Ready for third grade:
Fifth grade - last year in elementary school:
Eigth grade - how did that happen?!
Fifth grade - last year in elementary school:
Eigth grade - how did that happen?!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Back to School
The kids started back to school this week. So far everything seems to be going well and the week has flown by!
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
At the Seashore
Here are a few more pictures to wrap up my posting about our family vacation to Dauphin Island, Alabama. It was really an amazing week!
So thankful for my photographer husband who captured so many of the great moments of our vacation!
So thankful for my photographer husband who captured so many of the great moments of our vacation!
U.S.S. Alabama
One rainy morning during our beach vacation, we drove to Mobile to see the U.S.S. Alabama. It was a lot of fun and we were so thankful for the rain that kept the temperatures bearable!
The ship is absolutely huge!
We got to climb all through the ship and see all kinds of neat things. No telling how many stairs we climbed...gives me a new appreciation for those who serve in our military aboard ships.
There seemed to be bunks hanging everywhere that there was any space at all. The kids loved climbing on them:
We also got to go into a submarine, the U.S.S. Drum:
We thought it seemed like tight quarters on the ship, until we went in the submarine.
The boys loved all the buttons and levers!
After we finished our tours, we had lunch at Felix's Fish Camp - yummy!
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Bellingrath Gardens
The first day of our vacation, as we were driving to Dauphin Island, we saw a sign for Bellingrath Gardens. I had recently seen some pictures of a trip my family had taken there when I was a kid. We were only about half an hour from our destination, so I told Robert I wanted to see about going to the gardens one day during the week. We ended up making the trip on Thursday afternoon, after spending the morning in Mobile at the USS Alabama (pics of that in my next post). The kids were tired and it was rainy, so we almost decided not to go to the gardens, but it was something I really wanted to do. It was absolutely beautiful and I'm so glad we decided to stop.
Here's a picture of my mom, my sister and I at Bellingrath Gardens sometime in the 1970's:
This is one of my favorite pictures from the day; looks like a postcard, I think:
Yellow flowers are my favorite, so when we came upon this bridge covered in them, I had to have a picture. As I said before, it was rainy which kept the temperature bearable and also kept the crowds away. For the most part that was a good thing, but we never saw anyone to ask to take a picture of all five of us. I wish Robert could have been in this picture with us, but it's still one of my favorites:
Here's a picture of my mom, my sister and I at Bellingrath Gardens sometime in the 1970's:
This is one of my favorite pictures from the day; looks like a postcard, I think:
Yellow flowers are my favorite, so when we came upon this bridge covered in them, I had to have a picture. As I said before, it was rainy which kept the temperature bearable and also kept the crowds away. For the most part that was a good thing, but we never saw anyone to ask to take a picture of all five of us. I wish Robert could have been in this picture with us, but it's still one of my favorites:
Monday, August 15, 2011
Waves! Waves! Waves!
We had such a great time playing in the waves at Dauphin Island!
We had an extra air mattress, so we decided to let the kids take it in the water - it was so much fun! The challenge was trying to get everyone on the mattress in between the waves hitting!
The oldest and youngest cousins:
Robert even joined us in the water a couple of times:
Body surfing:
Jumping the waves:
I think this wave took Lexie by surprise:
One evening Camden and I were the only ones who wanted to get out in the water. We had a great time together:
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Naval Aviation Museum
One day of our vacation we drove to Pensacola, Florida to visit the Naval Aviation Museum.
The outing started with a ferry ride from Dauphin Island to Fort Morgan. From there it was a couple hours drive. The kids enjoyed the ferry ride.
Museums are not really my thing, I have to admit, but this one is really nice with great displays and hands-on things for the kids, too.
The outing started with a ferry ride from Dauphin Island to Fort Morgan. From there it was a couple hours drive. The kids enjoyed the ferry ride.
Museums are not really my thing, I have to admit, but this one is really nice with great displays and hands-on things for the kids, too.
This seagull caught a ride on the ferry on the way back - perched there before we left the dock and rode it the entire way!
Friday, August 12, 2011
Around the Island
Dauphin Island isn't too large and isn't too commercial (which we liked), but we did find plenty of things to keep us busy.
We were really looking forward to seeing the Bird Sanctuary that we had read about. It was a really nice park, but we didn't stay long enough to see any birds - we soon discovered that is was misnamed; should have been the "Mosquito Sanctuary"! I think it would be really enjoyable under different circumstances, but it was drizzly and muggy - perfect for mosquitos. After just a few minutes of feeding the mosquitos, we left to do some souvenier shopping!
We spent a little while one morning at the Estuarium on the island, seeing up close all kinds of sea creatures that live in the unique habitat created where the river meets the ocean - an estuary.
This guy was Robert's favorite and seemed to be putting on a show for the camera:
After visiting the Estuarium, we stopped by Fort Gaines. We poked around the gift shop and looked through the gates before deciding it wasn't worth the admission price, so we settled for climbing on the cannon outside the walls:
One of the kids' favorite spots on the island was this shaved ice stand. They had all kinds of unique flavors - Robert tried "dill pickle" and one of the kids had "wedding cake". I played it safe and had grape!
There were a few restaurants on the island. We had lunch one day at "Barnacle Bills". I love this picture that I snapped of the kids after lunch another day at "The Oar House".
My favorite spot on the island was right in front of our beach house, toes in the sand, watching my kids play in the waves.
We were really looking forward to seeing the Bird Sanctuary that we had read about. It was a really nice park, but we didn't stay long enough to see any birds - we soon discovered that is was misnamed; should have been the "Mosquito Sanctuary"! I think it would be really enjoyable under different circumstances, but it was drizzly and muggy - perfect for mosquitos. After just a few minutes of feeding the mosquitos, we left to do some souvenier shopping!
