Tyler State Park 10-24-08

Life was beautiful this past weekend as we camped out with some of our friends at Tyler State Park. The weather was absolutely in our favor, cool, no wind, no rain, and lots of sunshine. We packed up our van and headed out at 1:30 and made it out to Tyler by 4:00. We did learn the way NOT to go next time. Highway 205 seems a pretty straight shot over to I-20, but construction through all of Rockwall left us in traffic for quite a while. Then, when we thought we were free sailing, we hit more traffic through Terrell. Luckily for us, all four of the kids slept pretty much the entire way! Sam and I had some fantastic conversations without being interupted or screamed over. I was nice for a change.

As we arrived in Tyler, we met up with the Williams Family and the Probst Family, who both took the easier route. Our kids we so excited to wake up to loads of buddies waiting to play.

The Probst boys were sure experts at finding critters! From the first 5 minutes after we unloaded the crews, they were finding all kids of things.

Tanner with a frog

Nate with a walking stick

Bailee with a Caterpillar

Tanner with a large snail

Poor Ephriam didn't know what he was getting himself into when he ventured out. All the younger boys, but mostly William and Dakota, kept attacking him for his goodies. What 2 year old can resist goldfish!

Falling off the picnic bench, face first onto the concrete, sure got the best of him! Luckily he was okay, other than the war-wounds. Meals were great this camping trip! For dinner, the adults had foil dinners and hobo stew and the kids had tortillia pizzas, thanks to a recipe my friend Elicia gave me. In the morning, we had a buffet style pancake breakfast with sausage and eggs. Yum! Jason is always so prepared for a great breakfast! We were in charge of the eggs, and of course we forgot something to actually cook them in. Sam and I have now come to the realization that we need to pack a box of camping supplies on Family Home Evening night, that way it is always ready to go. After breakfast, the kids carved their pumpkins for Halloween. They really did a great job too. I was very impressed at how detailed they could carve.

Where is William? Well, he found a place he prefered much better than at the table. Under it!

After we had roasted our hot dogs for lunch and packed up camp, we headed out for a hike and then to the lake house for a Park Ranger Demonstration. The topic for the afternoon: Snakes!

Nate was in his glory! We learned about venomous snakes in the park, luckily we were only sleeping with 3, and about how they live. The crowning finale was watching the park ranger feed a corn snake a mouse. Afterwards, I was just waiting for Nate to ask me when he could get one. Unfortunately, I have a pretty good phobia of snakes. they will not be living in my home.The trip ended just as perfect as it started! Sam treated us to icecream, and no sooner had the kids finished theirs, they were back sound asleep for the whole ride home. Welcome Paradise!

Emily's Wedding 10-18-08

Well, this day finally made it, and our entire family is so----- excited!!! Emily and Dusty were finally married in an abosolutely beautiful ceremony. After 15 years of wondering, now it is for sure, they are husband and wife, Mr. & Mrs. Heath! Everything went rather well. There were just a few bumps in the road to get it there. Two days before the wedding, Emily found out that her bakery that was making their cake went out of business, took all their money, and would not be delivering a wedding cake in return. They had to frantically find another bakery that could make and bring one in just 2 days notice. On Friday night, the night of the rehearsal dinner, we all met at the Maple Manor, did our quick run through of places and plans, and then headed a few blocks over to Matito's for dinner. We had a large line of cars all filing in together, and the valets looked a little crazy trying to get all of our cars out of the traffic running down Routh Street. Unfortunately, Dusty's mom & dad felt the brunt of it. As we waited outside for the valets to advance our van, we watched one of the valets drive Steve and Sally's Expedition right over the front end of a Honda that was being pulled up at the same time. Luckily no one was hurt, and the damage was quite minimal considering how it appeared as it happened.

The day of the wedding was the typical rush rush to get everything done. Brianna and Natalie were the flower girls, and very excited to be. Natalie would not quit telling everyone about her new shoes. Both the girls really enjoyed helping Emily get ready and to be "fancied up" themselves. I thought for sure Natalie would not even attempt to leave us to go drop flower petals, but she really surprised us and did a fantastic job!

Nate helped in passing out the programs and looked like such a little gentleman in his suit. He held his position with much dignity! He was quite the photographer also. Nate spent most of the night, after his program assignment, acting as the professional party picture taker. He really took some great shots too!As for William, his goal was to see if he could get completely soaked the second he came down stairs dressed in his new suit, pull over the enormous concrete fountain outside in the courtyard, and knock down the guests by running full speed ahead up and down the breezeway to the atrium. Even though he is a wild and crazy 2 year old, he still looked really cute!

Emily looked like a princess from a fairytale story, the cake turned out beautiful, and everyone seemed very happy indeed! We hope they will continue their lives into "Happily Ever After...!"

