails, and they loved swimming in the pool with them. The next day it was raining, so we decided to go to a cavern. It sounded like a great idea, but it turned out to be not such a great idea. The tour guide was a little long-winded in the cavern. The girls got bored, Mom's knee hurt, and Brooke ended up peeing on me. Even though it was a little annoying, it was still cool to see the cavern inside and close up. We ate lunch at a delicious little hamburger place. The next day, we went into San Antonio and did the Alamo and Riverwalk. We rode on the boat in the river, which was pretty fun. On our last day, we ate breakfast at a wonderful restaurant called, Magnolia's Pancake House. Mom and Brandon headed home and Cory and I took the girls to Sea World. It was raining off and on all day, but we still had a great time! We watched some shows, rode some rides, and played at the water park. It was hot, but it was a lot of fun! It was a little hard with Brooke since she couldn't ride a lot of the rides, but we snuck her on a few :)