Meanwhile, Back in June...

I know I'm jumping around on the timeline of events here, and please excuse the disarray of it all. (If you only knew what goes in my head, you'd wonder how I even get things done sometimes. I have learned this is a side effect of becoming a mom, among other things, which I should blog about later but again there goes the off subject tangent and disorderly nature of my thoughts.) Anyhow, I'm jumping back to June to share the fun activities we enjoyed at the beginning of summer.

If you visit or live in San Antonio and are under the age of 12, I think summer just wouldn't be a summer if you didn't make a stop at Sea World to visit Shamu. So during that second week of June that's just we did. We got there as soon as the park opened, caught all the shows and even had some time to hang around Elmo's Bay of Play. You would think with all that running around to see every sea animal, coupled with the summer heat, Braedan would have been exhausted and fallen asleep at some point toward the end of our visit. But that wasn't the case. He kept going strong, and during what should have been his nap time, he made the executive decision to have ice cream instead having seen other kids walking around with giant waffle cones. Braedan rarely gets sugary treats so who was I to deny him that one little indulgence. Besides, his baby sister wanted some too.

Braedan's tia, or "Titi" as he affectionately calls her, tagged along for the fun and we had the best time.


 

Having fun on the merry go round.



 

Mmm Ice Cream!

 Part of the reason for our visit to San Antonio was to join my sister in celebrating her birthday and to help my cousin, Joe Anthony, celebrate his high school graduation. These two events gave Braedan the opportunity to take part in a couple of activities he really enjoys--celebrating a birthday because it involves cake of course and getting the chance to shake his little tail feather at my cousin's graduation party. Here he is with Titi helping her try out her new sunglasses, because whenever she's around he is pretty much her shadow.

 

A few of my cousins with the happy graduate.

And here is the party animal having some fun on the dance floor. 

 

The Great Escape

July served up more family fun and an escape from the hot South Texas summer as we took a trip to visit Braedan's Maimo and Daideo in New Mexico. While we were there, Braedan's Aunt Amy (or Mamy as he used to call her) and Cousin Ian were also there to spend some time with us. During the whole week of our visit, Braedan had a great time and spent a lot of it outdoors taking in the cooler mountain air. Here are a few highlights of our trip.

Braedan loves to spend time outdoors. If he had it his way we would be outside for most of the day, so you can imagine how hard it's been these last few weeks to say no to him when he asks to ride his bike at one o'clock in the afternoon during the hottest months of summer. But while in New Mexico he could go out at anytime of day and his favorite thing to do was help Daideo with yard work, and more specifically, drive his riding lawn mower.



Braedan's Maimo also joined in on the driving action and helped.

The cousins had fun at a nearby playground.

 



 

And earlier I mentioned our escape from the summer heat. Well apparently it was a little too much too soon for some of us. The slight chill in the air during our evening walks left some of us running to grab light jackets. Seeing us now makes it hard to believe that we once endured harsh, cold winters. Please excuse our shameful display of weakness, and take note that the hubby is wearing the heaviest jacket of us all. But what can I say...we are and always have been Texans at heart.