Summer 2008 at Ninny and Paco's

We decided not to venture too far from home with Seth, so we went to spend a couple of weeks with Ninny and Paco for our summer vacation. It was great not having to rush around and feeling so tired after the vacation was over. The kiddos and I headed out on Sunday the 22nd for a fun two hour drive to East Texas. Let's just say that Seth's limit in the car is 90 minutes and so the last 30 minutes of the drive were tons of fun. Chris and the dog joined us on Tuesday the 24th.

The first day we were there, Hannah and Paco had a lot of fun at the park and Seth just chilled out as usual.

On Wednesday the 25th, Hannah decided it was time to pick blueberries. She has a Dora video that talks about picking blueberries for a pie and so we decided it was time to go. She had a BLAST. I was really surprised and expected the picking to last about 10 minutes. She picked blueberries for an hour and was not ready to leave. It was a lot of fun!!

On Thursday the 26th, Ninny went to visit with Baby John and Aunt April, so the rest of us loaded up and headed to Tiger Creek Rescue center and Tyler State Park for a picnic lunch. Seth and I missed the tour at Tiger Creek, because as we arrived, Seth decided to spit up all over himself and me. (Needless to say, I own a lovely Tyler State Park t-shirt now:)) After Tiger Creek, we went to the State Park and had a picnic lunch and fed the ducks!!!

The tigers pictured below are very rare tigers - they are golden striped tigers - more rare than white tigers. There are only about 100 in the US and this rescue has 3 tigers about the same age that are not related, so they will be breeding these tigers.

Seth was having a GREAT time being outdoors and under the trees in East Texas!

Hannah thought a picnic was the greatest thing ever - she was so excited - below feeding the ducks was an adventure - we gave her a bagel to feed the ducks thinking she would tear it up like Daddy was, but she threw the entire bagel at the ducks - luckily no duck was injured:) On Friday, Ninny joined us and we all went to Discovery Science Place. It is an AWESOME hands-on kids museum in Tyler. Hannah had a blast and did not want to leave. There was so much to see and do - we will definitely go back there soon.

Below - taking care of all the babies

Being a waitress at the diner was a BIG hit!!!Driving Daddy in the fire truck was important to Hannah!!

Seth LOVED watching the fish in the tank!!

On Sunday the 29th, my brother and his family came over so we could celebrate Matt's 8th birthday! The kids had so much fun playing together and Seth got to meet my brother, his wife and 3 of his cousins! I missed getting pictures of Janie and Matt with Seth - next time....

Sydney and Seth

Tiffany and Seth - above

Uncle Paul and Seth - below

Happy Birthday Matt!!!

Monday we took the kids to the Caldwell Zoo and had a good time looking at all the animals - Hannah would spend everyday at a zoo somewhere - she LOVES animals!! Tuesday we stayed home and went fishing and swimming - which we did a lot of...

Mommy, Seth and Daddy made prints in the sand - Hannah was not interested in participating.....

Daddy's big catch - Daddy and Paco cleaned the fish and we ate it for dinner that night - it was really good!! Wednesday we were off to the East Texas Oil Museum , Rangerette Showcase at Kilgore college and Great Ninny's house. Hannah loved the Rangerette Museum that she refers to as the ballerina store because she thought the Rangerette's looked like ballerina's with their skirts.

Hannah began to call my Nanny - Great Ninny and so that is what we will call her from now on. We went there for lunch and met my Aunt Margie there with her 3 grandchildren. It was a GREAT time and Hannah has talked about going back to feed to goats!

Below - Seth was blowing bubbles and I thought it was the funniest face ever!!

Great Ninny with Seth Above - this is Great Ninny holding Seth on the left and my cousin Michelle's little boy Mark. Mark is 25 days older than Seth, but looks like a giant next to him. No one believes they are that close in age!!! Mark is big for his age and poor Seth is still in Newborn clothes at 3 1/2 months old!!

Below is Great Ninny with 5 of her 10 great grandkids - Tyler, Hannah, Seth, Mark, and Samantha. The other 5 great grandkids at this point are Candace, Tiffany, Sydney, Matt, and John - with Rory (the 11th great grandchild) on the way!!

Here is proof where Seth's ears came from - this is his Great Aunt Margie!!!

Thursday we stayed at the house for some down time and helped with the gardening with Paco. Hannah loved picking tomatoes and watering the garden.

Friday we headed to Canton for some shopping and fun! It was really hot, but the kids did GREAT and I found some really cute things for both kiddos!!

Saturday was when HAWL held all of their Fourth of July activities. Hannah, Daddy and Paco headed down for the boat parade and played at the park for a little while. They came home and ate dinner and Hannah had her first smore's - she loved the chocolate but was not a fan of the marshmellow or cracker. After dinner, Ninny stayed with Seth at the house and the rest of us headed down to the lake for the fireworks! It was a GREAT show - Hannah did okay, but kept asking to go home! IT was REALLY loud!!

Sunday we packed up and headed home - it was WONDERFUL time and we were sad that is was over! Thank you Ninny and Paco for a fabulous time!! We love you!!!