Summer!---Fun, Fun, Fun!

Ok, here goes another long post! Hopefully I can get caught up tonight! (that's my goal anyway) :)
We have had just a busy and fun summer! The first week of June we were able to go with Tom down to Dallas. He had to work down there so we just added a couple days before and after that to have a little vacation with family. We stayed at Tom's brother's. And, Tom's sister and her family from Utah met us there as well. It was a packed house, but we had a fun time. It was loud and crazy and so much laughing. The kids had a great time playing with cousins and we adults had fun times just hanging out and talking and playing cards and such. There is never a lack of laughter when you get around the Gatherum family! That is for sure! It was fun for me to see how the little cousins just idolized Cameron, the oldest cousin. He just graduated from high school and is pretty cool! :) He was really cute with the kids---fixing their "mohawks" each day with his special hair glue and letting them hang all over him. It was also fun to watch him and Rachelle. (his mom) They have such a great relationship and are so funny together teasing and such! You'll see how silly they are in my pictures. I hope I can have that kind of open, fun, and loving relationship with my boys.
One of the highlights of the vacation was watching cousin Kole get his long awaited mohawk. Julie had told him he could grow his how out until we came and then she would give him a mohawk and let him keep it for 4 days. He was the hit wherever we went. He sure thought it was pretty cool! Especially with Cameron's "glue"! Oh, and another highlight was watching Kole learn how to ride a 2-wheeler. We brought Matt's little bike with us to help Kole and he got it fast. He was pretty cute and proud of himself. All the kids played outside more than I thought they would. They rode scooters and bikes, played basketball, jumped on the tramp. (even in the hard rain)
I think the favorite activity for most of the kids was Uncle Troy taking everyone fishing. This is one of the main things my kids look forward to when we go visit them in Dallas. Just about everyone caught a fish. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures because I was lucky enough to not have to go out in the heat and terrible humidity! :) The other favorite---for the girls at least---was going to the American Girl Store. We had a blast! I kind of had to close my eyes and take the plunge! Crazy!-but I only have one girl-plus, it was a lot of fun and we had some super happy girls! Shelby was in heaven and had a hard time choosing an outfit for her new doll. It was hard for her to part with her money--just like me, but she did it! :) Shelby and cousin Natalie had a great time playing with their dolls together. One day when it rained, we caught the new "Kung Fu Panda" movie. We also got to go the the Sixth Floor Museum. (JFK shooting) That was pretty interesting. And, we all got to go to Six Flaggs together. Sam was so happy because he is now tall enough to go on all the "big" rides. Sam sure thought he was pretty cool hanging with the older cousins and dads! Tom said that he did great! It was so blasted hot and muggy, but we all had a great time anyway. It is just kind of gross that you just stand there and sweat! That is how it is here too. Yuck!!!
Last week we really felt the heat and humidity as we were at Cub Scout Camp with Sam a couple of days. The Cub Scout camp was all day, all week long. The heat and humidity just zaps you here and being out in it all day really wore Sam out! He had such a great time though. The theme was Spy camp, which is right up his alley. He and his friends love to spy on the girls in the neighborhood. :) At camp each day they had water fights at lunch and at the end of the day. I think this was his favorite part because he came home completely soaked every day. :) And, we were all lucky enough not to have found any ticks! They are really heavy here, especially out where the camp is.
Also last week, Shelby got to go to a soccer camp. She had a blast too! This camp was 3 hours a day and it was Christian sponsored, and so they started and ended the day with prayer and at break time they had a little bible story time. Shelby came home hot and exhausted, but full of words to tell us about what she had learned that day. Tom and I were very impressed with the soccer camp not only because the Christian theme, but she also got a shirt, ball, water bottle, and lunch the last day. Wow! And it was half the price of the other camps around! I think I will definitely remember this for next Summer! :)
Poor Matt was a little bored all week without his buddy Sam. But, it was fun to see he and Shelby play together since they don't play as much,(just the two of them), as he and Sam do. Shelby was making it a fun time. They had forts and "house" set up in the family room. Matt has really been into having a fort set up in the family room and watching TV from inside it. Pretty cute! The most exciting thing that has happened in his life is that he finally got to start T-ball this month. He is playing with his good friend Sam. He is so happy to finally be on a team and have his turn. And, he is pretty good! (if I do say so myself-not biased):) His birthday is tomorrow and he is soooo excited! We are hopefully going to have a water baseball party. I say hopefully because we are having a severe thunderstorm right now. They are pretty exciting! (scary!) The lightning and thunder are so intense!!! And the whole tornado possibilities are not fun! Our little weather radio has been going off all night long! Got to love living in the Midwest!!! :)
Well, other than the above, we have had a fun time swimming in our neighborhood pool pretty much every day! I don't love getting in a swim suit, but oh well, the kids have a great time and love to go swimming. We can't do too much outside in the afternoons here, other than swim. So, it is real handy to have the neighborhood pool and a great way to kill a couple of hours! :) We have also spent some time doing the things that we, as adults, all did as we were growing up. We have had some fun softball games in the field, and basketball games on our driveway, playing in the sprinklers, and spent lots of time at the creek just up the street a ways. The kids have just really liked biking up to the creek and looking for frogs and turtles. They have even caught a few. It has been fun doing these things. It has brought a lot of memories back for me. Isn't it interesting that the TV and video games have kind of taken over the "good 'ol fun". Kind of sad.
Anyways, I guess this is all why I have been too tired at night to sit and post. But, I will try to be a bit better---however, we are heading into the long vacation. So, we'll see! :) I hope all of you are having a great summer too!