July 29 - Paddles & Pedals

Last week Jen and I drove Julia and Kennedy to north Houston for sleepover Girl Scout Camp. They went to Agnes Arnold again (Julia's 3rd year and Kennedy's 2nd year). Sophia (another girl in their troop) was also there with them for the same session, while Hannah (another girl in the troop) was there but did a different session with her younger cousin.

Julia, Kennedy and Sophia all signed up for 'Paddles & Pedals' which was a kayaking and biking themed week. They were housed in the Fishing Village, known as the furthest camp from the main eating area but it wasn't too far of a walk.

They stayed in an adorable little cabin with 6 girls total and were right next to the lake. It was a great location! There are no electronics or phone calls allowed at this camp so when we picked the girls up Friday, I am happy to report they all had an amazing time. I drove Julia, Kennedy and Sophia home and they talked nonstop for almost 1.5h about everything they did. Success!

Fishing Village

July 26 - Please Sleep Bella!

Bella Rose is settling in quite well with our family. We are still working on potty training but she is doing well (no accidents in the last few days, knock on wood). She goes to the door when she needs to go out and we are thrilled with her progress. We are crate training her and it's going pretty well. JD left her out one day while he took a shower and...she chewed part of our new baseboards and the corner of a wall. He was furious but hey, she's a puppy. These things happen! Our mantra is-eyes on the puppy at all times!

Bella and Apollo play together all the time and she is pretty relentless with him. The poor guy just wants to sleep and she goes after him like a flying squirrel-she will literally run full speed and jump on him to play. It's clear he never had a dog to play with before and he's definitely getting the hang of it (and taking a lot of puppy abuse LOL). 

My biggest challenge with Bella is that she wakes up around 4am every morning. If I take her out and put her back in the crate and she will cry for hours. All she wants to do it eat! If I let her stay out, all she wants to do is is eat and play. She is also most active from 4am-8.30am. I won't lie, I'm exhausted. I know (I'm hoping) this is temporary and she'll grow out of it. So if you talk to me and I can't remember something you just told me..I'm sleep deprived. My body isn't used to a 4am wakeup. 

In terms of the dog hair..let's just say white hair with a dark floor has it's challenges. We run the Roomba daily and I have a new rubber tipped broom that works great along with a sticky broom (imagine a re-usable lint roller with a broom handle) and between those three I'm able to keep the house looking decent. 

Happy Friday everyone!

July 24 - Houston Dog Show

This past weekend the kids and I attended the Houston Dog Show for the first time. Wow! What a fun experience. There were several performance rings set up. One had dancing dog performances and later Frisbee catching dogs. Another was an agility course set up for dogs to try out (attendees were allowed to bring personal dogs although we kept Apollo and Bella at home). There were rows of booths for rescues all around town (with dogs available for adoption) as well as vendors selling everything from dog themed clothing, personalized leashes, pet photographers and more. One side of the convention center was dedicated to show dogs-they have several rings set up for competition and you could walk around and meet breeders and see show dogs getting competition ready. They also had "meet the breed" talks during the day and we saw 7 Newfoundlands! It takes EIGHT hours to groom them properly. Crazy! It was a really fun experience, we'll definitely be back next year.  

This poodle loved Luke

I'm not sure what Glenda was doing there..

July 22 - Unicorn Princess Jillian

Jillian is not ready for bed unless she has on her unicorn princess headband, princess book, several "Minnie's" and her 2 blankets. High maintenance! 

Ready for school! What a cutie! She has a HUGE personality!

July 18 - Universal Studios Adventure

Day 1: 2.30am start! We arrived to hotel at 7pm!

In lieu of a traditional birthday party for Julia, we decided to cash in my AMEX points and head to Orlando for a quick Universal Studios getaway. My friend Candice was on board too. Two moms and four girls. What could go possibly go wrong?

The Day Before The Roadtrip
Julia: Julia was running full speed through the house, rounded the corner to start up the staircase and slammed her foot against the corner of the wall. After some swelling, bruising and limping, we suspected a broken toe (the one next to the pinkie toe). We taped it and hoped for the best. 

Kennedy: Kennedy threw up at 7am. She had no fever and held food down the rest of the day. We planned to leave at 2.30am which was close to the 24h threshold elementary schools use to allow children to come back after sickness. I spoke to a few doctor friends and they said she should be okay. 

Day 2 Memories!

Hannah: Hannah slept at our house the night before we left. When her mom dropped her off, she nonchalantly 'reminded me' I would need to stop every 2-3h so she could get up and walk around for a minimum of 5min. This was necessary due to a blood clotting disorder she has. I will not pretend I was thrilled with this on any level as I was planning to stop 2x. These stops added a solid of driving each way but it was what it was at this point. 

Kendall: Kendall was the only healthy, non-injured child!

The Roadtrip
We were on the road driving by 2.30am. The girls slept until 6am and then watched movies, made funny videos on their iPad's and filled out Mad Libs for the majority of the drive. And snacks-they ate a lot of snacks! 

