The Summer so far...

It's already July, which means the first full month of summer is over!  It goes by fast, too fast.  Almost as fast as the kids seem to grow up.  But here is what we've been up to this summer so far, courtesy of the iPhone...

 

Went for a stroll.

Went to the beach.

Got a Guinea Pig.

Ate some sand.

Ate some baby wipes? 

Went to the playground.

Spent some time with the brothers.  Fun time, I might add.

Got buried in toys.

Cooled off at the splash park. 

Sat around on the couch.

Got some scars. 

Then got back in the battle.

Had a birthday.

Ate the bed.

Got buried in more toys.

Cooled off again.

Rinsed off. 

Went on safari.

Cooled off... again.

Walked on the boardwalk.

Went to the bay.

Went to the lake.

Ate some chalk.

Played with trains.

Made a mess.

 

Passed out.

So as you can see, we've been having fun... and Nolan's been eating just about everything.  Still almost two months of summer to go!  Should be a blast!

Day at the Lake

We went up to Lake Corpus Christi the other day, or Lake Mathis, or Lake Whatever.   People seem to be confused as to what the lake is called, because I think they changed its name not too long ago.  Either way, it’s a man-made lake that supposedly feeds the city with clean drinking water.  The last couple of years have been apparently dry around here though, because the lake’s level is pretty low.  You can see the line where it was at one time, and it’s pretty crazy how far down it is.  Either way, it was a nice lake with some nice camping spots, picnic tables, and that sort of thing.  But it was hot that day.  Really hot.  So we didn’t spend much time out there, but we did take a few photos. 

There was a pretty cool old building up there that looked like an old church, but was some sort of shelter... I guess in case a massive hurricane comes in or something?  Not really sure, but it was interesting.

The crawler.  He's starting to get too fast to catch.  He's up the stairs or out the door before we even know it. 

Gotta love big brothers.

Don't fall off the edge, Adam Michael.

And then there's Paul, trying to jump off the edge.  Go figure.

I realize we didn't take any pictures of the actual lake, but that's because we weren't out of the shade for very long.  We'll have to go back when the sun is not literally melting the skin off of your body.

It's been about six years...

It seems like he’s been around a lot longer than six years, but the oldest boy just hit that number.  He’s been well traveled in his short time, having been born in Florida, lived in Maryland, Utah, Georgia, and Texas, with numerous trips to Montana in between.  He’s an outgoing, outlandish, naturally energized and never exhausted, one of a kind type of kid.  He’s Paulie Cheeseburger, always nagging, always bouncing off the walls, always driving us crazy... but our lives would be overly boring without him.  In August he’ll be a first grader, but it’s crazy how smart the kid already is.  He had another great Birthday a couple weeks ago, and I’m sure he’ll be having another great summer, because wherever he’s at, there’s sure to be excitement!

Sunsets over Texas

One thing we've noticed around here is that the sunsets are fantastic.  I'm not sure if it's the water or the almost perfectly flat miles and miles of fields, but something about the landscape here makes you really notice the sun falling down and turning the sky to gold every night.  It worked out quite well on this night for some new photos of the boys.  Becky wanted some updated pictures to hang on the walls, so here are some of our choices:

And some goofy ones... specifically when you get Adam involved.

And maybe even Nolan can get slightly goofy at times... 

Love this one...

And there they are... some crazy boys.

Eastern Visitors

We had additional visitors last week, as Uncle Ted and Aunt Rachel came by for a visit.  They flew into San Antonio to visit Rachel’s brother, and decided to drive down to the coast to see us while they were that close.  We did our best to entertain them, and the boys did their best to drive them crazy (as they always do), but it’s all in good fun.  We went to the beach (of course), and saw a few other Corpus Christi related things over the weekend.  Unfortunately, we didn’t take many pictures for some reason.  But here are a couple of Ted with the boys.

It was good seeing them, as Rachel had never met Nolan and Ted hadn’t seen him since about day one.  And the other boys are always thrilled to hang out with them.  We’re sure they’ll be back!

Northern Visitors

We haven’t posted in quite a while, mostly due to the fact that we had visitors for a couple weeks.  Grandpa Jim and Grandma Cindy were here for two weeks at the start of the month.  We hit the beach more than a few times, and saw a lot of the other sites the city has to offer.  Check it out:

It'd been more than eight months, so you can imagine how much the boys had grown since they'd last seen them... oh yeah, and the third one wasn't even around back then! 

Boys on the beach, as always.

Looking for lost treasure at Padre Island National Seashore... or miniature sharks, I guess.

Typical Nolan...

And more typical Nolan...

This one wasn't the youngest grandchild for very long!

 Grandpa Jim and his castle building assistants.

And we went downtown Corpus Christi to check out the locals for the annual Buc Days Parade!  Longest... parade... ever.  After two hours we finally decided to head out.  But overall it was another great visit!  Anybody else who wants to come on down to the beach, just let us know!