The Circus

We  bought tickets to the circus a while back and honestly, I had forgotten about it.  We've had a lot of unexpected things come our way lately and so the circus was just not on my mind.

But, circus day came and it was just what we needed.

A night to be crazy and have fun.

A night out with The Sister and her family. 

We went out for dinner and then headed to the circus early so the boys could go down and get close to the action.

The circus is just not the circus without a colorful snow cone!

We had such a great time!!

A Ballpark Tour

Joshua decided it would be a great idea to get up on the morning of July 4th and go for a tour of the ballpark because he felt certain it would not be crowded.  And he was right!  We thought we would be the only ones in our group, but at the last minute another family showed up.  But, it was a nice small group!

We all had a great time on the tour and love hearing about the history and architecture of the ballpark.  I was surprised at how much Luke really enjoyed hearing all about the ballpark.  His favorite bit of information was that the yellow foul polls are from the old ballpark.  

Our first stop was the press box.

And then onto a suite.

We all saw a game in a suite a few years back, but Luke was too small to remember it.  It was of course, NOT the owner's suite that we were in. :)

Hey!  Look who is giving a talk after the game! 

 Luke loved going down to the hitting cages.  He even asked if he could hit a few balls. 

 Unfortunately, the answer was no.  But standing next to them was good enough for him.

And look......

A message from Josh Hamilton!



Luke was so excited to go into the dugout.

Luke, who are you looking at?


It was Mitch Moreland!  Since he was injured he was not on the road with the team, but here working with the trainer. 

Sitting in Washington's seat! (And STILL keeping an eye on Moreland)

And no trip to the dugout would be complete without making a call to the bullpen!  And since it was so quiet at the ballpark, we would hear the phone ring all the way on the other side of the field in the bullpen ring.

Summer is up and Running!!

Our summer is up and going and it has been busy, but fun!  Luke loves playing outside in the long days with his airplane, riding his bike, and of course playing baseball.

He also started karate and he goes three times a week.  He absolutely loves it and I love watching him.  H is current goal is to be able to test and receive his gold belt later this month.  And I have no doubt he will do it.

We have kept up with going to the Ranger games.  

Luke's collection of baseballs is continuing to grow!  He somehow manages to get at least one ball from a player per game!  We have gone as a family, Josh and Luke have gone during "boys night out", and this Saturday Josh and I will go for a date night.  Luke was excited for the Josh Hamilton Beach Towel giveaway and the Snow Monkey below.

As a Junior Texas Ranger, Luke will be in a parade before a Ranger Game later in August.  We are all super excited about that!

We also had a trip to the water park a couple of weekends ago.  As we were paying to get in we realized that Luke is now tall enough that we must pay full price for him.  The lady at the counter was so excited for Luke and said, "You are tall enough to ride everything!"  I would have been okay with him being a little shorter and thus his ticket a little cheaper.  But, that boy is fearless at the water park and for the first time ever he did the big water slides all by himself!  Sorry, no pictures of of the water park.....we were having too much fun to remember to take them!

Luke is also into arts and crafts this summer.  

That little lizard now lives on my desk.

I took Luke and his best buddy went to the aquarium on day.  The boys had so much fun feeding the sting rays and petting them.  We also saw a turtle that was over 75 years old! 

Luke has also decided to be a movie junkie this summer.  So far, he has watched, Ghostbusters 1 and 2, Back to the Future 1, 2, and 3, Gremlins,  Karate Kid, Goonies, Teen Wolf, and maybe a few others I've missed.  Do you see a theme here?  Yes, he is on an 80s movie kick and we love it!

Last weekend we took our first trip of the season to Ham Orchards and bought some peaches, strawberries, jams, cookies, and of course ice cream!  

Ham peach and strawberry ice cream makes everyone happy!

The summer heat makes me not want to turn the oven or stove on to cook.  So, not many pretty and yummy recipes to post.

I did manage to make the cake above for the fourth of July and it was delicious!  I also made the pops, which are made with blueberries, strawberries, and cheesecake.  Yummy!  (And as you can see...we saw fireworks too!  We went with my Dad and Step-Mom earlier in the week and had a great time.)


