A Good Day to Swim

Memorial Day Weekend with Reveille

On Memorial Day Weekend (Sunday), the Cummings invited us over to swim and play, along with a few other people. And she told us a special guest would be there. We arrived and found Reveille and Reveille's handler were staying with them for a few weeks! Apparently, Reveille's main handler (also the first girl handler in TAMU history) was in San Diego for a few weeks for training, so her second handler was in charge. Well, the second handler was from Louisiana and didn't have a home in College Station to stay in (plus in the corps, they live on campus during the school year), so the Cummings invited them to say with them. Reveille has a busy schedule of training on Kyle Field with noise and lights for football games 3x a week as well as a weekly grooming appointment, so she can't just leave College Station easily. And, she has to stay kind of hidden when not doing official events or going to class during the year. So, her handler and her just hung out for a few weeks. And WE got to see her and love on her! We arrived and the kids thought it was neat for a few minutes, but then wanted to swim. I couldn't really get enough of this moment. I mean - it's REVEILLE! And we could pet her as much as we wanted and it was relaxed and easy. Even in her official capacity at events, I'm sure she is pretty protected by her handlers, so this was really neat. We didn't get nearly enough photos and actually, we asked permission first. Her handler said we could take them, but requested we not post on any social media. I did ask him if I could put on my family blog and he said ok. Yay! But, apparently, people sometimes take advantage of posting silly memes about Reveille or other things and so they don't really want photos out there that could cause problems. Anyways, other than Reveille, the kids had a great time swimming! I didn't get in the pool at all, because I was pretty sure that Everly was not going to stay in the water. She was not super interested last summer in a big pool and it's sometimes easier for one parents to be in and one to be out of the water to handle kids in and out. Well, I was mostly wrong this day! She loved being in the water! And this gave Atticus and Grace another chance (they had actually both been to dance and birthday parties in May so they were already warming back up to swimming - especially Atticus!) to practice being in the water after 9 months of no swimming. It was a really fun day!

 Her handler was teaching the kids how to give her treats. She has to do certain steps to get her treat, but the kids were not consistent and poor Rev kept messing up. I mean - she WAS on vacation, so she should get a break! https://youtu.be/sMCYoLbrSoQ

When my kids are older, they will probably regret not playing with her more when they had the chance!

 She loved these Minnie Mouse goggles of Grace's.

Scott spent a lot of time teaching Atticus to climb up on his shoulders and jump in the water. The videos are so funny! Here is our video of our day! https://youtu.be/oTi-FvddDiw

July: Camp Erwin Post 3 - Saddleshop Pics, Adley, Swimming & 4th of July

On Monday morning, we woke up and finally took Saddle Shop pictures of Everly. Long ago, mom and dad would take baby pictures of us in the saddle shop laying on sheepskin. So, we continued the tradition with our kids. However, it is best to do it when they are little and lay on their tummies and don't move around a lot. Well...it took us over a year to get it done with Everly. So, she was squirmy wormy but we got a couple cute pictures! And you will have to look at the outtakes. They are all jumbled together. I love how to get her on her tummy, we had to hold her little feet to get her to stay still. Then, of course, usually, you can't see her little parts because she is on her tummy, but you kind of do in these. At least this is just a family blog. I need to learn photoshop to blur those out! She played, she sat, and as with our little Everly who does not show her smiles all the time, she stayed pretty stoic. But, it was a good memory! Oh and when you see these, don't you worry - Grandma was constantly a millimeter out of the shot so Everly wouldn't crash to the ground! :)

After taking photos, we headed to Stormy & Tabatha's house to visit and let the kids play with Adley. They had the best time and so did we! Even Shannon and Jenny came by to visit. All was good until Atticus fell off the bed and hit his head on the corner of a dresser. Eeks - it bled pretty good and had a little hole in his head. I stay pretty calm with things like that, but I was still really glad Jenny was there because she looked at it and assured us that while the head will bleed pretty good, it looked just fine and did not need a stitch. He perked up again soon and they played and played until we had to leave. Every time I'm visiting with them, it makes me wish we lived so much closer! Adley is just so cute too, and right between Atticus and Grace, age-wise so it is fun for them to be friends!

After we left the McCuistion's house, we were already packed and ready and headed straight to Ana & Charley's house in Lewisville. Since we were going to do the 4th of July celebrations with the Erwin's at their house the next day anyways, we made an extra night of it. We swam and swam in their pool all evening!

The next morning was the 4th of July! Ana was planning to attend a Zumba class so I went with her.  And the kids were ready to decorate and dress up for the day! They started in pajamas and everything red, white and blue!

 

 When we got back from Zumba, Grace wanted to bake cupcakes. She loves to bake and help in the kitchen. And she especially loves to taste the batter. Want to know a funny story? So, we needed vegetable oil for the cupcakes and Ana told us the oil was in the pantry. We looked and looked and finally Vic asked her for help and she pulled out olive oil. She and Charley used olive oil for everything and don't even buy vegetable oil. Well, poor Ana - Vic will never let her live that down! Now, Vic just teases and says that they are waayyy above us if they only use olive oil and probably even bathe in it! We laughed and laughed and still do about that! But, it made some delicious cupcakes!

 Oh and while Grace was baking, Atticus got to play lots of Mario Cart! Ana and Charley's house is just too fun!

 Grace's finished product is in the back! Also, below I was trying to take a picture of Grace's hair - I had been really working on her french braids and slowly getting better. But, isn't the second photo just so pretty of our little Grace?

After the rest of the Erwins trickled in at lunch, we spent the rest of the day in the pool. Pa's back had been hurting pretty bad around then, so he, Melbo and GG didn't swim that day. But, everyone else did. There was beer pong played (minus the beer-we just poured the cups of water out!), lots of swimming, eating and then at the end of the day, we celebrated Melbo and Pa's 70th wedding anniversary!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

70 years! We did big parties for them at 50 and 65, but they didn't want one this time. So, we had a mini celebration with a cake (and I did a terrible job of adding sprinkled icing to say 70 years, but oh well!) and GG planned a "not-so-newlywed game" for all of the married couples to play. It was pretty impressive how much couples knew about each other (or sometimes how little). We split the spouses and GG asked us each questions and then we gathered together to answer them and guess what the other person had to say!

And I can not believe I do not have a photo of Melbo and Pa, except for this one. I have searched everyone's phones and my camera but I know Pa's back was hurting that day and I bet I just didn't bother them to pose for a picture. But, here is one of them. Married since July 12, 1947!

Everyone headed home and we stayed one more night before we spent our last day of Camp Erwin vacation in DFW. The kids were exhausted!