Boating Fun

 Aunt Kathy came to visit and Dad took his boat out of the lake.  It was the girls first time to go out in it.  Lydia liked going fast but Gloria wasn't as fond of it, she needed someone to hold onto.

 We stopped in a cove (Kathy and I said if you squinted and looked a certain way you could feel like you were in Greece).  We swam a bit, climbed on a fallen down tree and up the rocky hill.

Dad let Lydia & Gloria have a turn at the wheel.

Friends

 A group of friends got together to play outside in water at Owen's house.

 The three little sisters

 He has a trampoline and they had also had a picnic underneath.

Enjoying a Sprite.

Libraries!

 And now a plug for our public libraries!  We have been spending a lot of time in various ones around town.  The programs are great and its cool and free.  I am still being the teacher at the small country Garfield library once a month.  Our last theme was King, Queens and Emperors (so the girls dressed appropriately) our craft was making a crown.

 Twice we met Maryam and her new baby Joseph at a library by her home for special programs.  He mostly slept but they enjoyed being out of the house too.

First was An Afternoon in Africa and a lady from Kenya told stories with puppets and showed clothes and also let the children play African instruments.  It was a long program so Lydia was warmed up enough to volunteer to play a bell.
Then we saw the Singing Zoologist and became groupies and went to see him at another library as well.  He tells stories and sings silly songs about animals.

Blanco State Park

 After the Festival we headed to the State Park along the amazing Blanco river.  We spent most of the time in the water.

 We also enjoyed out campsite including a new big tent!  We had Ramon noodles and carrots for dinner and the girls raved about how it was such a wonderful meal.  In the night we caught fireflies and had a fire.  

After breakfast and another swim we packed up and headed home.

Lavender Festival!

 For several years I've wanted to go to the Lavender Festival in Blanco so for our anniversary this year we packed up the family and headed west.  We stopped at two farms and looked at the small lavender bushes, enjoyed lavender treats-divinity (see Gloria's face), lemonade, cookies and more.

 The second farm had a pink tractor and a farmer's market where we bought peaches (fashback to Georgia and Gloria munching on a peach outside)

We stopped at the festival on the square in Blanco, ate our picnic lunch while listening to a family band from San Antonio perform.  It was too hot and crowded (and shopping-yuck) for us to enjoy watching around and looking at the booths so we got icees (including lavender) and headed to our campsite!

Various Summer Fun!

 Now you get to experience wonderful pictures from various fun things so far this summer.  Gloria as Rapunzel when Jon & Pam came for dinner.  The girls always think dressing up is a good idea for guests-Lydia wore her ballet costume.

 Face painting from VBS kick off.  They didn't want to take a bath so I took lots of pics to remember the beauty.

 VBS was an aviation theme so we continued it at home including a trip to the airport to watch planes take off and land.

 Climbing a tree outside Amy's ice cream (we've been eating lots of ice cream!)

 Gloria has now been to the movie theater!  We saw Dolphin Tale with friends (they both loved it) and while Lydia was in dance camp the two of us saw Yogi Bear.  Gloria enjoyed it, I endured it :)

 Kirinda's 5th annual pool birthday party.  We were late as it was the last day of dance camp but we still got the yummy food and cake and we played with KT while her parents cleaned and packed up.

 Having a picnic lunch at daddy's new work.  We got a tour of the whole building and ate on tables overlooking McKinney Falls State Park, this will be a really nice place when it gets a little cooler.

 Nita & Jacob are spending most of the summer in South Africa.  We went to play and so their parents could run errands the day before they left.  Now they are enjoying winter.

But not us, we rarely go outside unless it involves water-like this splash pad with some friends from church.

Lydia's recital

 After a wonderful year of Monday morning ballet, Lydia had a recital.  Nana & Grandpa came to watch.  This photo was practicing during the dress rehearsal (the night we returned from the beach).  Lydia did wonderful!  She gracefully performed all the moves.

 Final bow with the other groups.

 Downtown theater

The family all dressed up for the show!