Weekend in Austin

We traveled to Austin last week for a very special day - our niece's baptism! David performed the baptism and confirmation so I took a picture of him with Alivia on this important occasion.

It really was a great day and a majority of David's family was there. We all spent time together and celebrated Livi's birthday after the baptism. Once we were eating cake, we discovered that Drake had found his own piece and was chowing down! It was hilarious!

After the baptism, we took pictures of the cousins in the bluebonnets. Taking pictures of kids in bluebonnets is a springtime tradition in Texas. Here are David, his sister, Wendy, his mom, and his sister, Lisa.

And of course we tried to get a family picture but after a 4.5 hour drive (1 hour of traffic in there) and the baptism, the kids were done.

Spring Break 2012

We had such a wonderful spring break this year. We traveled to Rockport, Texas, where my mom and Sam used to live. They kept their bay house and now rent it out so they booked it for the week we could all come and use it. We had perfect weather and it truly felt like a real vacation. David took the week off and we loved being in the sun, on the water, and being with extended family.

Here's a photo of our stop in Austin for a night with David's sister's family

Once we hit Rockport, the fishing poles came out!

MawMille and Dilan on the pier

Shrimp bait in a bucket. Great for playing with a.k.a tormenting them.

Flying kites - David picked up kites for all the kids and they were a big hit all week long

Drake and Drew on the balcony together

Two days playing at the beach for the kids. Dilan loved the water!

Drew loved beach time too.

Drake's first time at the beach and he definitely tasted the salt water a few times!

Our kids at the beach. Drake was so interested in exploring, he would not look at me!

Me and David going kayaking on the water

"Popstickles," as Dilan called them, on the balcony overlooking the bay

Blowing bubbles...

... swinging on the hammock and watching the barges go by...

... and real manly fishing!

Drew and Dilan on the pier

Me and Drew being silly

Thanks again to my mom and Sam for such a great time! hopefully, we can make it a new spring break tradition!!! :)

Rain Forest Diorama

Drew's first diorama was one about the rain forest. They have been studying it for weeks. At this level, it's really about me teaching Drew how to do a diorama and teaching him the many different ways we can make the animals. He chose the five animals that we placed inside being a red-eyed tree frog, quetzal bird, spider monkey, piranha, and an anaconda snake. We gathered real leaves and glued them as trees and the floor of the rain forest. We took some putty he had and made it a water source. Dilan had some flower stickers so Drew added those too. He drew the piranha and the red-eyed tree frog and colored them himself. We had some great internet pictures to learn from. We made the anaconda from a pipe cleaner, the spider monkey was from the chocolate-colored playdo we had, and the quetzal bird we made from fuzzies, sticker leaves from outside and pretzel legs. Drew also added some frog eggs which were white tic-tacs. It was a great project we did together and I guess we've entered the world of dioramas now! Gotta keep saving those shoe boxes. :)