story time @ panera bread

Our new house is close to a Panera Bread.  Like really really close…….it's dangerous.  

I have discovered their cinnamon crunch scones and I am too embarrassed to admit how many times I have gone and picked one up!!

Another great thing about our Panera Bread is that they do a story time in the summer on Mondays at 10am.  It's a perfect time for us because we can zip up to Panera and be back by 10:30 for Nash to squeeze in a morning nap. 

It's put on by the Tyler Librarian so the lady that comes is really great! She picks out really great stories to read and has the best voice to listen too! She also sings few songs with them too.  

While the stories are great, I can guarantee you that my boys favorite part is this…...

Yes, milk and cookies at Storytime.  It really doesn't get any better than that!!

It's a perfect time for us because we can zip up to Panera and be back by 10:30 for Nash to squeeze in a morning nap.

 I know we are all going to be sad when this story time is over in September.  

 I guess we will have to drive across town to the actually library for story time, but it will be such a bummer because they don't have milk and cookies!!

2015 Summer List

I'm a little late getting my Summer List made this summer.

We spent most of May moving and getting our house all unpacked.
 Then we spent all of June going back an forth between Tyler and Dallas being with my Dad in the hospital after his wreck and stroke. (more on that another time)

Now that Dad is in rehab we are trying to settle into our new city a little more.  We have 2 months before school starts for the boys in September, so we hope to mark a lot of fun things off our Summer List before then.

Here's to our first summer in our new city!

safari park

I've had a groupon all summer long to take Pearson to the Indoor Safari Park. I finally took him today with my friend Carissa and her son Landry.  We had a great time!! Here's a few pictures from our adventure at the Safari Park. 

If you are planning on going, I would definitely make sure you have a groupon. It's not worth the full $10 for a pass to play.  Also, it costs $1 for adults and the kids must wear socks!!

fun in the sun

The past two summers Ashley has gotten Season Passes to Hawaiian Falls.  And both summers she has been sweet enough to let me use her Buddy Pass that comes with the Season tickets!!

Pearson still gets in for FREE since he is 2, so it's a free day for us!!

Last summer he loved climbing all over the kiddie park but this summer all he wanted to do was sit by my side.  He was so scared of all the things that splashed water.  I can't believed he loved it when he was one but hated it when he was two.  Even though he didn't go an play in the kiddie area, he still had fun splashing in the water and playing with Olivia's toys.  His favorite part of the entire water park was the Lazy River.  I put his puddle jumper on him and he would let me touch him.  He just liked to float and ride the river all by himself.  He was all smiles in the lazy river!!

Even though he didn't go an play in the kiddie area, he still had fun splashing in the water and playing with Olivia's toys.  His favorite part of the entire water park was the Lazy River.  I put his puddle jumper on him and he would let me touch him.  He just liked to float and ride the river all by himself.  He was all smiles in the lazy river!!

Ashley had rented out a Cabana for Carson's birthday, but it ended up getting rained out so she transfered the Cabana rental to today.  It was really nice to have some shade to escape to from the 100 degree weather. 

The other perk of having a Cabana was that we had a waiter that brought us free drinks and took our orders for food.  We didn't have to wait in any lines!!  After lunch Pearson and I shared a delicious sno-cone.

When ours was all gone he head over to see if he could bum some off of his cousin!!

Pearson and Olivia had had the hardest time sharing toys & snacks all day long, but for some reason they decided to share their sno-cone.  

Oliva would take a bite, then Pearson would say "Pearson Bite", then Olivia would actually give him a bite.  We couldn't believe it!!

Sno-Cones made this cousins pretty happy!!

We got to the park right at 10:30 when it opened and stayed until 3:00.  We were both pooped after a fun day in the sun.  

Thanks Ashley for treating us to a day at Hawaiian Falls!!

the $1 movie

Pearson had his first movie theater experience today.  We went to see Rio.  At Cinemark they are  doing $1 kid movies at 10am on Wednesdays all summer long.

 I know Pearson is a little on the young side to go to a movie, but I thought for $2 we wouldn't have wasted much if we had to walk out early.  

When we first got there I took his picture in his seat.  This was literally the only time he actually sat in his seat for the movie.  He didn't weigh enough to keep the seat from folding in on him.  

He watched all of the preview so great! He just stood in front of me and didn't move. After each one he would look at me and clap.  It was the cutest thing ever.  He had no idea that they weren't the real show that we came to see!

 During the movie he rotated between sitting in my lap, leaning on my legs, sitting on the stair in the aisle beside my chair, leaning on the chair in front of him and walking a few seat down from me. The only time he sat in my lap was if he was eating a snack.  If this weren't a $1 kids movie we probably would have annoyed quite a few people.  For the most part he did pretty good.  There were only two times I thought we were going to have to leave.  First, he turned around during the movie at one point and saw a little boy leaning on his chair.  He started screaming and saying "My Chair, My Chair".  I swiped him up and we went and stood on the side of the movie theater to calm down.  By the time we got back the little boy wasn't leaning on his chair so he was fine.  The other time I thought we were going to have to leave was when we was walking in front of me and he hit his head on my arm rest. Thankfully I had a package of fruit snacks in my bag to distract him from the pain!!

