Lake Days

Our next major construction project is in full swing over here and we have a little time of being "homeless" between the project starting and our move-in to an apartment.  

Luckily, we timed the gap with some wonderful lake trips at friends' homes.  

First up, we went to Cedar Creek where my dear friend Jill's parents have a home just a 5-minute boat ride across the water from our family place.  Jill lives in Boston, but was visiting for a few weeks and we try to annually connect on the lake.

Grace loving lake life...

Girls day on the water...

 Picking fresh tomatoes for lunch...

Meanwhile, Palmer stayed across the way and had some special time with Pops where they enjoyed go-carting and fishing.

Palmer joined us later in the trip and the kids tried out a water skiing trainer tube on the boat.  

Little Grace never wants to miss anything and proved her capabilities on the water skiing tube, too.

When we realized Palmer had a handle on the ski trainer, we moved him to water skis.  With great assistance from Aunt Jill in the water, Palmer got up a few times and was so tickled with himself.

The Hogue family is always such a gracious host with perfect Southern hospitality and food.  Thank you, Hogues!

 

Moving on, we went down to the hill country for another annual trip to the Sarpongs lakehouse.

The week is perfectly relaxing and adventurous.  Amongst five families, we ranged on any given day to have in our possession between 8 and 15 kids who spent their mornings in rock climbing camp or horseback riding camp.

When Grace picked up Palmer from camp, she asked to try to climb the wall.  By golly, she went all the way to the top...she's a spunky little one.

Visiting the horses at horseback riding camp...

The afternoons were filled with lazy summer activities of swimming, games of Marco Polo and Sharks and Minnows, and large games of Base Tag and Sardines in the house.  The land out back is perfect for hiking and mountain biking.  Perfect summer childhood memories.

Between the moms (who we like to reference as "sister wives"), we split up the carpooling duty and kitchen obligations with feeding such a large crew (can you believe they want to eat THREE TIMES a day?)

Sunscreen application fail...

Now, back to reality....where our home has been torn apart upstairs near the kids bedrooms and downstairs in the kitchen.  The roofline is raising as we change the kids "closet bedrooms" to real bedrooms.  We are also gutting the kitchen and adding a mudroom and laundry room.  Super fun progress to show in the future.  We are likely displaced for four months during this project.

 

-Bethany

Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

Fourth of July 2017

Fourth of July is always one of our favorite holidays thanks to sweet traditions in the neighborhood and a fantastic fireworks show at the club in the evening.

This year, we started the festivities one night early thanks to Rick's new firm's uptown office perch that overlooks a downtown Dallas display.  (Next time, we'll bring some sunglasses for the kids!)

The Hull and Jordan kids had a ball with a BBQ and games beforehand...maybe too much fun for this brand new set of colleagues... haha

Front row seats.

The Jordan family has officially outgrown the go-cart for our parade appearances.  Grace sweet-talked herself into wedging between the two seats, but I'm pretty sure Mr. Jordan will be sure to upgrade to a new vehicle before any 2018 Easter or 4th of July parade obligations.  There is no more room in our yellow inn.

 Rick said that kids yelled, "Hi Palmer" and "Hi Grace" during the entire route and I loved getting different route angles sent to me during the parade from various friends.

We stopped by a few watch parties afterwards, but the kids couldn't resist stripping down to their swimsuits for the annual Theriot party.

 (Throw-back to that same spot with those same kiddos in 2015.)

Back to this year...

We ended the day with a visit to the club for swimming and more BBQ and fireworks.  Cousin Elle and family joined us and we barely saw the older kids until the sun went down.  They swam their hearts out and Grace entertained with flips off of the diving board.

Happy Fourth, America.

-Bethany

Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

Summering So Hard

What a fun first month of summer we have had... Between swimming and summer camps, we have hit the pavement hard every single day.  

There have been tired kids and parents hitting the beds hard at night.

Although I do admit that we've been slightly over-scheduled, this family just does better with a lot going on and there are so many tempting summer activities in which to partake in the city.

We've started every morning for the last 6 weeks with swim team.

I love the morning routine and exercise, even if I spend the practices and meets keeping little miss OUT of the pool.  I look forward to her being able to join in the pool one year while I put my feet up with a morning coffee and book!

Palmer has improved greatly for his second season and especially loves the dive in for a race.  His coach, Sarah is so sweet and patient with him- we are so fortunate to get such great daily instruction.

Grace loves to cheer on her brother...

Palmer did a week of golf and tennis camp and especially loved golf this year.  Of course, Rick got pretty excited about that news and talked me into a consecutive week of camp where only golf was the focus.  Although I roll my eyes with a smile at my husband, it is fun to hear that Palmer is now getting the ball over the water hazards on the course.

Elle spent the night one evening, so we fully acclimated her with our usual Wednesday night routine...swimming and tennis drills.  The kids were falling asleep in their dinner.  Success!

If it's Monday night and it's summer, it's American Ninja Warrior night!

After several months on a waiting list, Grace finally started a weekly ballet class.  She adores the class and is quick to show anyone and everyone her moves...

 

A quick visit to the lake.  We visited GG and Pops on Father's Day.

 

Whew.  That's a wrap on June.

July brings new changes as we start our last major construction project at the house.  We are moving to an apartment for a few months and looking forward to the onsite pool, basketball gym, and nearby walks to Chick Fil-A and a local donut and ice cream shop.

 

A sneak preview of our new kitchen and laundry room and mudroom...

Rick also recently started a new job and we are very proud of his success and willingness to take a risk in the interest of his family.

And in one month, my sister moves back to Texas! Hallelujah!  August can't come soon enough!

Off to summer cat corralling...

-Bethany