Family, Friends & Grayson Greatness

Amy -- how did we not take any pictures while you were here? :(

Our out of town friends...The Hargroves & as Brad likes to call her "Les is More"




Nana, Pops & Uncle Blake (and our trip to Galveston)








Miranda & Pete...Love you girls!



Memorial Day with our friends the Shearers

Yay Amy!!!

Not many people are special enough to have a blog post dedicated to them, but Amy is! AMY IS ENGAGED!!! Yay! Evan, thanks so much for letting us be part of the special night. It was a wonderful celebration and a great excuse to see some of our favorite peeps!

Our Trip to Aggieland

Brad had a recuiting trip at A&M last week, so my friend Lauren and I decided to make a day of it with the kiddos. I asked Grayson that morning if he wanted to go to "Aggieland," and his face just lit up. I of course realized then that it kind of sounded like a theme park and that in his head he was probably imagining something a little bit more fun than College Station. After eating lunch at one of our favorite pizza places right off campus, Grayson asked me, "Go see Aggies?" I said "Yes, baby, these are the Aggies. Look everyone with a maroon shirt and this ring (pointing to my A&M ring) is an Aggie." He laughed and said, "No, Mommy." It made me wonder what in his mind an Aggie really was (since nobody really knows anyway :) Then, after I convinced him, he insisted on wearing my ring, which I was not willing to lose as we treked across campus, so I "made" him an Aggie "ring" out of a ponytail holder, which he wore proudly! Here are some photos from our day in Aggieland!

The kids were trying to steal the "good luck" pennies off the Sul Ross statue



Doesn't this one look like a "senior" portrait?

That's a "Gig Em" Aggies if you didn't catch the thumbs up

Yes, that's the Century Tree our kids are climbing on

I guess that means by "tradition" that Grayson is destined to marry either Hayley or Katelyn


We ended the trip with a stroll down memory lane. This is the "ghetto" duplex Brad and i lived in our first 6 months of marriage. If you're thinking the outside isn't that bad, I promise the inside was and our crazy (literally) neighbor made the experience unforgettable

Galveston

The word "beach" is loosely defined when it comes to Galveston and if it's possible these photos actually make it look dirtier thant it really was. But when you're two, if there's waves and sand (or mud), it still counts! Grayson had his first trip to the beach last weekend, and LOVED it! Technically, it was his second time at the beach because we tried to take him back in March, but we were there for about five minutes and then it started raining on us so we turned around and came home. So the trip worked out a little better this time around.

Hayley Austin & Gray being buried in the sand

What are we teaching our children?



Gray and Katelyn riding on the "sand turtle" Brad & Hayden built (the Dads were a little more into building it than the kids)

Happy 4th!

Yes, I realize I am a little late on a 4th of July post, but our computer was attacked by a hard core virus this week which has kept us from doing most things online, which kind of makes you realize how completely dependent you are on the internet for everything! In the end, a brilliant kid from our church was able to help us out, although I think it was me laying hands on the computer and praying over it :) that finally did the trick. Moral of the story: Don't download movies from websites, especially shady ones that your brother-in-law recommends (Thanks Blake!).

We had a fantastic July 4th with our good friends Ryan and Melissa and their family at the lake. I can say Grayson had a stronger appreciation for the holiday this year in comparison to last year. There were no breakdowns about wearing a life jacket and he thought the fire works were the best thing ever. The entire weekend, we heard, "Peeeease more Pop Pops...Peeease more Pop Pops." We ended the weekend by watching fire works out in the middle of the lake on the boat, which we had never done before, and it was a blast. We then shot off our own fireworks, which Gray was not as big a fan of, he did not like being that close to the sparks or noise, and was highly concerned for his Daddy's safety. He didn't even want to come near the sparklers.

We joked about how we would continue splitting Christmas and Thanksgiving between our families, but we wanted to spend every 4th with the Shearers/Norths!

"Driving" the boat with Ryan

We didn't even need the boat as long as we brought the tube inside, he was happy!


Family Pics!


You think we wore him out?

Grayson's Great Adventures

Pictures Galore!!! Our Summer Time Fun Thus Far!

Grayson and I went to the Houston Aquarium today with the Austin girls where Gray rode his first ferris wheel, a train through a shark tunnel, and viewed a million kind of fish. BTW, try explaining to a toddler why a fish is called a "Lion Fish"...Gray didn't know whether to roar or pucker his lips. We also got to see White Tigers, which were uncomfortably eyeing our children, probably thinking what a nice snack they'd make, while I was trying to figure out exactly how thick the glass was in between us. The best part of the day, and by best, I mean the most chaotic, was when running around in the shooting fountains, Hayley starting pulling off her pants to pee while Grayson was slipping left and right nearly splitting his head open and Katelyn was trying to run away. I think between the five of us, we were enough entertainment for the whole park!

An unexpected down pour put a slight damper on the ferris wheel ride.

A carosel is always a fave!

Gray went on his first camping trip a few weeks ago with his Uncle Josh & Blake and Aunt Elaine. He did surprisingly well, although with an air matress and pack n' play in our tent, we weren't exactly roughing it. But we thought camping with a toddler was roughing it enough!


Before our neighborhood pool opened, Gray kicked off the summer swimming with his new girlsfriends Hayley and Katelyn. With the fisher price slide going into the pool and a fancy sprinkler, we felt like we had our own little resort rigged up right in the back yard.



When April came down for her birthday, Grayson quickly snatched her away to play with his leggos, an activity April was more than skilled at due to her billion nephews.

Gray discovered Brad's hat in our closet and decided he looked better in it than Brad. I told him he was quite fashionable, but slightly out of season.

And Tag was the best medicine about a month ago when Gray was feeling under the weather. Our fabulous dog just laid their, keeping Gray company making sure he didn't fall off the couch.

Lauren Banks practiced her photography skills on Gray at a downtown lap pad before she left us to go to Dallas :( Something about starting her residency or some crap like that! :)




I'll try to be better about blogging this summer, so I don't have to catch up a months worth of pics in one post!