New Splash Park

07.19.12

Longview recently opened up a brand new splash park near the park we love called Kid's View so we checked it out this afternoon.  Kinsey does not like the splash pad at the Spring Hill park so I was leery as to what would happen especially since Beck loves the splash pad.  To my surprise, Kinsey LOVED it!!!  Beck and Kinsey had so much fun at this new splash park!  In fact, we played for 2.5 hours!  I kept asking them if they were ready to go but they kept telling me that they wanted to play.  And, I'm so glad I did not take my big fancy camera because I got soaking wet on several occasions...even my iPhone got a little wet but I've got insurance on that gadget. 

The one thing that most kids love at this splash park is the giant Dr. Pepper can that fills up with water then releases it.  Of course, Beck and Kinsey stayed far, far away from this one but every once in a while they would forget about it and the water splashing down would scare them a little or splash them a bit.

The entire time we were there I was surprised at the things Beck and Kinsey did and seeing them run through the misters was one of those moments.

This was the most shocking of all...watching Kinsey go down the slide head first!  Wow!  She did this over and over and over but Beck never attempted this move.

This was really neat...seeing the rainbow in the misters.

What a fun afternoon!  I can't wait to take the kids back!

We picked up pizza on the way home then visited Nanny.  I think it was technology overload for her because Beck was showing her how to watch a movie on the iPad, Kinsey was playing a game on Daddy's phone and I was showing her pictures that I took today on my iPhone.  Maybe a bit overwhelming for her but I know she enjoyed every minute of it.  I could see it on her face.

Wildlife on the Move

07.18.12

Today is the last planned activity for this summer and I have a feeling the librarians saved the best for last.  Mr. B, from Wildlife on the Move, presented a variety of animals to the kids and talked in detail about each one.  The first one he brought out was the Desert King snake and this little critter is nonvenomous.  Mr. B likes to move around a lot so most of my pictures are not as clear as I'd like them to be.

Mr. B also showed us the largest tarantula I've ever seen and this one is call Chilean Rosehair tarantula.  It does not bite and its preferred method of defense is to dislodge irritating hairs from its abdomen with its hind legs.

The library was especially crowded today and surprisingly, Kinsey did not run over to Kiki when she spotted her.

After Mr. B presented each animal, he would ask for a volunteer to come up and either touch it or hold it.  The bottom right picture is Sarah's son, Tanner.

I was in awe when Mr. B brought out this giant python.  It is so big and the color is so pretty!  He let each kid touch the snake then he posed for pictures.  He was letting the kids hold the end of the snake but I told him that I did not want to hold the snake.  As you can see from the picture, Kinsey made herself comfy by taking off her shoes and Beck was not excited about having his picture taken.  We were the last ones to get our picture taken and I'm so glad we stuck around because Mr. B told us he was going to let the python relax on the floor before he packed up the snake.  It was incredible to see this creature chilling out on the floor.

We have thoroughly enjoyed each Wednesday activity at the library and I sure am sad to see it come to an end.  This one is the most memorable, Linda's Backyard Bunch (puppet show) and the Wizard of Oz lady were the most entertaining and the juggler was the most fun presentation.  A big thanks to the librarians for putting this together for the kids!

Fun with the Kids

07.15-17.12

We spent Sunday evening at Neena and Stephen's house and Beck insisted on wearing his church clothes.  We walked to the pond to feed the ducks.

Beck was able to lure the ducks our way with some bread but sometimes the fish ate the bread before the ducks could get it.  And, the little girl fishing next to us caught many fish while we were standing there.

Kinsey had fun in a water sprinkler on the way back to the house.

One activity that Beck and Kinsey enjoy doing in the afternoon is riding their trikes.  Beck is a professional getting around on his trike but Kinsey hasn't grasped the concept yet.  Maybe Beck will learn to ride his new Transformer bike next year.

Beck and Kinsey spent Tuesday afternoon playing in Kiki's pool and our trip was short as it was simply too hot. 

Favorite Fast Food Restaurant

07.14.12

Today, we spent a grueling five hours in Daddy's truck looking at land/lots in Bullard.  I say grueling because being trapped in a vehicle that long is torture for me and I can only imagine how bored the kids were but we did take one break to stretch our legs.  We spent an hour at the coolest fast food place I've ever seen in my life!  A beach-style play area at Sonic, of all places.  Brent and I tried to figure out why more fast food places haven't adopted this type of play area.  Maybe there's a fear of getting sand mites or a difficulty of keeping it sanitary but our kids sure loved it!

After our big search, we have pretty much settled on building in one neighborhood which is only minutes from Brent's office and right across the street from a golf course.  I'm getting super excited about getting settled into a home.  The thought of unpacking all of our stuff makes me smile!  I've spent lots of time on Pinterest lately looking at paint colors, kitchens and decorating kids rooms.  Brent's remodel projects must be ready one month from today which is right around the corner and then he'll have time to focus on getting our little family settled in a new town.

This evening, we left the kids with Kiki and Pops to see the Spiderman movie.  We sure enjoyed our evening together and I know Beck and Kinsey loved spending time with Kiki and Pops. 

Friday Fun Day (continued)

Kinsey is way too excited when she's at Neena's house to take a nap so we played in her pool and Beck had fun squirting Stephen with his new fish.

Luckily for us, somebody left a float and Beck used it the entire time.

After spending the ENTIRE day outside, you can imagine how exhausted these kids are which calls for a much needed nap.  On our way to meet Daddy at Posados, I took the longest route possible plus made a few side trips to visit a couple of different neighborhoods to let them both sleep.

Posados has an ice cream machine which the kids love but they were out of vanilla.  Poor Beck was SO upset because he does not like chocolate.  He came back to the table with the saddest eyes I've ever seen and softly asked me if we could go to another place to get some vanilla ice cream.  How could anybody say, "No" so we headed to Wendy's for a vanilla frosty!  Oh man, these two were so happy! 

I am determined to keep Beck and Kinsey out of the pantry and the refrigerator so we stopped by Lowe's to try and find a lock for both.  It was almost 9:30pm by the time we got home and we left the house at 9:30am...what a very long day for all of us!!! 

Friday Fun Day!!!

07.13.12

The Pine Tree High School swimming pool opened up early today for an Itty Bitty Beach pool party at 10am (normal hours for this pool is 2pm-6pm) and the first 100 kids received a prize.  Beck picked out a squirt fish and Kinsey picked out a flip-flop necklace.  Since Leigh and her kids are in town, they joined us too along with her mom, Amelia.  Luckily, the pool was not crowded and the sun stayed behind the clouds the entire time we were there.

Our little ones are not tall enough to go down the twisty slide so the life guards set up a small blow-up slide.  Kinsey and Natalie were the only two in our group to go down it.

It was fun watching the kids play with the blow-ups!

Beck fell in love with the crab!  In fact, he had a melt-down when Anderson was on it.

The party ended at noon and I could tell the kids were getting hungry so we drove to the Spring Hill park for a picnic lunch then the kids played more.

At this point, Leigh's kids needed a nap so she headed home and we went to Neena's house.