It' a Big Deal

So camp is a thing here in Texas.

And when I say "a thing", I mean a really serious, serious thing.

 

 

Growing up as a kid I went to church camp, but not "summer camp" (I thought summer camp was a made up thing for TV). 

 

 

 We visited Camp Olympia over spring break and JR can hardly wait to go on Sunday.

 

And since he leaves Sunday, I had to start the packing him up process.  I thought I was going to start on Tuesday, but after I walked in to his room and looked in his closet I walked away and gave up.

 

I made myself do it yesterday. (And I made him sit there and watch me so he'd know where everything was.)

Here I am getting started. You can see my giant booklet packing list in front of me.

 

I took all his clothes and put them into baggies by day.  All he has to do is open a baggie and put on the socks, underwear, shirt, and shorts in the bag.

(You might think I'm babying him, but it's JR...matching clothes isn't his thing.)

 

There are also dress-up/theme nights. (How fun is that?!)

Those costumes are in different baggies with the theme night written across the bag.

 

You might not think that would take very long, but it took all day.

 

Thankfully he is all packed up for his 13 days at camp.

 

He's so excited he's asked if we can decorate the car for driving to camp.

Jason is thrilled.

A Visit with H. W.

Way back in June JR was staying with my parents. They all took a trip over to the George Bush Presidential Library on the A&M campus.

I haven't been to the Bush Library in years, but my parents said they've really added it to it.

JR loved every second of it.

 

So you might be wondering why I'm telling you about this now.

Well, my mom and dad don't really know how to do anything on their cell phones but answer them when they ring.

 

They can't take pictures, work voice mail, or text. (Okay, so they can get a text if I call them and say "I'm sending you a picture, open your phone and push the green button when it beeps.")

 

So I was super surprised when JR told me they had taken some pictures that day.  (I think he was able to show one of them how to use their camera.)  But nobody knew how to get the pictures "off the phone".

 

 

We remembered the pictures yesterday and I was able to "get them off the phone". 

 Not bad pictures for a flip phone!

 

JR and President Bush

 

 

Taking a call in the Oval Office.

This is his exact desk President Bush used. 

(JR must have told me that a million times.)

And with a replica of a Desert Storm soldier. (He was super excited with the Desert Storm area too.)

The Bahn!

This is our 4th year in a row to do our annual New Braunfels Schlitterbahn trip.

Each year we've stayed someplace different due to who was with us, and the age of Kyle and Reed.

This year everybody was old enough to do everything all day, and it was just us.

Thankfully, we planned it perfectly.

 

(So if anybody wants to go with us next year, let us know, we've got it down!)

 

 

We stayed at the resort inside the park in one of the new log cabin looking houses.  If you know Schlitterbahn, then you can see we are steps from the Black Knight and Master Blaster.

 

 

Looking the other way we had a view of one of the pools and the cabannas.

The pools are open to resort guests until midnight and we had to pull Kyle out and make him go to bed at 9 every night.

 

 

We were also right behind the wave river. Here are Jason and Kyle going by.

(Jason has on an orange hat.)

 We brought our own food and Jason grilled each night. As soon as the park closed Reed would put on his pajamas and climb into bed. I'm so glad we didn't have to prop him up at a restaurant for dinner every night.

 

 

Here are our "souvenir" pictures. Happy smiles all around.

 No trip to New Bruanfels is complete without a trip over to Gruene, so we were able to work that in too.  It was crowded and hot, but it's always fun.  (We all look so tired.)

 

The trip was such a success, Kyle actually feel asleep on the car ride home.  We have documented proof, because he never sleeps in the car.

You'll be Singing This the Rest of the Day

I really do apologize for posting this video since you'll be singing it the rest of the day.

If you don't want "Ease on Down the Road" stuck in your head, you can just look at the pictures.

 

 

 

 

The "yellow brick road" wasn't an actual road, it was kids dressed up in yellow construction uniforms singing "Ease on Down the Road".

The Wiz was the only one wearing green in The Emerald City. Everyone was in white, but "the rules" said they must wear green glasses.

Tin Man asking "The Wiz" for a heart.  This Wiz's mouth actually moved as he talked.

 

 

The Wiz is exposed, and Tin Man gets his heart.

 

 

One of the funniest parts of the show is when Glenda the Good Witch comes to help Dorothy get home. She roller skates in (and you know how I love rollerskating) and everyone treats her like a literal rock star. 

JR cracked me up, he kept motioning for her to "call him". That's what he's doing here. (It's hard to see his hand because it blends in with his face...but that's the "call me" sign.)

 

 

Dorothy saying her good-byes.

 

And, as always, JR had quite the "fan club" in the audience.

Granny Sherry, Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw, and even one of Kyle and Reed's friends came.

 

Ease on Down the Road

JR just finished 3 shows of The Wiz as the Tin Man and just look how cute his costume and make-up were! (I can say that because I didn't have anything to do with it.)
 

 

Here's his big solo number. (I was allowed to video!) This was his first performance, and I actually think he got better with each one. (I only videoed the first night, I wanted to just watch and enjoy the other shows.)

 

I had never seen The Wiz before, and I think I like it even more than The Wizard of Oz (and not just because JR was in it). The songs are so catchy! Kyle, Reed, and I have been walking around the house singing Ease on Down the Road and JR's solo for a few days now.

 

 

I'm pretty sure I audibly gasped when I saw him on stage for the first time. He looked so old with all his make-up. His entire face, neck, and ears (even inside his ears) were covered in silver and his hair was also sprayed silver. His make-up was definitely a process. He said they "painted" him, then sprayed his hair while his face dried, then added the face details. He said they usually weren't finished with his make-up until after the show had already started.

 

 

JR's been so sad the show is over. (He hasn't been upset about a show ending since Willy Wonka), and though I don't want my child to be sad, I'm thrilled he had so much fun and enjoyed it so much.

 

Front Page

Here was the front page of the Houston County Courier after July 4th.

Both of our 1st place entries!

 

So I Can Make Room on my Fridge for New Ones

Here are Reed's latest drawings. 

(This seems the perfect place to put them so I don't feel guilty when they "disappear" from the house.)

 

He did this first picture from one of the pages in this book.

 

 

(an upside down cat talking to a fish)

He followed a YouTube video for the next two.

Captain America