Wow What a Weekend Part 2

Happy Fathers Day to Mike and Happy Birthday to Erika!  FIFTEEN!  I can't believe it!

We started our morning attending worship with our church family.  
This afternoon, we went to see "Man of Steel 3D" which was quite action packed. I don't know if I'll ever recover!

Erika opened her birthday gifts and then we headed for the Lake to finish of a very packed weekend!

 Her hair sure turns blonde in the sun!

 It really was a wonderful weekend!  Tomorrow..... School! :)
Back to reality!

(poor Erika accidently deleted the rest of our photos off of the camera... she hit the wrong button, so there are no lake photos. :( )

Wow What A Weekend! Part 1

We have had so much fun and our weekend isn't even over yet! :)

It was time to go to Austin, TX  to get Alli's post placement reports apostilled and sent off to the translator. This is her second the the last report due, and we are excited about that! Daddy took off work for Friday and Saturday which is quite unusual!  And we were off.

 Daddy and Alli snuggling....on the way

We also were told that her passport was ready at the Russian Consular's office in Houston, TX, so we decided to make a "weekend" trip of it.  In Houston, we stayed with our friends, the Days. :)

 We decided it would be fun to celebrate Sarah's birthday by taking the girls to the BEACH!

Yes! I said the BEACH!

Galevston Island is just an hour further South from Houston.  Some of our girls have never seen the ocean.  I am a California girl who feels land locked much of the time because the ocean is so far away!


OH MY GOODNESS we had a marvelous time.  Once again we stayed with our friends, the Days, who live in the Houston Area.  It is always an honor to see them.

So this is how our trip went:
We left at 4:30 a.m. and headed to Austin.  We got right into the State Department office and had our apostilles done in a few minutes!  We drove over to the Fed Ex office and mailed our post placement reports to the translator and celebrated our first job done!
Then, we headed to Houston.  It is a beautiful drive on a smaller road between Austin and Houston.
I had timed everything so we would get to the Russian Consular's office before Noon, as they take 2 hours for lunch and we didn't want to lose time.

We got stuck in some traffic due to an accident, and we arrived at the Consular's office at 11:56a.m.!
We were all laughing as Alli and I bolted from the car and ran inside to tell the guard we needed to go the counselor's office.
His reply:  "I'm sorry, they are gone!"

I said, "But we have 4 minutes before noon!"
He said, "No, they are gone for the day, apparently it is a Russian Holiday!"

I felt like a bolt of lightening struck me!

"Are you serious? What holiday?"
He said he didn't know.

We walked out and told our family that our triumph was in vein.... They were closed!

Oh the faces! LOL   And then, we decided that was not going to stop us from having a wonderful time.

We headed to our friend's house to spend the day and went swimming, visited and played games.
They are so special to us. :)

This a.m. was Sarah's birthday, and we left at around 8:30 a.m. and headed to Galveston Island where we went to the beach for the day.  I have never been to Galveston. It was lovely.  Oh my we have to do this again sometime!
The Salt Water, the waves, the sand.... all favorite childhood memories for me.  It was a different beach in a different state, but I was so happy to share the experience with all of the kids.
They loved it!
We swam in the Gulf of Mexico!  I was looking out at the ocean and thinking about the explorers of long ago that we studied a couple of years ago in History. :)
It was just so fun.  I even saw a fish jump out of the water right in front of me, and the girls enjoyed diving for hermit crabs. :)  We would hold them and let them relax and then they would come out of their shells to say hi. :)  And we'd put them back in the water. :)

Sarah picked a pizza place for her birthday lunch and it was really a great place.  I enjoyed a wonderful Greek salad! :)
The pizza looked wonderful!  (this was taken from the pizza place)
Daddy splurged and told the girls they could get whatever they wanted to drink, so instead of water, there were a couple of iced tea orders and soda orders. :)

This was our best trip ever.  All of the girls really enjoyed themselves the whole time!
We got home tonight at about 8:00 and Sarah picked a birthday movie.  "The Lord of the Rings : The Two Towers".

Sarah sweetie! I cannot believe you are 14! :)  You are my precious baby girl.  I love you to the moon and back!

Here are some highlights of our weekend! :)

Sarah was shocked that Anna wanted to sunbathe. LOL    Sarah sees that as a waste of precious swimming time. :)

Daddy

Erika took most of these photos. :)

Erika.... love her freckles.

Our 14 year old Sarah!

Mom and Dad.... aka Christie and Mike...

Raft rental.... :)

A Big Surprise!

We have birthdays coming up this weekend and the girls have been looking forward to our "typical" birthday celebrations.

But this year was not a typical birthday year.  No it wasn't!

 Some of the girls' friends concocted a very complicated plan.

 Sarah announced:  "We're so spoiled!" :)

   A surprise Birthday party for Sarah and Erika.  
BUT.... They let Erika think she was helping plan Sarah's Birthday party....

Erika was so excited to know about it. :)  She had no idea we had invited her best friend from Camp, Brittany!

Oh the shock for both of them! LOL
It was very sweet of the girls to do such a nice thing. :)

Texas Scottish Rite Hospital For Children

Yes! It was rated NUMBER 1 in then Nation for Orthopadic hospitals! :)
And I think that rating is CORRECT!

We have had amazing experiences at this hospital for our girls and for our son Tim also!

I am so proud to be a part of this hospital!

And guess what!  Erika is a volunteer this summer!

Conversations and Frogs

There are those times during the day that everybody goes in different directions for school work, volunteer work, helping in the shoppe, playing with dolls, housework, computer work, playing with the dog and more.

And then, there are those times, like tonight, where a bunch of girls piled on my bed and on my rocking chair and we all sat and talked about everything and nothing.

There was laughing and planning for the weekend events, as well as discussion about life in general.
We had such a good time that I didn't want it to end. :)

From that conversation I learned that my girls are maturing and thinking about life in such good ways.

I am so proud of my girls.  They love on each other and laugh with each other and I see the true camaraderie between them.  They show true appreciation for each other and genuine interest in what each other is doing.  I can so see them like their brothers; being very close friends when they are grown up.
One of our discussions was  about Erika's new sign that says "Please Knock!" on her door. Apparently I have committed entrance felonies recently by not knocking first. :) Oh the stories! :)
I told her she needed to put one on the bathroom door too; and Sarah heartily agreed! :)

Soooo, after wearing ourselves out with fun and laughter, we decided to finish off our conversation by watching the last episode of Duck Dynasty season one.  "Willie Stay or Willie Go".....

Oh my words.  I don't think I have any laughter left . LOL<----- maybe I do! :)


BTW- I have a real frog in my refrigerator..... yes, but it is not for eating.  It is for discecting and I haven't had the guts to do it yet.    But I did crack up last week when Mike pulled out the package and opened it.... "Is this a real frog in the refrigerator?"
Sorry dear. :)