White Water

We headed out to Branson for the day back in June with some of our friends.  It was a SUPER HOT day, so perfect to be in a body of water!  We have a system when we tackle water parks (now that both kids are big enough--and have the desire--to ride all of the rides).  We get our chairs secured when we first get there, apply our sunscreen, and do all of the slides/rides first.  We do this for 2 reasons: 1) The lines are very short for rides first thing 2) It leaves the rest of the day to just relax and enjoy the wave pool, lazy river, or just letting the kids play in the "kids zone".

Here's a pic of T waiting patiently for his sunscreen to "soak in"

 Anniston is FINALLY tall enough to do the crazy, steep slide.  She's been eyeballing it for a couple of years now, but she had to be 48".  She hit that mark in between last and this summer.....wahoo!  This was her first time down (she now knows to cross her ankles!!)

Such a fun day with great friends.  

Welcome Home Baby George!!

Guess who gets to come home from the NICU today??  Yep, that's right!  Sweet baby George (our nephew) finally gets to go home with Mommy and Daddy!  Kinley and Will are SO EXCITED to get to love on George all the time.  What an amazing day for our brother-in-law and sister-in-law!!

Big George is already over 5 pounds and is eating bottles like a champ!  He'll have to remain on oxygen for awhile, but as he gets a little bit bigger I'm sure he'll get all of that figured out and can lose the oxygen tube.  Way to go buddy!  We love you!

LPGA at Pinnacle Golf Course

On Sunday, we took the kids out to Pinnacle Golf Course to watch the LPGA.  None of us have ever been to a golf tournament, so it was very neat to watch it all.  The kids were fascinated with the process as well.  We watched some from the green as they were putting in the balls.  Then we would watch them tee off from the box.  There was also a kids fun area where they got to practice swinging (and get a little mini-lesson), bounce around, and free ice cream.  

When we first got there, we went into the Wal-Mart Family trailer to get free yogurt tubes and apples.  They also had a putting green and offered a free picture--YAY!  We never get family pics :)

It was a super-hot day, but thankfully we made a stop at TCBY as we left Rogers, then headed straight to our gym to swim--so refreshing.  We ended the day with a 4th of July party at our next door neighbor's house with swimming, food, and hanging out with sweet neighbors.  What a great day!

Father's Day at Botanical Gardens

The Saturday before Father's Day, we headed out to the Botanical Gardens.  We had never been there before, and it was our last chance to get in free under Jerry's work badge (they ran a special for his office). So we headed out after surprising Dadoo with donuts in bed before he woke up.  

Dadoo and his two loves

 Dadoo and Anniston checking out one of Mommy's favorite flowers.....

 We made our way over to the Children's Garden and the kids loved everything about it!

 Treyson was so funny in this tunnel.  He climbed in there and was yelling (over and over), "Mommy, Dadoo.....you can't find me!"  So we frantically (pretended) to look for him, and FINALLY (hehe) found him in the tunnel.  I captured this giggle from him right as we found him----priceless!

 Anniston was making rooster noises, and the rooster crowed right back at her as I took this pic.  She was so surprised!

After the Botanical Garden's, we went on a family bike ride through the trails.  We stopped at Sonic after that for a slushy, then went home to nap and get ready to grill out steaks.  What a great day!

Happy Father's Day, Dadoo!  We love you so much.  You work so hard for us, yet drop everything when we need you.  You are so amazing, and I love how much Anniston and Treyson adore you.

Love, Mommy, Anniston, and Treyson

Swimming Lessons 2012!

We had another great summer at swim lessons!  This is our 4th year to use Miss Kelsey.  She is AMAZING!  Super sweet with kids, and challenges them.  My kids have always been little fish from the get-go, so it's been great having them advance in their swimming at a young age.  

Here Treyson is working on floating on his back:

 Swimming across the pool to Miss Kelsey.  

 Working on his freestyle.  She added that stroke in this year since he mastered his swimming under water and being able to come up for air, then go back under again.

 Treyson jumping in to swim to Miss Kelsey

 So, Treyson's lessons were a HUGE success this year.  We are officially done with floaties for him (except for him wearing his lifejacket at the lake, obviously!)--WAHOO!!  He knows how to dive in the correct way, and every so often his dive is a belly buster--ouch!  

 Anniston started off the week perfecting her freestyle (3 strokes, then breathe to the side, 3 strokes, breathe to the side, etc).  She had that down on Monday, so Miss K jumped right into the breast stroke. Anniston now has that down--it's amazing!  So proud of her :)

 Here's the breathing to the side on freestyle:

 Floating on her back:

 Treading water:  Miss K worked with Anniston every day on treading water.  She had her treading for 3 minutes yesterday!  I was never taught how to properly tread, so I thought this was fantastic!

 Miss K was so proud of Anniston :)

 The kids worked so hard each day, so Miss K gave them "play time" on Friday.  They brought out the huge float to lay on ;)

Anniston and Treyson, 

We are so proud of how far you have come this summer with your swimming :)  You both worked so hard and listened so well to Miss Kelsey.  We can't wait to swim even more this summer so you can get better and better!

Love, Mommy and Dadoo