Elmo @ Tinker AFB

My parents invited us out to go see an Elmo live show that was on Tinker AFB. Can I just say that Jackson was sooooo excited to see Elmo! He squealed, he laughed... he LOVED it! It was so fun to see his reaction to it all. Isabella had fun too but not quite the excitement level shown by Jackson. :) My nephew Cameron & neice Taelyn w/ sister Jessica were also present & enjoyed it as well. They also gave away lots of free goodies including an Elmo spinning/light up toy that is pretty cool. Isabella got to touch Abby Cadabby but was highly upset when Grover passed her by. :) But all in all, it was a good time! Thanks, M&D!

The rest of our trip...

Another couple important (to me) trips to note while we were in the Dallas area are our IKEA excursion (LOVE that store) and a stop by  Whole Foods for fruit (LOVE that store too).  We also dropped by Sam Moon to check it out but I really didn't find much for myself (1 pair of earings) & Isabella picked out a necklace/bracelet set & some hair clips.  They had a TON of stuff, but most was just way too gaudy for me. ;-)

After leaving the Great Wolf Lodge, we went over to east Texas & visited Mike's Uncles & Aunts there (near Mt. Vernon).  We stayed two nights & had a nice visit and dinner with the family.  Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of this visit.  Must remember next time!

We then headed over to Camden, AR for Hulon's (Mike's Dad's) 80th birthday party.  And the party was a success & great fun to celebrate with Hulon on his special day.  Isabella met her cousins (Uncle Pat's grandkids) and had a blast playing with them.  She also had lots of fun with Uncle Pat and Uncle Joe as well as Grandpa & Granny.  We stayed two nights in Camden before our long (6.5 hr w/ stops) drive home.  We were sure glad that Mike had taken that Monday off work so that we could all recoup from our whirlwind trip together!  Despite having to replace our tires on the Prius (1 tire needed to be replaced b/c it couldn't be patched & the others would need to be replaced w/in 1000 miles so we just replaced them all) & having to get a new dual screen DVD player (ours broke when we were leaving Grapevine), we had a really great time!

Great Wolf Lodge

In July we decided to take a trip down to the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, TX before going to visit family in AR for Mike's Dad's birthday party. We'd been wanting to check out this hotel/water park for awhile & this seemed like the perfect opportunity. We stayed for 3 nights & had lots of fun! Everything was great (from the themed room, to the water park, & the starbucks in the lobby) with the exception of the beds... they were not comfy at all!

We got the Kids Kamp suite which had a little alcove w/ a bunk bed designed to look like a tent. Jackson had fun playing on the bottom bunk & looking through the window. He also enjoyed the bears painted on the wall. Isabella had a blast on the top bunk & did so well sleeping there all three nights! (She wanted Jackson to sleep on the bottom but that was not going to happen!)

The water park is huge, mostly indoors, & lots of fun! Isabella took some bribing & convincing but she did get on all the slides she was able to ride. We were so excited that she measured in at 42", the minimum height to ride w/ an adult on nearly all the slides (all but 2). You cannot lap ride, but they have double tubes for you to go on together. It was so much fun to go down the slides with her and to see her excitement! Jackson had fun playing in the small kids area where he could walk around in the water & touch all the fountains.

In the lobby at night they have the clock tower & electronic animals/girl that talk & sing songs. Isabella really enjoyed watching this & wanted to do it every night (even though it's the same thing repeated). The hotel staff then read a bed time story & you can see Wiley, their character which I believe is a wolf. ;-) We had lots of fun in the hotel and look forward to returning one day. It was really convenient to have our room so close to the water park so that we could return easily for eating or naps. We also brought in our breakfast & lunches, only eating out for dinner which helped make this trip a bit more affordable.

Photo Shoot

Before leaving for our vacation, we had a family photo shoot with Catherine Gikas.  Catherine is the one who took Jackson's beautiful newborn photos when he was 4 days old.  We also get our organic produce from Catherine every other week (she runs a co-op).  So we were excited to see what would come from our photo shoot.  Before leaving on our vacation she sent us a few teasers:

And after we got back, she had our gallery set up.  To see more of the awesome pictures Catherine took of our family, go to www.catherinegikas.com, click on "Proofing" then type in the password "Abla". Make sure you use a capitol 'A'. 

Cherry Picking

Back in June we went with our MOMS club group to Sun Berry Orchard & picked lots of sweet cherries and some strawberries. We had lots of fun & enjoyed the yummy fruit! We're looking forward to going out there again in the future!

Isabella's 4 year old hair cut

Isabella got her hair cut at the end of June (on the same day as Jackson) for what is becomming her yearly hair cut before her birthday. She started out saying she wanted short hair like Daddy's (that is really short!) a few weeks prior to going for the hair cut. She said she wanted it this short so that it would not bother her. We basically told her she couldn't but also tried to convince her she really didn't want it this short (ppl would think she is a boy, she couldn't wear clips, etc). It wasn't until the very day we were going to go get it cut that she did actually change her mind. I finally said to her that if she wanted to have her hair like Daddy's, I could just do it at home w/ daddy's clippers & she wouldn't even need to go see Tina (our hair stylist) b/c that was something I could do! "But I want to go to Tina!" she said. So I told her she'd have to get it cut in a style & not cut all the way off if she wanted to go see Tina & she said okay. So while waiting for our turn at the hair salon, we went through a magazine & she picked out a short hair style that angled in the front. After Tina was done cutting her hair we all knew that it was the right cut for Isabella. Even Isabella was beaming! I am happy to report that Isabella has not had near the issues with it getting in her face as she did w/ longer hair, even though we can't get it into a pony tail at this legnth!

Swim Lessons, session 1

Isabella took swim lessons from Miss Jennifer in June. She retook the level 1 class she took last year & continued to improve this year. She was able to float a few seconds on her own, keep her face in the water a few seconds while blowing bubbles, & she can now reach to the bottom of the pool on the shallow end & enjoyed tip-toeing around (top middle picture). We've gotten in some pool time since the end of her class & Isabella now can jump into the pool into your arms w/o having to hold on to your hand! We go back next week for another session, this time in the level 2 class. We're excited to see what Isabella learns next!