HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEUCE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEUCE!

This is Deuce's idea of a good time!

As a kid we camped at Ft. Cobb lake for

the week of his birthday and he

has continued to enjoy fishing! He now

takes a yearly trip with a really

great friend. 

When he's not fishing, he's either

working or hanging out with 

family and friends...

Or, entertaining children at

Kid's Church!

Deuce is overall, a pretty good guy!

I hope he has a SUPER HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HEATHER!!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HEATHER!!!!

Heather's life has been such an adventure that one photo

is simply not enough!

She's been a blessing..... and she has been BLESSED!

She's seen and done more things than most people

do in an entire lifetime. 

As a little girl she was always ready to go.....

She was her Grandma's favorite little shopping companion!

She was my helper and since she had 

three little brothers, and we home-schooled, 

I always needed help!

Now, she's a wonderful home-schooling

Momma and I couldn't be happier.

 I am so, so proud of you, Heather! There is 

not ANYTHING you could be doing that

is more important than raising your 

children and teaching them to honor

God with their lives and deeds. You are doing

a great job and I hope you have

the Happiest Birthday ever!

(and it looks like we quite taking pictures of Heather, when Olivia came along. From that time on, I have lots of pictures... but they're OF THE GIRLS! I'll try to work on that)

Pool Party

This is the Big Pool in

my daughter's neighborhood. It is

paid for and ran by the

Home Owners Association,

so it is co-owned by the residents!

This is at the 4th of July Pool Party,

so it's super busy. Normally, it's 

not so crowded.

Anyway, there is a HUGE pool and a 

few  smaller pools and a couple of

really nice sized sand boxes,

Plus two water slides!

The girls like going down the white water

slide in someone's lap, so I had a chance to

go down it with each of them!

We also played in the sand!

See!

Grace and I made a Sand Whale!

And a Sand Mermaid!

And Olivia made a beautiful castle!

It was a great day!

Who doesn't love a day at the pool?

So.... What Did We Do AFTER The Parade?

After the parade we went to the

Neighborhood Party!

 

 There were inflatables.... hot dogs.....

 and even a mechanical bull!

 The girls tried this ONE inflatable!

 It was a wet and wild 

obstacle course... which was great fun!

 They went all the way through and 

climbed to the top!

And really liked it UNTIL, they

could see over the other side!

 Where - there was a BIG, STEEP SLIDE!

 Grace does not like BIG, STEEP SLIDES,

so she turned around and climbed back

down and found the safety exit!

(safety exit aka Momma's arms)

 She wanted to do something else!

Suggestions were made. And the one she

okay-ed was showing Grandma

the garden we planted at Merry's farm!

 So - we went to see the garden

and ended up on a horse!

 Doesn't this girl look pretty on

a horse?

 Man-made fun vs. Natural Fun

 These girls prefer things natural!

 We went back later for the 

pool party, but our afternoon

was spent at the farm.

Where I finally got to meet Una!

She was born the evening of 

Olivia's Birthday Party,

which was held at the farm.

I've heard a lot about her and have

seen pictures - but this is the 

first time I've seen her in person!

Isn't she sweet!

4th of July Parade

The 4th of July Parade

was a fun and friendly neighborhood 

even in Providence Village!

(a neighborhood/town near Aubrey, Tx - where my daughter lives)

 This sheriff lead the parade.

He was followed by kids on bikes 

and scooters - and they were followed

by the local boy scouts

who carried the flags.

 There were lots of golf carts.

Because in Providence, a golf cart is

nice to have. It can take you to the pool

and back or to one of the many

parks, ponds or the lake.

 But - my favorite attraction was this train!

 If you're RICH, you can go here

to buy one!

  I looked into it. But - storage would

be an issue and they are

way too expensive!

 But - when we went to get a closer 

look the engineer offered us a ride.

 The girls loved it!

I rode in the train car in front of them

so I could take pictures and that

is Heather in the van behind,

following along to pick us up! 

We had a great time at the parade.

The girls picked up candy and filled

their backpacks half full,

and Heather, Dustin and I all got

new t-shirts that were thrown out of

vehicles by the neighborhood association!

This neighborhood is sort of

like a resort. It makes visiting the

kids feel like a vacation.

Especially in the summer when the

pools and water park is open.

Waiting for the Parade!

 Heather & Dustin's neighborhood does

a big parade and party on the

4th of July!

The parade goes through the neighborhood,

so Heather thought the park would be a good 

place to set up lawn chairs and wait.

 The girls played. Neither of them was

brave enough to go down the big curvy 

slide so they took turns sending this

beanie baby down. One would send

her off and the other would

catch her and then run to the top so

she could send her off.

 It was nice seeing them cooperate

and find a way to play with the same

toy at the same time without fighting.

 It rained just before the parade started

and the girls took cover inside the slide.

 I'm not sure whether waiting for the

parade was more fun or the parade itself.

 It quit raining just before the parade

came by so the girls didn't get at

all wet - just slightly cooled off.

And I'll share parade pictures, soon!

As well as other 4th of July festivities!

FUDGE FRIDAY!!!!!

Have you ever heard of

FUDGE FRIDAY?

 On my way to return Grace and Olivia

to their Momma, we found this!

Wild Horse Mountain Fudge Factory

 And in and around Nacona, Texas,

Friday's are known as FUDGE FRIDAY!

 During our visit the girls were given

samples of fudge, and of course,

we had to buy a box to take home 

and share with Mom and Dad!

And it was DELICIOUS!

 

The Joys of Winning!

Grace is developing a lot of

new skills. She likes to play games

and she LOVES winning!

 

 So this last trip to Chuck E Cheese

was extra fun for her!

 She can hardly contain her excitement

when she gets the ball in the 

5,000 point hole!

(which she did several times)

Olivia is happy to get her ball

into any of the holes. 

It's hard just getting your ball

up there!

But - Grace has a lot of power in 

those little arms of hers.

This is her ball. She missed

this time, but it's way up there.

She came really close and then 

the ball rolled down into the

1,000 point hole.

That ball probably thought

it belonged to me! LOL

Hiking

 We had a cool, overcast morning while

the girls were here, so we decided

to go hiking!

(as soon as we got to the refuge, though, the sun came 

out and the summer heat came with it)

We saw something in the bushes!

 Of course, we had to get a closer look!

It was a lizard!

 Brilyn likes hiking with a stick, but

I don't think she ever found the right one.

 The three girls!

 A Mountain Boomer!

 We took a picnic lunch - which Asher enjoyed!

 Actually, I think Asher enjoyed the

whole hike!

 He actually was so relaxed he fell asleep.

 And look! Another lizard! It looks a lot

like the first one we saw, only

it's missing part of it's tail.

And look at this. A lovely wild flower!

We saw several wild flowers. 

We have been working on our wildflower

badge, but we didn't include these.

You are not supposed to pick flowers

on the refuge. We could collect 

PICTURES of them, though!

 And - since lizards are so plentiful, I

think we will try to learn about them

when the girls come back!