I have been tagged!

I have never been tagged before so here goes!

10 Things About Me.

1. I am cousins by marriage to Coco. And I have been a fan since she was 9.
2. Coco and her brother Bryan are 2 of my very favorite thirty-somethings.
3. My grandson Michael is actually the only one who calls me Mama Sue.
4. I went paras sailing over Acapulco Bay when I was 18. It was a blast.
5. I love roller coasters.
6. I went to college at Stephen F. Austin and majored in Home Economics. Dropped out at the end of my junior year.
7. I could go the rest of my life without eating chocolate. My mom, sister and daughter need an IV though.
8. I had my first and only child when I was 40.
9. My favorite food is Mexican...specifically sour cream chicken enchiladas from Los Vaqueros
10. I have been married to my husband for half of my life

I tag

BoyMomma

Sherilyn

Angel

Cindy

Spiderman and Prirates and Transformers Oh My!

I can say that after years of celebrating daughter's birthdays a little boy birthday is like being on another planet! Yesterday we celebrated our grandson Michael's 4th birthday at an area water park. Four is the year they truly are no longer a baby and baby toys just don't work. Michael is dressed head to toe in Spiderman. Spiderman shirt, shorts, sandals and underwear. His room is all Spiderman and pirates.

Michael and his Nana.

Michael with aunt Sydney. Notice he is almost at tall as an eight year old.!

Annie and Sydney...Courtnay could not be there but she did go to see Michael last night.

This is one of my favorite pictures taken just minutes after Michael was born. Have you ever seen a more proud Pop or Aunt?

The cake I made for Michael's first birthday. It matched his invitations and I think I did a pretty good job but it's the last time I did it...too much stress. After all, I am not the Cake Boss! I'm just the boss!

Busy Days

This is the result of a very busy, busy week. She fell asleep before 8 last night in the middle of her playroom floor while playing with Bambi and Rudolph. She is waterlogged and tired from this week. We had the all day swim meet on Monday, Tuesday swim practice, Wednesday church in the morning and then swim team practice. Yesterday a play date with Angel then swim team practice. Today Michael's (our grandson) 4th birthday party at a water park, tonight swim team. And it's not over yet. Tomorrow is Taryn's birthday party and yeah...no swim team practice. Sunday is father's day. We will spend it at his house and he will cook the best hamburgers and we will swim more!

We have to wrap Michael's gifts and go to city hall to buy trash bags before we head to the water park.

Definition of Summer

It is a toss up...today I was thinking about how hot it is and I remembered how much hotter it is in Austin around the 4th of July where I spent most of my Independence Days as a child and I have decided that there is nothing that says summer more than watermelon or Barton Springs unless it's homemade ice cream. If you have never heard of Barton Springs you are probably not from Texas and you have lived a sad, sad, life! If you have never had watermelon...your life is hopeless. If you have never had homemade ice cream...I don't even want to know you!

Not really, but you should try them all at some point this summer.

Ridglea Rockets Swim Team and a Movie!

Sydney joined the swim team this year and yesterday was her first swim meet against Walnut Creek and Hulen Heights. Sydney has only had a few swimming lessons and has never competed before. They let you join the team regardless of skill level. She signed up for 3 events back stroke, breast stroke and freestyle. Sydney has never done or learned the back stroke or the breast stroke...ever! It was all very official they wrote her name on her back and her event numbers down her arm. Her first event was the backstroke. She came in 5th out of five but she made it to the end. When she got out I was really waiting for the "I came in last and I'm done" speech but the first words out of her mouth were "I did the back stroke!". I was so proud! The next race was the breast stroke...just as hard to watch and took longer...but she finished. They have no choice...it's 11 feet deep. This is the first competitive team she has ever been on and out of 50-100 kids (it's hard to tell because they move around a lot) I never heard one child ridicule her for her performance. For that reason I think she will keep trying. Next week starts official swim lessons so hopefully we will see an improvement by the end of the season. If not, it is good life experience for her and they have lots of fun in the 100 degree weather. It lasted from 3:00 to around 7:30 or eight. The pool is closed on Mondays but they let the kids swim until dark and then watch a movie on the lawn Ratatouille We didn't leave the pool until 11:00 pm, luckily it is only 4 miles from my house. It was a really fun day!



