craftyc0rn3r: Goodbye Summer!

Our summer vacation is about to end. It's a little bittersweet. I look forward to the regular schedule that school sets, but at the same time, summer has been wonderful. I took a week off of work so its been especially nice the last few days.

Here are some of our summer highlights. It's been busy, but fun. You can see that I am definitely outnumbered 5 boys to little ol me in this pic.

USS LEXINGTON

We drove along the coast and decided that we wanted to take a closer look at that ship. Do you see it in the back on the left? It's the USS Lexington and my hubby who used to be in the military was anxious to climb aboard.

Of course, A. is always willing to smile for the camera.

It was incredibly hot that day. Humidity was 80%. Can you believe that? Needless to say, we were sweating the moment we stepped out of the car.

Inside, the kids had fun looking at everything. A. once again is posing for the camera instead of really aiming at his target.

Behind bars.

I asked A. to stand near this missile, instead he climbed right into the propeller. We had a lot of observers giggling as he posed once again for the camera. Thank goodness there wasn't a "do not touch" sign in this museum.

AQUARIUM

We decided to take the kids to the aquarium one day. It was amazing to see the sharks swim right over us.

They wanted to look at everything. Here they are with grandma.

Posing with Auntie.

R. got up and close to a manatee.

Just a huggin moment for A. and I.

ALAMO

We headed down to San Antonio and took the kids to the Alamo.

The moment we got in front of the Alamo, E. came running towards me. When he finally reached me, he stopped to show me that he had lost his very first tooth! Most of his friends had started losing teeth when they were in Kinder and here he was going into the 3rd grade before his first one finally came out. He was so ecstatic!

Dad and A. looking at the koi pond.

Conversations between R. and E. went like this.
E: "Do you see the cannons on the map?"
R: "No."
E: "Its here. [points to the map] Lets go look at them."

R: "I see them. Let's go. Do you think we'll have to take more pictures?"

E: "Probably. The faster we smile, the faster we can go get snow cones."

A: "Come on guys, smile already."
R: "Are we done yet?"

A: "Cheese! Can we get snow cones already?"

Best snow cones ever.

E: "Do you think Mom will put the camera down now?"
R: "Nope."

RAINFOREST CAFE

We decided to eat at the Rainforest cafe on our way to Lego land. They had a great time, but I definitely can tell my kids are spoiled when E. says, "This is a great restaurant [he says as he looks at the fish tanks], but the Pizza at Maggianos is much better." I'd have to agree, but seeing how "refined" my kid's palate is makes me chuckle.

LEGO LAND

We headed to Lego Land Discovery Center to check it out. It was fun. We had to wait for the Professor before we could enter. A. decided he would spend his time covering this entire board with legos.

Once inside, you were lead to a small factory where you learned how legos were made.

Once that was complete, you earned a special yellow brick lego which you could take home with you.

The kids enjoyed the rides. The first one was all about shooting the bad guys. It's very much like the Toy Story Mania ride at Hollywood Studios theme park.

They got to watch a 4D movie. I still can't tell the difference between 4D and 3D.

They rode little lego cars around the track.

They looked at tons of Lego pieces which included buildings and little towns.

Here A. is trying to knock down a tower by controlling the frequency of waves by turning the knob.

Those were just a few of the places we explored this summer. We had so much fun. Perhaps, my most favorite times are the times we spent at home out back in our pool and our ice cream afternoons. Our family definitely loves ice cream and having an ice cream sundae with the kiddos is perfect for any afternoon. I'll probably miss those days the most.