Another month of fun

 I'm just putting up some of my summer time favorites.  A group from church went to Pump it Up jump house and the girls had a blast (and wanted to stay longer!)  They also got pizza.  I went down a slide (this same one) and got a burn on my elbow!

 Our neighborhood had a fair and besides swimming a lot of the day and meeting firemen (FB picture) and playing on a wet bouncy, they (and Jackson) got to get in the back of a disaster EMS vehicle. 

 Friends from church on promotion day, they were so cute sitting here but when the camera came out so did the silliness (and its been two hot to go run it out outside, days we don't go to the pool we get pretty stir crazy in the afternoon)

Back to school playgroup and picnic.  Feeding the ducks/geese was a kick, the big kids kept backing away as Gloria dove right in with them.  Then we played and got super sweaty on a cool playground!

Performances

 We need culture!  And this summer was great for it.  Salado Legends an outdoor musical that my family was a part of while I was in HS had a 20 year reunion and the family went, enjoyed hot dogs and the story of the history of Salado.  The girls got tired (and weren't too fond of the gun shot) so my Mom took them home at intermission.

 Back in Austin, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, there was a tribute for her birthday and the Singing Zoologist was there to perform!  Lydia is normally reserved in group settings but I have been proud of her this summer.  When he asked kids to come dance, she at first said she didn't want to, but then in the second verse she headed down, with Gloria right behind-you can see the tops of their heads here.

 It was the first time for Caleb to hear him and they even got to chat a bit about science and education.

 The hills are alive....with the Sound of Music at the Zilker Hillside Theater.  Mom drove down to go with me and Lydia (and Abby & Sherri too) to see the Sound of Music.  It was CROWDED!  But all enjoyed.  Lydia sat and watched very focused.  We got a seat right on the bottom of the hill and several people fell down where we were sitting.  It wasn't comfortable but the show was wonderful and the cast very talented.  After the show, walking out, driving out and being diverted by road construction we arrived home at 12:12-that's a summer night!

visit from Carrie and kids

Its Saturday morning at 8:15, Caleb is still asleep and the girls are nicely (please no jinx) playing Star Wars in Gloria's bedroom-I am Jaba's mother.  So I thought I would take the moment to blog.  I am way behind on this summer and it ends on Monday when Lydia starts Kindergarten!

 Carrie and her kids came to visit for a day on their way back from the beach with her mom and cousins.  The big kids tried to all sleep in one room but it didn't work out.  We woke up and went to the pool, it was quite an entourage!  And a quick but fun time was had by all.

 Mandatory self portrait that Cora got to be a part of!

Art Day in the Park - Biscuit Brothers

Austin is the town for LIVE music, even for kids.  Every Wednesday this summer there was Art Day in the Park with an instrument 'petting zoo' where the kids could try out different ones (sanitation engineers were standing nearby with wipes).  The girls were good and made a sound in all.

We carpool with Jackson and his family including his grandma (one good thing about minivans) and got the last close free parking spot.  The place was PACKED but we were there early and got to play, get animal balloons (which caused much drama as Gloria popped 3 through the morning) get $.10 lemonade, be serenaded by a brass quintet, and get an awesome seat to watch a story teller, the quintet and then the Biscuit Brothers.  They put on a great show and then we walked over to the park area for...

the first pictures with Dusty & Bufford, which was beside our face painting line.  It was Blue Bell sponsor day so we all got free peach icicles!  After the excitement we walked to the capital for a picnic...

Mary's brother works nearby so he met us.  Gloria cried under an oak tree for 30 minutes (balloon popping) while Lydia & Jackson ran a ton.  I raced her once so she won't always win :)  then we stopped at the state library (Mary's old job) for a bathroom break before heading home to detox from all the kid joy (and sorrow)

Olympics

 The girls have always enjoyed doing 'gymnastics' on our swing set and with the Olympics going on, it is extra fun.

 Watching one day during lunch-we can have the tv on during the day and its cultural and educational :)  Actually Lydia said the Olympics are boring because its just a bunch of grown ups.  She said it would be much less boring if we could watch them in person instead of on the tv.  I'll get on that for Brazil!

Our story time this month was an Olympic theme and the girls and I dressed the part of USA.  (Gloria is hiding under the table-classic, maybe she is practicing her diving!  which she is enjoying doing in the water now!)

San Antonio

 the HS girl friends got together at Julie's new home.  She is a Texan again (and had only lived there for a week before we invaded).  We had a great time catching up, laughing, jumping for a picture, eating out (river walk two times and Pei Wei), a little shopping, cooking and ice cream, going for a walk, playing with Cora and Ernie (Carrie's baby and Julie's dog), we watched Breaking Dawn, and kinda helped Julie organize.

 Everyone else was busy on Saturday including Caleb and my girls were with Mom & Dad in Salado, so I had a day to myself.  I decided that even though we aren't traveling outside of Texas this summer, that I was going to enjoy being a tourist in my own state.  I went to the Japanese Botanical Gardens.  I was there early and walked for a while, enjoyed watching a Swahili band film a music video, then parked myself (see my spot below) to read, pray and organize some!  It got hot so I headed home after lunch and dreaded clothes shopping which is better without the girls!

Not a Laughing Matter

Surprised by Laughter: The Comic World of C.S. Lewis
I got this book free for blogging about it at Booksneeze.com
I was hoping for a light fun engaging uplifting for my trip overseas; then I got it. It is huge! And by a PhD. I took me a while to pick it up again but while often it is wordy, I am glad I am reading it, though slowly. 
Several months later-I was glad I read it but it kept getting slower and slower.
I recommend this book if you are a huge fan of CS Lewis and want more information about his life, companions and writings; also if you are interested in the dissecting of literature. 
Linovall does disclaim that writing about humor is not humorous and he is correct. There were moments of interest and insight into different topics (such as joy, food, wit, taboo, nature) but mostly this is a academic dissertation packaged in a book.