Like Father Like Son

John (3 1/2) is Matt's shadow. He follows him everywhere when he is home and wants to do exactly what Daddy is doing at. all. times.

Working in the back yard

RST Annual Lake Weekend

We headed out to the lake this past weekend with the Schoolers and Truss families. We all live in the 'hood together, attend church together, and live life together. The kids all get along great, too. Matt would easily consider Rob and Ryan has best friends. They have an incredible friendship with each other.

The weather was beautiful, which was just icing on the cake. We ate lots of good food and just sat around and enjoyed watching the kids play in the water, wakeboard, water ski and tube. Oh, and the adults got a few runs in as well!

The whole gang (Baby Matthew was sleeping)

Christy, Christy and Kim

Becca, Grayson, Alivia, Bentley, Tyler and Luke

John was a charmer all weekend

Will loved driving the boat with Daddy

From our deck - sunrise

Boys and their coffee/early morning meetings

Daddy show us how it's done!

Tyler got up on skis!

The tube was a big hit - The Taylors joined us for the day on Saturday

The faces are priceless

Daddy, thank you for being such a faithful boat driver

Mimi's 67th Birthday

Pine Cove Base Camp

Alivia had an amazing week with the traveling counselors from Pine Cove Camp. Her counselor, Aubree "C-Stop" Seiferman, was precious and is currently a Junior at Texas A&M. Base Camp is a way for younger kids (up to 4th grade) to experience Pine Cove without leaving Austin or spending the night. After this week, Alivia has started talking about going to Pine Cove sleepaway camp! I never thought I would hear her say that. She cried tonight when she talked about how this was the last day and that she was not going to get to see her counselor tomorrow. Too precious. I think it had a meaningful impact on her. They really speak Gospel truth to the kids and seem like an amazing group. Thank you Pine Cove!

On the last day parents come and listen to the camp sign and then we break into "cabin groups" and listen to the counselor talk about character qualities about your child. Here is what Aubree said about Alivia: "Alivia is polite in the way she treats others. Her faithful nature allows others to depend on her. Alivia is considerate in her words and actions."

Bella French, Aubree, and Alivia

TCU Lake Weekend 2013

We actually had this weekend at the end of June. . .

We figured out this was our 12th year. How crazy is that? Everyone was able to make it except Jason who was at Camp Barnabas and couldn't get away. Amazing Al drove with all three kids for 12 hours by herself. Thankfully she was able to spend a few extra days with family before having to head back home again.

I have a bunch more pictures that I hope to add later. . .

The girls! Al from Purdy, MO; me; Mandy from Austin; Anna from Denton; Red from Shreveport.
Mandy is about 34 weeks pregnant with her baby boy!

To celebrate Samuel's b-day, the Burkes hired a guide and went fishing early Saturday morning

Success! They caught perch, crappie and bass - we fried them up later  - yummy!

Anna was still recovering from ACL surgery. Here is the catch!

Jackson is the oldest - he looks so much like Jason

All the kids - GO FROGS!

Smith and Baker

Brian being a good sport

Baker and Brian

Boat ride! I think we may have been over the limit. :-)

Precious Elle Niles

Will's First Sleepover!

At the Schooler's to celebrate Luke's birthday.

Front L-->R: Will, Grayson Truss
Back L-->R: Luke Schooler, William French, Ben Spears, Isaac Zimel

Walt Disney World 2013

Matt and I had been wanting to take the older kids to WDW for the past several months and when I saw there was an opportunity to go to a conference to get myself paid for, we jumped at the chance. We stayed at the Grand Floridian which was awesome. By far my most favorite part of the conference. I would highly recommend this hotel to anyone! I don't think I would ever go during the heat or crowds of summertime, but since I went with a conference we had no input on the dates. Boy, it was CROWDED. But I have to say that Disney really knows how to handle large crowds pretty well, so it was not as bad as I thought it would be. I also read a lot of books and had a plan for every day which helped a lot as well. The key is getting there when the park opens and going to the most popular rides first - heading home to nap - and then staying until late in the evening.

Alivia and Will did great. They hung with us until late into the evening and got up every morning around 7 am without much fuss. The first night we were out until midnight! Disney is definitely not a vacation for sleeping in and relaxing, but it is fun nonetheless. We hope to take the entire family in about 4 more years when the kids will be 5, 7, 9 and 11. Then I think we will check it off our bucket list for good at that point.