Day 2: Kennedy

Everything went smoothly until we were close to Gainesville, FL. Kennedy announced she wasn't feeling great. We stopped at Target to buy flip-flops for Kennedy (she lost a shoe during a gas stop), got back in the car...then she puked. This was around 6pm. She immediately seemed better and we attributed it to car sickness. 

We checked into the hotel around 8pm (Hard Rock Hotel). The girls dropped their bags off in the room and practically sprinted down to the pool. Kennedy got out of the pool after 30min or so and said she needed to rest. She drank a little water and had a few bites of plain bread. At 9pm she threw everything up. I ended up booking at room at a Holiday Inn Express across the street and Kennedy and I stayed there that night. 

Day 3 Memories

Day 1
Christine & Kennedy: I kept Kennedy's parents in the loop and they booked her a flight home that day. I wasn't sure if she was over the stomach bug but even assuming she was, there is no way walking around an amusement park for hours in the heat would have been good for her. I woke Kennedy up around 9am, we packed up and headed to the airport. Her flight took off around 1pm and I was back in the parks with the other girls and Candice around 2pm. 

Candice & the girls: Meanwhile, they had breakfast at The Kitchen (restaurant at the hotel) and were in the parks by 9.30am. They did almost every ride in Islands of Adventure (Julia & Kendall also braved The Hulk coaster!). I met up with them at 2pm and we kept going. The weather was overcast most of the day and it rained for a few minutes, but it wasn't that crazy hot. Our express passes (which came with our hotel stay) were amazing-we didn't wait for anything more than 5-10min. We left the parks around 7pm, went to Toothsome for a fabulous dinner and then the girls swam until 11pm. 

Day 4 Memories

Day 2
After another delicious breakfast at The Kitchen, we were in the parks by 9am. The girls decided they wanted to ride the new Hagrid ride (which does not come with an Express pass). They all ran to the ride while Candice and I walked behind them. Julia ran ahead of the other girls and got in the line. The other girls kept running and missed the line. Meanwhile, Candice and I got in line and soon realized as it looped around that Julia was there but not the others. We got out of line and found the girls quickly. Candice and Kendall got back in line and were able to find Julia. I stayed back with Hannah (who is not a daredevil) and we rode other rides until they were done. The Hagrid wait time was 3h and they had workers telling everyone to be prepared to wait a minimum of 3h, but they were on the ride in 1h20min! They all said it was amazing!! We did rides in both parks and headed back to the hotel around 4pm. The girls swam until 7pm, we went out to dinner and then we were back in the parks because the girls wanted to ride the big coasters at night. It was pretty amazing. We saw the Harry Potter light show and literally closed down the park. The last ride ran a little after 10pm and we were out of the parks by 10.30pm. We were the only people walking through Hogsmeade. Amazing!

Day 3
Our initial plan was to drive home on day 3. However, good ole Hurricane Barry forced us to change our plans. We went to VooDoo Donuts for breakfast and were back in the parks until 4pm. It was another great day with overcast skies and short wait times. It was time to get on the road and we drove to Tallahassee and stayed there for the night. Candice and I did laundry while the girls choreographed and performed a long synchronized swim routine for us. 

Day 4
We stopped in Tallahassee because weren't sure if we would be able to drive home on I10. We wanted the option to take I20 if necessary. We checked the DOT websites in the morning and I10 was clear. We hit rain just before we hit Gulfport, MS and there were some bad patches of weather (we also saw a lot of flooding off the highway) but overall the drive was uneventful. We made it home around 10pm. Our adventure was over!

It was an amazing trip. It started a tad stressful and we were all sad Kennedy had to go home, but it ended up being fun. I was most impressed that the 3 girls got along the entire time-zero drama and zero complaining the entire trip. 

July 16 - Record Breakers!

The Orca end of season party was last Monday and the kids were honored with 'All Champ Times' medals as well as certificates for breaking team records. Great job Julia and Luke!!

Boys 100 free relay

Girls 200 medley relay

July 9 - PineBrookwood Orcas ROCK THE HOUSE

Championship relay team & record holders!!

The CCSL (Clear Creek Swim League) championship meet series was this past Sunday and the entire PineBrookwood Orca team did fantastic. We had approx. 60 kids qualify for the meet on Sunday. Our coaches ran the numbers before the meet and thought Deer Park (another team) would win. The kids however, were determined to swim their fastest. JD headed to the pool at 5.45am Sunday morning with Julia and Luke while I came at the start of the meet (9am). They were both swimming the exact same events: 200 medley relay, free, back, fly and 200 free relay. 

Luke
100 medley relay:  The U8 boys had a strong relay team this year and they were undefeated when all 4 were together. Could they do it again? YES! Luke was the freestyle anchor and he flew through the water. ORCAS WIN! (and they just missed a team record by half a second)

25 Free: Luke qualified for the fastest heat in lane 1 (meaning he was the slowest seed out of 8 kids). He shocked us all when he swam his little heart out, dropped a full second and placed THIRD!! 

25 Back: Luke dropped 2 full seconds, won his heat and placed 10th. Go Luke!!

25 Fly: Luke dropped more time for another best time. Incredible!!

Record Holders -Medley Relay

100 free relay: Luke swam the 2nd leg of the free relay. Their team was so fast no one was even close to them in the pool. ORCAS WIN! and...THEY BROKE A 15 YEAR OLD TEAM RECORD!!!!