But mostly, dinners are looking like this.

I love all kinds of salads, but this yummy fruit salads is perfect for the hot evenings!  Lettuce, spinach, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, avocados, and feta.

My hardy hibiscus plants that Daddy gave me several years ago are looking wonderful.  Most mornings we have 10-30 blooms!!

We still have so many fun things planned for the remainder of the summer.  We will be taking some trips to museums, the circus, more trips to the water park, more Ranger games (of course), a zoo trip, and Josh and I will be taking a four day getaway!


Hope you are having a fantastic summer as well!

A Recipe and Some Fun

You must make these.  They are easy and they are delicious!  They are perfect for your kids to help you make!

 

You can grab the oh so easy recipe here.  Confessions of a Cookbook Queen -- Cherry Limeade Pie 

(I think I need to eat another one of those now!)

And when you are done making them, and done eating them, you may be like us and have some whipped cream left over.

And if you do, and you are like us, you will not want to waste it.

So, here is what I suggest.

Yes, just go ahead and sugar up the children.  (you will probably want them to play outside afterwards) 

But if that is too nice and clean for you.  You may want to try this. 

Let's face it, I knew he was not just going to squirt that cherry whipped cream in Luke's mouth.  Oh no, Daddy wants to make a mess and have fun!

Thing got a little out of control.

And it only got worse.....

And by worse, I mean hilarious and cute and sweet.

A lot of that ended up on the floor and Hank was more than happy to clean it up!

Happy Tuesday to you and I hope you have a great week!

 

SURPRISE!!!!

With the help of Joshua’s parents we pulled off a huge surprise that has been in the making for over a year.  I cannot thank them enough for helping us to pull this off.  As the day of our arrival got closer and closer, Charity kept asking them if they were sure we were not coming.  They had to keep telling her we could not come and had to keep seeing the look of disappointment on her face.

About a year ago Joshua and I began discussing that we would go to South Carolina this year to see his sister graduate from high school.  We also decided that we did not want to tell her, but to surprise her!

As soon as this school year began Josh’s Dad found out her graduation date and it was sooner in May than we were hoping.  She would graduate on May 18^th, and Luke would still be in school.  We were hoping she would graduate closer to the end of Luke’s school year so we could drive out and stay a week and a half or so, but it did not look like that was a possibility.

So, we decided that we would fly out and make a long weekend of it.  Not only did Charity, not know about this, but neither did Luke.  There was NO way we could trust Luke not to tell his Aunt Charity about this!

As her graduation got closer and closer Charity would say how she really wished we could go out there, but she understood that Luke was still in school.  Each time she said it, it broke our hearts to hear her, but we became more and more excited about the surprise that was planned for her. 

On the MORNING we were to fly to South Carolina we woke Luke up and told him about the trip!  He was super excited to find out we were going to South Carolina for a long weekend, but he was beyond excited to hear that he was going to fly there!

This boy has wanted to fly in a plane for a LONG time!

Josh’s parents went back and forth on how to let Charity find out that we had come, but in the end, this is what happened.

Josh’s Mom and Dad picked us up from the airport and we made a stop for lunch and at the store for some poster board and markers.  Luke needed to make a sign for his Aunt Charity.

Charity's Bubba made a sign too.

We went to their church to make the signs and waited for her to arrive.  The Music minister of the church called Charity and told her she needed to go up there early for band practice.

We hid and waited.

Luke was beside himself and could not wait to scream SURPRISE at the top of his little lungs!  Truth be told,  I was super excited too!

And THIS is the face of a girl who had NO CLUE that her Bubba, Sister, and Nephew had flown into town see her.

(can I just say it is stressful taking pictures of a surprise!  I was shaking and so worried that none of them out turn out.)

It took her a second to realize that we were standing there, but when it all clicked, she set down the guitar and began to cry as she went over to Josh.

They stood like that for a while.  The stress of planning this was beyond worth it in this moment.  I tear up every time I see this picture.

These two are like twins, 16 years apart. 

Luke wanted in on the hugs, but Charity was not letting go of her Bubba!

Charity, we would not have missed your big day for the world!

Love you girl!!

WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!!