Summer madness

Summer is drawing to a close, and we continue to fill our days with fun.  We took the whole family to Zilker recently--on a day that actually wasn't sweltering.  The train ride is always first and never disappoints.

Matt found several bottlecaps (he has quite the collection going now) and fifty cents in found change throughout the park.  He was ecstatic.

Thursday mornings Steven has been taking the big boys to the driving range.  While Matt takes it seriously and actually makes contact with the ball and gets some distance...

...Will finds other ways to keep himself entertained.  He's so special.  All I know is it's nice to have a quiet morning with just Johnathan and I.

We hit another splash park where Matt & Will ran around like crazy only stopping to devour some snacks.  Little John snoozed in his carseat.

We visited Deep Eddy pool a couple weeks ago (Uncle Tim joined us too!), and it was delightful.  The water there is seriously cold, but it felt great on that very hot day.

Johnny quite enjoyed himself.  He sat and watched the action, ate, napped and then kicked around on our picnic blanket.

Will looks like he's being quite the handful.  Well, he usually is, but I assure you he was having fun.  I had been photographing Johnathan and he asked me to take his picture.  And this is how he chose to pose.  Dramatic much?

Matt and Will spent a lot of time jumping in from the side of the pool.  Trying to synchronize their jumps.

And then they nearly smothered their baby brother while wrestling on the blanket as they dried off.  Johnny didn't mind at all.  He's quite amused by them.

The whole family loved watching the Olympics.  I get so excited and inspired watching all those gifted athletes compete at such a level.  Matt's favorite events were swimming and track & field.  He referenced the globe and the atlas to figure out where all the different countries were and what their flags looked like.  Voluntarily of course.

My birthday was certainly a nice one.  My dear husband gave me flowers, and that always makes me happy.

The day started at a kids' birthday party--one of Will's little friends, Nathan, turned 3.  Then, I fled from the party and ALL my children and headed to join my girlfriends at Lake Austin Spa for a much needed and very enjoyable massage.  If only I could afford to visit that place more often!  It's a little piece of heaven.  Especially with my best girls by my side!

Meanwhile, Steven had all the kids for the day.  I came in and out to feed Johnathan, and he did great all day.  To make things more fun, louder and messier, Zach, Ava & Henry came over.  Good times.

We had dinner at Contigo, a hip little place on the east side with tasty delights that we all enjoyed.  Then I devoured the awesome birthday cake that Nicole made for me while we continued to conversate and enjoy ourselves.  Special times with my sweet girls.  What a blessing.  It was great for this mama--it recharged me!  A brilliant way to kick of my 34th year.