First Family Camping Trip

Last summer B bought a tent that would fit our entire family plus extra room, so we could go camping.  We had plans to camp back in November, but a thunder storm caused us to cancel.  So we made plans to camp in May at Brazos Bend State Park

on a Friday night, May 20th.  Our kids had an early release day so we left our house at 2:00 and checked in.

W had his last Tball game that night so we would eat dinner out after his ball game, but we would eat s'mores over the campfire after getting back to the camp site.  When we checked in and got settled, B set up the tent while the kids just walked around and explored the woods.  We were pretty far from the bathrooms so it took about 20 minutes to make a bathroom trip.  After the tent was set up, we drove around to the look out points to try and look for alligators.

We were unsuccessful and figured we might try again in the morning but it was time to head into town for W's t-ball game.  His last game was a lot of fun and after it was over, we stopped by the house to let Cooper out and grabbed an extension cord and then headed back to our camp site.  When we got back to our site, I noticed that the cooler lid was up and I just figured we had left it open.  Once we got closer and parked, I realize that a raccoon was in our cooler trying to take our food.  Bryce put the van in park and chased the racoon away and came back with our pack of chocolate bars that the racoon tried to take.  Fortunately it was still sealed closed and the racoon dropped it and B was able to it back.  The racoon kept coming back trying to get back in our cooler so the kids were on look out all night.  R worried about the racoon and finally I told her just to stand watch with her flashlight and let B know when the racoon was back.  We had berries and eggs inside our cooler but fortunately the racoon didn't try and take any of that. 

For some weird reason, he tried to take our chocolate bars.  B worked on getting the fire started and the kids watched out for the racoon.  Once the first was started, we made s'mores and enjoyed the fire before heading to bed at 10:30.  All four kids were covered in bug spray, sweat, and dirt but they didn't care because they were so tired.  None of us showered and none of us cared.  We had to wake up and head out by 9:00 am because A had his last soccer game Saturday morning.  Before we left Brazos Bend, B took the tent down, the kids played in the woods, and we had s'mores for breakfast.  All in all it was a fun camping trip and made for a funny story about the racoon.  The racoon stressed R out and she couldn't sit and relax knowing that he would keep coming back.  Finally B started shooting rocks at him using the Pocket Shot that Marcus gave him.  I'm not sure if B actually hit the racoon or if it just scared him, but he finally stopped coming around.  We put the cooler in the van and didn't leave anything outside to attract other critters to our site.  This was our first outdoor camping trip but it certainly won't be our last.  We had a great time camping.

Last Days of School

May 31, 2016 was A's Kindergarten program.  The entire Kinder class sang a few songs an then the teachers called out each student and recognized them for finishing Kindergarten.  A wanted to dress up so he picked out his Easter clothes and I spiked his hair too.  He surprised us by not telling us that he would be a student conductor for one of the songs.  He was really enjoying his time on stated and sang his little heart out.

June 1, 2016 was R's 2nd grade awards ceremony.  The 2nd graders do not sing or dance like the Kindergartners but they did have a nice award's ceremony.  Each student was called out and 2 awards per student were announced.  Inside R's folder she had many certificates for her achievements throughout second grade.  I wanted to check her out after her awards, but she did not want to come with me.  So I left her at school and just checked A out instead. 

June 2, 2016 was the last day of 2nd grade for R and Kinder for A.  Both kids had a great year at Williams Elementary School and we are looking forward to a fun summer together.  Next year I'll have 3 kids in school and they are going to rock it!

You can really see how much A grew over the year

Rin's Talent Show

It took R forever to decide what she wanted to do for her school's talent show and finally she decided to dance.  She's been taking ballet this school year and has enjoyed it.  She made up her own dance to the same music for her dance recital and she wore her recital costume as well.  Instead of having a school wide performance, they had grade level performances during the day.  The 2nd grade performance was on April 12th and it started at 10. 

In addition to her ballet performance, R also performed with Ms. Lucky's class.  They danced as a group to Wipe Out and it was super cute.  

Diva Run in Galveston

I like to work out and I enjoy exercise, but I don't really love to run.  I've had to run a lot playing soccer but running has never been my favorite form of exercise.  But, I met some nice ladies at the Y named Carrie and Colleen, and we started running three days a week after our HIIT class at the YMCA.  Carrie and Colleen both have run half marathons and full marathons but I've only run a 5K.  Colleen asked us if we would be interested in running in the Diva Run in Galveston and I said I would run a 5K but nothing more than that.  Carrie said she'd run the half, but she would be busy with soccer that weekend.  Colleen and I both signed up to run the 5K and we would both have our families with us.  Colleen is a mom to 5 kids and her oldest is 13 and her youngest is 2.  Together with our 9 kids, we pack out the childcare room at the Y.  We have a lot in common and she's very kind and down to earth.  

Since moving to Houston, we haven't visited Galveston so we took this opportunity to make a family weekend out of it.  We made a hotel reservation for Saturday night and drove to Galveston after the kids finished their soccer and Tball games at the YMCA.  I had to pick up my race packet before 5 so that was our first stop and then we parked on the street and walked along the beach (Sea Wall Blvd).  We wanted to walk along Pleasure Pier but it cost too much just to enter, so we decided to eat at Fishtales instead.  We were told we'd have to wait 45 minutes but it ended up only being 20 minutes before getting a great seat on the balcony.   Dinner was nice and the weather was great for sitting outside.  After dinner we checked into the hotel for bed since we had to wake up at 5:00 am. 

Morning came quickly and the children were tired, but they were troopers about getting up so early.  B and the kids took me as close to the start as they could and then I met up with Colleen.  B walked around with the kids to find them breakfast and I told him to be back at the finish line about 30 minutes after the start, which was at 7:00 am.  Colleen and I estimated that we'd finish the 5K in about 30 minutes and we lined up towards the back of wave 1.  There were so many people...almost 2000 people signed up for the 5K.  The half started at 6:30 and then the 5K at 7:00.

 I followed Colleen at the start as we weaved in and out of the crowd trying to find our pace and space.  I think we weaved in and out for the first entire mile and then between mile 1 and 2, the crowd started to thin out.  At one point I had to stop and tie my shoe and then when I caught back up with Colleen, she told me to go ahead if I could.  I didn't want to leave her, but she said she couldn't go any faster and if I could run faster then I should.  So I did.  I ran and listened to my iPod and my mindset was I would just run and pass the person in front of me one at a time.  I ended up finishing in 25:16 and B and the kids didn't get back in time to see me cross the finish line.  It was fine because I had told him not to come back until 7:30.  I ended up finishing 2nd in my age group and my average mile was 8:07.

 I never ran than fast with the ladies from the Y but Colleen said you always run faster on race day because your adrenaline is flowing.  I had a good time and the whole vibe was very positive and fun.  After getting my award, we went back to the hotel to pack up and check out before going to the beach to meet Colleen and her family.  Colleen, her husband, Doug and their 5 kids (Logan, Sarah, Matthew, Grace and Anna) were waiting for us at the Galveston State Park.  We met them there and the kids played in the sand and water for a few hours together.  It was really windy and a bit chilly for my taste but the kids didn't really care.  We didn't even have their swim suits because we hadn't planned to go to the beach but Colleen and her family invited us so we thought it would be fun and it was.  Doug seems really nice and we enjoyed spending some time with their family.  We left a little after noon and stopped at Sonic before getting on the road back home.  While driving home it rained pretty hard and I was very thankful that it didn't rain like that during the race.  Our family had a great weekend in Galveston and even R wants to run with me in the Diva Run next year.  We will see, but I'm thankful for Colleen and her encouragement to run the 5K.