He's Come Home

 The Golden Child has come home after 9 weeks away.  

He worked 3 terms at camp, and by the looks of these pictures I think he thought he was a camper, instead of a counselor.

Look what his handband says.  

Apparently the girls gave him that nickname (and I'm guessing there's some truth to that because that's definitely not his sad handwriting).

I'm sure this was just a typical day in the life of JR.

No wonder I heard so much about "having to go see the nurse".

Pre talent show

Of course there's fire

Tuesday Teeth Tales

 After 2 years, 8 months, 2 weeks, and 1 day Kyle got his braces off! 

I was actually shocked at the difference and how great his teeth look.

They gave him a bag full of foods that he wasn't supposed to be eating to celebrate...but of course he's been eating them the whole time. 

Summer School

 This guy took 2 summer school classes this summer.  Here he is with his celebratory "finally finished with summer school" dinner. 

 Here's Chloe's with her "I'm super excited Reed is going to be home with me more since he's finished with school" face.

And then her "I just figured out that means no more multiple daily car rides" face. 

100+

 Over 100+ isn't just the temperatures around here, but also the number of fish that were caught (and released) at MawMaw and PawPaw's this weekend.

Kyle caught the first fish

And one of the biggest

The fish were "jumping in the boat" so fast that Reed caught 2 at one time.

And I was excited because I got to see my child who doesn't care about fish.

 He had the night off, so we got to visit with him for a while...which was nice since we haven't seen him in over a month.

Bad Guy/Good Guy

Reed's hamster, Stewart, escaped...again. 

We had been out of town so we weren't sure when he escaped or how long he'd been gone.

In the middle of the night of the discovered escape, Jason got up to go to the bathroom and Stewart ran across his foot and into my closet.  

(I mean. Can you imagine if that had happened to me?! I would die.)

I'm not sure why this hamster wants to be in my closet...which is nowhere near Reed's room.

I screamed for Reed, waking him out of a dead sleep, and sat in the living room until Stewart was found...which was in my most expensive bag in my closet...of course. 

So here's a tribute to Hammy the hamster who stays in his cage, doesn't escape, or upset me in the middle of the night. 

MN Documented by Kyle

 Kyle and Granny made it back from Minnesota on Sunday.

Don't worry about being bored by his vacation photos because it's a quick photo tour.

I was sent pictures of Daisy

A picture of a cat keeping a watchful eye on the Texans.

And videos of the fish he caught.

There ya go.  Kyle's Minnesota trip. 

Chloe's Complaints

Chloe has let us know she is way more of a mountain down than a beach dog.

She says she's missing her cool morning walks, daily trips to town, and her favorite...rogue French fries dropped by children on patios at lunch. 

Among her top complaints:

1. The sand is too hot on her paws.

She literally had to be put in the wagon to ride because she refused to walk anymore.

2. The ocean water is not like clear mountain water, and the waves scare her. 

This is about as close as she would get to the water. 

3. She was discriminated against on the ferry ride and was not allowed to get out of the car and walk around because she is "a pet".

The only thing she didn't seem to complain about were her porch naps...maybe that's because she had such good company. 

Other Things We Did

 Here are the other "exciting" things we did while we were in Galveston:

We went to the beach.  

This was taken after beach patrol drove by, sounded the alarm, and told them (and some others) over a bullhorn they were out too far and to come back in closer.

They were so far out they couldn't hear what the patrol actually said, so I think they might have been worried a shark had been spotted.... which got them to shore pretty quick.

They went fishing but didn't catch anything. 

We walked on the Seawall.

And Jason and I drank giant margaritas.

4th of July Fails

 The boys gave innertubing off the back of the boat a rating of 10 out of 10 for fun. 

 I think their fails and falls should score solid 7s.

(While my screaming is definitely a 10)

\

Though this one might get a 9.5

"A place for fun, a place for knowledge"

Two of our kids are still gone.

This is the one piece of communication I've gotten with this one.  (That's 5 meters, so 16 feet).

And apparently this one hasn't been fired...yet.

But it does look like he's killing it at the talent show.

So we grabbed up 2 more kids and headed off to Galveston for 4th of July weekend.

It finally rained...so we made them go learn things.

We went to the Bryan Museum to learn about Texas history.  

Which you know Jason and I enjoyed since other people heard me squeal "Jason! Did you see the exhibit on the Chicken Ranch!"  

And then we went to the offshore energy museum.  Which everyone very much enjoyed.

And I will say, having Jason as a tour guide to explain everything does make it much more interesting.