Birthday party for our little monkeys

This year we decided to do a birthday party for Hunter and Mia together. Their birthdays are only a month a part and at this point in life we would invite many of the same friends for both kids. We asked Hunter where he would like to have the party and he said Monkey Bizness so we decided to have it there.

I think it was one of the easiest parties we have done. The kids had an hour to jump and then we served cake and snacks. At the end of the party I told Lantz that I felt like I barely got to see the kids. Hunter loved the giant slide and spent most of his time on that. Mia loved it too (once Daddy carried her to the top of the slide) and she also loved for Granny to hold her and carry her around. Here are a few pictures from our fun day.

Lantz's Dad, Papa was able to come in from Lubbock for the party. The kids had so much fun seeing him.


Hunter had fun sliding with Zach and Evan

Annalisa is in Mia's Sunday School class at church. They have so much fun playing together.

Hunter eating cake with Caleb.

Mia taking a break with Granny and Big Daddy.

Hunter with his second cousins, Jack and Grant.

Mariana, Audrey and Ella.

Lantz took Seth down the giant slide, I am not sure Seth knew what to think of it.

After the party Garrett hung out at our house. His Mommy had his baby sister, Grace, that morning. We had so much fun playing with him.

Hunter and Mia, we cannot believe you are already four and two. We hope you had fun celebrating your birthdays!

Happy Father's Day

Daddy, we hope you had a Happy Father's Day. We think you are the best Daddy. Thank you for all you do for our family, we are so blessed. We had fun celebrating at Buffalo Wild Wings with you and at Lupe Tortillas with Granny and Big Daddy. Mommy said she felt like it was Mother's Day because she didn't have to cook today! We love you, Hunter and Mia


Here are a few pictures from our fun day.

When we drove up to Buffalo Wild Wings Hunter said "look at the woolly mammoth!" Hunter loves Buffalo Wild Wings because they have a safari hunting game.

Mia likes to play the hunting game too.

Mia with Big Daddy at Lupe Tortilla.

Mia playing in the sand.

Hunter loves the animal statues at Lupes.

Vacation Bible School

Last week I got on board the Boomerang Express and headed for the Australian outback with twenty one, three and a half to four year olds for Vacation Bible School. It was a fun but exhausting week. This is the second year I have worked in Hunter's room. I love all the girls I serve with and all of our kids were in our room.

Hunter had a great time with his friends throughout the week. Here he is eating a snack with Jonathan and Maddox.

I was so excited that Ella and Audrey were in our room too. Their sweet mommies are precious friends and I love spending time with these girls. Mia's class was on the playground one morning when we were out. She spotted me and screamed, so she spent some time with our class on the big playground. When I sent this picture to Emily (Ella's Mom) she replied to my email and said that this was the prettiest picture of Joel, Lantz and Scott she had ever seen. All of our sweet girls look like their Daddy.

Hunter loved these beach balls we had in our room. He was so excited to take one home at the end of the week. I think he liked them because they had a koala and platypus on them. Each morning on the way to VBS he would tell me all the animals that lived in the Australian outback.

Mia had fun playing her didgeridoo that she made at VBS.

When the week was done Lantz asked if I was going to work in Mia's room next year. At the beginning of the week I would have said yes, but by the end of the week I was wondering how I could get a job in the refreshment room!

Pictures from Hunter's Birthday

We had a great time celebrating Hunter's fourth birthday. He woke up bright and early (5:15 a.m.) and spotted his presents on the fire place. We managed to hold him off until about 6 a.m. He was so excited that it was his birthday.

The only thing Hunter wanted for his birthday was a moose from Wal-Mart. The moose was the one thing we had not purchased, so I sent Lantz one evening to get it at Wal-Mart. Mia gave Hunter the moose for his birthday and he was so excited to get it.

We bought Hunter a tiger safari jeep to use with all of his animals. Lantz and Hunter have had a great time playing with this toy. Let me just say hats off to Lantz for his creativity when playing with Hunter's toys.

We also found a Curious George zoo game for Hunter. Each player wears a mask and hides, then one player has to find them. This is the first thing Hunter gets out every morning to play with. Mia grabs a mask and says "hide." I love this picture of all my zoo animals.

Hunter had a puppy cake and a lion cake for his birthday. Originally, Hunter just had a puppy cake. My Mom brought him a monkey balloon on his birthday, which she accidentally got caught in the fan and it popped. When they went to get another one Hunter spotted the lion cake, so you guessed it, Granny bought him that instead of another balloon.

We had a great time celebrating Hunter's special day. We look forward to his birthday party in a few weeks. We decided to do a party for Hunter and Mia together this year because their birthdays are only a month apart.

Happy Birthday Hunter

Hunter,

Happy 4th Birthday! It is so hard to believe that four years have already passed by since you were born. What an adventure those four years have been. We thank God everyday for the blessing of having you in our lives.

The past year has been a fun year. You have grown up so much. When we look at you now we no longer see a toddler, we see a little boy.

You still love to play with animals. We are convinced that you could outsmart anyone with all the animal facts you know. You also love to be outdoors. You have taught me to enjoy the moment, whether that means swimming in our inflatable pool in your regular clothes or purposely splashing in a mud puddle. It is the simple things in life that bring you the most joy.