Sydney waiting for her first event and her swim cap.


She finishes her first race!


How not to wear a swim cap!

Here is Taryn who has been Sydney's friend since they were 3! She has mastered the swim cap.

Sydney and Angel. Sydney and Angel share a lot...here are just a few of the things they have in common:

• Both are homeschooled
• Both are Dyslexic and a touch ADD
• Both are Christians and were baptized last year
• They share pet mice (they reside at Angel's house)
• God has done a mighty work in both of them the past 2 years
• Their moms love each other just as much as they love each other!

Foxy Mama!

This old girl lives under our shed in our back yard. She did until last Thursday when I called Animal Control. The animal control officer looked under the shed with his very official flashlight and said "Mam, you got you a mama fox and two young-uns alivin under yer shed! Seriously this is what he told me. He said "I kin git you a trap but we ain't had much luck trappin them foxes". "Git you some moth balls or some ammonia" and that should do the trick." So I went to Kroger and got myself some moth balls...boy do they stink. I threw the whole box under my shed and within 15 minutes the mama high tailed it. Well, my hubby comes home and wants to help get the babies out so he uses the garden sprayer to flush out the babies. The first one ran out and followed the exact path of the mama down to the creek. But the 2nd little guy freaked and ran in circles and up on my porch giving my Shih-Tsu a nervous breakdown...baby fox finally got away and...today I was taking Belle (Shih-Tsu) outside and there they were trotting up the fence towards my house like they were coming home. The pups ran up under the shed and the mama just stopped about 3 feet from me and looked at me. After I picked up Belle, I started talking to her and telling her how pretty she was but that she really needs to get her babies and go. I know she's just trying to keep them cool but I don't like having creatures living under my shed. It has been suggested that we shoot them but we live in the city limits (on the very edge) and I don't want to get in trouble with the police around here or my neighbors especially since I just told one neighbor I didn't care for the color that she painted her house...I can't go into that right now other than to say that in an instant I became the old lady who lived across from me as a child and was always offering her opinion on things that were none of her business. I did apologize though.

I apologize for the quality of the photo...it was taken by my husband with his cell phone. It's really hard to get good photos of wildlife because they run away everytime I go in the house to get my camera!

Welcome to Fun Valley, Colorado

We spent a week at Fun Valley, Colorado.

Rio Grande River...the view from the back of our cabin

This is were we ate every day.

Horseback riding...


Up the mountain.


Trout fishing. There is a fish fry on Tuesday nights after the fishing tournament:)


Ralph cleaning the trout and explaining the difference between lungs and gills...a little biology class at the lake!


Sydney and Rick on the paddle boats...it's sleeting

Sight seeing at Wolf Creek Pass...the next day a Pepsi truck went over.

Molly's house has a tree growing up the middle of it.

Sydney and Milo...love at first sight!

Uncle Randy frying chicken...it was maybe the best fried chicken I have ever tasted!

Feeding chipmunks...this girl was in heaven!

Eating pizza at the Old Miner's Inn at Creede. Yes it is also a bar and in the winter they rent snow mobiles!

Sydney's friends at Fun Valley...Bonnie, Mikaela and Jonathan.

Eight Year Old Quote of the Day!

Somewhere in the desolation of the Texas panhandle..."I have to go NOW...my bottom is going to explode"...and it did at the next gas station.

We had a wonderful trip to Fun Valley, CO and there are tons of pictures but I'm trying to catch up on my laundry and housework. Since we left suddenly 5 hours sooner than planned, we left the house in a bit of disarray. Thanks to my wonderful mother in law I came home to made beds, a clean kitchen and none of the stinky kitchen trash I forgot to take out. She even dragged the big bag to the curb on trash day. Did I mention that she is nearly 82? She has bailed me out on more than one occasion and all I asked her to do was feed the cats.