September 29 - Super Uncle

After our Galveston adventure, Uncle Bryan experienced a normal week in the Yamo household. School and lots of soccer! Bryan helped coach Luke's soccer practice Monday (wrangling a bunch of 4 year old's is something every uncle should experience at least once in their lives). On Tuesday and Wednesday, we were back at the soccer field for Julia. Bryan also got to watch Luke at gymnastics on Tuesday. After non-stop kids sports, Bryan decided to forgo Julia's dance class on Thursday (who could blame him?!). He also went door to door with Julia while she sold cookie dough for a school fundraiser. Can we all pause a moment and give Bryan a round of applause for being a super uncle? Thank you Bryan! He also helped walked the dogs every night which they greatly appreciated. 

In the fall, every Saturday is also known as 'soccer Saturdays.' We have back to back games pretty much every weekend until Thanksgiving. Luke had a blast at his first game of the season and scored a few goals. He was every excited and loves soccer! Julia had her first game in a new league, which has real coaches this year. The teams played with goalies, a defensive player, midfielder and three forwards. The focus of the game was learning positions and how to manage the field. Her team did great!

Friday was amazing!

Uncle Bryan played with the kids at the playground for awhile too (new playground behind our house)

Julia's homework incentive? Chocolate chips. Homework is running 100% smoother than last year

Tea Party

September 17 - Pleasure Pier

Julia and Uncle Bryan are up there!

Happy Thursday folks! Uncle Bryan is in town and wow, did we have an adventure on Sunday. After weeks of rain, Sunday was simply gorgeous. Clear blue skies, a nice breeze and highs in the mid-80s. We headed down to the Pleasure Pier in Galveston for the first time ever and it did not disappoint. We were anticipating crowds on such a beautiful day but it was pretty empty. The only ride that had a wait (less than 15min) was the ferris wheel. Otherwise, the kids did almost every ride multiple times. Luke's favorite was the bumper cars and tea cups, while Julia loved the roller coaster. She went on it five times and by the end, she was riding it with her arms up the whole time. Uncle Bryan and Julia are both super excited to ride the roller coasters at Universal Studios in a few months!

After spending a few hours at the pier, we met up with some girl scouts for lunch. Then we headed over to another part of the island to do a dolphin tour. Three girls (and their families) from our troop came and we all had a great time. We went out on a small boat (max capacity was 36) and saw close to sixteen dolphins. The captain let the each of the kids steer the boat, which they loved. We were also next to the cruise terminal and saw two huge ships (Julia's comment when she first saw them was 'Hmm, it's not as big as I thought"). One of the ships left port while we were there so it was neat seeing it take off. 

After the dolphin tour, we had dinner with the Box family (Kendall's family, our neighbors) at an Italian restaurant next to the pier before heading home. It was a fabulous day!

Beautiful day in Galveston

Mom, I'm almost tall enough for this ride

this looks like fun

Uncle Bryan and Julia

Uncle Bryan and shy guy

They got soaked!

Julia and Uncle Bryan's favorite ride

Girl Scouts

Hanging out on the boat

Julia, Kendall, Luke & Sydney

September 14 - Welcome to the Glasses Club

Last week was an exciting week in the Yamo house. After rubbing her eyes while reading at night, we decided it was time for Julia to see a real eye doctor. She had her appointment last week and found that she is farsighted (like mommy). After trying on 30+ pairs of glasses, she decided to go with some purple frames with butterflies on the sides. Her initial excitement was quickly displaced with denial: "I don't need glasses. There is nothing wrong with my eyes. Let me take the test again, I'll do better this time." And then came the tears...A LOT of tears. Fast forward....

When we went back the next day to pick up her glasses, she was in a much better mood. They came out with a velour lined tray with her new glasses, an adorable pink purse (that doubles as an eye class case), chocolates and cleaning solution. After she put them on she said "Wow, everything is so much bigger." When she is reading a night there is no eye strain. Yay!

Of course, now Luke wants glasses too. He found this toy glasses in the playroom and has been wearing them around the house. Adorable!

September 10 - Brazos Bend

JD and the kids went camping last weekend at Brazos Bend State Park. It's a 40-acre park southwest of us, about an hour away. The kids were insanely excited to go camping. I'm talking Disneyworld/we are so excited we can barely sleep, excited. I was worried camping wouldn't live up to the hype but they had a wonderful time. 

They left on Friday right after school was released and started driving. After securing a campsite, the kids helped pitch the tent and set up. Luke helped cook dinner (a ground turkey and veggie meal that Julia ate and apparently loved...I was shocked, she is very picky and usually not a food mixer). Then they made smores and went to bed. 

In the morning, they went fishing on a dock about 6 feet above the water. Luke caught his first fish and as he was reeling it in...an alligator (that was apparently hanging out underneath the dock) jumped out of the water and ate the fish off the rod. The kids thought this was the 'coolest thing ever'...I was extremely freaked out. Luckily, that was the only issues that they had with the gator! The kids each caught 4-5 fish and then had to leave when a big storm came rolling in. It was a successful first camping trip and they are already asking when they can go again. 

Meanwhile...I was home working late and snuggling with the dogs. :) 

Success!

September 8 - Life Is Good

School is back in session and we are finally on a normal schedule again-yay! Julia loves her new teacher and I love her too-she's an avid reader like me and sent home a book for me over the weekend. How nice is that? Luke is also in a new class at school and loves going now (phew!). He has as shorter nap time so that is a huge plus as well. 

There was no homework the first 2 weeks of school but Julia has been working on her thank you cards from her birthday (which was basically just like doing homework). They are finally done and we are mailing them out this week. So...sorry they are late but they are coming! 

The first Friday of school we hosted a girl scout sleepover at the house for eleven girls. After the other sleepover, I knew I can handle this, no problem! The girls had pizza, made some cute flipflops, watched Despicable Me 2, had a late night dance party and then played in the morning. Once again, Amelia and Karma were forced to play dress-up with the girls. They were exhausted when everyone left but enjoyed all the attention.

Meanwhile...as most of you know, they clear cut all the trees behind our house and are building a new neighborhood. We now have a water retention ditch behind our house. They usually put a sidewalk around the retention areas, plant some trees and call the area a 'green space' but the area behind us is not going to be a walking trail. I was worried about the lack of trees but I can say I'm thrilled that the landscapers were out there last week laying water lines. So, fingers crossed they plant trees to go with the auto sprinklers! Jack and Julia are now loving to play back there, they designated one hole as a 'fort' and played in it for several hours. 

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Growth spurt!

Build a bear

We saw a rainbow last week after soccer

Girl Scout Sleepover Fun