The Princess

This little girl... 

I'd say she's loved just a bit.

Not Harvey

It was the one year anniversary of Harvey this weekend and we were all glad that it wasn't raining and we weren't doing what we were doing this time last year.

In fact,  we were sitting out in the sun sweating watching Reed play tennis at a little tournament our club was having.

Reed wound up in the finals of the consolation bracket.  In the finals he found himself down 0-2 games.  He said he started thinking about just making sure he hit the ball in.  Sure enough, once he did that, he won the next game and then the 3 after that.  He won 4 in a row to walk away with a trophy as the consolation winner. 

We were proud he won, but even more proud that he was able to overcoming being down and not let that get in his head. 

More on the Field

Right after I posted about the boys on the field, The Texans organization sent this picture.

Such handsome fellas! 

Not in the Swing

I am so not in the swing of back to school yet (obviously by my lack of blogging).

Every time I turn around I feel like I have some kind of  meeting or training I'm supposed to be at.  I hosted the 5th grade coffee yesterday.  It started at 9:00 and the last person left at 1:30...no wonder I can't get anything done during the day.

This weekend we took the boys to the Texans game.  JJ didn't play but, but Deshaun Watson did (for a few minutes) so JR was thrilled about that...I think he was shouting MVP at some point.

Jason and I kept trying to take a selfie and that little face beside me kept popping up in every picture...which really made me laugh.

I think they were the first in line for both the ice cream cart and the cheerleaders.

The boys got to go on the field after the game was over, and they said that was super cool.

All Good Days

Everyone had a good first day of school yesterday.

JR had a good first day of high school.  

(Jason keeps reminding me that I need to calm down because I  don't actually get to be in all his activities with him...drama, debate, and choir.)

Kyle and Reed had a good first day of  5th grade.

I had a good first day of my last year as an elementary school volunteer .

 (I'm a 5th grade graduation chair and we were selling sunglasses for a fund raiser.) 

And Chloe had a good day relaxing while she waited on everyone to come home.

Where Did it Go?

This is officially the fastest summer ever. 

It seems like we just got out of school last week and here we are going back.

Reed finished off the summer with a tennis tournament the same day we picked JR and Kyle up at camp.

Granny Sherry took him over to College Station to play, and they passed the time between matches at the mall.  Reed even got some dragon's breath.

He was happy with how he played and was runner-up in the consolation match. 

I took both Kyle and Reed to a last day of summer lunch yesterday (JR went to lunch with his friends).  They picked the Chinese Buffet for their last hurrah.

Mr. Smiley

When Kyle was at camp I got a postcard from his cabin counselor telling us how much he liked Kyle because he was "always smiling and always in a good mood." 

Of course we know that about him, but its always nice to hear it from other people. 

Kyle had a fantastic 2 weeks at camp.  

Not only did he have a date to the "Over the Hill" dance

But his team won 1st place in the swimming medley relay in the all camp swim meet. 

He won 2nd place in the long jump, and he came home as the Most Outstanding waterskier at camp.

He's already looking forward to next year! 

The King

On the way up to camp Jason said, "If I were one of those camp counselors I would be so ready to get rid of JR, I can only imagine how bad he's been strutting around up there." 

With it being his last year (and his hair looking this good in pictures) it's only natural to assume there was quite a bit of strutting going on. 

But little did we know, we were only at the tip of the iceberg.

We get there only to find out JR had been voted Carnival King by all the kids in camp the night before.  

The king and queen with all their princes and princesses

Needless to say, JR had a fantastic last year at camp.  He even got Order of the Olympia which I think means over the 5 years he was there he won/earned all the patches that you can get. 

And in his 2 weeks, he even managed to take 1 picture with his brother.

More Winnings

Thursday night was our last hurrah with Reed as an "only child".

We went to the Astros game and sat in different seats than we usually do.  Sean and Reed were excited.

They were really great seats, but I was having a panic attack for most of the game that a foul ball was going to hit me in the face. 

Reed and Sean are masters of getting themselves on the jumbotron in our usual seats, but at this game they mastered the art of catching stuff from the "cheerleaders"  (they aren't really cheerleaders, but I don't know what else to call them).

Reed caught a ball (not a real baseball, but a squishy one) and Sean caught a T-shirt!

They were very excited with their "winnings". 

We're Good at Games

Reed and I went to Dave and Busters the other day.

He was a winner at quite a few of the games. 

But nothing like the 1,000 tickets I won at Candy Crush on my first try.

Reed was super impressed with my gaming ability, and those 1,000 tickets meant he brought this guy home. 

Get Newked

Reed is an only child this week as he is home from the John Newcombe Tennis Ranch.  He said he loved, loved, loved tennis camp.  Everything was super fun and great, except for the food which he said was "too healthy". 

 He won the "Fearsome Forehand" award (he said his award was real and lots of the other kids just got "made up awards:).  

And most importantly he got runner-up in the camp tournament.  

He also was very excited to win a boomerang in the "Get Newked" competition where his team came in 2nd for hitting the most targets. 

We were super proud of his evaluation sheet which talked about his great forehand and mentioned twice how fast he is.  They even mentioned his "baseball speed"...which is nice to hear since the usual tennis comments are trying to "get the baseball out of him".

His coach said he was a "great athlete and a great kid as well" which is always a wonderful compliment! 

Camp Vegas

My friend, Wendy, casually asked me if we wanted to go to Vegas to celebrate a big birthday she was having.  It just so happened to be this past weekend when all the kids were at camp, so the answer was an easy, "Sure!" 

I flew up a little earlier than Jason since he had to work all day on Thursday, and he arranged for me to have a limo from the airport.  I've never had a limo all to myself!

We stayed at the Wynn (which I was very impressed with) and Friday morning we went to the spa...which was probably the nicest spa I've ever been to.  The massage was on par with others, but the spa itself was amazing.  The spa alone was worth the trip.

I only had one thing on my "must-do" Vegas list...Go eat at Wahlburgers.  If you're a female in my age range then not only were you a fan of Donnie Wahlburg as a New Kid on the Block, but even more so of his brother, Marky Mark...now just known as movie superstar, Mark Wahlburg.

They even have a reality TV show about the burger place, which Jason humors me by watching with me.  So after our spa appointment we braved the 110 degree heat (it's a dry heat) and walked over to Wahlburgers (it's in front of Bally's). We were actually very impressed with the burgers, and I got to "meet" Mark! 

Friday afternoon I went back to the spa and Jason hit the craps table.  That night we went to eat at Jardin inside the Wynn.

 After dinner we went to see the Wynn show, Le Reve.  It reminded me a lot of O, since it is all done in and around water.  We also thought this might be a career opportunity for Kyle since there was tons of diving, flips, and tricks.

We braved the "dry" 110 degree heat again on Saturday and walked around the strip.

Here we are cooling off in Caesar's Palace, and I might have also be looking for Real Housewife of the OC, Vicky, who according to Instagram, was also there. 

Saturday night we ate at Andrea's in the Encore.  It's an Asian fusion restaurant, and super yummy. 

 Then we went to see The Beatles's Love show.  Jason and I had seen it before, but it's so good, I was happy to see it again.  I loved it as much the 2nd time as I did the 1st.

Obviously, I really need to work on my peace sign.

We had a great time and got to do all the things we love to do in Vegas! 

Cool Pictures (Even though we were SO HOT)

They had a professional photographer at the diving meet and I was so glad I paid for him to take pictures since they turned out so great, and also, because I was so hot I'm not sure I could have even held on to a camera.

These are my favorites.