pumpkins.

my parents were in town last weekend, so we took a little trip to sweetberry farms in marble falls for their pumpkin patch activities. ek was still puny, and jb was camping with some dudes so he missed it, but it was a super fun outing. i'm so glad we got there when we did (fairly early), as by the time we left, i was so over the masses of humans out on the farm.

the kids got to paint pumpkins, ride horses, eat some snacks, and pick out a (massive) pumpkin. now, if only we could have some weather that's colder than the upper 80s, we'd be in good shape for fall...

fourth of july.

fourth of july was super fun this year. hollis's class had a parade/party celebration; we had our neighborhood parade, complete with bagels and lox at the bowmans; and we rounded out the actual day with another neighbor party and an evening at the koens. the kids loved sparklers, but the louder fireworks were not a hit this year. it was also a pretty exhausting day - three blow-outs is a lot to cram into one day, especially for the 10-and-under crowd.

the rest of june.

the rest of june is pretty much a blur at this point. probably because it was almost two months ago. woops. anyway. there was a lot of swimming, some breakfast dates, a finding dory adventure (which ended with an epic hollis meltdown, but let's not dwell on these things), some brownie baking, and about a million trips to central market.

cousin visit and work trip.

after school got out, we had a visit from the colorado cousins - justin's brother and his family. the kids absolutely adore each other and they all play together really well, so it was super fun to watch them all play so hard. i took pitifully few pictures, but it was a great weekend. we ate a lot - salt lick bbq, lick ice cream, chuy's for mexican food, i made jambalaya one night - and did some swimming and slip n sliding too. rose and i even snuck away for a quick yoga class.

the following week, in mid-june, i had to head to california for work for the whole week. i hate being away from my family, but cali was really nice and jb took great care of the kids. i'm pretty sure he wins for most likely to be goaded into getting ice cream or going for a weekday swim...

festival weekend.

last weekend we loaded up and brought the kids to lafayette for festival international. we missed it last year and it was awesome to be back, even though it was the most crowded i have ever seen it. the kids had a blast there, although i think the highlights of the trip for them were popsicles for breakfast, hanging with kk & jj & joe joe, and going to the dollar tree. jb and i even got to slip out friday and saturday night to see some music and peruse the crafts. we loved the bach lunch on friday, making masks at the children's area, jb and hollis dressed as twins, and squeezing in a nap during cedric watson. other than the insane rain we hit while driving back through houston, it was a fantastic trip!