memorial day weekend - @ the Texas Coast

we went to Rockport with our neighbors over memorial day weekend. we strapped the boy's bikes to the roof of the car.
while the guys went fishing both days me and April took the boys to the beach and pool. on Friday morning we went to Fulton Beach in Rockport.
the salty air & water, sand between my toes... i love the beach. we tried to make sandcastles but they didn't quite turn out like i imagined. i blame it on the buckets i bought at the dollar tree... so cheap they broke right away. next time i'll spend $3 to get the good sturdy buckets. we had trouble getting the right sand water mixture but we had fun playing anyway. there were jellyfish EVERYWHERE so the boys stayed real close to me in the water. i finally took them out to an island spot 8-10 feet out so we were deep enough to not see jellyfish everywhere and could enjoy swimming and splashing in the waves. good times with my boys! thankfully no one got stung while we enjoyed the waves and salty water. the wind was blowing hard and the sun was real bright. {i need to remember to bring sunglasses for the boys next time.}
Friday afternoon i took the boys across on the ferry to Port Aransas to see Adam's sister and family who were vacationing as well. the boys slept the whole way across the ferry, so i got to take pics. pretty cool riding in the car on a boat, then driving off onto land.
the boys played with their cousin Kiara and Uncle Ronnie in the pool. Kiara was carrying Corbin around in the water and got in over her head. her daddy was occupied splashing the boys and i happen to notice she was bobbing up and down a lot. i almost had to chunk the camera and jump in after her. Uncle Ronnie finally grabbed her up. he made them practice swimming. and splashed them in the face with water a lot. of course they loved it!
whew! this is a long post. we did a lot that weekend. part two tomorrow...

backyard gardens

one of our favorite summer traditions is to grow a garden in the backyard. seriously, we all love it! a little TLC and we've grown some nice big cucumbers. (lots of water and rich soil) they are sneaky and tricky to see at first. they start out looking like this. the first one we found was already 6-7 inches long. they hide pretty well on the vine. the taste is so fresh out of the garden!
the boys find the lady bugs right away
, and the nice honey bees.zucchini has always been hard for us to grow. it starts out looking great, but then the heat zaps it dead. maybe this will be our year. fried zucchini! yummyokra, strawberries, peppers, onions...all the good stuff ;} thankful for a great gardening season thus far. we are really enjoying all our raised beds in the back.

bye butterflies

we released the butterflies the day we left for the coast over Memorial day weekend. it was harder to part with them than we expected. they just appeared content eating the orange slices in their garden and eh hem... mating half the day away. we kept them the maximum two weeks. believe it or not several of them weren't so eager to flee. they hung around in our hands or on our shoulder. a few stayed close in the grass for a few minutes, or in our neighbors front yard tree.

Coach enjoyed the butterfly garden. i let him look and paw at their home a little bit. he was pretty curious and probably would have hurt them bad. he's gentle but a giant.
we enjoyed growing butterflies. can't wait to do that again somtime.

painted lady

Uncle got the boys a butterfly garden for their birthday. it's been neat watching 10 caterpillars turn into 10 painted lady butterflies. it only took 8 days total for them to transform. now we get to busy ourselves feeding them sugar water sprinkled on top of mum and lantana flowers. the red stuff you see is meconium. we learned lots about caterpillars, chrysalides, and butterflies. we will release them to the wild tomorrow. fun! thanks Uncle & Melba! it was an awesome birthday gift.

remembering a few short years ago

3 years ago
i love this picture
i love remembering these more loving moments
best friends still sometimes argue and pick on each other
i'm getting the feeling lately they simply need time apart... lots of time
kindergarten is going to be good for them
socializing with others
making new friends

now i just have to figure out what i'm going to do while their off learning and socializing? :)

And then they were FIVE!

Five years old! What a fun time of life! these two are so excitable, smart and curious. constantly learning all they can, pretending and being silly guys. I will never forget the night they were born, and snuggled together in a little bassinet. it's been a thrill to be parents.
these boys have changed EVERYTHING about our lives.
May 9, 2006 6:05pm - 6:09pm healthy. perfect little miracles. blessings from Godthe day we finally brought them home and put them together in their crib. and then looked at each other like "Now what?".
bottles, sippy cups, blankies, diapers, potty training... so thankful for it all.of course we found our way, figured it out and didn't once break them in the process. the five years have gone way too fast. even though there were some very long days and nights along the way. our hearts are full, so full. it's been worth it all!

love these boys! happy 5th birthday to cooper peyton & corbin pierce!!

Coach

Oh how we love this doggie. {i} had been wanting a doodle of some sort, labra or golden for over a year now. so finding this boy when and how we did was super exciting. he's really taken with Adam. but i'll make him my walking partner in no time.we found him on Craigslist. already named Coach, 8 months old. he was living with three other small dogs who were tormenting his every move. he was hit with bats and sticks by some mean neighbor kids as well. the owner was sweet enough to search out a better home for him.
he was very afraid of the boys at first. but they are so sweet and loving with pets. no worries there! we're loving on him and showing him we're safe. :) he's already a different dog after spending a day and night with our family. we bathed him in the shower and cut some stickers out of his face. he let us brush him and slept right by Adam's side of the bed on the floor all night. Love him!! today we took him to the dog park. he ran around a little. we are working on training him to fetch a tennis ball or frisbee. he's not too sure yet. he's doing really well on the leash.
yay for our first family dog! we look forward to years and years together.