Father's Day in Houston

We went to Houston to celebrate Father's Day and Mimi and Dziadek's anniversary.  Tom flew in early for business so Claudia, the kids, Brock and I all packed up in the new Suburban and headed down on Friday after work!

We drove straight to Gena and Dan's new house and it's just beautiful and is close enough to Mimi and Dzidek's house.   

On Saturday, we headed to Mimi and Dziadek's for some swimming!

 Swing, batter, swing!

 Gena really worked hard to plan a nice weekend for Mimi and Dziadek.  We all pitched in to get a limo and the destination(s) were a surpise . . .

 The limo was . . . a bit warmish.  It was mid June but this ride was not cooling down at all.  It made for a very intense road trip.

 After a bit of us complaining, they had another limo meet us at one of our destinations which was, I believe, Mimi's mother's house.

Gotta move to the other limo. . .

 Ahh, white - maybe that will help . . .

 Well, it didn't and tempers were flaring at this point.  Even the limo driver was getting stressed.  He slammed on his breaks at one point and we all flew forward.  I was drinking a Firefly Vodka lemonade and most of it landed on Mimi and in Dan's crotch.  He was actually pleased because it cooled him down.  I'm so glad to help . . .

 After that incident, we opted for our own travel.  We picked the 'Burb complete with comfortable seats and most importantly air conditioning!

Gena read from her script as Dan drove us from place to place.  All of the destinations were places in Mimi and Dziadek's life - Rice University (where they met), Mimi's mother's house, their first home (where Tommy was born), and the final destination was the Petroleum Club for dinner.

Brian had had enough after the limo fiasco so Brian and Jessica met us at the Petroleum club for dinner!

It was a wonderful and very memorable day.  We even discussed that there was probably a lot more wars and murders before air conditioning was invented.

Thank you, Gena, for making the day very special for your mom and dad.  :)

Soccer Camp

The kids started soccer camp this week.  Madelyn has never played because she's so busy with dance and piano.

She said she "loved" it.  Of course, she wants to do everything which is impossible with her schedule, we'll see  . . . 

 Madelyn was actually very good . . .

 Marek was the youngest person in his "age group".  He held his own alright but when he's tired - he doesn't have any issues with just sitting down wherever he is to take a break.  :) That's my boy.

 Micah would just sit and watch all the kids run around . . .

 With little naps here and there. . .

 I was impressed with my dainty little girl - she didn't have the proper equipment (shin guards and cleats) but she got right out there with everyone with no fear!

 My sweet, joyful boy.

 I got the kids their shin guards and cleats for the second day of camp.  I wanted to make sure they liked it before spending even more money!

They both had so much fun all week!

Marek Starts Karate

Marek started Kenpo Karate!  It's such a great sport for him - it teaches discipline, memorization, and so much more!

Brian's Birthday Party

Jessica's family has such cute and fun traditions.  For everyone's birthdays, they throw big parties and everyone wears crazy hats, boas, whatever they can find!  We joined the Oley/Karam's for celebrating Brian's birthday.

Madelyn getting into the "dress-up" . . .

Micah had fun swinging in Jude's bouncy seat. . .

Happy Birthday, Uncle Brian!

Time Out

I put Marek in time-out and he cried and cried.  Then there was silence for a while . . .

When I went to check on him, he didn't respond.  I think he's a little tired . . .

Dance Recitals

June is dance recital month.  :)  That's what it feels like, anyway.  We have dance recitals for 4 days in a row starting on Sunday.  Now that Madelyn is in company, they must be at all the shows to perform the Production Number since it's is the first dance at each recital.  

Here she is with her BFF Syndey before her hip-hop dance . . . 

 They're so tough . . .

 The Hip-Hop song was "Party in the USA" by Miley Cyrus. . .

 I love watching her do lyrical - this was the Product Number from the Monday show . . .

 The Production Number is done with all of the girls that are in company - from our Lil' Sprouts all the way up to Elite or whatever they're called . . .

 The "Material Girl" Jazz dance . . .

 She loves being on stage - so many faces!

 This year they did a "Finale" at the end of the show with all the Company girls and it was a dance they learned very quickly!  It was hip-hop and Madelyn just loved it!

Daddy got her flowers, again, after the show.  She's our little dancing queen.

More Baseball - Chase

Our nephew's team made it to the finals and got to play at the Dr. Pepper stadium so we drove back up to the Ballpark in Arlington to watch them play.  

Chase at bat . . . 

 They played great and got trophies after their game!

 Steph and Chris :)

 The kids with the Ballpark in Arlington in the background  . . .

 We invited Ashlynn and Chase to come over to swim and have a sleep over.  Here they are eating pizza and saying "Cheers" with their juice boxes. . .

 The played in the "little pool" hiding from Tom and trying to shoot him with their water guns . . .

 "Diving" off of daddy's hands . . .

 Attacking Tom in the pool  . . .

They had so much fun swimming all day and then got all snuggled up and watched a movie before bed.  We had so much fun with our cousins.  :)