The End

We made it! We are done with school for the summer. There's nothing quite like that feeling of pulling that kitchen door shut on the last day and walking out into the sunshine. :) Here are the kids on the first and last days of school. Danielle had a pool party on the last day. It was a perfect day for it, and she had a lot of fun.

 

Danielle had an awards assembly earlier in the week. This is her award for all As all year. I'm convinced it will send her into a panic attack the first time she gets a B. She works very hard.

I keep trying to talk the kids out of our traditional school's out water balloon fight, but they are both very set on having it. Tyler and I have quite the disadvantage with the water balloons. Not only can Danielle throw far, she can throw accurately. She also likes to catch our balloons so they don't pop and then throws them back at us. I think going out for ice cream would be much more fun for all of us, but the kids are insistent on the balloons.

Hooray for summer!!

Winding Down

We are so very close to the end of the school year. It seems like it was just Christmas, so I don't know how it's almost the end of May.

Even my produce was happy about the end being in sight. (This was last week. We have even less days now!)

School softball is over, and it was a success. Danielle lead the team in batting average, on base percentage and stolen bases. Of course, the 1 game Ron's parents came to see was by far her worst game and the only game her team lost in 2 years! But that's the way it goes sometimes. Despite the horrible weather, we managed to get in 19 games this season. The team ended with a 2 year record of 38-1. It's probably a good thing we're moving on to high school ball now. None of the jr. high teams want to play us. On a side note, we did find out that the one team that beat us was cheating with their batting order. They kept batting 2 of their best batters out of order so they were up much more frequently than they should have been. When our bookkeeper called them out, they said there was a mistake because some of the girls were wearing sweatshirts originally and had taken them off, showing a different number than what was in the lineup. We didn't play well that game, but it stings a bit that the other team cheated to get the advantage. Anyhow, 38-1 is pretty darn good. Thanks to my parents & Uncle Ron for coming to watch, too. Hopefully high school ball will be even more exciting next year!

Last Friday was the last jr. high dance of the season. Our high school only has 2 dances a year - homecoming and prom - and homecoming is the only one open to all the grades. Neither of those are informal, either. Danielle isn't really a dancer, but she enjoys hanging out with her friends. Hard to tell what next year will bring, but she certainly enjoyed the school dances these past 2 years. The theme for this dance was red, white, and blue.

Tyler had a band concert. They sounded amazing. He also had an awards night for band. He received a certificate, service bar, and his music letter. I didn't realize he'd get his music letter this year, so that was a nice surprise. They didn't receive the letters in time to hand them out at the awards night, so I'll include a picture of that when he finally gets it. Tyler works hard at band. He puts a lot of time and effort into it, and I love listening to him play. I'm proud of him for working so hard.

Danielle had a couple pieces of artwork in the art fair. This is her cat. I'm eager to see what she does in the HS art classes.

I have 4 more days of school lunches. Tyler has 1 regular day and then 3 days of exams. Danielle has an algebra exam, an awards ceremony, an all school picnic, and a last day of school pool party for the 8th graders. We've almost made it.

Happy (Belated) Mother's Day!

I had a nice Mother's Day on Sunday. The kids humored me with a picture together before church.

After church we went to the Olive Garden, which has become a tasty Mother's Day tradition. It was nice to spend time together for a little while.

We also went to the garden center to buy flowers, along with most every other mother in a 50 mile radius. That's all part of the experience. I got a few flowers that I wanted, and the kids each picked me out a hanging basket. They both picked baskets of pansies this year, and they're so pretty. Every time I look out and see them on my patio, they make me feel happy. Pansies are a happy flower. :) I also got cards from the kids, but this year, Ron gave the kids some cash and told Tyler to drive him and his sister to the store. I won't lie, that's pretty convenient. Danielle also made me a card.

Tyler also straightened up a little for me. This kid knows the real way to a mother's heart.

It was a good day together.

Prom

Tyler went to prom last Saturday. The girl who asked him is a junior, so he was able to go even though he's a sophomore. Prom was held at a nearby restaurant, which I thought was nice. The tickets included dinner before hand. I like that they didn't have to drive multiple places or worry about reservations, etc. Caitlin is the catcher for the varsity softball team. She and Tyler are in the same honors chemistry class, but we knew her through softball first. It was a little odd to see her in a dress as opposed to softball pants and eye black, but she looked very pretty. Tyler had a really nice time.



This was her official "promposal". Seems so complicated now, but she did a nice job keeping it low key.

(Danielle took this one)

(And this one)

It was deceptively chilly!!

(Danielle also took this one. It's my favorite.)

Our SB Vacation

Our fight home from San Antonio left really early on Saturday morning, so we planned to leave our house a day early and stay overnight in San Antonio Friday evening. Before we all headed out, Ron and Tyler toured the USS Lexington in Corpus Christi. It has a very interesting history. The boys said the veteran on the museum really enjoyed sharing his stories with them.

This is what Danielle and I did while the boys were touring the aircraft carrier.

When the boys were done, they came back to get us and we headed out to San Antonio. We planned to visit Choke Canyon State Park on the way there and then to have dinner along the Riverwalk area in San Antonio that evening. We ended up staying too long at the park, though, and had to make other arrangements for dinner. It was worth it. The park was so different from the area where we stayed. We were all glad we got to see that "side" of Texas, too. Danielle and I walked a couple of the trails while Tyler and Ron fished in the lake.

Scissortailed flycatcher

 

Golden fronted woodpecker

Harris's hawk

Danielle and I found a ton of wild pig and javelina footprints on the trails, but we didn't see any. There were also a lot of huge fire ant mounds, full of busy fire ants.

 

Tyler caught more bass than Ron did and he made sure to point that out.

 

We had such a great week. Texas is a huge state with so much to see and do, and it's all spread out. I would love to go back and visit some of the areas we just couldn't get to on this trip. None of us can pinpoint a favorite on this trip - it was all such a nice, relaxing time visiting a new area, which was exactly what we were hoping for.

The Wildlife Refuge

After our fishing trip and some lunch, we drove to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. It wasn't a far drive, but the Texas scenery was interesting. Everything is so flat! The park itself was practically empty. We stopped at the visitor's station to pay the entrance fee and see what information they could offer about the park. They were not collecting fees, but the lady working in the office was extremely friendly and helpful.

We enjoyed our time exploring the park! We found several alligators, some still with their stripes. We saw lots of birds, including a family of whooping cranes way off in the distance. We didn't see any snakes, but we did see some lizards and a tree frog. We also saw some wild pigs, deer, and an armadillo. Danielle and Ron saw a javelina. Tyler and I think we saw a coyote. We're not sure what else it could have been, but it didn't look like the coyote in our area. There were lots of wildflowers, but they were everywhere in Texas, not just in the park.

American coot and a pied billed grebe

American green tree frog

 

Little blue heron

Least grebe

Green anole

Danielle and I would have liked to go back to the refuge at a different time of day to take the auto tour again, but we just didn't have enough days to fit everything in. We enjoyed our afternoon here!