July 4th and Cousinpalooza

We were so excited to celebrate July 4th in the states this year!  For Jack & Kara it was their first July 4th celebration, and for Ainsley it was the first one she is old enough to remember.  We decided to celebrate with family that we hadn't seen in several years, which meant lots of cousins for the kids to play with.  We drove (to save money) and first drove from Austin to Argyle to pick up Kevin (my brother) and his three kids (they rode in Pa's car).  Then we all drove to Shawnee, OK to visit Grand Nan (my grandmother), Aunt Jona and Beverly, and cousin Melissa.  We went to an old favorite of ours in downtown Shawnee -- Hamburger King.

Notice the phone at the booth, it is used to call in the orders.  This was my favorite feature of the restaurant when I was a kid :-)

My brother and I used to go to Hamburger King with my grandmother when we were kids, so we have a lot of memories ... the inside looks exactly the same!

Back at Grand Nan's house:

at IHOP the next morning, Grand Nan and her great grandkids (Jack, McKenzie, Kara, Grand Nan, Ainsley, Mason, Maddie):

We then continued our journey and drove to Broken Arrow, OK (just outside of Tulsa).  Aunt Karen (dad's sister) hosted a huge family get-together that included my dad's side of the family.  The kids had nine other little cousins to play with and had a BLAST.  Some of the highlights...

Baseball game in Tulsa with the cousins:

Fireworks after the game, we watched from the parking lot:

The kids watching the fireworks:

Water balloons!

Jack persuaded many o' people to play baseball with him...for hours...

 Water balloon volley ball:

Homemade ice cream!

Swimming at the neighborhood pool:

Aunt Karen gave lots of golf cart rides to the kids:

The kid cousins:

 

 The grown up cousins (Kevin, Kim, Stephanie, Kyle), aka parents to the 12 kids in the previous picture :-)

One of the reasons we decided to move back to the states was to give our kids a chance to be close to family, and this weekend warmed our hearts.  They enjoyed little things like buying snacks at gas stations, staying in a hotel, getting to stay up later than usual, playing for hours and hours with cousins, and being around family.  There were so many moments that Matt and I just smiled, on the outside and inside, because we saw pure joy in our kids eyes.  The drive back to Austin was ~8 1/2 hours, but the kids did great.  It was a fantastic vacation -- a good time had by all!

Jack & Kara's Birthday

Today we celebrated Jack & Kara's third birthday.  They requested a family-only birthday, with Dora birthday cakes, which is exactly what they got!!  Grandma D, Grandpa D, and Aunt Heather flew from Ohio and spent the weekend with us. They enjoyed cake, presents, silly string, swimming, pinata, and new pj's!

Happy Father's Day

We had a great weekend with the Capps cousins.  The kids have so much fun together.  Two weeks from now is Cousinpalooza in Tulsa where the number of cousins will double :-)

Happy Father's day to dad, Matt, and Uncle Kevin!!!

Summer

It is definitely summer in Austin -- lots of heat and long stretches of daylight!  To stay cool on the weekends we enjoy the swimming pool and thankfully our backyard is shaded in the afternoon.

Jack is REALLY into playing with balls -- golf balls, bouncy balls, soccer balls, basketballs, etc.  We have made up lots of ball games to keep him happy and his latest joy is drop kicking his super-bounce ball (the official name of his favorite ball is the Hyper Charged Sky Ball).  He is quite good at it!

The girls love swimming with daddy!

And nothing says summer in Austin like Rudy's barbeque :-)

Today (12 June) is Grandma D's birthday.  Happy birthday, Grandma D!!!!!!!  We love you!

Memorial Day Weekend

Ahh, a long holiday weekend!  We didn't do anything "memorial" but we definitely enjoyed the time off and enjoyed an American holiday that we have missed for three years. 

We started the weekend at Barton Springs pool.  Matt swam laps in preparation for the CapTexTri triathlon.  Me, Pa, and the kids enjoyed the shade and an Austin original scene. (I would like to remind the record that Jack picks out his own clothes with very forceful opinions.  I am sure he will blame me for these outfits in 15 years.)

Matt & Ainsley in the cold water:

This is Ainsley trying on Matt's wet suit:

Monday was Matt's triathlon race.  The race was downtown and I took the kids to see Matt during the run portion of his race.

The kids anxiously awaiting to see their dad:

YAY DADDY!!!

After the race: