Blackberries!

Man, it is hot. Our projected high temperature for the day is 106 degrees. After missing out on two planned outings with friends, I promised Ace we would visit our favorite farm "as soon as his throat stopped hurting". And today was that day, regardless of the scorching temperatures.

We headed out pretty early and picked quickly once we arrived. Then, we ate our homemade ice cream in the shade at 10:30am and ate our picnic lunch in the air-conditioned car on the drive back. The consensus? We love our berry farm in the Spring and in the Fall. Not as much in the Summer.

Daddy Rocks!

The buddies made these cool "Daddy Rocks" for their dad and gave them to him this morning.

And their daddy does rock. He works hard all week long and still finds the time to coach their t-ball team, take them to the swimming pool (alone, so that I can get a break!), mow the lawn, and take me on a date.

As is our tradition, the boys helped me complete their Daddy Questionnaires this week and we presented him with their answers today. Ace's answers are in blue; Ben's are in red.

How old is Dad? I don’t know. / I don’t know. (actual answer: 36)

But take a guess. How old do you think he is? 46! No, how about 56? / (after Ace’s answers) 66! Then, from Ace: He’s much older than you and me and Benny too!
My dad has no / black hair. (actual answer: brown, though not much of it)
My dad has green / brown eyes. (actual answer: a lovely and unusual shade of green-ish, blue-ish, gray-ish)
My dad loves to tickle me and then I want to tickle him /play!
I love it when my dad hugs me and puts me to bed with a ride /tickles us.
My favorite thing to do with dad is race – I ride a scooter and Daddy runs! /play the get-you game.
My favorite game to play with my dad is Duck, Duck 123 /Candy Land.
I like it when my dad sings the Ace and Ben song / ABC’s, but Grandpa sings the wrong numbers, like this 123-20.
My dad makes great eggs /music.
When I’m sad, my dad tickles me /snuggles me.
I like to get a piggy bank / race cars with my dad.
I love my dad because he coaches my t-ball team /because he tickles me and that’s what he really wants to do.

Happy, happy Father's Day to all the wonderful daddies in our lives...especially our own.

Texoma Trip #2

The buddies and I are home after a week with my folks at their lakefront home. It was awesome and fun and we'll go back for more soon since it is the perfect place for wild boys. Here's a run down of what we did while there:

Pretended to be pirates...because it's their new thing and Grandma ordered cool pirate hats.


Had fun in the "pirate ship" (aka the tree house). One afternoon, while I was hanging out in the tree house with Ace, he ran to the garage refrigerator to grab himself a Gatorade and hoist it up in the bucket on a pulley. Half way back, he yelled, "Hey Mom! Would you like a beer?" I didn't really but since he offered, and that was kind of cool, I took him up on it. He brought it from the garage and hoisted it up in the bucket for me.


Went on lots and lots of boat rides. Grandpa let them drive. Ace was pretty good at it!

Ben prefers to drive the golf cart (and does it really well!) but he also drove the boat a few times.

Fed horses at Mr. Cleo and Ms. Loretta's house.

Swam and shot water guns...

Mostly at Grandpa. Because he splashes back and makes a big production of it.


Tried to ski...unsuccessfully. We figured out that it is going to take 4 adults (5 if we want pictures and video) to teach 4 year olds how to water ski.

Monkeyed around at a few parks and a really cool pool.

Picked berries at Grandma's blackberry farm.

Ben picked a lot but had an empty bucket at the end of the outing. The owner (a super-nice guy), looked at his tongue while we were checking out and let Ben know he was onto him.

Fed the catfish at the berry farm pond. Grandma taught them to yell, "Here kitty, kitty, kitty" as they tossed the food in.

Went on a hay ride at the berry farm.

Played lots and lots of frisbee. Until Ben missed one headed right for his face and caught a bloody nose.

Jumped off Grandpa's boat dock. Lots and lots of times for Ace. Ben said it was too scary but scared us to death by running around like a wild boy inside the boat dock.

Visited the Frank Buck Zoo in Gainesville with the Super Grandparents. It is a nice little zoo.

The best part was the public giraffe feedings at 10:30am.

Pushed a tired Grandpa in a hammock. It probably wasn't really that relaxing.

Went on a train ride at the McKinney Flea Market.

It was a full week! It is taking the buddies days to catch their daddy up to speed on all their adventures and even longer for me to fully recover.

T-ball Trophies

This morning was our last game of the Spring t-ball season. We don't keep score and there is no such thing as an out but I'm pretty sure our awesome team won the league. We certainly had the best coaches, but I may be biased.

After the game, we held a little awards ceremony and cheered for each of the players as they received their trophies. They were all so proud. Then, the team presented the coaches with some much-needed whistles, for next season. We ate a quick snack, had one more team cheer and then headed off to a fun end of season party on the patio at Waterloo. It was a big time.

Go Hooks!

Cousins!

What could be more fun than a whole crew of cousins coming to visit? It was a quick visit, but we packed a lot of fun into it. I wish I could say that we showed our cousins a good time, but the truth is, they showed us a good time. They showed up with presents for the boys and kolaches for everyone. Then, they took us out to dinner at Rudy's. Yum!


The next day, we took advantage of their museum memberships with free admission to the Austin Children's Museum.

After a few hours of fun, we walked a few short blocks to take a peek at Lady Bird Lake.

As my cousin explained to her boys, "Cousins are kind of a cross between brothers and friends". So true.