Last year for single digits for Kacy!

Kacy is still just as crazy and silly as ever. She has amazing dance moves, and a great attitude about life most of the time. We have learned this summer that our family dynamics is based a lot on Kacy's attitude. If she is in a good mood, everyone follows. If she is in a bad mood, everyone follows. Key is, we just have to keep her happy. :) The family had planned to get a rental house for Lani's 75th birthday right on Kacy's birthday, so we had the whole family together. We decided to have each meal celebrate one person's birthday, so that everyone could feel special. Kacy had a breakfast buffet to celebrate hers. She loves buffets, and she loves breakfast - so it was perfect. Everyone was really patient as Cory and I cooked a million pancakes for a pancake bar, biscuits and gravy, bacon, and more. It turned out perfect, and she loved her candles in a biscuit! We had a ton of fun swimming, fishing, and having a great time together.

Favorite things...
Favorite food - mashed potatoes
Favorite color - teal
Best friend - Gracie
Place you would like to go on vacation - Hawaii
Thing you like to do most when you are at home - play with my sisters
Favorite sport - swimming
Favorite animal - llama

Family Birthday Weekend

Lani turned was turning 75, so we decided to rent a house to celebrate with everyone. It took us quite a while to find a house that would fit everyone, but we luckily snagged one that just started being rented. It had a beautiful pool, and had space for everyone but us. We just stayed in our camper which worked out for everyone. We had a breakfast buffet to celebrate Kacy's 9th birthday, and we celebrated Lani's birthday that evening. It was an awesome house with an awesome view, and everyone had a great time. The kids played and played, fished, and played some more! The adults stayed up late and listened to music out by the pool each night. It was great to be together because we normally aren't able to all be in the same place at the same time.

June Beach Getaway!

Summer swim life really limits our vacation time in the summer, which is a little bit of a bummer, but it's okay. Once summer swim team was over, we took a quick trip down to South Padre Island. I was really thinking that it would be much prettier than our typical Texas beaches because it's practically Cancun, but boy was I wrong! The water was a little clearer, and it was a lot colder, but the sand was still brown Texas sand. Don't get me wrong, I will take brown Texas sand over no sand at all, but I was a little surprised. We camped right on the beach, and we had a great spot, so that was nice. One afternoon, the girls and I wanted to go to a souvenir shop, but Cory had to work. Not having a car can be a little bit of a pain sometimes, but we decided to walk to the closest one. It didn't seem too far, but once again, I was wrong. It felt so far, and it was sooooo hot! We survived and made it to get the beloved souvenirs. We learned our lesson though! It was nice and relaxing to just have some hang out time after our busy June. We also took a really cool walk down a crazy long jetty the morning before we left. It was kinda scary because we went down farther than any fisherman or any body else. All of a sudden one wave came over the jetty in between where Adilyn, Brooke, and I were and where Kacy was. I panicked, and quickly got my other little chickie right with me! Overall it was a great little getaway :)

Ponderosa!

Ponderosa (the end of the season invitational) was extra exciting this year because both girls made a final! I love how they run this meet, they have hype music playing in between heats, and they call out the kids names and which team they are from before they race. It's really exciting! Adilyn had a fantastic backstroke race the first day of the meet, and she finished with her best time ever as well as with the 4th fastest qualifying time. Kacy missed the backstroke finals by just two places,. She was very disappointed because she did not have a very good race at all, and that was her best chance to make finals. Adilyn ended up having an awesome backstroke final race, and she finished 3rd overall dropping even more time. We were so proud of her for stepping up during that high pressure situation!
The next day, we went back for a couple more races. Neither one of the girls really thought they were going to make finals for these races because they weren't their best - but you just never know. Adilyn did well on her butterfly, but not good enough for finals. Then, it was Kacy's turn for fly. She was in a pretty early heat, but when that girl started, she was literally flying!!! She blew everyone in her heat away, and got her best time ever by more than 3 seconds. We still weren't sure if she was going to make finals with that time or not, but she did!!! The picture of her below is when she heard her name called out for the finals. I was so happy for her after her disappointment of the backstroke race from the first day! We also had a medley relay with four of the swimmers from Heatherwood, so that was really fun to watch as well. Overall, it was a great meet for everyone!

Father's Day

We went over to the Hrobar's to celebrate Father's Day with two of the best dads I know :) We had dinner together, and the kids played. It's so nice that they still all get along when we get together. The older boys are so cute with Brooke, and she just loves them! Adilyn had volleyball practice, so Dana and I went to go pick her up and watch a little practice. Unfortunately, when we got there, she wasn't playing much. It was good to have a little time alone with Dana, though. We don't get to see each other much these days. Anyway, it was fun to be together and celebrate two of my favorite dads!

Summer Swim Divisionals

Divisionals is always a long, long, long, and hot, hot, hot day! This year was no different. It was the longest one we have every had because all the teams that we swam with this year had way more kids than before. Despite being pretty miserable, it was a great meet for the girls! Both of them had a very exciting "photo finish" race. Kacy won hers, but unfortunately Addy lost hers. They both had quite a few first place wins, and all the girls did great in the relays! We love our summer swim family, and we love celebrating these girls and all their hard work to finish up the season.

Fun at IKEA

We went to Ikea on a regular old Friday, and we were surprised with a ton of fun stuff! They were having some sort of birthday party, and we had no idea. There was a face painter, a balloon animal maker, and clowns everywhere. It was a fun little surprise, and the girls loved it! Oh, and by the way, we also got a new bedroom set for Adilyn, which is why we actually went in the first place! Furniture and face paint, a win-win :)

A Day at the Park

A little park outing...one of the things I love most about summer is have little or no schedule! There had been a rain storm, and there was a nice little breeze (as nice as it gets in Houston), so we decided to stop at the park for a little walk and adventure. The girls were working on their pull-ups :)

My "little" one is 11! How can it be?

Only two more years until this girl is an actual teenager! I can't hardly believe that it's been 11 years since Adilyn made me a mom for the very first time. She is growing into an amazing person! Even though she has some issues with responsibility, getting things done quickly,, and working hard she is overall a pretty amazing sister, daughter, student, and athlete. I love her caring nature, her random silly faces, her love of reading, and her beautiful smile. She is off to middle school next year, and I hope that she is successful! I also hope that one of these days she will realize the potential she has to be absolutely amazing at whatever she chooses to do.

Favorite things...
Favorite food - bean burritos
Favorite color - blue
Best friend - Jessa
Place you would like to go on vacation - Bora Bora
Thing you like to do most when you are at home - read
Favorite sport - swim
Favorite animal - dog

Oklahoma Adventure

Our girls' weekend trip was going to be in Oklahoma the very first summer weekend. We didn't have too much free time, so we ended up having to do it on Adilyn's birthday weekend. I felt a little bad, but I also knew that we would have a great time there! Unfortunately, Mom couldn't join us because Greg was still recovering from his knee surgery. The weather wasn't fantastic, but we made the most of it. The pool area was a lot of fun, and the lake area was amazing. It rained on our lake morning, but we all still had fun. Brooke and I were freezing, but the big girls played for hours.

This was the view from our balcony - it was so beautiful!