Fantastic job Luke-all best times and his name is in the record books. So proud!!

Julia
200 medley relay: The girls only swam together once this year and broke the team record, could they do it again and win the race? They were next to a very strong team and it was close during the whole race. Julia swam the fly leg and the girl next to her was literally my size. Did that deter her? No, in fact she split a 33 which is incredibly fast! ORCAS WIN!! and...THEY BROKE THEIR OWN RECORD BY SEVEN SECONDS!!!

free relay rock stars!

50 Free: Julia was seeded 4th and came in...4th. She also had a best time, great job Julia!!

50 Back: This was my favorite race. She had a best time and out-touched once of our fastest Aquastar backstrokers for SECOND!!

50 Fly: Fly is Julia's fastest stroke (she is 2 seconds below the USA A cut time) but she faced some fierce competition from her Aquastar teammates (and CCSL competitors). She placed 6th but also had a best time. Woo yoo!

200 free relay: This was the most exciting relay of the meet. Julia was the anchor of the relay and when she dove in, the girl leading the race was a full 15-20 yards ahead of her. Julia chased her down and ORCAS WIN!!!  It was thrilling! The girls were cheering like they had just won the Olympics.

Fantastic job Julia-all bet times and her name is in the record books. So proud!!

And best news of all-ORCAS WON THE MEET!!

July 8 - 4th of July Cruise

Nic and his new wife Inna invited us out on a sunset cruise for the 4th of the July (50' catamaran out of Kemah). The morning of the cruise Nic called and explained he accidentally booked too many people on the boat. His mother offered to babysit Jillian but I already had my babysitter coming to watch Bella so I said no worries, I would just stay home with her. She had a nagging cold and was fussy and I wasn't feeling great either. Abby (babysitter) still came and she watched Jillian and the dogs while I ran errands around town. 

Meanwhile, JD and the big kids were on the boat with Nic, Inna, Hannah and another family that JD and Nic work with. They had a wonderful time. JD said that when the kids saw the size of the boat they were so excited they started to do a jig dance. Luke loved steering the boat and peppering the captain with questions. JD said the fireworks display was one of the best he has ever seen in his entire lifetime. We realized this is the first time the kids have seen a 'big' fireworks display so it was an incredible experience. Happy 4th everyone!

July 1 - Bella Rose

Some background: The kids (primarily Julia) have been begging for a golden retriever for years. No exaggerations. YEARS. Our life is designed for a black haired dog (dark floors, black interior cars, I wear all black). I haven't been totally on board with the golden retriever idea because of..well, to be perfectly honest, the hair. 

Apollo: Apollo is absolutely wonderful. He's extremely calm, he sleeps a lot and he's a HUGE snuggler. Apollo is also completely bonded to me. When I am not here, he lays on his dog bed and literally doesn't move. He has no desire to play with the kids outside. He very occasionally sleeps with Luke but it's a rarity. So while I love him dearly, he isn't the 'family' dog I envisioned for the kids. 

Facebook: That brings us to Facebook. I follow several different dog pages including one for seniors, local shelters (how I found Apollo) and a few golden retriever breeders outside of Houston. 

Last Saturday: After several hours at the swim meet, we came home to decompress. I logged into Facebook and one of the local golden retriever breeders posted an 8 week old female puppy who needed to be rehomed. The family who purchased her returned her after a week because their 4 year old was afraid of her. I made a decision (some may say..crazy!) and a few hours later we had a new puppy. After much deliberation, her name is Bella Rose!!

Welcome Bella Rose to our family. She's an adorable puff ball that looks like a stuffed animal. Apollo is tolerating her (she jumps all over him) and everyone is in love with her. She is already sleeping through the night after 2 days. Great job Bella Rose!! Julia has really taken point, taking her for walks. Julia and Luke are both working on clicker training with both dogs. 

My newest baby

Chillin with my human siblings

June 25 - Father's Day Fun

Yamo babies

For Father's Day this year, JD and the kids set up a slip 'n slide and the mini-unicorn pool for some fun. The kids played outside on the slip 'n slide for literally hours. They loved it! JD was out there for a long time sliding too (I was worried he would get hurt because..you know diving onto the grass over age 40 isn't for the weak of heart, but he was okay). Jillian loved getting into the action and trying to copy the big kids. It was adorable! As for Apollo..he didn't seem to care too much about the slip 'n slide. I'm pretty sure Amelia and Karma would have been out there with the kids but he was content to follow me around as I took pictures and videos. 

so much personality

Well, it's hard to believe but we are almost done with the summer swim season (especially weird since 'summer' technically started just a few days ago). The kids have been doing fantastic. The last duel meet is this weekend and the championship meet is the following weekend. The season has flown by! Also in swim news, Julia *might* have qualified for the Texas State meet (called 'TAGS') for Aquastar (in a relay) and we should find out soon either way. Exciting!

Enjoy these picture and the next post will be.....THE NEW PUPPY!

A boy and his dog

Luke & Kaleb