Family Photos 2017

Best Summer Yet!

Even though these kids have been doing activities and day camps: swim team, music camp, science camp, art camp, baseball camp, golf camp... I really just wanted them to be free to play - no formalized activities; where they have to find something to do. Since they are scheduled most of the school year this has been wonderful for them - especially O'Neill who doesn't even want to leave the house!  So here are a few pics from our summer including trips to the zoo, painting pottery, making candy, going to parks, etc... They don't even ask to watch TV because they know the answer will be no; more like go practice piano, or go play outside with your dog, write in your journal, read, etc... 

And for a summer where we initially said no travel we ended up going to the beach in FL and the mountains in CO and central Texas for Victoria's camp. And after school started JZ and I took a couples trip to Carmel...my happy place. 

Sister supporting V and O at their swim practice

This girls loves painting pottery  - unfortunately, she dropped her painted pegasus and it broke so we had to come back with all the kids to paint more...

V painted a horse, O painted a dragon, R painted a pony and peacock.

O'Neill with his buddies at art camp

Sister with some friends at art camp

Had this activity since Christmas and thought we should make it! yummy!
I wish I had a picture of our day long magic camp - we learned so many magic tricks- so cute!

This girl is gorgeous! We had our annual solo dinner with just her (and Mom and Dad) at Dakotas. Of course she loved the steak and mashed potatoes and Shirley Temple. And afterwards we had lavender ice cream (her favorite) at Milk and Honey.

O'Neill got his special dinner and he chose Pho, but sadly we don't have any pics of that.

Oh - how Rebecca loves to go bare foot!! She takes off her shoes everywhere she can - and cries when I make her put them back on... I figured our favorite HP park wouldn't have ants so she got to run free!

At the Arboretum petting zoo with her friend Valentina

Fourth of July weekend we played at the Arboretum with the cousins. So fun!

JZ and Papa bought some fire crackers to play with...

The family took an early morning bike ride around the neighborhood stopping at a few Fourth of July parties. We ended up at 6926 Lakewood to watch the parade.

This girl was a party animal on July 4th. She was a trooper and nobody got lost on the driving range during fireworks. 

She was a little nervous about the noise of the fireworks 

ZOO.... Victoria's second place on earth to be (first is a horse stable of course!)

Feeding the giraffes 

An elephant swimming in the watering hole - so fun to see

Finally - we got to see the Hippos! They are the new exhibit to the Dallas Zoo.

Washing Dad's car for the last time in our driveway

It's official! O is headed to St Mark's and V is headed to St John's. They wanted to put the stickers on the car!

This is what I get when I ask to take a picture of him at golf camp...

Breakfast of champions: cookies and lottery tickets...

Painting pottery...again

Love theses daddies

"Cecie's Pool"

I took a girls trip with some other mamas for a little relaxation!

Bowling with just a few friends!

We relished the last few days in our first home. Dress up dance party is always a hit!

Proud of these guys for sticking it out and finishing strong on the swim team. O'Neill even got a silly award voted by his coaches. 

Abuelo watching the kids while Nana was in Ireland and mama was unpacking. The kids love to come over to there house and play. 

This is the girl who wears her sisters ballet costume to the park - because it's Wednesday.

Exploring the West End - had the best time at the country store!

And this is what V would rather wear all day taking care of horses and animals. O"Neill just REALLY likes his cap gun.

Happy Birthday to ME! JZ made fun of me for having multiple dinners with different groups of friends - I say let the celebration keep going!

The Fam at LCC

...with my LCC fam

Poor Baron the dog broke four foot bones in July. He has been in a splint wearing the cone for weeks now! The children ask if he will be healed by Halloween so he can go trick or treating with them. Um they said just a few weeks back in July - so he is still healing.

Last few trips to the LCC pool.

Doing our best golf claps supporting team Zavala at the Parent/Child golf tourney.

Finished respectably

Oh the SOLAR ECLIPSE! What a cool thing to see. The parents were way more into it than the kids. 

Well, it wouldn't be summer without a trip to Chuck E Cheese. Yes we went and it wasn't THAT bad - they had the best time and it was perfect for their age. After going to Chuck E Cheese and crazy water park I deserve a medal for most adventurous mom.

While O'Neill was away on his first day at school, the girls took a trip to the American Girl doll store and bistro. They both wanted dolls but I told them we would have to wait until Christmas for that. Victoria ended up buying a dog with her own money.

This summer was all about change and moving forward. We sold our most beautiful house on Pasadena in hopes of completing our new build. And at the end of August we are closing on the build and starting to turn some dirt on the lot! We are currently living in a rental house that actually has more square footage than our house before. It is new and is in a great location close to major roads for quick access and we can even walk to CVS - talk about convenience store! Victoria even has her own room and a queen bed that is a favorite of R and O. O'Neill and Victoria are both changing schools this year leaving St Thomas behind and headed to St Marks and St Johns. I know they will miss their friends but that might be about it. Victoria went to overnight camp for 2 weeks. She is a tough cookie but yet is still so gentle and good. I'm pretty sure she's the best 8 year old on the planet. I think camp helped her with her transition to a new school - she's confident, happy to try new things, totally cool. This might have been the best summer ever. 

And just like that summer has ended...