A Fallen Hero

A friend of mine posted this video on his Facebook account and after watching it, I immediately posted it on my Facebook and wanted to post it here on my blog as well in order to reach as many people as possible. This video from last Sunday shows the return of a local fallen hero as he is brought home to New Braunfels to be laid to rest. It is quite touching and a reminder of all the men and women who fight for our country every day, and that we are just so lucky to live in this great country where people give their lives fighting for what they believe in. Thank you to Lance Corporal Brandon Lara, you are a true hero.

Pictures at the park in 100+ degree heat!

Back in the latter part of June I had some pictures taken of me in the kids at our local park for Parker's 1 year pictures. I never actually got around to doing any other 1 year pictures (besides the cake pictures) around his actual birthday and since he was already 13 months by then I figured I had better hop on the ball! Naturally, since we were going to be doing pictures I had the photographer take some shots of just Tristan and some of me with the boys as well.

The only down side to the photo shoot was that it was so incredibly hot outside, and we even did the pictures at 6 p.m. Oh well, it was a long hour and Parker was not the least bit cooperative...no big toothy smiles, just wanted his mommy the whole time or to be running around free, but she managed to get a couple of good shots. As for Tristan, he served up his big "cheese" smile when he wasn't too preoccupied by all the ducks at the park. Luckily, I got all the pictures on a Cd so I could pick and choose my favorites and print them myself. Here's a good sampling!

Waiting on the Rain

We've been waiting on rain all summer long around here and we finally got some last week, so I had to capture Tristan's reaction while we waited it out in the Targert parking lot.

Summer Playgroups Are So Much Fun

The kids and I belong to a playgroup that my friend, Melissa, organized for this summer (thanks girlie!!!). We used to belong to a playgroup when Tristan was younger but we kind of disbanded awhile back because all of us moms seemed to get pregnant with our second child within months of each other and with toddlers, pregnant mommies, and newborns, we just couldn't seem to get together on a regular basis anymore.

But now it seems everyone's "little ones" are getting older, and we've all met lots of new friends with kiddos so Melissa made the effort to get a playgroup going again...there's lots of mommies and kiddos, and we've had a great time at every playgroup! It's great getting together with other moms and letting the kids play together...of course, we can't all make it each week but we have enough poeple in our group that at least a couple of moms can show up each week.

And since it has been an unbelievably hot summer we've been trying to "beat the heat" by going to some indoor play places and hanging out in the water. Here's a few (or possibly more than a few) pictures from some recent places we've visited!

The Party Station - Indoor playplace about 15 minutes from home that was the perfect size for me to be able to keep a watchful eye on both my kids without having to run around like a madaman!

Tristan playing with Barbie...or was he just decapitating her??

Parker was quite interested in Barbie too

Kinsley is a fan of Barbies too

Tristan and Kins

Girl talk - Emma and Kins

Little Miss Emma

Tristan and Kaeson...always playing in a kitchen when available!

Parker "drinking"

Climbing the slide, cup still in hand

Tristan and Kins about to race

The winner: Kins!!!

Aawwww, Baby Parker looks almost as big as Emma...she's so dainty and girly, just love it!

Baby Kolby's standing up!

Tristan and Parker about to race...Parker loved this toy as much as Tristan

Winner: Parker! Poor Tristan just couldn't catch a break....maybe he was slower since he weighed more than his opponents did!

About to go down the slide

Kaeson laughing it up!

This was supposed to be a picture of Parker looking through the opening but Tristan pushed his way up to the front just in time, love it anyhow!

Aahhh, here's the picture I was going for!

The Jumping Gym - Indoor play place that has all inflatable jump castles and is seriosuly like 3 minutes from the house

Tristan sliding out of the jump castle

Parker and Tristan playing a little b-ball

Tristan and his buddy, Kaeson

Tristan and Abby throwing the balls at the wall...see the two yellow balls in mis air??

Parker decided to get in on the action too!

Kaeson, Emma and Tristan taking a break for a little muffin snack

Tristan even smiles for the camera when he has a mouth full of food!

Kinsley...so pretty, look at those eyes!!!!

Tristan being silly in the baby ball pit

Tristan and Emma

Kins enjoying her muffin

Tristan going down the slide

Kaeson and Kins "riding"

Landa Park Pool - This local pool is a little more than 5 minutes away and has a huge Olympic pool, a gigantic Spring Fed pool with kiddie area and great little zero depth pool, where we hung out the whole time. It's obviously no Schlitterbahn, but so much easier to keep control of the kids!

Tristan heading down the slide

Splash!

Parker cruising around in his floatie...since the pool was pretty shallow on this end, he could basically walk around in his floatie and go wherever he wanted, and if he got into too deep of water he'd float!!!

Miss Abby

Tristan kicking the spurting water, and Elliot in the background sporting his goggles!

Parker loved the slide too

He'd climb straight out of the pool

Head up the steps

And start to head down, face first...I'd have to pick him up and help him go down on his bottom!

Kinsley, Abby, Tristan and Landon after 2 hours of swimming and snacks...looking pretty spiffy!