Building baseball bats

Brother Hurst graciously offered to help the young men build bats in his woodshop. He didn't realize each bat would take over 3 hours to build! But the finished product is top notch!

 

Ethan's New Smile

before

after

Ethan was in braces for almost one year exactly. Look at that new smile!

 

July 4th - 250th Birthday Celebration

4th of July Breakfast at the church. Breakfast, mini indoor parade, quick program, and an outdoor water balloon fight

BBQ at the Jorgenson's. It was Joel's bday, and they often host a party on the 4th. Jaeden just got back from his mission, and it was fun to welcome him home. 

We went to Valley Ranch to watch the firework show. The Garner's met us there. There were vendors and food trucks, and a band. The fireworks were great, getting out took forever, as the police directed traffic into the back roads of New Caney, but we eventually made our way home!

 

New Braunfels and Schlitterbahn

We drove the Tesla, so we got to stop at Buccee's on the way there and the way back

We stayed with our good friends, the Womacks. We also went out to dinner at Gruene River Grill and got ice cream at my favorite Rhea's Ice Cream place. We sat in the courtyard and listened to live music and enjoyed a beautiful evening.

We wanted to take advantage of our Six Flags passes that now include Schlitterbahn NB!  We came in on Wednesday afternoon and stopped for a few slides on the old side. On Thursday morning, Doug worked a half day and the kids and I rode Master Blaster. We spent the rest of the day on our favorite part of the new side, all the lazy rivers... The Falls - a half mile rapid river float, The Torrent River - a wave pool/lazy river, and the Alligator River  as well call it, or officially Krystal Springs, a traditional lazy river with an optional tube chute ride. We went to the old side on Friday and caught our favorite Hillside and Raging River, and circled back to the new side for a bit more lazy river and Boogy Bahn. We have such happy memories here. It's getting busier, we waited in a long line to enter the park on Friday and the lines were long for all of the rides. In the future, we decided we will plan to get the fast passes to help maximize our time. But Schlitterbahn is definitely tops on our lists of favorite water parks.  We also grabbed some lunch at Tin Top Burgers. 

 

Astros Game

We try and go to a game once a year. While we prefer to watch the games from the comfort of our home, there's something to be said for the excitement of being in  the arena with the other fans, and the sights and smells of the ball park. This year we went early enough to see batting practice. It was our first time and I will always go early for batting practice from here on out. It was fun and relaxed, and so many balls get hit into the stands! Logan took his mitt, ready to catch a ball! An older gentleman gave Logan  one of the balls that was hit into the stands, so he left with an authentic Astros baseball. This was also our first time for dollar dog night, hot dogs for $1! And of course we had to get some Blue Bell.We used our GetOut passes for the game, and upgraded a bit to sit close to the fields, such a fun treat and so nice to not only have a better view, but also to be closer to everything, bathrooms, water, food, and team store. The game got exciting... we were losing. Altuve challenged the strike that got him out, it was overturned, and he walked to first, loading the bases. Then Alvarez hit a grand slam! And just like that we pulled ahead and ended up winning the game. So cool to see that in person. Such a fun night!

 

Ethan's Chicken update

 

The Tolman's visit from Mozambique

Pool Day at our neighborhood pool. I think the last time we went to this pool was with them during one of their previous visits! But we had a nice time, the kids all played games in the pool, which we had pretty much all to ourselves. We also took full advantage of the snack bar! It's fun when they visit, because it's like we've never been apartt.

The Tolman, Hatt, Jordan, Repasi, Theobald, Larsen, and Brown families

We hosted a party in honor of the Tolman's and invited all of our Kingwood friends. It was so great to see everyone. When they left, Doug commented that we've known many of them for twenty years!!

We also went to the trampoline park, Big Air with them, but I forgot to take pictures. Boo!