Fun at the lake with Jen, Allie, and Robert!

Last weekend, Pearce and I went to Mama and Papa's lake house.  I was so excited that Auntie Jen, Allie, and Robert were going to be there, too!  We left early on Thursday and got to the lake in the early afternoon.  Papa got a new tube called the Jammer, so we got to try it out before Auntie Jen got there.....oh my gosh, it is so fun!!!!  I like riding with Pearce because I know Papa won't throw us off :)  We fished a little and just hung out with Mama and Papa until Jen got there.  I did not have as much luck with fishing this time and only caught a few, but my little Pearce was sooooo proud of himself when he caught a fish all by himself!  Papa was rigging up another rod for Robert and I was baiting my rod and Pearce was sitting on the dock with his rod already in the water.  All of a sudden Pearce yelled "It got my worm!  Hey, I got a fish!"  I thought he was just kidding but sure enough, he stood up holding his rod and a big sunfish was hanging off of it!  Pearce was soooo anxious for Auntie Jen to come, but as soon as they got there, he acted so shy :)  He always does that, for some reason, but it didn't take long for him to be all over them!  We had so much fun together.  We would go out on the lake in the late morning and tube and ski and swim for a few hours and then come back for lunch and rest up for another round of tubing, skiing, and swimming in the late afternoon.  I am not as adventurous as I used to be on the tube.  Ashley and I always loved getting thrown off it when we were little, but now, oh man, I was screaming my head off when I rode with Robert or Allie!  Actually, Allie and I both were screaming our heads off!  Robert was a dare devil and tried to get thrown off!  One time, I was riding with Pearce and we accidentally hit a big wave from another boat and Pearce and I went flying up on the tube and eventually we both fell off.  Pearce thought it was the best thing ever!  We really had fun going out to the middle of the lake to take a swim break.  We all loved jumping off the boat and trying out our dives.  Pearce even learned how to "dive" all by himself :)  It was pretty much a belly flop, but with his hands stretched out and together.....but he was proud of himself!  We all took turns on the kayak and also did some Pokémon hunting with Robert...he found a couple.  Jen and I REALLY wanted to do early morning skiing and we set our alarms the first morning, but we just could not do it.  We both turned our alarms off and slept in.  We tried the next morning, but no go and then we just stopped trying to get up :)  Our days were full of non stop fun which meant by the time we went to bed, no one woke up before 10 most mornings, well, except for Papa :)  Pearce and I left Monday morning so that we could get ready for our California trip on Friday!!!!  Thanks for a great lake visit Mama and Papa!!!  It was so fun being with you Auntie Jen, Allie, and Robert!!!!!

Summer Fun

Summer has been so fun!  We stay up late, sleep in, and just have fun not having any type of schedule!  We've been traveling quite a bit, too.  Pearce mostly wants to just go swimming, but sometimes we go to the park....although it has been really hot lately.  He does like to take evening walks in the stroller and sometimes we stop at the school playground for a bit :)  We got together with Heather, Claire, and Cade for roller skating which was really fun!  Pearce is the type that if he doesn't know how to do something the first try or two, he gets really frustrated.  He got pretty frustrated with skating at first.  I told him he could either cry about it and just sit and watch everyone, or he could keep trying and have fun like everyone else.  I left him at the table and skated around the rink one time and then he had a changed attitude....and pretty soon he was skating fast and having the best time and did not want to leave!  Pearce does a little sticker chart where he gets stickers for doing things like following directions, using nice manners, being a helper, etc...  When we gets 5 stickers, he gets to choose something fun to do or get.  He has a cup that's filled with different ideas that he gets to choose from.  One reward was going to Blue Hole.  He LOVES Blue Hole which is a natural creek in Georgetown, but there's 3 different levels and each level goes from really deep, to really shallow.  We had fun exploring and swimming and watching teenagers being stupid jumping off the cliff rocks into the water....yes, I told Pearce that those kids were being stupid because that's really dangerous!  He also earned water balloons.  He kept seeing a commercial for water balloons that are really easy to fill using the hose and these also make colored water, so I got those for him and we had a water balloon fight!  Pearce insisted on wearing Daddy's safety glasses because the kids on the front of the box have some on :)  We are having a great summer so far!!!!!

