On our way to Austin!

We loaded up in the car last weekend and headed south to the suburbs of Austin. The kids do a good job traveling but we sometimes have to play in the backseat to keep them occupied. Luckily, the DVD player is a big help too! I will be glad when Hudson gets old enough to wear headphones so that we don't have to listen to all of the movies that they watch! I really do get tired of listening to Elmo's voice and the other Sesame Street characters!

Trooper, can you give us a ride?

A big part of our lives is our animals, even though sometimes they drive us nuts! The kids love playing with them and we are blessed to have a wonderful family dog that just about lets the kids do anything. I caught some great moments when Reagan and Hudson wanted to take a ride on Trooper. I think that if Trooper could figure out a way to let them ride, he would! He is so good with the kids and the kids adore him!

Sparkles!!

Our new favorite toy is actually a headband that was bought for Reagan several years ago around the Fourth of July. I don't remember her wearing it at the time, but now every night the two kids fight over it! Everyone has had to wear the headband including the dog! I am not sure why we spend money on buying toys...we just need to have a few extra headbands!

Future Fireman?

We went out to the grandparents house this weekend and the kids love being out there. Nan always has fun things for them to do! This weekend she let the kids help her water the flowers and plants. I am not sure how much watering was done, but mud was definitely involved! Hudson loved the water hose and thought it was a great idea to aim it at everyone! Hmmmm...Future Fireman like Daddy?

Dancing Diva!

At Reagan's preschool, they have a dancing program once a week. She asked me the entire last school year if she could participate. We decided that it would be worth the money and let her participate this year. After having to buy ballet shoes, tap shoes, leotard, tights and a tutu....this was the end result. Once we got the order in, she had to try everything on and try it all out! She got to dance at school last week for the first time and absolutely loved it! Of course, we have to keep everything put up....she would wear it all daily if she could! If you haven't noticed a theme yet, Hudson tries to do everything Reagan does. I have to say that he didn't try on the leotard or the tights but loved the tap shoes! As you can tell in the video, he was tap dancing as quickly as Reagan. It is hard work to keep up with his sister, though, and he takes a lot of falls. It doesn't seem to stop him from trying again!

Cartwheels!!!

Reagan is getting more and more involved in things these days. She goes to Gymnastics every Tuesday afternoon and loves it! She has gotten much better and can actually perform a pretty good cartwheel! The first video is her doing a cartwheel (twice - because I missed the first one) and then the second video is Hudson's cartwheel!

Water Park

We also spent a little time at Sea World's water park. They have a nice toddler pool area that had several slides. The kids loved it and of course did not want to leave. They took nice naps on the road home and were exhausted! Hopefully, we will get back before too long!

Feeding the Dolphins!

We repeated the buying of fish but this time we got to feed the dolphins. Reagan got one close enough to her to touch it as well. We also got to see the "Believe" whale show while at Sea World. Unfortunately, we were in the "splash zone" so we didn't really get to take any pictures of the whales. Evidently, in January a whale was born in San Antonio. This "baby" whale (who weighed 350 pounds at birth) swam with its mother and tried to perform all the tricks that the mother whale performed. It was really neat to see. Reagan really wanted to get splashed until it happened. Hudson wasn't very thrilled about it either! They got over it though and it really was a nice cool down!

Sea Lions...Sea Lions

We were able to buy a small container of fish and feed the sea lions. They love to talk to you too! Reagan didn't even complain about the slimy fish! We also watched two great sea lion shows. "Uncle Max" is the very large sea lion in the pictures....he even did sit-ups during the show! The sea lions are very intelligent creatures and can really make you laugh!

Sea World - San Antonio

We decided to cap off a wonderful summer with one last mini vacation. We headed down to San Antonio on Friday and stayed the weekend enjoying Sea World. During our Florida vacation, Reagan was able to touch a sea lion and a dolphin and wanted to see the sea lions and dolphins again! Since the Florida vacation, she sleeps with a dolphin and a sea lion stuffed animal every night. This weekend, we got to add a "Shamu" whale stuffed animal to her collection. Hudson got one too but his is primarily only used to torment his sister! She often thinks that it is her "Shamu" that he has, and he doesn't let her think otherwise! The kids had a great time overall, even though Hudson was a little sick during the visit. We plan on going back at some point during the year and letting them enjoy a little more!