Halloween 2009

As Heather and The Boys boarded the plane back to Colorado, we loaded up the van and headed for Houston.

We have this Family Tradition - decorate a bit for Halloween, cut out some jack-o-lanterns, then take off for a mini-vacation during the Halloween night. Ben and Zach are severely allergic to peanut, and since the day we found this out, Halloween and all the gathering of the candy has not been that much fun.

So, we have visited the Grand Canyon by train ('07), splashed at the Great Wolf Lodge ('08), day at Legoland ('06), etc. etc... fancy hotel, jump on the beds, eat icecream and stay up late watching movies... not bad at all!

This year we headed to NASA:

There were flight simulators, 5-story play structuce, movies, moon rocks, spaceships/capsules, a full size Saturn V rocket from one of the Apollo Missions, IMAX movies and so much more to see. The 2-hour tram tour was probably the most favorite though. We visited facilities on the campus where the astronauts train. We saw Mission Control! (It was empty this day, but will be full next week with the upcoming shuttle launch.) We got to ask "classified" questions! :) We saw rockets. It was just a fun day.










After the day at NASA, we headed for Hurricane Ike territory, namely Galveston... Galveston o Galveston... we walked the beach and tried to imagine what a wall-of-water would be like. It's so hard to imagine. It was a fun visit!

Visitors From Colorado

Heather and The Boys came out to visit this past week... what a FUN time we all had! We didn't have much planned - with soccer, gymnastics, Scouts, preschool, and other day-to-day activities... Heather, Thomas and Emerson were TROOPERS! They just slipped into our schedule or just stayed back and waited for us to come home after the day's end!

We did find time to carve our Jack-O-Lanterns! Thomas insisted that he was NOT ALLOWED to even touch the knives. Good Job Thomas!



We lit the fire pit one night. Of course with that came ooey-gooey s'mores! Heather treated us to a more healthy snack of baked pumpkin seeds from the jack-o-lanterns we carved earlier that afternoon.



Family Home Evening was just as crazy as ever!


And between all the rain and cloudy days, we did find a few days to enjoy the swings.



Thanks Heather for just rollin' along with us! We hope Mike has additional exams to take in the future and if not, you can still come! Mike too!

Groundbreaking

The Frisco Texas Stake was dedicated in May 2008. Since the dedication, we have been using our new building as a Stake Center. We had the opportunity a few weeks back to participate in the groundbreaking of our new Stake Center. It was a nice experience and adds further testimony to the growth of the church in this area.

The location is 5 miles from our home. (It is a nice Saturday morning run.) So, the following week after the dedication, a few of us ran out there and we are happy to report that the earthmoving equipment has started pushing dirt and the stakes are in the ground. I'm excited to run back there again to see the progress!

Dive Class

Zachary has been playing baseball for the last few years. He's pretty good at it too... but he just doesn't enjoy doing it. I have been trying to convince him that he should join swim team. He is a great swimmer... but he just doesn't enjoy doing it either. So, he convinced himself to take a diving class this past summer! :0

At the end of the class I asked him the question, "Do you think you want to continue?" He responded, "I just don't enjoy doing this. I'll do it, but I don't like it."




I was very proud of him. On the last day of class he did a dive off the high platform! Nice Job Zach! (I don't blame you for not wanting to pursue this either.)

The Luggage Sale

This afternoon after school the boys, Emma and I were sitting at the counter having a snack. Out of the blue, Christopher comments:

Christopher: Do you think I could have a luggage sale?

Cindy: ?? Um ?? What are you wanting to sell? Did you say luggage?

Zachary: Chris, you mean rummage sale!?!?

Christopher: Oh yeah, rummage... Ah... Yeah... a rummage sale! YEAH!

Cindy: Well, what are you going to sell?

Christopher: This is one of those things where you give the stuff that you don't want away and you get money, right!?!?

Zachary: Chris, the stuff can't be broke.

Christopher: But you get money, right?

Cindy: Christopher, how about this - you just go through all YOUR STUFF in your room and put it in front of your door and we'll go from there. Ok?

Christopher: But aren't we going to have the sale today?

Cindy: Christopher, it's Thursday and we're still doing homework and it will be time for dinner soon, then off to bed.

Christopher: Oh man. Maybe we can do it on Saturday when we have nothing going on.

Cindy: Sounds good! (I couldn't tell him we had 2 soccer games, 2 birthday parties and open-gym at gymnastics.)

So, there you have it. He is definitely drumming something up here. Apparently he needs some money? Wait and see!

Oh What Do You Do In The Summertime

I can not believe that in one week... SUMMER '09 will be over... :(

There are a few earlier posts of what we did this summer, but as I look through the pictures, here are a few more things!

Oh what do you do in the summertime when all the world is green...

1. Nicholas and Christopher joined the Four-Eyes Club:


2. Help Mom make delicious treats:


3. Bust up the mailbox:


4. Go to VISA Championships (see Jonathan Horton):


5. Visit 6 Flags Over Texas:


6. And just lay around and listen to Books On Tape:

Emma On Bike

Remember this... Emma Lee at 2 Years

Well... take a look at THIS!

The Tiger Bike (as it is known) was purchased for Benjamin in 1999. It was a $99 "top-of-the-line" Schwinn bike! (He was our 1st child and the 1st child ALWAYS gets the BEST! wink wink) It was purchased with training wheels.

When Ben was able to ride it, another bike was purchased for Ben. The Tiger Bike was passed down to Zach... passed down to Nick... passed down to Chris... passed down to Emma! (that's a lot of "Passing Downs!")

With all these "passing downs" you can only imagine the state of the training wheels - NO TREAD nearly by the time Emma got to it! Last week we went for a ride and they were falling apart and I kicked them back into place. (I kept thinking to myself "quit being so tight and go get another pair for your ONLY daughter" but since she's the last one, WHY?)

We got back to the house and we tried to take them off but we couldn't get them off. When Glenn came home, he took them off. I kept contemplating "buy" or "don't buy." "Buy" or "don't buy!" The next morning we went back outside and looked over the situation. I asked her to try it without training wheels... she did and Wa La!

Now, take a look at THIS picture...




She is BIG TIME and I think she knows it! Watch Out - here comes Emma Lee (with big brothers on each side)!