Grandpa & Grandma Daly's New House!

Grandpa and Grandma Daly bought a house near Gilmer, TX and are planning on moving there within the next year. After we left Louisiana, we drove over to visit them at their new house!


Sydney and Grandma snuggling.

We drove to Tyler and visited the Caldwell Zoo. This is the zoo that I have fond memories of visiting when I was younger.

Kathryn had fun taking pictures with my camera. This picture is obviously not posed, but I like it.

The girls feeding the fish and the ducks.

This was my favorite exhibit at the zoo when I was little, and it still is! This otter was happily swimming back and forth.

We bought seed sticks and fed these birds. Reagan nibbled on her seed stick. She would hold it out and then draw it back if a bird got close to her. Sydney did not like being in there at all! Kathryn was okay until the bird would hop onto her stick. I didn't like that part either and we would drop our sticks!

Ferocious bear faces.

Here is their new house!

4th of July in Louisiana

We went to Louisiana for the 4th of July. We had a great visit with our extended family. We swam twice every day, ate wonderful food, watched fireworks, went on boat rides, and played games together!

Here are my 4th of July girls!

On a boat ride with Zach

The girls each got to go on a boat ride alone with Chippy (Zach).

We played lots of Memory. They turned out to be pretty fun games with lots of cheering when someone got a match.

Uncle Matt reading the girls a story.

Dinner with Friends

We had the Blakemore family over for ribs on Sunday, June 25th. Sydney had a fever so we quarantined her up in our bedroom. She had it pretty good: tv, dinner in bed, and a walkie talkie to call us if she needed anything else. She called us because she saw a fly, and wanted to snuggle us, and wanted some ribs.

Reagan gnawing on her rib!

Safety Town

Sydney attended Safety Town this summer. It is a program put on by our local police department that teaches kids ages 4 1/2 to 6 1/2 about all kinds of safety. They learned about trains, guns, strangers, poisons, and 911. They run a scenario where the kids are playing on the playground and they have a female detective in plain clothes try to lure the kids away to their car. Unfortunately, Sydney must not have been listening to the Stranger Danger lessons, and she and 7 other kids went with the stranger. Looks like she might be attending again next year!

Trip to the Zoo

While Kathryn was in Cheer Camp at the YMCA, Sydney, Reagan, and I took a trip to the Zoo! The weather was beautiful and we had a great time. The hippos were very active and fun to watch swimming around and making loud noises.

Reagan wasn't so sure about the water and the unpredictability of it, but Sydney loved it!

They both had a lot of fun playing in this little house.

Sydney was able to shout "All Aboard" over the train speaker!

Dance Pictures

The girls missed out on getting their dance pictures taken with their class, so I took them and got portraits done at JC Penney. I think they turned out really great! Great smiles and posing from both of them!

The girls really had fun taking these jumping pics. They loved seeing their funny hair!

Camping!

We went camping this weekend with some of our friends.   The first night it started pouring right after dinner.  We all hunkered down in our camps and waited out the long down pour.  It left some of us soggy, but it didn't dampen our spirits! 

On Saturday, we ate odd and ends for breakfast since the raccoons opened up one of our coolers and ate almost all of our pre-made breakfast burritos!  The kids and the parents had fun relaxing and playing.  The parents played a pretty intense game of Redneck Golf.  The kids played house, doctor, Uno, and who knows what else!? 

We ate foil dinners and Smores on Saturday night.  On Sunday, we did some more relaxing and eating.  Then headed home in the early afternoon.

The cicadas were plentiful, but didn't bother us too much.  There were a lot of their shells on the tree near our campsite and occasionally a live one would fly down near us. 

(An interesting note: Between us, we have kids in each grade, K-7, except 3rd grade!)

Dance Recital

The girls had their dance recital last Sunday.  Their studio rented out the auditorium at St. Charles Community College.  The girls did such a great job.  I was a little worried that Kathryn would get too nervous to perform, or give up if she made any mistake, but she did wonderfully.  Before they went on, they were allowed to sit out with us and watch some of the other routines.  I would point out girls that were smiling and girls that were not smiling, so they could see what a difference it makes!  After Kathryn's first performance she said, "I don't usually smile during my class, but I smiled while I was up there!"  And she looked beautiful.  Sydney was not quite as confidant with the actual routine, but she did awesome!  I could tell that she was focused and trying to do a good job.  Instead of flowers, I gave them candy bars, Pringles, and a little toy caterpillar.

Here are the girls with their class, ready for their "Do You Love Me" routine.

Looking kind of like bobbleheads. 

With their teacher, Miss Liz.

On stage for their final bow.  I wasn't allowed to take any pics during their actual routines.

After the show in their "Rubber Ducky" routine costumes.