Our home away from home - AKA....Hawaiian Falls

 Sam and I bit the bullet this summer and bought season passes to Hawaiian Falls and what a great investment it has been!  The kids love it and it feels like a mini vacation for all of us each time we go.  The first couple of times that we went, I either made sure that it was at a time that Sam could go or I went with a friend.  I was a little nervous about figuring out the logistics of managing 2 kids, a bag of necessities, Cooper's backpack, and a cooler.  I'm happy to say that after 2 times of me flying solo, I have this thing down to a science!  We try to get there and get in line before 10:15 so that we can be sure to get a good spot set up at our favorite area, the wave pool.  Luckily, we have been able to snag a good spot early each time and it's been great!  Cooper loves the wave pool because he can just walk right into and play.  It's nice for me too because I don't feel like I have to constantly have my eye on him, which makes it a little more relaxing for Mommy. :)  Lily is a fish in the water and isn't afraid of any of the slides.  Cooper is easy and along for the ride most of the time.  He sits in my lap on a tube in the wave pool and lazy river and just chills.  Honestly, I think if the sun weren't so bright that he would probably pass smooth out!  There is a really fun kids area that we like to play in.  Lily has always been excited about this area and runs through it like she owns the place.  Cooper was a little slower to adjust, but I'm happy to say that he thinks he is king of the castle when we play there now.  Last week he started out slowly by going down the 2 "baby" slides.  He was a big fan and wanted to do it over and over again.  Today, I was with friends and decided to take him across the rope bridge to a bigger slide that winds down and around.  He LOVED it!  After the first time, he jumped out of the water and started running back to the top to do it again.  He rode the big slide a total of 3 times by himself today and probably would have done it 30 more times if he could have gotten across the rope bridge without me.    I think after spending 5 hours there today that we should probably take a little break!  I'm sure that we will be back soon.............like by Friday.

Good things come to those who wait.......

So I have been wanting a new couch for a while. Normally when I get it in my head that I want something, and get approval from the boss, I get it.  I convinced Sam that we should get a new couch in March.  We started looking but really didn't find anything that caught our eye.  I told myself that I wasn't going to buy something just to buy it, but that I was going to wait until the perfect couch came along.  Well, I am so glad that I waited!  We were at my friend Erica's on Friday night and her husband showed Sam a couch that they were wanting to get rid of.  Sam told John that he would take a picture and show it to his buddies and work, guaranteeing that it would be gone in a week.  Sam went over to take a picture of it and said, "Man!  Jamie may want this couch!"  I went out and looked at it and he was so right!  It was exactly what I was looking for.............right size, right colors, perfectly comfortable, and not a thing wrong with it.  John was excited to get it out of his garage so that he could build some shelves. :)  We needed to get our old couch out of the way and my other friend Erika just happened to be wanting a new couch as well.  On Sunday, she and her husband, Cecil, came over for breakfast and then Sam and Cecil played a little game of musical couches, and...........BAM.........I have a new (to me) perfect couch!  This proves to me that waiting definitely paid off!  The only payment I made was taking Erica and John's perfect daughter, Maddie, to see Cars 2 with Lily and then she came over and hung out while her mommy and daddy had a date night.  How lucky am I?!?!  Thanks Erica and John!

Family Vacation to Sea World

For family vacation this year, we decided to take a trip to San Antonio and Sea World.  I have been trying to convince Sam that we needed to do this for a couple of years, but he didn't seem too interested.  After a trip to Port Aransas last summer and visiting the aquarium in Corpus, I decided that he MUST go to Sea World.  He was totally fascinated by the shows at the aquarium and they didn't hold a candle to Sea World shows.  His reaction and excitement about Sea World certainly did not disappoint!  We all loved it, so much in fact that we are going back Labor Day weekend!  If you know my husband, you know that he must have REALLY liked it if he is going back because he is a bit of a tight wad! :)

We were lucky to have Kiki join us along with Sam's aunt, uncle, and their little girl. Lily and Madison had a blast together and we loved having so much time to visit with Keith and Valerie.  We took two days to do Sea World so that we could take our time and really enjoy everything.  I would highly recommend two days to anyone with kids that is planning a visit.  The first day we did all of the shows and then spent the second day at the water park, with a quick trip to feed the dolphins and to play in the Bay of Play for a little while. Here are some pictures from our trip!  Hope you enjoy! :)

Gonna give this a go......

I've been intrigued by my dad's blog about their trip to Alaska, and decided that maybe I should give this whole blogging thing a try.  I am really enjoying my summer off with the kids!  I always look so forward to summer time so that we can rest and relax and then by the time summer arrives, I wonder how in the world I have time to work!  We really do stay so busy but I love it!  We have kept the road between here and Mansfield hot going to Hawaiian Falls and we also had a fun trip to Sea World last week.  Other than a trip to Oklahoma City in July, we really don't have a whole lot more planned for the rest of our summer but I know that we will stay plenty busy and that it will fly by!  To the rest of my teacher friends and family, enjoy the rest of your lazy days of summer...........and to all my business world friends and family..............eat your heart out! :)