a little summer vacation . . .

so it's about 2 weeks before summer is over. WOW time sure flies by.

we decided that we better take the kiddos somewhere . . . .so that what we did. we booked a hotel on priceline and headed for dallas. we have six flags season passes and since astroworld in houston is a thing of the past we needed to get our moneys worth so we took the kis to six flags over texas.



friday we left around 12:30. so soon as we got there and checked in we were off to sixflags. we were very shocked by the parking prices. we couldn'e beleave that they actually wanted $30 for vallet. . . LOL and $15 to park a mile away. so . . .. with that said we ate across the street and walked in. sure wewere tired when we got there and the kids were worn out but we saved $15.


it as been a long time since we have been to this park and its funny how some of the ame thing are still there. who could forget the 'texas chute out' (the parachute ride) and the 'judge roy scream'. of course there are new ones and the crowds sure haven't changed.




on friday we put in about 4 hours at the park. so saturday we headed in early (10am). BOY was it HOTT!!!!! i've never sweated so much. art and i agreed that it counte as our work out for the weekend. by lunch we were tired and we decided to head to the hotel for a break. then after dinner we went back. (we must be crazy) caleb and baileigh had a great time. caleb said " this is the best vacation ever" baileigh just wanted to know when we were going swimming.

sunday (my birthday) we all slept in . . . ok 8:00. hey with two kiddos in the same hotel room that was pretty good. i was greeted with birthday wishes and "mommy i'm hungry".... lol gotta love it!!

we packed and headed out after a lunch with art's sister (angie) and brother in law (greg). all in all we had a great weekend. as we wind down the summer i'm greatful that i was able to get away for a couple of days and relax and be with the people i love most in the world.

~jess~
( pictures coming soon . . . )

one down. how many to go?

he did it !!!!

caleb finally lost his first tooth. for about 2 weeks now caleb has been wiggling two teeth on the bottom. tonight he finally pulled one of them all by himself.



at seven i was beginnig to wonder if was ever gunna lose a tooth. i'm not really sure when i started losing them but now that it has started i'm sure he'll look real cute for school pics this year. now he can't wait to lose the next one and he even has one lose on the top.



it's been so long, since i've had a talk with the toothfairy. i wasn't really sure how much she would leave him. (ya know with inflation and stuff) i wasn't really sure if caleb would be impressed with 5 dimes. luckly 2 dollor bills did the trick. i'm still not sure if she left enough. how much are baby teeth worth these days anyway? . . . LOL

~jess~

A late 4th of July . . .

ok . . .so i'm a little late with this post.

our 4th of july activities have become a family tradition. for about 28 years now my dad has been shooting fireworks shows. he started shooting the local show at gateway in beaumont. for about 15 years now he has been doing a show in mont belview. (which is about 1 hour away) art has been helping for 10 years and one day may have his own show.



our 4th of july are exciting. the chickies start out early with some sale shopping. the guys however start their day out with dashing around trying to get together everything for the big show. my dad always waits till the last minute and usually he calls mom a few times to get her to bring the forgotten items. i can't even count the number of last minute flash lights that are bought and lost each year.

usually the fireworks are lit by hand. the guys have to dig holes for the pipes to fit in. each shell is loaded one at a time and lit with a flare. i never watch the show cause i'm always afraid something will happen. sometimes there are no problems but there have been a few mishaps like burnt hair or eyebrows... LOL



this year was a little different. dad finally got his 'electric' show. i think he was excited until he started wiring it. the pipes came on a trailer and each shell had to loaded into the pipes. then wires from each shell had to be attached to the 'mother' board then connected to a battery. dad and my brother spent about 5 hours loading the shells. once everything was wired then the trailer was moved to the location of the show. about 20 extention cords were used to connect the trailer to the 'mother' board.
dad said it was easier to shoot but the getting ready was harder.

all in all we had a good time and the show was a success.

~jess~

a weekend away from home . .

so couldn't get the pics to upload so i made a slide show of the weekend instead.
btw . . . the website is www.slide.com it's easy to use but it can take long time and sometimes you have to change the size of the file. good luck

~jess~

a weekend spent away . . .

ok . . . so art and i are off together every weekend (unless i'm on call). which means we usually have to find something to do so the kiddos are not completely bored. sometimes we goto town (beaumont) and waste time or just hang around the house.

well this weekend was just like all the others accept . . . we decided (very last minute) to head to houston. we had no plans, just a hotel room that art found cheap on the internet. so about 10:30 am we were on the road. the weather wasn't the greatest, the forecast said it was gunna rain. (and it did)

the kids didn't care what we were planning to do as long as it included a dip in the hotel pool. so not long after our arrival we headed to the pool. after a short dip we went bowling and then grabbed a bite to eat at caleb's choice (chili's).

after a saturday night in the hotel, we headed out on the town. we headed to one of my favorite stores IKEA. the kids had a blast in the play area. art and i spent a few dollars on things that i could not live without . . .LOL

then we pretended like we were rich folk and decided to take the kids for an educational experience. we headed to the museum district downtown. caleb notices everthing and his eyes lit up when he noticed were we where. the houston museum of natural science was our stop. (the only stop) i was truly surprised at how much an educational experience cost. . . lol caleb and baileigh loved the dinosaur bones and the most of the interactive things they got to play with. i thought they would enjoy the IMAX movie. after the show i was dreading the questions that might follow, since the show was about the human body, to my surprise caleb was more into the exhibits. (it must be a boy thing)

we had a fun little vacation away from home and headed back to ready ourselves for a short work week.

~jess~