MARIO!!

I have been thinking about updating the blog, but what to write about when life around here has been pretty simple. We swim, play with friends, done some school shopping and played video games.

Video games......lots of Mario Brother video games. R discovered playing New Super Mario bros Wii in the spring and he can play for hours. With his brothers home over the summer, the Wii has definitely gotten some use. Great for all those rainy days in June! We also play a lot of Mario Cart and Mario and Sonic at the Olympic games. We had Super Paper Mario but it got scratched a year ago and my boys started asking about getting a new one, so I did get a used copy off ebay (cheaper than buying the newest Mario game brand new!)

So when school shopping, T wanted a new Mario shirt since he had outgrown his last one and he was my first Mario fan. So I got one for him and picked one up for R on that same trip knowing R would love it. When we got home S wanted to know where his Mario shirt was (He did like the red shirt I got him that says "I can't help that I'm cute. It comes naturally!") But he wanted a Mario shirt and so did A too. He actually likes Scooby Doo more than Mario but did not want to be left out. So just this week I took them shopping and now all have a Mario shirt to wear when they got back to school. I have 4 happy boys!

Sea World

It has been a long time since we had a FAMILY vacation...I'm excluding camping trips which we take a few a year. Last trip was Disney when I was pregnant with the twins 4.5 years ago. Plan A this year was to go to Utah, but that did not work out so we wanted to go somewhere closer. We considered Galveston and San Antonio....we picked San Antonio since our kids had never been there, and I can't remember going ever.

During our planning phase we hits some bumps...mainly our vacation funds had to be spent on car repairs (3 times in May!!!!) But then I explored using reward points from our credit cards. For years we have been accumulating them what better way to spend them. I felt pretty good paying for the hotel room and Sea World tickets with reward points. We only had to spend for meals, parking and little things like that. I am frugal and I can be proud of it!!!

We had an AWESOME time. We got fun passes so we could go over several days for one price. We drove the 3 hours, checked into the hotel, then had an early dinner and hit the park deciding to do the Summer Night shows on a day we did not spend all day in the park. Good call....every other day our kids were very tired and would not have made late nights.

C was excited to be able to ride roller coasters, boys were a bit more timid. Maybe it was because the first one we went on, Journey to Atlantis, we got wet. R did not like that at all. It made him cry and mad. A, T & S on the other hand loved it and wanted to go again. Their favorite ride (all the boys) was Shamu Express which we did every day, sometimes more than once. The shows that first night were really cool. Sea lions were funny. My boys wanted to see the Orcas, they never did call them Shamu. Watching Diego taught them they were Orcas. So a few rollar coasters and 2 shows and the first night left them wanting more....only complaint. Tired feet!

The next full day we decided to make our wet day and we wore our bathing suits planning on spending part of the day in the water park there. We did start the day by feeding the dolphins which the kids thought was really cool. All except A, he wanted to ride the Shamu Express first and was protesting against feeding the dolphins, his loss. We tried to convince him to no avail. So after riding his ride we went to the water park and had fun on the tube rides and wave pool there. (Splashtown near us is better) We left the water park late afternoon to do some of the splashing rides in the main Sea World park. The lines were a bit long (45-1 hour) but we pretty much got them all done. The one the twins were too small for they got ice cream while they waited.

The 3rd day we decided to plan it so we could catch all the shows we had not seen yet. The older boys liked the 4 D theater and we saw all 3 shows they did there. We sat in the splashzone of Shamu because the kids wanted to get wet, but we went prepared with ponchos to cover us and R. After the inital Splash S hid under it as well. The Shamu shows were not the best. I preferred the Sea lion shows that told a story and were funny. The new Azul show with beulga whales and divers and arialist was my favorite. I think over the 2.5 days we did everything there was to do at Sea World and had a great time and built great memories!!

We planned one extra day and went to the Alamo the next morning before heading home. It was interesting but the little guys did not want to stay long. We had done some prep work and got library books for the older kids to read before we went so they knew the history and went looking for some things they heard about.

It was a fun time for all of us.....makes me want to start planning our next trip. Where should we go???

Family times

This past week has been very full of family....brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandma etc. When my brother comes home each summer from Malaysia he requests my sisters come to visit....since I and my other brother live near grandma we are already here. So everyone descends and the fun and chaos begin. Beach trips, lots of swimming pools, meals together, Splashtown, and even a deep sea fishing trip for the men this year. Here are just a few snapshots from a fun week.