While they are still fresh in my mind, here are my tips for our trip in four years:
1) Every child that travels with us to WDW must be potty-independent
2) Take a sit and stand stroller for the younger kids
3) Give the kids each a set amount of money every day to spent however they wish (we gave Alivia and Will $20 every day - it was a hoot to see what they bought)
4) Get on touringplans.com to get their itinerary for each park - do not alter it that much - you can always skip things when you get there.
5) Plan to head back to the hotel every day for some rest time and pool time
6) Stay either at the Grand Floridian or Polynesian - yes it is worth being on the monorail
7) Spend 2 days at Magic Kingdom, one day at Epcot, and one day at Hollywood Studios - skip Animal Kingdom - the zoo in FW is just as neat
8) Get a driver to meet you in the airport - stop at a grocery store along the way for breakfast items and snacks and lunch items
9) Eat breakfast in the room - ask the hotel to give you a microwave
10) Pack easy lunches for the kids (ex: Lunchables) and then fill in the gaps with cheaper items from the park like desserts and soda to round out the meal
11) Make a reservation for a sit down dinner for every night - try to make it in the park so you don't have to leave and can just head there after naps and stay late into the night
12) You do not need to buy a park hopper option
13) Pack in your own water bottles
14) Do not buy a Disney meal plan
15) Items in our backpack: ponchos (kid and adult sized), blister band aids, hand wipes, flip flops for me just in case my shoes got wet, light sweater, sunscreen, camera
16) Purchase the Unofficial Guide to WDW - it was the best book out there for tips and strategies
17) Go to the Disney Store here in town and purchase items to give to the kids every morning to surprise them before we headed out each day
18) Pin trading is FUN. Buy a 30-pack of pins to get 2 kids going and then watch them trade with others in the park.
19) One character meal is plenty - Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary was really great with good food and lots of characters. Go the first night when you arrive in the afternoon.

Now with the pictures. Matt took over 400! But here are some of the best and most memorable.

On our way! We had a great SW Airlines direct flight - highly recommend!

How cute is this hat? We lost it the first day.

The monorail! It came right to our hotel and MK was one stop away

Yes, we wore matching t-shirts.

First dinner at Chef Mickey - my favorite dinner overall

Donald Duck was especially funny

We've arrived at the Magic Kingdom! We got there early evening.

This kid seriously cracks me up.

The lights on Cinderella's castle were amazing and were constantly changing.

It rained for a short time every day

Dinner at Cinderella's castle the next day - it's Fourth of July. I wish we had dressed up more!

Lots of princesses came to visit and woo Will

But he only had eyes for Aurora - she was the only one he agreed to take a pic with. Turns out he has a thing for blondes.

Alivia and ??? I cannot think of her name right now - the one that was a mermaid. . . 

Jasmine was Alivia's favorite.

One of Will's favorite rides

The fireworks on the 4th of July were AMAZING.

After the fireworks we ran to do some rides that were really popular. This is Buzz Lightyear.

Animal Kingdom. I was at my conference and missed this part - it looks cool.

It mimics an African safari - Matt said they used a lot of oak trees to mimic the African Safari

The double stroller that helped us so much.

One of Will's purchases with his daily $20 

The Finding Nemo show at Animal Kingdom was really well done. 

These bats were amazing! Hundreds of them just snoozing away in an open area.

We need to send this pic to Matt's mom to show that he was serious about his sun protection. Love that guy.

One of my favorite rides at Epcot - Living with the Land

Will wanted a pet blowfish after he got to know this one - see him on the right?

Epcot

I will never. ever. do. this. Period.

Dinner at the Biergarten in Germany in Epcot. Not that good, really.

Another daily purchase with his $20 from China in Epcot.

My handsome hubby who puts up with all of us with ease and grace.

Tired sweaty kids.

Out of order shot when we arrived on the first day

Yes, once again, we are wearing matching shirts. Go ahead and judge - I thought it was awesome.

Epcot!

Hubby and the babies, I mean grown children in the stroller - yes, it was worth hauling it and them around.

Precious boy and his purchase.

Arriving at the Grand Floridian. This hotel was awesome.

One of the kids favorite rides - along with Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain roller coaster

Will freaked out at the beginning of this and he and I had to duck out the side entrance

Dinner at Boma - it was not that good.

This is what the daily plans looked like generated by touringplans.com - highly recommend!

One of Alivia's daily $20 purchases (she had to save for 2 days to have enough money for this)