Elizabeth, Charity and Ainsley enjoy the pool in Arlington, Texas during the NFP board retreat.

Noah does a cannonball

Fort Worth Zoo

On June 26, we visited the Fort Worth Zoo in Texas. It was, by far, the best zoo we've ever been to. I'd post animal photos, but that might bore you. But I got some really great photos to enter in the fair, and so did Hope! The kids wanted to do the photo booth thing, but couldn't all fit -- plus, it was $5! So I took one instead. :)

I posed everyone in the Texas Town part of the Fort Worth Zoo, focused the camera, then got a random passerby to hold it and press the button so we could get a family shot. I think it turned out pretty good!

My beautiful Hope. :)

June 22 Garden Progress

Above is the lower (west) garden box. The bush beans are going to town, we've already harvested two crops of radishes and replanted, and the tomatoes are finally taking off.

Romaine Lettuce --- isn't it beautiful? Basil -- only one out of four plants survived.

Bell Pepper

Gorgeous spinach!

Baby tomatoes!

The upper, or east garden box -- at the bottom are onions, romaine lettuce, bibb lettuce, carrots; middle row marigolds from seed, bush beans, carrots, eggplant; top two rows are yellow squash, cucumber, eggplant and cantaloupe. Need to get that trellis built!

Potted tomatoes. The biggest one, in the rear, is the stub of one that was originally in the garden and twisted off in the wind. Replanted, it just took off! The one in the pink pot is a Patio tomato, and the one in the orangeish pot is a leggy free plant the garden center gave us.

Squash flowers!

Cantaloupe, desperately seeking the as-yet-unbuilt trellis.

Thunderstorms are really cool when they are east of us and not headed in our direction. :)  But we've had enough hail this year, thankyouverymuch!

Choir Camp!

Hope and Hannah were privileged to attend the Kodaly Children's Summer Choir Camp at Wichita State University. It was unbelievable how AWESOME these kids sounded at their public concert on Friday! The director took them from an inexperienced group on Monday morning to a professional choir on Friday night, and it was just freakin' amazing. 

Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com

Ainsley entertains -- or is entertained by -- lifeguard Emily at the pool.

Isn't she adorable? This isn't even a swimsuit. It's a gymnastics leotard. But she wanted to wear it and when you're 3, you ought to get to pretty much wear what you want. There are plenty of years left when she has to stick to fashion "rules."

Shalee swims with the kids, and Elizabeth follows her around like an adoring puppy. 

Elizabeth, Ainsley, Hope, Hannah and Noah take a "break." I hate breaks. I hate that they are enforced every hour at the pool. But I guess the lifeguards need to change shifts sometimes! What I love about our pool is that breaks are only five minutes long. In the next town over, they are 10 to 15 minutes, every hour.

Shalee hugs and warms up Ainsley, who LOVES the teenagers and college kids!

Noah, the designated pitch slugger! 

He LOVED his first year of DP. And it was fun for us, too -- they won all but one game, and they had a good time. Their coaches were really great, and all of the kids on our street were on this team.

For Suso -- a photo-illustration of how to know when radishes are ready to harvest. This one? It's ready.

This one? Not quite ready.

This one is ready!

A good rule of thumb for me is that I can pretty much pick any radishes about four weeks after they're planted, even if they're not poking out of the ground. If they are poking out of the ground, it will be obvious when they are ready.

Elizabeth gets basketball handling tips from K-State Lady Wildcats Shalee Lehning (lying down) and Ashley Sweat.

(I thought my friend Lori might enjoy this photo. There will be more to come.)

Elizabeth LOVES T-ball, and so do we. The non-competitiveness, the fun coaches, and the camaraderie amongst the adorable little kids just makes it a really worthwhile summer experience. 

Elizabeth's coaches are just awesome, too! (I love her red mitt. She doesn't use it much, as she spends most of her time turning cartwheels in the outfield.)

Hannah at bat during summer softball. I LOVE her red cleats. They're just awesome! This was the second pair we had to buy, because apparently Pumas run a little small. No worries, though -- Noah can wear the other pair next year.

Hope in the outfield. She has a cool glove -- and it's HARD to find a leftie glove out here in the middle of nowhere.

WHEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

Hope on the water slide at the pool in the next town over.