Dragon Living

Our house backs up to the Carroll Senior High School practice fields. A small greenbelt seperates us. We did not realize how nice it was going to be to take advantage of these areas. A couple of months ago Ray decided to put a gate in our back fence so we could get to the fields from our backyard. We have gone out there as a family to play before, but Ray takes them out often sometimes one-on-one and sometimes all together. A couple of Sundays ago I had lunch in Dallas with some friends for a birthday, and Ray had the kids for the afternoon. Again, I didn't know this had happened until I downloaded the pictures. Also notice the mismatched outfits again. He was proud of his action shots, and the kids really do have such a great time playing back there. My personal favorite is the soccer goals and getting score on Ray repeatedly out there.

A Day Out With Thomas

I think I have mentioned before that Will is obsessed with trains. While the girls were off with Ray this weekend for an Indian Princess camp out, I decided to take Will to the Grapevine Railroad station to ride Thomas the Train. He likes Thomas, although he told me he would rather ride with Percy, but the real draw is the train ride. He asks just about every day if we are going to get to ride a train that day, and he talks incessantly about it before and after a ride. We were on the last ride of the day, and the weather was terribly cold, but after the ride we did get his picture taken in front of the train and he was able to view the mechanical train display that was set up in the nearby tent. Then we had to make a quick stop in the gift shop to purchase a mechanical train. The last thing we did was going into a large tent where they had trains set up everywhere that the kids could play with. We had such a great time, and I loved that we used our one-on-one time to do something that he loved so much.

Jack Turns Two

Saturday while Ray and the girls were camping at Indian Princess, Will and I headed to Frisco to Jack's 2nd Birthday party. Jack loves Elmo, so the party theme was Elmo. All of the children did so great with Elmo, and Will couldn't have been happier. He has always loved characters, and Elmo is one of his favorites. Elmo played lots of games with the kids and even made balloons for them. Will got a balloon sword and was very happy about it. Then the kids all got together to sing Happy Birthday to Jack and then dug into the ice cream and delicious homemade cupcakes. Robin is a very good cook and is especially fond of making and decorating desserts. These cupcakes really did look like they had been professionally done. After cake and ice cream, the presents were opened, and Jack got some really cute things. We were so happy to be able to celebrate with him and cannot believe he is already 2 years old. Happy Birthday, Jack!

School Fun

This week the kids had several fun things at school. Tuesday night was Open House, which always brings in a lot of excitement in our house. The girls could hardly wait to show us their stuff, and it was so fun to see all the things they had made and all their accomplishments this year. Allison had so many things to look at including writings, drawings, math, and their unit on Dr. Seuss. She was most proud of the welcome letter she wrote us in cursive. She loves her class, friends, and especially her teacher Miss Yruegas.

Caroline's work included mostly things from her last unit on dinosaurs. She was very proud of her knowledge of dinosaurs, and enjoyed showing us her artwork, writings, and riddles. She even made a dinosaur fossil. The best part was going through her book of writings from writer's workshop throughout the year. It was amazing to see the progress she has made during the year. She is turning into quite the writer. Caroline also loves school, her friends, and especially her teacher Mrs. Small.

On Thursday, Will and Daddy attended Donuts with Dad at Chapel Hill. They took a book for Daddy to read with Will. Will chose a book about Fire Engines. Will also presented Daddy with some artwork that included his footprints that had been turned into putting greens. Donuts with Dad is a fun tradition at Chapel Hill.

The week ended with Caroline dressing up for school like what she wants to be when she grows up. After some deliberation she chose to be a ballerina. They are doing a unit at school on Community Helpers. Caroline was very excited to leave for school on Friday.

Spring Break 2009 - Broken Bow

For spring break we hadn't planned on going anywhere, but I was a little restless about that, and when a friend mentioned they were going to Broken Bow, OK, I got intrigued. Ray liked the idea of renting a cabin and hanging out for a couple of days, but everything was booked. We left our name on waiting lists, and we got a call back that the two nights we wanted had opened up. We were so excited for the three day getaway. We had a beautiful cabin in the mountains (who knew?) of Oklahoma, and the kids were beyond excited. Ray and I decided we really didn't need to do Disney if they were this excited over two nights in a cabin in Oklahoma. We left Wednesday morning and made it into the area right after lunch. We couldn't check in to our cabin until 4:00, so we went to the visitor area in the Broken Bow State Park and got some information on things to do. We did a hike from there and I scouted out some good picture taking places. After the hike, we headed over to the train area and rode the little train. Riding trains is Will's very favorite thing to do, so this was a big hit.

After that we checked into our cabin, and we had so much fun exploring the place inside and out. We had brought all of our food, and we cooked out hot dogs and steaks and then roasted marshmallows by the fire.

The next day we went on a different hike in the morning and then came back to the cabin for lunch.

We headed out to another hike in the afternoon and to do a small photo shoot. We ran into our friends from home out on the trail, so that was fun.

After hiking we tried to go fishing, but the rain that had been threatening finally happened, and it started raining pretty hard. We settled for a trip into town for ice cream and then went back to the cabin to relax. The weather cleared up and we were able to enjoy a cookout, the fire pit, and the hot tub. Friday we slept in and got in the hot tub one more time before packing up and heading out. We had to check out by noon, but then we headed to the lake for some paddle boating. Allison and I shared a boat, while Ray, Caroline, and Will shared the other. Caroline was not so sure about the whole thing, and I think I got the better end of the deal! It was beautiful on the water, and it was so much fun being out there. I had a great partner helping me pedal.

After that it was time to head back home. We really had a great time together, and it was nice to get away, even if it was only for a short time. I think we all came back a little refreshed and ready to start back to our schedule after spring break.