Summertime fun

We LOVE the bayhouse, where the boys and I spent our summer. Andy joined us every weekend, and we really got the use out of our house (since last summer was devoted to painting and repairing). We are so blessed to have such a special place!

Our sweet baby dogs.

This summer Aunt Jennifer came down for a visit from Denver. We were so glad to be able to spend some time with her. We sure do miss her!

Of course there was lots of fishing done this summer, but sadly not too much was caught on a fishing pole (lots were caught in the crab traps and cast net).

Braeden caught a baby crab.

At the beginning of the summer, I took all three boys to Sea Wolf Park to see the submarine (USS CAVALLA, a WWII submarine) and another battleship (the USS STEWART, a destroyer escort/one of only 3 in the world) . I remember going to see these same ships as a kid and they seemed so huge and so cool. To me this time, they were a bit run down, but the boys absolutely LOVED it!

I did mention that I took all three boys, however you will not see any pictures of Colton, because I had him strapped to me in the Bjorn (and was holding him tight since he was about a pound over the weight limit for this sling!). It was a bit awkward going through these doors with him attached to me, not to mention keeping him from hanging on to everything we passed since it was so narrow. The excitement from the boys was contagious, and he spent his time squealing and kicking with joy.

I love Austin's tough guy face here.

That is one huge propeller!

The best part of having the bayhouse is having our friends come stay with us. Owen, Avery, and Aunt Kelly join us for a couple of days. Here we are checking out our shrimp and fish in the bucket.

Also, Gavin, Ty, Anna, and their mom Jessica came to visit us. We went to the Aquarium with them for the day.

You could touch the starfish. Braeden's face is so typical here. Silly boy!

I love that these friends have kids the exact same age as mine. Each one of them has a buddy to play with.

A stingray looks like it is smiling underneath.

This was the best part. The penguins. Unfortunately my camera wouldn't do much in the lighting that was there. The penguins were swimming over to the kids and mimicking them. It was adorable.

Sharks!

Jessica and I thought about sitting down for a while while they were in the shark cage. Hee hee. They loved pretending like the sharks were going to get them.

More fun stuff to touch.

One day during the summer, I took the boys to the Rain forest Pyramid at Moody Gardens. It was a brand new exhibit, and we were surprised to see monkey's allowed to just roam free where we all were. We could almost touch this one's tail.

Iguanas

Macaws

Turtles
And the favorite part for all of us....a butterfly landed on both Austin and Braeden and hung out with us a while. We weren't even in the enclosed butterfly area, this one just seemed to stop by especially for us. I like to think that God put it there.

The places we visited were great, but most days were filled with splashing....

jumping....

splashing...

more splashing...

Fishing...

Fishing...

And more fishing! Austin caught this pretty sand trout all by himself on Daddy's boat!

Colton's birthday

Colton's birthday happened in the middle of the week, so we celebrated that day with the traditional birthday pancake shaped like a "1" for the birthday boy.

And we hung the decorations for the upcoming party early.

Of course everyone gets a birthday pancake around here!

After our pancakes we headed out to Moody Gardens for the Dinosaurs Alive exhibit. We saw huge life size dinosaurs, lots of roaring, and there was even digging for dinosaur bones. Everyone had a great time, and our fearless one year old didn't bat an eyelash at the roaring dinosaurs!

That weekend we had his official family party. We were a smaller group this year, and we really missed the family that couldn't make it.

Everyone joined in for throwing the cast net and catching lots of fish.

I had lots of pictures of family, but there was too much movement in them. Aunt Lisa and Grandma sat still long enough for me to snap a great shot of them.

I also got a great shot of Laura and Danny.

Of course the most entertaining part of the first birthday party is watching them eat cake for the first time. Here is the before picture of Colton's cake.

When we sang to him, he acted so shy and silly. He really knows how to make expressive faces.

The first bites, yummmmm!

And done. I can't believe he ate all of that!

I can't believe my baby is one. Where did this first year go. Precious Colton, God gave you to us at a time that your sweet smile, gentleness, and cuddles have been heaven sent. You are truly a gift from God, and we are so amazingly blessed to be your family. Happy birthday little man.