Lake Jacksonville

I'm way behind on updating the blog, I know, I've been so busy this summer, and now I'm going to try to catch up and there will be an onslaught of pictures to follow! Sorry! But school starts back in one week, so I should be better about keeping up then. The only problem then is, we aren't doing anything to keep up with!

Well, we decided to go see Nanny, Tang Tang, and Aunt Kathy and everyone in Jacksonville before Kenzie had the baby. She only had a small window where she could get away so we got up and out real early on Friday morning and were able to be in Jacksonville for lunch. It was so good to see everyone, it had been several years since I had seen my Nanny! I don't care how old you get, it's always good to see your Nanny!

We spent some time together and then went back to Trista and Chris's new house on the lake and got out on the boat and Riley got to brush up on his wakeboarding. He had a blast. Regan got to tube, we swam, it was really nice! We went back Saturday for an early lunch and Nanny and Tang Tang had to head back, so we went back to the lake for a while before we had to hit the road for home. It was a nice short weekend away, and nice to be around some water!

Lake Jacksonville

Tammy's Farm!

I usually stop in at Tammy's, or in this case, spend the night at Tammy's, when I have to go get Regan from Camp Texlake. She lives about 5 minutes from Camp, and it's over an hour from my house, and since I had to get Regan at 9am, I spent the night! Kenzie rode with me to drop Regan off at camp, and then we went to check out Tammy's farm, and then I went back Friday night since the guys were out of town on a deep sea fishing trip, so Regan and I spent the day helping her milk the goats and feed the menagerie!

Camp Texlake!

One of the best parts about selling 1117 boxes of cookies is the free camp! Regan earns the money for Camp Texlake every year with her cookie dough, and this year camp was 6 nights away from home! She didn't bat an eye. The Juniors sleep in NON air conditioned cabins, which really should not even be an option in central Texas! We packed a sheet set for her bunk, and when she brought it home I noticed it never even made it out of the bag, she said she slept on the mattress, too hot for even sheets!

But she had a good time, several of her Girl Scout Troop buddies were with her and this time she did a horse camp, so she got to buy cowboy boots and ride horses! She had a good time, and can't wait to go back. I think this was her last year in the NON a/c cabins!

Lake Georgetown

Finally, it's the first day of summer break! Riley got out of school on the 30th, and Regan had to go until the 7th of June! It seemed to drag on forever...and ever...

So to celebrate the first official day of our summer break, I took the kids to Lake Georgetown. Twenty minutes away and they've never been, how bad is that?! But, it was overcast in the morning so the place was practically empty! There were only like, 5 other families there. So, they played in the rocks, buried Riley, had some snacks, got sunburned, overall, a great start to the summer!

Last Blast

The last week of school for Regan was mostly parties! She had a big Ecosystem project due and after that it was party, party, party! But on the last day of school, they had "Last Blast" and it was pretty fun. They had a zip line, hamster wheels, gyro machine, hot dogs, hamburgers, and a dunk tank! Regan even got to be dunked in the tank. Riley and I went up for the last hour or so, so I got a few pictures of her on the gyro, but she had already done most everything else. I was just glad it wasn't too hot that day, and glad that it was the last day of school!

Mrs. Ray! The best teacher ever!

All About Hair!

Regan has been wanting a perm forever, but I got her some of those pink sponge rollers that I used to sleep in when I was a kid to have "Shirley Temple" hair! They now come in different sizes and colors, so we've been playing around with her hair. The first night, we used the smallest size rollers and she ended up with a short, tight, white afro! She hated it. So, as we were rushing out the door for school, I pulled it back into two ponies and said she looked like a curly Princess Leah! As the day wore on, the curls dropped, and it was much cuter. But then we tried the bigger rollers and she liked that much better.

 

And, miracle of all miracles, Riley decided to go for broke and cut all his luscious locks off! I think he thinks he is Sampson and his power is his hair! He hates getting it cut and even though he asked for it, it was pretty traumatic for him to get it cut. There was almost enough hair to donate to Locks Of Love! But, I think he looks much older, and much more military-ready with the short hair!

Sea Cadets

Riley is now an official member of the U.S. Navy Sea Cadets! As soon as I heard about this program, I knew it was for Riley. He got to go spend the weekend at Ft. Hood, and drill, he will do that one weekend a month now. David took him to Ft. Hood and learned all about it, and got him signed up and he is so excited about it. His first step was to take an XDivision test, which he took immediately. While other kids were watching a movie, he was hunkered down studying for his test. They asked David if Riley had 10 more brothers just like him at home, they would take them all! The next step is to take a BMR test, which is like 1,000 questions about Basic Military Regulations (I think) and then in December he will do a 2 week boot camp. There are many summer training programs, where he can go to a Coast Guard ship for 3 weeks, get his pilot's license, STEM programs at Annapolis, and even train with Navy Seals. He's raring to go and wants to do all of it! The good news is he has to keep his grades up to be involved, so now we have some good motivation! And another good thing, he has to have short hair! He came home and wanted his hair cut right away! Here is a picture of him in his BDU's that they gave him, we still have to get him some more uniform stuff. I am totally clueless when it comes to all this military jargon, so I need to study some of that BMR stuff with him!

Regan's 10th Birthday Party

We decided to have a sleepover party for Regan's 10th birthday. You only turn double digits once, right?! So, she invited her Girl Scout friends, a couple of friends from church, school, and the neighborhood, and we had us a shindig! We had about 12 girls for the evening, 7 that slept over. Riley and David took off and spent the night with Mimi and Papa, so we had the house to ourselves. I got white pillowcases for everyone and pink, purple, turquoise, yellow and lime green tie dye, and we dyed the pillowcases. They turned out really cute! Regan wanted ice cream cake, and we got Little Caesar's pizza and they watched Alvin and the Chipmunk's Chipwrecked! They were all very well behaved and we had no melt downs, so all in all, it was a success. She won't be 10 till the 14th, but we wanted to have her party before everyone was gone for the summer.

 

Her gift from us!

Gummy Bear Beach Party cupcakes for school party