 We really had a great time at the movies.  During all the part when something "bad" would happen he would yell out "Ah-Oh" and anytime there was Brazilian music playing he would dance and jump.  He was soooooo cute!!  Even though we had a lot of fun, we probably won't be taking him to a full price movie any time soon.  We'll stick to the $1 movie for now!!

pearson's 1st swim lessons

I went back and forth on whether I wanted to do swim lessons for Pearson this summer.  I had a feeling that he might be too young for them, but I went ahead and did them just because it was something fun for us to do.  We went to a lady in my neighborhood that was pretty inexpensive.  I'm really glad that I didn't end up doing something intense or expensive because he was soooooooo not ready for swim lessons.  I kind of felt like we basically paid someone to swim in their pool.  Other than Day 2, I think he really had alot of fun though.  Everyday he would talk about going "Swi-Yin (Swimming) with "Miss Mi-Na" (Myra). 

Day 1: He wouldn't cooperate without me in the pool so I ended up having to get in the pool.  I really didn't want to do that, but it was the only way that we could get him to do what we wanted him to.  He wouldn't float on his back, use his arms to scoop the water or climb around the edge of the pool, but he did a great job kicking, blowing bubbles in the water, and jumping off the step.  

Day 2: I went ahead and got in the pool because it seems to work well the first day.  About 10 minutes into the lesson he spotted the toys that he got to play with at the end of yesterdays lesson.  We wouldn't let him play with them because we hadn't finished all of the activities she had planned.  He started crying and then just lost it.  I couldn't get him to calm down so we just had to leave.  

Day 3:  Since the day before was such a disaster we decided to see how he would do without me in the pool.  I hid inside their house and watched them through the window.  He did great!!  He did everything his teacher asked him and even had a smile on his face most of the time.  His favorite thing to do this day was when his teacher would put toys on the step and he would have to put his face under water to get them.  I was really impressed at how he followed directions this day. 

Day 4:  I decided to just wait in the car this day so I didn't see what they were doing.  I was going to go in the backyard for the last 5 minutes to watch them, but it started lightening so I didn't get to see any of his 4th lesson.  She said he did well though. 

Overall, he did okay.  I definitely wouldn't recommend doing swim lessons this young though.  He won't remember anything he learned this summer and he definitely didn't walk away knowing how to swim.  I knew that he wouldn't be swimming, but I had hoped that he would be able to grab the side and crawl himself back to the steps and be more comfortable kicking and floating on his back.  I'm not sure he really grasped any concepts though.  It was more fun and games for him.  We'll definitely try swim lessons again next summer as I think he will be a better age for it!!

lions & cheetahs & flamingos, Oh My!!

I know the saying is really "Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh my!" but we didn't get a picture of the tiger and we didn't see a bear!!

Anyways......

When I saw that the highs this week were only in the high 80's and low 90's, I promptly texted my sister in law to see if she wanted to take the kiddos to the zoo!!  We could not have picked a more perfect day to go to the zoo.  The weather was absolutely perfect yesterday!!

Carson and Olivia had both been to the zoo before, but this was Pearson's first time to go. Can you tell that he was excited? He was ready for the "Sue".

 We dressed the boys in their matching baseball shirts and Olivia wore her cute July 4th outfit.  Our goal was to get a cute picture of them together but that didn't quite work out.  

 This sweet cousin hug was the best we got.  

 I honestly don't remember the last time I went to the Dallas Zoo.  It might have been my 1st Grade field trip!!  I went to the Tyler Zoo alot as a kid because my grandma lived there, but even still, it's been a long time since I've been to a zoo at all.  I was excited to see all the animals with Pearson!!

 Our first stop was to take some pictures with the elephant statues.  

 I thought that when Pearson saw Carson climb on the elephants that he would want to do it to.  Not so much.  He is just not a fan of climbing on things. 

 I finally got him to calm down and take a picture with me. 

 After pictures we were ready for a fun day at the zoo!!

 My favorite exhibit was definitely the giraffes.  They are such neat creatures.

 We were really able to get up close and personal with them. 

 I really liked seeing the zebras but we couldn't get very close to see them. 

I loved seeing this lion.  The lion keeper was just finishing up a demonstration or something with the lion so he was hanging out really close to the window.  We got to see him really well!!

 Matt's favorite animal is the cheetah so we definitely had to stop by to see him.  He was right by the window just taking a little nap.

 When we left Pearson said "Bye Bye Chee-Tah"!!

 I can't remember what this little guy was called, but he was so funny.  As soon as we pulled out our cameras, he popped up and started posing for us.  

 Flamingos!!  

 Even though it wasn't that hot, it was nice to stroll through the reptiles and amphibians building for a little while.  

 Ashley does't like snakes so I talked to Carson about each one as we walked by.  

 After we looked at each snake he asked, "Is it poisonous? Can it bite me? and Where does it live?".

For lunch we found a perfect shady spot under some trees to picnic.  I love how you can bring your own food into the zoo.  It really makes for an inexpensive day!  I really can't say enough how perfect the weather was for a trip to the zoo.  We didn't even break a sweat.  And that's rare in July in Texas.

 Now that Pearson is two he can finally have a peanut butter sandwich.  I can't believe we went that long without having peanut butter.  He loves a PB&J!!

 He thought he was hot stuff walking around the park with his PB&J.

After lunch we finished up our day at the little kid playground and water park.  

The boys had fun playing together but Olivia didn't care for the water too much.

 She was just happy to hang out with us girls while we watched the boys play. 

 Pearson loved chasing his big cousin around in the water.  He just adores Carson and I'm pretty sure Carson adores Pearson too. 

Ashley sent me a picture of her camera roll on her phone and apparently Carson was just snapping away at Pearson while we were at the zoo.  See.......he loves his little cousin.

 Before we left, we tried one more time to get a picture of all three kiddos, but failed once again.  Maybe someday we'll be able to get a picture with all of them looking at the camera and smiling!!

 Thanks for driving us to the zoo Ashley!!