New Braunfels, TX...Last week John and I took the kids for a mini vacation to New Braunfels, TX. We also visited Gruene, TX and Austin, TX along the way. While in NB, we spent a day at the long anticipated Schlitterbahn Water Park. It is something like 15 miles of water slides. We had a ball! We definitely have a family of daredevils! Unfortunately, we forgot to bring the camera this day...ha! The next day we set out after breakfast (at a great restaurant called the Fork and Spoon) with ice chest full of snacks to float the Guadalupe River. Unfortunately, due to an approaching storm we opted to just swim and picnic on the river instead. It would be just our luck to get stuck on the river during a storm...ha! But we had a great time exploring in the rocks and swimming in the river. That night we went to Gruene, TX and had dinner at the Famous Gristmill Restaurant. This beautiful old mill backs up to the Guadalupe River and has a wonderful family oriented outdoor deck to eat on. Not to mention the chicken fried chicken and mashed potatoes were pretty outstanding...yum! After dinner we went to Gruene Hall which was right next door and is the oldest dance hall in TX. It was a ball! Live music, great atmosphere, and families running around dancing and playing everywhere. Can't wait to go back! On the way home the next day, we even stopped off in Austin and took the kids into the State Capitol building. We didn't take the tour because it didn't start for another 2 hours but they got to go in the rotunda and see the pictures and statues of Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, etc. Nice to throw a little state history into such a great trip! Most of my pics are from Gruene. But I still have to develop my film so we'll see what turns out there...ha!

My First Crop...John and I are trying our hand at gardening this summer. So far, we have planted tomatoes, okra, blackeyed peas, basil, cilantro, rosemary, squash. Some critter ate our only tomato but we now have 2 more growing. My basil has done wonderfully and I made my first batch of pesto a few weeks ago. It was great! On Friday, I picked my first 2 okra and 1 blackeyed pea pod. It has been fun to experiment with different plants and different light/plots. We hope to expand our garden area soon to grow more yummy stuff.

Cowtown...On Friday night my Dad came to town on his way back to Fredericksburg. He spent the night and we had a great visit and even ventured out to the Ft. Worth Stockyards for dinner. The kids rode ponies around the square and we had a yummy dinner at Joe T. Garcia's. It was a wonderful evening together and really nice to catch up.

Home Depot with Daddy...Julia loves to go to Home Depot with her Daddy...usually because she loves to pick out flowers. So, this week they came home with a beautiful yellow hibiscus. Must have been very sunny since she looks like an excited pirate...ha!

Our Little Dancer...We got Julia enrolled for dance classes for this fall. She will be taking ballet/tap once a week. She is SO excited about learning to dance and her wonderful costume...ha! I think she has worn her costume part of everyday since we brought it home. Sweet girl!

The Dallas Museum of Art...First Tuesdays of each month is free at the DMA. They have all kinds of activities for kids, a great cafe, and of course, the wonderful exhibits. So, my mom and I took the kids to the DMA this week. Julia even got the chance to participate in the storytime they had. They also have a wonderful sculpture garden that the kids played in. Lots of fun! Thanks for the great idea, Mom.

Summer...If I haven't mentioned it lately, this summer has not turned out exactly as I expected. It has been good but just not really as quiet as I thought it would be when the kids got out of school. And now we are 3 weeks and 2 days from the first day of school. Jacob is heading to 3rd grade with all that entails and Miss Julia is going to be our big Kindergarten girl. Look out world! It looks like I will be substitute teaching again this year which I am excited about even though I was hoping one of the fulltime school positions would pan out. Julia's Tinkerbell backpack has been bought and other than new shoes for Jacob, haircuts, and maybe a new pair of jeans, I think we are ready to rock-n-roll.

Week in review...We started out the week with a bang. The Littlefield's came for a short visit on their way to Colorado to visit family. The kids and I went to mom and dad's in Dallas for a day or so to catch up and hang out. Jacob had his last week of swim lessons at our neighborhood pool. We finished up the week by going to a bbq at our friend's, The Sherlocks, last night to celebrate Travis' graduation from the Ft. Worth Police Academy. Way to go, Officer Sherlock! He's a big dude from Nebraska. I wouldn't want to meet up with him on the business end of a gun or baton. We got to watch part of his training video last night and it was quite entertaining to watch part of what they had to go through in training. I know both he and Pam anxious to settle back into a routine and have some real downtime for a change. He has been in training for the last 7 months. Wow! How many of us could go through such labor intensive training for that long? I get tired just holding up the vacuum cleaner when John is cleaning our vent returns...ha!

Have a good week and God bless!