Houston... no problems

A couple of weeks ago I had to go up to Houston for work, so Becky and the boys followed me up and we spent a Saturday checking out the big city.  And by big city, I mean big, big city.  Technically the biggest city I've ever been in... since it's the fourth biggest in the country.  And it felt like it.  The city is massive in land size and in amount of people, but the cool thing was there were quite a few things there that we don't have available in Corpus Christi.  Becky definitely enjoyed the shopping opportunities while I had to work, and the boys enjoyed the Lego store.  We also checked out this new age, eco-friendly family park called Discovery Green because the same people who built it are supposed to be redesigning the Corpus Bayfront over the next couple of years (which we're really excited about because the plans look awesome).  Anyway, the boys splashed in the waters and had a good time.

Nolan is in full "eat everything I find" stage... doesn't matter if it's living, dead, food or garbage, if he can get his little fingers on it, it's going in his mouth.  Mmmm...

Adam trying not to be washed down the drain...

The splash king, if there's water... he's there.

A requirement of my wife that we stop here... I had "Late Night Snack" which is ice cream with potato chips in it... not too bad actually.

And of course we had to stop at Ikea.  Why wouldn't you stop at Ikea?  Nolan didn't get this chair, but it was definitely his size.

An otherwise good trip to the big, hot city of Houston.  I'm sure we'll be back.

Three Pairs

The Clayburn girls came down with Granny G a couple weeks ago to hang out with us, and that made six children under six in our relatively small space.  As you can imagine, it was a bit noisy at times, and a very energetic place, but all in all it was a great visit.  The kids all had a blast together, playing at the playgrounds, going to the aquarium, the beach, and the botanical gardens, and of course shopping at the mall.  It works out pretty good with each one of them having another of about the same age and size, though it is somewhat difficult keeping track of them all and finding tables big enough at restaurants.  I can’t imagine having six children… who would be that crazy?  Oh, right.  Anyway, it was sad to see them go, and hopefully we’ll see them all again before we know it! 

This picture pretty much says it all about their personalities.

Cousins Nolan and Lexi... they weren't quite too sure about each other, it didn't help that he grabbed her by the hair right after this photo...

The littlest Clayburn

I guess he's listening here?  That would be a first...

Brookie B, striking a pose for the camera...

As to be expected...

The baby wrangler and his catch...

Nice pink bucket, Adam.

Boogie boardin' at Port Aransas.

All of Granny G's grandkids.

One of the rare times Sophia let us catch her on camera.

Nice.

Gotta protect from the sun, I guess.

Hanging out at the aquarium.

And joining the butterflies at the Botanical Gardens.

Glad they were able to make it down, and hope they make it back sometime... or maybe one of these days we'll get to travel north again!

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!