You had a great year at preschool and you made some wonderful friends. It is hard to believe that in two years you will be in Kindergarten (we are giving Hunter the gift of another year and waiting to start him in Kindergarten until he is six).

It has been fun to watch you play with Mia this year. I love those sweet moments when I see you helping her without being asked. You love her to pieces, even though you get frustrated with her at times.

God continues to teach us so much through you daily. We pray that we are consistently showing you and telling you about God's love for you. We pray every day that he will call you to Himself.

We hope you have a blast celebrating your birthday today. We can not wait to see what the next year has in store for you.

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

That was then (June 12, 2005)

This is now (June 10, 2009)

Sea World

On the second day of our trip to San Antonio we went to Sea World. We were blessed to find a coupon in the paper that allowed adults to get in for the price of a child and to also get a second day free. We still had to pay almost $150 for Lantz, Hunter and myself to get in, thankgoodness Mia was free! We knew we would not last a full day at Sea World so we decided we would spend Wednesday morning there and then stop by on our way out of town on Friday.


On Wednesday morning we had prayed that our kids would sleep late. They were exhausted and went to bed late so we were sure they would. Well, we thought wrong. At 4:15, yes I said 4:15 a.m. Hunter came into our room wide awake and ready to go to Sea World. I know most other kids would probably go back to sleep, but not our son, he was up for the day and so were we. Thankfully, Mia slept until almost 6.

Upon arrival at Sea World we headed to the dolphins. Lantz bought some food to feed them. Hunter had his first meltdown of the day. By this time it was 10 and he had been up 6 hours already. I love the look on Lantz's face in this picture, it is priceless.




Next we headed over to the sharks. Mia and Hunter both enjoyed watching them swim.


This is a picture of the double stroller we rented at Sea World. Our kids did great in the stroller at first but by the end they were not very kind to each other. They were tired, hot, and frustrated with each other, and they were not afraid to let their emotions show! At one point they were screaming at each other at the top of their lungs and all Lantz and I could do was laugh.


We loved the sea lion show.

On Friday when we went back we were able to go and watch the sea lions swim around.



After the sea lions we grabbed lunch and headed over to see Shamu. The night before we left Lantz had shown Hunter a show he had recorded about Sea World in Florida. The program showed Shamu splashing the crowd. When we arrived at the theater for the Shamu show Hunter was very concerned that we did not get wet, so we sat at the top of the stadium. It was amazing to watch these whales swim with their trainers. I was very glad we were at the top when they started splashing the crowd, the people down low were soaked.

By this point we were all hot, tired and exhausted so we headed back to the hotel. On Friday we were able to see the penguins, alligators, and Clydesdale horses before we headed home.

By the time we left on Friday we had two exhausted kids. We grabbed McDonalds for lunch and headed back to Houston. They both slept two hours, so we got home rather quickly. If you notice in Mia's picture her Sea World Barbie is rather exhausted too, her head is somewhere under Mia's legs and her legs wer sticking straight up in the air. Hunter convinced us to buy this Barbie for Mia because he wanted the whale, dolphin and shamu squirt toys that came with it.



We are so thankful for the opportunity to take our first family trip. Despite the exhaustion, we will cherish the precious memories we made. After we got home Lantz and I determined that Disney World will have to wait a few years for our family. We want our kids to be done with naps and able to walk through the park without a stroller before we tackle Disney.

Hyatt Hill Country Resort

Last Tuesday we embarked on our first family "trip" to the Hyatt Hill Country Resort in San Antonio. We had a great time, the weather was perfect, the resort was not crowded and we had a blast with our kids. However, we came back more exhausted than when we left, so we are refering to our travel as a trip rather than a vacation.

Lantz and I visited the Hyatt Hill Country Resort when I was pregnant with Mia and we knew we wanted to come back with the kids one day. The resort is wonderful because it is so family friendly and it has so many things to do. Hunter did not want to leave and keeps asking when we can go back.

We arrived Tuesday afternoon with two tired kids who were ready to get out of the car.


We got our room, unpacked and immediately headed to the pool. We spent most of our time at the pool with the sandy beach. There is a lazy river that you can float on that takes you to each of the pools. The kids loved the river and they loved playing in the sand. Every time we would walk by the pools Mia would raise her hands in the air and say "float."





Our first day there Hunter saw another kid with a blue shark floating down the river. He loved it so we decided to try to find one for him. Thankfully the General Store at the resort had one for $9. We found another float for Mia. Both kids loved floating down the river in them.







The resort has a playground that the kids loved playing on. We spent many mornings and evenings at it.




Hunter loved riding the bikes the resort had. He would pedal as fast as he could and scare the birds. Then he would race to the other end of the trail and come back to scare them again. Lantz got in a workout trying to keep up with Hunter.


My Mom got Mia this baby doll for our trip. Lantz named her baby Hyatt. Mia carried her everywhere in her sling.


Each night you could make smores by the fire pit. Mia loved hers, Hunter did not like his that much. One night Hunter asked if he could get his feet wet in the water, we said he could. Gradually he kept inching further and further into the water and before we knew it he was soaked. It was just one of those moments you had to laugh because he was having so much fun.




While on the trip we discovered Rudy's barbecue, which we loved. We will be visiting the one in Houston soon.


On Wednesday and Friday we spent some time at Sea World. The rest of the time we just enjoyed being at the resort. Sea World was an adventure in itself so I will make another post with those pictures.