We spent a little while one morning at the Estuarium on the island, seeing up close all kinds of sea creatures that live in the unique habitat created where the river meets the ocean - an estuary.
This guy was Robert's favorite and seemed to be putting on a show for the camera:
After visiting the Estuarium, we stopped by Fort Gaines. We poked around the gift shop and looked through the gates before deciding it wasn't worth the admission price, so we settled for climbing on the cannon outside the walls:
One of the kids' favorite spots on the island was this shaved ice stand. They had all kinds of unique flavors - Robert tried "dill pickle" and one of the kids had "wedding cake". I played it safe and had grape!
There were a few restaurants on the island. We had lunch one day at "Barnacle Bills". I love this picture that I snapped of the kids after lunch another day at "The Oar House".
My favorite spot on the island was right in front of our beach house, toes in the sand, watching my kids play in the waves.
Vacation Beach House
This is the first of several posts I plan to do about our family vacation to Dauphin Island, Alabama. We shared this beach house with Robert's mom and stepdad and both his sisters and their families. Sharon and Charles made arrangements for the house and it was great for the 14 of us! We spent 7 nights there, the last week of July. I feel so incredibly blessed - how many women can say that they spent a full week with their in-laws and loved it?! I married into a great family!
Dauphin Island is just off the coast of Alabama, south of Mobile. The island is 14 miles long and less than two miles wide at its widest point. We stayed on the "skinny" part of the island. There's one road running down the middle and you can stand on the road and see the bay on one side and the gulf on the other. We stayed on the gulf side and our house was right on the beach. Perfect!
There were lots of seagulls who were obviously used to being fed by vacationers...we didn't disappoint them!
On our stretch of island the houses were in a single row, so each house basically had its own private beach. There were the occasional people walking by, but for the most part we had it all to ourselves.
We took this family picture one evening, on the dune right next to our house:
This was definitely on of the best vacations we've been on!
Dauphin Island is just off the coast of Alabama, south of Mobile. The island is 14 miles long and less than two miles wide at its widest point. We stayed on the "skinny" part of the island. There's one road running down the middle and you can stand on the road and see the bay on one side and the gulf on the other. We stayed on the gulf side and our house was right on the beach. Perfect!
There were lots of seagulls who were obviously used to being fed by vacationers...we didn't disappoint them!
On our stretch of island the houses were in a single row, so each house basically had its own private beach. There were the occasional people walking by, but for the most part we had it all to ourselves.
We took this family picture one evening, on the dune right next to our house:
This was definitely on of the best vacations we've been on!
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Saying Goodbye
This week we said "goodbye" to Robert's grandfather, Leonard Lyle Olson. He passed away last Saturday from pancreatic cancer.
Here's a picture from of a few years ago of "Poppa" with about half of his great-grandchildren:
We didn't spend a lot of time with him, but I remember that every time we did visit, he would have Sprite and Chex mix for the kids, and sometimes lemon candy. He kept the Chex mix in a metal canister that had all the presidents on it - at least all the presidents up to the time it was made - I think Reagan may have been the last one on there. Anyway, I remember looking at it with the kids and talking about the presidents. Poppa served in the Army Air Corp in WW2 and one of the last times we visited before he got sick, he told the kids some about it - Cullen especially was facinated. Several years ago we got him some smoked salmon for Christmas. I'm not sure why we did - I think maybe Robert remembered that he liked it. Well, he went on about how much he liked the gift, so we made it an annual tradition to give him smoked salmon for Christmas. At the visitation, one of his friends introduced himself to Robert and told him how every year sometime after Christmas, he would visit Leonard and they would enjoy the smoked salmon together. It will be strange not to look for smoked salmon when I do my Christmas shopping this year.
The funeral was on Monday and afterward the family had lunch together. After lunch we took this group picture:
Leonard was buried on Tuesday at the National Cemetery in Dallas. It was very moving to hear taps played and watch as the casket flag was presented to Robert's mom, Sharon. After the service, we all went out to lunch at Chili's - about 30 of us! Leonard had told Sharon before he passed that he wanted to treat everyone who came to the burial to lunch. It was such a special time as a family.
Here's a picture from of a few years ago of "Poppa" with about half of his great-grandchildren:
We didn't spend a lot of time with him, but I remember that every time we did visit, he would have Sprite and Chex mix for the kids, and sometimes lemon candy. He kept the Chex mix in a metal canister that had all the presidents on it - at least all the presidents up to the time it was made - I think Reagan may have been the last one on there. Anyway, I remember looking at it with the kids and talking about the presidents. Poppa served in the Army Air Corp in WW2 and one of the last times we visited before he got sick, he told the kids some about it - Cullen especially was facinated. Several years ago we got him some smoked salmon for Christmas. I'm not sure why we did - I think maybe Robert remembered that he liked it. Well, he went on about how much he liked the gift, so we made it an annual tradition to give him smoked salmon for Christmas. At the visitation, one of his friends introduced himself to Robert and told him how every year sometime after Christmas, he would visit Leonard and they would enjoy the smoked salmon together. It will be strange not to look for smoked salmon when I do my Christmas shopping this year.
The funeral was on Monday and afterward the family had lunch together. After lunch we took this group picture:
Leonard was buried on Tuesday at the National Cemetery in Dallas. It was very moving to hear taps played and watch as the casket flag was presented to Robert's mom, Sharon. After the service, we all went out to lunch at Chili's - about 30 of us! Leonard had told Sharon before he passed that he wanted to treat everyone who came to the burial to lunch. It was such a special time as a family.
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