First Day of Third Grade...

I'm nearly a month late, but here is Mason's first day of 3rd grade as we were about to walk out the door.  

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I really don't want to think about how he is beginning his downhill side of elementary school.  This is going way too fast.  

The Sidewalk...

Sometimes it's the little things, folks.  Our neighborhood is old, and thus, had no sidewalks.  Our street is relatively busy.  These two things don't mix well when you have little ones.  We are so blessed to live 8 doors down from our elementary school, which allows us to walk Mason every day to and from school and bypass the very long car pick-up line altogether.  The problem is, for three years the girls and I were forced to walk in the road with all the street traffic in addition to the school pick-up traffic.  It got hectic at times. We'd heard rumors over the past year that we were finally going to get a sidewalk leading to the school...information that made me feel like a little girl on Christmas morning. And finally, last Monday (the first day of school, no less) the construction men showed up at 7:30 tearing up curbs and driveways.  It's possible they could have picked a better time than the first day of school to begin construction on the road that runs directly in front of the school.  But hey, I'm not complaining...cause we've got a sidewalk now!

The above picture was taken in front of our house on Tuesday. 

By Friday we had this:

 There are three consecutive lots completed, and this is just enough length for the girls to go back and forth on their "wheels".  You can see the construction going on in the background.  They are about halfway down to the school at this point.  

The girls and I have spent some time outside in the mornings watching the crew work.  It's been so hot this week, and they work so hard, so we decided to share our popsicles with them.  I really wasn't sure if they'd accept our offer, but as soon as they saw us handing them out, they dropped their tools and came running.  A few even sat under the shade of our beautiful oak tree to enjoy them.  

There was even a news crew in front of the school one day this week, and as the "resident neighborhood walking mom" as one person called me, I was even interviewed by the reporter regarding our new sidewalks.  The kids even got to make a small appearance. 

Today I'm feeling very thankful for something that probably seems very insignificant to most--thankful that my children now have a safer place to ride their bikes, and thankful that we have a much safer route to get to and from school.  As I've been watching my kids play on this thing that is really nothing more than a long strip of concrete, with such excitement on their faces, I thank God for joy found in the little things, and I pray that I never take for granted even the smallest gifts from Him.

San Antonio, Day 1...

This summer we wanted to take the kids to Sea World.  They had never been, and Matthew and I hadn't been in nearly a decade.  It was so much fun, and the kids loved it!  On the way we stopped in Gruene to eat lunch at the Gristmill overlooking the Guadalupe River.

 Then afterward we toured the Natural Bridge Cavern.  The kids were really impressed by this.  Here is the start of our 18-story descent into the cavern:

No one is allowed to touch any of the formations inside the cavern, so for anyone who wishes to get their "touchies" out, here is the one thing they allow you to put your hands on.  You can see how the oils from our skin turn it brown, basically killing the formation and stopping its growth.  

These photos don't do it any justice.  It was a looong way down...and back up again!  But the kids handled the steep hike well, and even Mollie was able to walk most of it by herself.

San Antonio, Day 2 & 3

We spent 2 days at Sea World because there was so much to see.  The first day we saw all the shows and rode the rides.

 The kids got a very up-close look at the dolphins.  If you reached your hand out you could even touch them!

 All of the shows were outstanding.  We loved watching all the animals perform and interact with their trainers.

 Ellie had been talking about seeing Shamu for months.  This was her reaction when Shamu first entered the arena: 

 We had really good seats, and yes, as per the kids' request...we sat in the "splash zone".  It's really amazing how much water and wind she can move in one swish of her tail!

 Mollie was too short to ride most of the rides.  So here she settled for a carousel ride instead.   

 Mason and Ellie loved this little Shamu roller coaster.  I lost count of how many times we rode it.

 That afternoon we visited the splash pad to cool off.  There was a huge play structure made out of nets.  I could hardly pull them away from this one.

 We spent the second day at Aquatica, Sea World's waterpark.  But because we were in the water all day, I didn't get any pictures.  Matthew and I took turns riding the big slides with Mason, and playing on the kiddie slides with Mollie.  Ellie did a little of both.  After two long days, the kids were pooped out.  But they had so much fun, and made lots of memories!

San Antonio, Day 4

After 2 days at Sea World, we decided to have a more laid-back day.  So we took the kids to downtown San Antonio and ate lunch on the Riverwalk.  

 We also visited a mirror maze.  It was dark and difficult to go through the first time, but after the 10+ times we went through, we were pros!  Here are the girls outside of the maze checking themselves out in the crazy mirrors that distort your body.  Mollie is wondering when her legs got so long!

 And, of course, you can't go to San Antonio without Remembering the Alamo! 

 This was the kids' favorite part of our hotel room...the window with a bed-type thing in it.  Ellie pretended it was her stage for performing and Mason controlled the curtains...a perfect team!

San Antonio, Days 5+

At the end of our vacation, we got to visit some very dear friends of ours who used to live in our town, but moved to San Antonio 3 years ago.  I hadn't seen them since they moved, but it was like no time had passed at all when we got together again!  We were only going to stay 1 night, but we were having so much fun, we ended up staying 2 nights!  We got to watch Fourth of July fireworks with them, and just do lots and lots of playing and catching up.  These are the babies of our families, Michael and Mollie, born just 4 weeks apart.  This was our first time to meet Michael, since they had moved away before these two were born.

 We had lots of fun playing at a nearby park one evening:

 Timothy and Ellie, born just 6 weeks apart.  Timothy's mommy and I were pregnant together, and these two were just toddlers when our sweet friends moved away.

 Their older daughter, Madeline, is only 4 weeks older than Mason.  And big brother Zachary is not too far ahead of them.  We have many memories of these two playing together when they were younger.  They picked up right where they left off:

 Even the daddies got to play together again too!

 All seven of our kids having a treat at Sonic the night before we left to come home...

Dear friends are rare and such a blessing from God.  It was such a special time, and we promised not to let three years go by again before our next time together!

The Big Girl Bed...

I always feel a bit of sadness when my little ones move on to the next "phase" in their lives.  It's just a sure reminder of how quickly they grow up.  So I was in no hurry to move Mollie out of her baby bed, and she was in no hurry to leave it.  But over the past few weeks, she has begun to climb out when she wakes up.  So instead of worrying about her hurting herself, tonight, my baby girl is sleeping in her big girl bed for the first time.  At first she wasn't real sure about it, but once we got it all put together, she was very excited.  Even Ellie was excited and wanted to jump around on it with her.  But she quickly reminded Ellie, "This is not Ellie's bed! This my bed! Go back to your bed!"

 Jumping on her new bed:

 ...And here she told me she is "swimming" on her new bed:

 What a big girl!