Brianna's 11th Birthday 10-16-08

Today was a great day because Brianna turned 11 years old. It is hard to believe that 11 years of her life have already flashed before our eyes. She brings such joy and delight to Sam and I that it is hard to imagine how it was before we had her. Brianna is such a wonderful person. She is a great friend and fantastic helper with our family. She is gentle, kind, and loving. We are so glad she belongs to our family.
To celebrate her birthday, we began the morning with our traditional flaming pancake with whipped cream and sprinkles breakfast. I think our whole family looks forward to getting that pile of whipped cream bright and early in the morning and watching the candle melt to the side as we try to coordinate singing the Birthday Song among 5 of us!

After breakfast and some school assignments, we decided to take a family trip to the State Fair of Texas. Aside from being outrageously expensive as always, we had a blast! We enjoyed the Food and Fiber Center where the kids learned all about what various products are made out of, then enjoyed free icecream provided by the fair. We also went to the Children's Barn which was full of all kinds of baby animals.

William loved the goats, especially their slobbery tongues! Nate enjoyed being the "Macho Man Know-It-All Feeding Expert" until it came time for him to show all of us how to feed an ostrich. When the bird stuck its head through the bars, he about jumped out of his skin!

The most amusing thing of the day, though, was when we presented the kids with their individual budgets for the fair. We gave them each a set amount of money, and when that was gone, they could not buy or spend anything else. We went to the Midway, where all the rides were, and imediately all the kids were picking out several that they wanted to ride. It wasn't until they realized a ride was $4 each that their minds quickly changed. In the end, William and Natalie rode 2 rides and Nate and Brianna only rode 1, choosing to save the rest of their money for cotton candy and their banks.

We were able to watch a fascinating Bird's of the World show, a puppet show, the parade, and the illuminations light show, and in the end, we had a wonderful day!

Homeschool Day at the Fort Worth Zoo 10-02-08

The Fort Worth Zoo held its annual Homeschool Day today and it was a blast. We have never been to it before, but I think we will make it a tradition. The weather was absolutely wonderful for the whole family(needing a well deserved break from the school routine.) The kids were able to watch a live animals presentation, where zoo keepers discussed interesting facts for several animals as they walked around with them. We found out many new things like: Alligators can retract their eye-balls into their deep eye-sockets because that is the most vulnerable area on them. Owls' heads turn as far as 270 degrees because their eyes are so big that they do not have enough room for muscles to move just their eyes. African Penguins make a sound like a donkey braying etc... Some kids even held a 12 foot python. I said, "Yuck!" Nate really enjoyed that though. The zoo also had many baby animals on display: deer, lions, giraffes, turtles. Our favorite, though, were the baby tiger cubs. They were so cute! We were able to see them playing with their mom. The kids and I really had a great time. It was nice to go and just relax with nature and not have a time schedule to follow.

Happy Day for William (& Us Too!) 9-25-08

Today, William jumped a hurdle that we hope will never need to return. He was completely released from all his therapy! It was sad to say good-bye to his therapist, Mrs. Kathy, because she has been wonderful. We could not have done this without her! But, after 2 1/2 years of dealing with his dysphaegia with aspiration, we are hoping that he has developed his swallowing muscles and coordination enough to not need thickener. He has made such huge improvements just in the last 2 months, we are so excited! This has been the longest time in William's life that he has gone without getting sick and running fevers. He is not on any medications whatsoever. No breathing medications, no reflux medications, no allergy medications, no pain relievers/fever reducers... Nothing! We really hope it will continue to stay that way and that his dyshpaegia will be a thing of the past!

Night Out With The Texas Rangers 9-20-08

We had the fortunate opportunity to go with our whole family to a Texas Rangers Game in Arlington thanks to Sam's work. Metavante sure knows how to put on a party! We arrived to a private dinner party at the Rangers Bull Pen Club, where we were greeted with goodie bags and souvineers from the game, along with door prizes for attending. Sam won 2 Dallas Mavericks Tickets! (I was hoping for the trip for 2 to Europe!LOL) After we ate dinner, we found our seats in the stadium to watch the game. Unfortunately, the Rangers are not doing very well right now. The game was a very low scoring game, with very little excitement. The main excitement for the night came from the fans. At one point during the game, a fan jumped the wall and ran on to the field to chat with some of the players during a line-up change. Officials came out running from all edges of the field to finally catch the fan after quite a hillarious game of cat-&-mouse chase. Needless to say, the fan probably went to jail after he was escorted off the field. We ended our night with a bang, as the Ballpark put on a spectacular fireworks show after the game. The kids really enjoy it. The night was a fantastic family night out!

The Hardy Family