Living in Munchkinland

Here are some more pictures from Katie's visit. We had so much fun! They stayed in the hippie house and it was so nice to pop back and forth for a visit. We packed in a lot of fun in only eight days! Katie and I got pampered at Mink. We ate bbq at Black's Michael got a tour of the town. We spent four days at Port Aransas with my family and the Liffords. The guys all went to the Lexington and the shops. Katie's family did San Antonio, visiting the Alamo, the cathedral, the riverwalk and Mi Tierra. They did Inner space caverns and the Arboretum in Austin. Katie and I went to book group. We had a pool party. We did Aquarena Springs and tubed the San Marcos river and ate at Herberts. We had date night in Austin with Cheris, Rob and Tom, eating dinner at the Snack Bar on South Congress and attempting to watch the bats who refused to come out until after dark. We even swung by the Whip In on the way home. Michael took Katie and family to Bastrop and even to see t...

I dropped Davis off for Aquatic Adventure Camp on Monday morning. He slept in the dorms at Texas State and according to the letter I received yesterday, is having a fabulous time. It's his first sleep away camp and I miss him so much, but I am so happy he is enjoying it. Samuel has done another week at horse camp, a montessori style camp that this week focused on exploring rivers and nature.

Summer is chugging along and we are enjoying it thoroughly. Michael and I are working and the kids are doing camps and summer academics and music lessons and also having lots of free time to dig in the recycle bin and use hot glue, create new games, swim, cook, read, and play lots and lots of legos. So far they've done horse camp together and this week Davis has been learning to code HTML 5 and Samuel has been at soccer camp. We've been spending time with my parents and grandparents here on the ranch. We've made peach and plum jam from my Uncle Larry's orchard here on the ranch. We love having all this time as a family and really enjoy each other. I've held onto my no screen rule and have forced the children to use their imagination and while sticking to my guns has been hard, it's been worth it. I've loved our summer so far and look forward to the next month of friends and travel!

We drove to San Antonio on Saturday for the Texas Folklife FEstival. First we stopped at the San Antonio airport and did our Global Entry interview. We were all approved! Woot! TSP precheck for the win! Then we drove over to the Institute of Texan Cultures for the festival. It was so fun! The kids absolutely loved it. We tried different kinds of food, watched a gun fight, listened to Native American Stories, watched someone throw a pot, learned to whittle, listened to a Highland band, listened to an asian drum show, watched a Irish step dance, made arts and crafts, tried on a turban and much, much, more. I highly recommend this festival. We stayed from about 2 until 6 and then walked over to the river walk. We had dinner in an Italian food restaurant on the river and then played in the fountains until I drove three weary boys home. It was a fantastic family adventure.