A Summer Summary...

Gosh, in the blogging world, I just can't seem to stay caught up with 2012!  When I last posted, I wondered what happened to April and May, then...to my astonishment, summer came, we got busy, and...guess what...I am behind again...

So, here is a summary to help us catch up!

As soon as we arrived home in mid May, we started finalizing plans for our annual summer vacation with the grandkids.  They are all growing up and have so many activities to work around, so, this year we planned to stay in Texas.  They had all shown an interest in seeing where Poppa and I hang out in the wintertime, so we decided we would

load them all up and head back to Retama.  We were all sad this year because Zachary did not get to go with us...but, excited for him that he

made the Arlington Little League All Star team.  Way to go Zach!

While,

Andrew took over my navigation position, I played the part of flight attendant...making sure all my passengers were

were happy with their in flight movie and snacks.

We had a great travel day and arrived at

Retama in time to get everything set up, the coach house open, and

plenty of daylight left to head off to the pool!

We had a couple of days to just hang out before the parents arrived on Friday.  And, that's when we almost had a problem.  We had arranged for two

casitas at the park next door.  According to the grandkids...these would be for the parents.  Well, all was good, until Mark went to pick up the keys, only to find out they had only reserved one...not the two we needed.

After some consideration and trying to figure out a last minute plan, our friends, Dave and Sue offered their

5th wheel for Scott and Jennifer to stay in for the week!  Thanks guys for coming to the rescue.

With everyone settled in, we were ready for some great adventures.  The highlight was probably the day we spent at

South Padre.  And, as usual, Jennifer found an adventure...and signed us up to go parasailing.  The headquarters were here at the

  

Pearl Hotel and public beach.  What at great place.

Poppa, Scott, Kenneth, Andrew, and Kinley stayed on the beach while the

rest of us headed down the beach to catch

our ride out to the

 

big boat!

Karen, Kourtney, and I went

first...flying high over the beautiful gulf waters.  Kourtney had soooo much fun she wanted to do it again right after lunch!

Soon our turn was over and

Jennifer, Lauren, and Caden took to the skies.

Such fun!

Once we were all

reeled back in...and landed safe on the beach...

we gave a thumb's up to a great adventure!

We spent the rest of day playing in the

water,

jumping the waves, burying

each other

in the sand, and

 

taking family photos.

Every one had a great day, and

Kinley had a great first trip to the beach!

Other adventures took us to the Outlet Mall, outings to Willie's, Exotic Berry, and Wallbanger's.

  We really just spent a lot of time just hanging out in the Village enjoying the

pool.  The girl's and I even got in a few

sessions of water aerobics.

The guys also managed to get in a little time at the

gun range with the pistols and the

shotguns.

In our quite time Andrew taught

Kinley how to use the iPad...just what every 14 month old needs to know!

And...before, we knew it, our 10 days were gone and it was time to pack up and head back to Fort Worth.

However, things did not settle down...we arrived home just in time to get ready for our annual

July 4th cookout at Lake Weatherford.  Thanks Ashley and family for always including us in the fun.

Other summer fun activities included a trip to the Fort Worth Children's Museum to see the

exhibit, "Grossology"

We learned about

tooting,

barfing,

snot, and

zits, blisters, bruises, and bumps.

They climbed through

colons and

shot buggers at a big nose.

At the end of the exhibit, the kids played the

 

quiz game to see who learned the most!

And...after spending all morning at Grossology, they had the nerve to ask..."what's for lunch"!

What a great exhibit to help kids learn.

This past week, Kourtney celebrated her

5th birthday.  She had

a pool party at Uncle Scotty's and Aunt J's.

It was a fun

 

afternoon with lots of family and friends.

Now...in the middle of this fun we have been having this summer, there was project.  We park the motor home in a 3 sided barn when we are here in Fort Worth.  Well, Texas summer's are pretty warm,  sometimes, just down right hot, so we looked for a solution to help move some air through the barn.  And, this is what we came up with...

Move the motor home

out to the street,

have the contractor move his welding truck in,

get to work, and make a

door...

problem solved!  Cool at last!

Wow...now, while I am glad and thankful that we can spend our summer's enjoying the grandkids, taking trips with them, watching them participate in all sorts of activities, and having lots of family time, I am also glad that we are on the downhill side of summer.

We only have a few more weeks until we will be packing up and heading out once again.  August will take us through Red Bay for what I hope is a short stay.  Then, if time allows, we hope to spend a couple of weeks just wandering around as we make our way to Sedalia, Missouri, to the 2012 Escapades.  We will spend the month of September there, where we love catching up with old friends and look forward to meeting new ones.

From there, the plans are up in the air...who knows, maybe we will be in a campground near you!