Heading into this summer, I didn't think it was going to be that busy. We didn't have that much on the calendar, and our only planned trip was to Sea World in June. Well, our summer filled up very quickly and seemed to fly by. Here are some highlights.
While I was out of town for a continuing ed course, Aaron took the boys to the children's museum in Fort Worth. I've never taken them, and it re-opened after a major remodeling less than a year ago. This particular day was "superhero day" and any child wearing a superhero costume got a discount on admission. Let me tell you, that was not a hard sell to get the boys in costume! Here are some pics Aaron took of them.
Aaron's dad, or Nonnie as we call him, had given the boys a matching Thomas the train outfit. They both loved them and liked to be "twins" and wear them on the same day. I thought they looked pretty cute and wanted a picture, so they gave me a super cute pose too! I just think this is the cutest picture of the two of them.
Visiting with the Tungate cousins in Lubbock, they all lined up on the couch before bedtime one night to watch a movie. It's rare to get these 5 in one place at one time, so I snapped a picture.
Because we're having a baby girl this time around, we had to do some rearranging of the house and get some new furniture for the boys. Ben was in a toddler bed, but it was the crib that converted to a toddler bed. Obviously he needed a new bed because I wasn't going to buy a new crib. Luke was in our extra bed, a queen sized bed, so we decided to go for bunk beds for the boys to save some space and allow for all their toys to be moved into their room. They absolutely LOVE their new beds. They've had them for about 2 months now and Luke will still randomly run and give me a big hug and say "I love my bed so much, thank you Mommy!" These 2 pics were taken the first night in their new beds and they both wanted to pose on top, of course.
Coincidentally, Aaron and I got some new furniture at the same time. We have been married almost 13 years and never had a bedroom suit-just hand me down furniture. We found a great deal on furniture we both really liked (thank you Costco!) and went for it. The boys had a couple of days of fun playing in boxes the furniture came in.
Luke also had his first sleepover this summer. We invited his best buddy Braden over and they were very excited. I snapped this picture after they finally fell asleep (which took awhile of course; no one ever falls asleep when they're supposed to at a sleepover!)
Aaron went to Haiti for a medical mission trip end of July. I'm still trying to get him to download some pictures and share his experiences, but that's another story. Anyway, before he left we took a family outing and rode the Trinity Train. It's a little train that's located just across from the FW Zoo and runs along the Trinity River and down to a park and back. It goes over several bridges and is around a 40 minute train ride. It's a great way to take the family on an outing that doesn't take too long or cost too much money, but doesn't take the whole day either. We've ridden the train 3 or 4 different times and both the boys love it.
Half way through the ride, the train stops for about 5 minutes and there is a small concession where you can buy cokes and popcorn for about $1.
Almost every summer, usually in August, we take our yearly trip to Possum Kingdom Lake. Some friends of mine from PT school invite us to stay the weekend in her parents' lake house, so 4 families (all of us that were in the same study group/research group and our families) spend the weekend relaxing on the lake. We've grown from a group of 7 (3 couples and one single guy) to a group of 15- 8 adults with 7 children ranging in ages from 8 down to newborn. We had to take turns on the boat this year, but still had a great time and our kids look forward to it as much as we do every year.
My side of the family all got together over Labor Day weekend. It's a chance for all the Bundy cousins to get together to play, and my parents love having all their kids and grandkids together in one place- no matter how crazy it gets. We went out front to snap a picture of just the grandkids (8 of them, with Luke who is 5 being the oldest) and a neighbor walking by offered to take one of all of us. We were amazed how well the impromptu family picture turned out. As my brother Nate said, it's because we didn't plan it. His wife Kristin, who Aaron and I have dubbed the fun aunt, always has great ideas for the kids. The past 2 times we've gotten together she has created a scavenger hunt where the kids follow clues all around the yard and house until they find a little prize at the end.
This is all of them rushing to grab their prizes.
Aaron is the pancake king at our house. They boys like to help sometimes. Ben in particular is very much into helping cook these days.
Enjoying some fruit salad and eating raspberries off of their fingers. Why not?
Luke's first day of Kindergarten. We decided to send him to a private school for many reasons, and although it was one of the toughest decisions we've ever made as parents, we've been nothing but pleased so far. He was so excited to wear his uniform- he loves to wear a belt and tuck in his shirt (he sees Aaron do this daily for work), and his first 2 weeks have gone really well. He was being a stinker in many of the pictures though as he refused to smile. He looks miserable, but he was actually excited. I don't know why he chose to not smile, he just said, "I don't want to smile". So here are the pictures I got. Ben had his first day of his little mother's day out preschool he goes to, so he got in on a few of the pictures. I'll do a separate post later to describe our thoughts and feeling about sending Luke off to school.
Luke and Ben have these blankets that they will pull out and play with occasionally. One day Luke had them laid out in the living room and insisted that they were his bed and he had to sleep on them that night. It was leading into a weekend, so we agreed to let them sleep on the blankets. We did, however, insist the blankets get moved to the bedroom. They fell asleep without too much trouble, but Aaron did move Ben into his bed later that night, and Luke woke up and got into his bed as well. I got a couple of pictures first though.
Finally, we participated in a Heart Walk a couple of weeks ago with Aaron's clinic that he works for. There were hundreds of people that came out, and even I survived the 2 mile walk- 7 months prego and all. They handed out water along the way and many of the local hospitals or clinics handed out little items (wristbands, flags, koozies, juice or snacks, etc.) They boys had a good time, and Luke loved all the "free stuff".
So that's just a few of the highlights of our summer. All in all it was a good summer, although EXTREMELY HOT. Now on to the new adventures of the school year, holidays, and what a new baby will bring in the coming months.