4th of July 2016

Our July 4th celebration was so fun and relaxing!  We slept in and just took it easy during the morning.  Then Pearce and I went swimming at our neighborhood pool.....we've only been to our neighborhood pool one other time since we always go to the club pool.  It was really fun though because there were lots of people there.  Pearce is such a little fish and I honestly can't believe what a great swimmer he's become this summer.  He does not want to wear his floatie at all anymore.  He swims back and forth to me, around me, jumps in to me, and tries to dive down to get rings he likes to throw.  He still cant make himself go down by himself, so I just push him down and then he pushes himself off the floor to come back up.  So proud of his swimming!  In fact, just last week, I had the thought that he could probably save himself if he needed to....I don't want to feel too confident about it because I know things can change quickly and I will still always be with him while he's swimming, but, I feel pretty good about his ability to swim!  So, after swimming, we got cleaned up and then went to Milburn Park for the celebration they were having.   Next year, we will def go a little later because even though there were lots of bounce houses and rides, the lines were really long.  We waited for a big slide, but that was it.  Pearce and I got sno cones and then we just sat on our blanket with Daddy and played around there.  I got him some glow sticks and glow necklaces, so he had fun playing with those.  Once the fireworks started, Pearce loved them!  He had a glow want and kept pretending like he was making the fireworks go off :)  It was a really good show and lasted about 20 minutes! 

Family Reunions

We had two family reunions within one week of each other!  Our first one was Mama's side of the family.  I had not seen most of these family members in years, so I was really looking forward to it!  The morning we were to leave for Dallas, Pearce had a slight fever.  By the time we got to Dallas, his fever was higher AND his right eye seemed red, swollen, and goopy.  So, first stop was at the Urgent Care where we found out he had an ear infection and pink eye....great.  Got his meds and it was off to Auntie Ashy's house to get ready for the dinner that evening.  Although Pearce had a fever off and on for most of the weekend, he didn't let that slow him down!  He had so much fun with his cousins and he and Nathan seriously enjoyed meeting everyone.  Nathan was Mr. Congeniality.....going up to everyone and asking their names and telling them all about himself....it was so cute and funny to watch!  At dinner that night, I was really surprised to see my Uncle Mark.  We have not seen him in FOREVER....he's been off sailing and living the single life.  Well, Nathan and Pearce really latched onto him and loved talking to him and Uncle Mark was really so sweet to both of them.  I think they thought it was interesting that he had a ponytail, hahaha!!!  Saturday we met everyone at Top Golf which was really fun, but was EXTREMELY hot!  We only lasted there about an hour, but we all had fun trying to show off our golf skills :)  Saturday night, we met at the hotel to have a BBQ dinner and to celebrate Grandma's 95th birthday!  I was so happy to see Grandma and she looked so cute and I really could tell she was enjoying seeing everyone, even if she didn't quite know who everyone was.  What really made me happy was how sweet all of the family was to her.  They all know that she is not well and that she probably doesn't remember exactly who you are, but I was soooo happy that her family took the time to talk to her and reminisce and tell her funny stories.  She really enjoyed herself and had a great time which is what's important!  We dressed the kids in their swimsuits because we were going to let them swim in the hotel pool, but we found out it was closed due to maintenance, so after the dinner, the kids got to go for a night swim at Auntie Ashy's which was really fun! 

***PARNELL FAMILY REUNION***

The following weekend was the Parnell Family Reunion!  After our week at the lake, Pearce and I drove to Dallas.  Daddy was already there and pretty soon the Parnell family started arriving.  Pearce was REALLY anxious for Nay Nay and Charlotte to get there, but when his other cousins, Nick, Jake, Ross, and Jada got there, he started having fun!  What's so funny is that Ross and Pearce kind of butted heads a bit.  Ross is a little older and soooo full of life and hilarious.  But for a while, Pearce kept getting his feelings hurt and they both kept tattling on each other.  By the end of the night, though, they were friends and really had so much fun together the rest of the weekend!  They really liked playing the old Nintendo games....I did, too!  There were two one year old babies there and the "older" kids loved watching the babies and were so sweet to them :)  On Saturday, Ashley and I took Nathan, Charlotte, and Pearce to the Discovery Museum, but first, we had to eat stop at our favorite lunch place, Delicious Temptations!  The food was really good, but the service was awful.....it took an hour to get our food!  The good thing though, is that by the time the food came, the kids were starving and ate all their lunch!  We really had fun at the museum.  Pearce has been here several times before, but it was fun seeing all three of them explore and play.  That evening, we went back to Pops and Mimi's house to get ready for the second dinner.  This night was really fun because someone rented a karaoke machine!  I did not sing, but loved listening to everyone else.  The best act was Ross.  He LOVES Michael Jackson and knows all the dance moves from Thriller.  Chris put on the music from Thriller and Ross totally transformed to Michael Jackson and did the whole dance perfectly.  It was hilarious and amazing!!  Both reunions were really fun and I loved being able to show off my sweet little Pearce!!