I also can't help but remember the sad days from this week. The sweetest little girl lost her battle with cancer. That was a hard day for me, seeing her mother, my best friend so low and lost without her little princess. I can't say her funeral was any easier. She will be greatly missed. I have so many memories of our families together...swimming, camping, playing together. We had the 3 amigos, my twins and her. Her family is lucky to be sealed for eternity, a forever family. I only hope we get to see her again someday as well!!

Favorite Cub things

I was thinking about the song "My Favorite Things" from the Sound of Music as I tried to list the fun things boys enjoy at cub camp. I was not successful in putting words to the tune but can I list some of the fun things these boys enjoyed.

Archery
BB guns

Launching paper rockets

snow cones

volleyball

Ultimate frisbee

Chasing grasshoppers

Sitting on Buckets

Marshmallow guns

the Ninja game

Kickball

Funny skits

Model boats

Playing Marbles, chess and ring toss

hammering birdhouses and pinewood derby car display shelves

Mixing paint colors and painting like artists

fun times, songs, stories and long days with your buddies

This year was fun, I look forward to next year when I will have 2 sons there!!

From K to 5

Today was a milestone. This little girl who was so tiny on her first day of kindergarten is now done with elementary school.

She finished 5th grade today. She has grown so much and I am so proud of the young women she is becoming.

What have we learned in the last 6 years. C is very smart and school comes easily for her. She likes cursive more than print. Her favorite subject is writing or language arts....just exclude spelling which she does not like. She enjoyed writing a book this year about the school mascot, the Coyote.

She also has a passion for art ...winning a few contest along the way....and looks forward to taking art in school next year. She enjoys crafts and creating things whether from fabric, clay, beads, whatever. She is very creative.

She is also a good friend and loves spending time with her girl friends whenever possible (Can you blame her living with all brothers!!) She enjoys the outdoors including camping, swimming, and soccer.

She is just one awesome kid and I'm so proud of her and look forward to what lies ahead in her promising future.

Swimming in May

The warm weather is here so we are at the pool! Swim team is upon us once again. All 3 older kids are on the team again and continue to improve. A is now learning all the strokes and doing great. To learn breaststroke in 2 weeks time and not DQ is pretty impressive. His butterfly is super close as well.


C is in the age group where she must swim 2 laps for races. It is tough but she is getting stronger all the time.


T is after the most improved award. He won it last year and wants it again. All my kids favorite stroke is my favorite, breast stroke and that makes a mama proud.

The twins are also swimming finally. I hope to have them learn this year so I can stress a little less when at the pool. We started swim lessons with me last week. I create a little contract with them as I have all my kids. It has 5 boxes or and after each lesson they mark off a box, when all 5 are marked they earn a prize. Then 5 more and another prize. That is how I motivate them to work with me during lesson time. The biggest motivation is when they can swim accross Mema's pool they get to go to MacDonalds. After 10 lessons my older kids got the big prize. We are at 7 lessons done now. As soon as they figure out the breathing they both could make the distance.

I'm really proud of them. S has great confidence from the beginning of lessons, but R was so scared to put his face in the water. R has come so far that he is as confident as S. Both are having lots of fun and ask to go swimming every day. I need to get some pics of them, Mema has some but so far I have stayed in the water with them and not had my camera ready.

Hot Dog Sticks

After our last camping trip, we learned we did not have enough hot dog sticks. Everyone needs there own now. So I started looking to buy some new ones. I want the kind that extend longer so my kids can be back a little further from the fire. I priced some out and online seemed better choices than most of the stores near me.

One of our hot dog sticks is hot pink with my name on it that I painted when I was at Girls Camp many years ago as a teenager. I thought before I ordered any I would ask my Mom (who was in charge of girls camp back then) where she got mine. Maybe I could get more like mine. I asked her and she told me that someone made them for her, but she might have some extras. We went digging in the closet at her house where she stores all the camping gear and found enough for all my kids to each have one and still leave some for grandma. 3 were unfinished and 1 was plain blue and one had my name on it. I guess I made more than one back then.

So for a family activity my kids enjoyed painting their own hot dog stick. They will get their first hot dogs and marshmallows cooked on them this weekend while we go camping. Fun family times!