MOODY GARDENS

Thanks to Dad for winning tickets to Moody Gardens. Whoo Hoo!!
We decided to go on a weekday so the park would not be over crowded. We had a blast. We visited the rain forest. Which I must say was one of my favorites. There were animals just roaming free, including 3 monkeys! There was even a sloth in the tree. It was a neat experience.
I think Lil Ricky's favorite was the aquarium. He loves fish and is into sharks right now. I predict he will grow up to do something involving marine life. We saw many different species of fish. Yes, even Nemo, Dory and Bubbles. We even saw Jack, big Ricky's favorite.
I think the best way to see marine life is to go snorkeling in the Caribbean, but this is as close as we're going to get.
We went on a cruise on the Colonel. That was okay. I think once was definitely enough on the Colonel.
One of my other favorite things was the 4D Dora movie. It was just neat having the 3D effect combined with all the 4D effect. The blowing of the wind, bubbles coming at you and getting sprayed by water.
We also saw a 3D movie about ocean life. It was okay. Very discovery channel like.
I think every one really enjoyed Palm Beach. It's a small water park. This year they added a lazy river which was great. The kids played in the wave pool. I finally convinced Ricky to go down a slide with me. After much negotiating he finally over came his fear and went down the tube slide. He loved it!! That's what he did for the rest of the time there. We over came such a huge hurdle with that one slide. He wouldn't even do the YMCA slides, but now he just wants to go swimming at the YMCA so he can ride the slides. I've created a monster. Let's just hope when we go to Schlitterbahn he's still excited about all these slides.
On a side note, I am very proud of Ricky. To do the slides at the Y you have to pass a swim test. You have to swim the whole length of the pool. It's pretty long! Well i think so, especially for a 6 year old. I think I was more nervous for him than he was. Guess what?! He passed it pretty easily. So proud of him for having the courage to just go for it. I can't believe he can swim so good. He's had 1 swimming lesson when he was young. I get teased about going to the pool all the time in the summer, but at least I know my kids will be great swimmers. Hana for her age is an amazing swimmer. I think we're doing swim team next year. They love swimming so this will be perfect for them.

        Hana trying to catch the butterflies.

            These bats are freaky!!

          There were 3 monkies roaming free.

          Ricky's favorite tree - the chocolate tree!

WE NOW HAVE A YELLOW BELT

Watch out we have a yellow belt in the house. Yes, Ricky II is now officially a yellow belt in take won do. So proud of my little guy. He truly enjoys take won do. I love how it is helping his confidence level.

NORTH PADRE ISLAND

I took the kids to visit my parents on N Padre Island. It's a chance for them to see their grandparents and get some beach time. We left Houston on Monday and didn't get back till Sat afternoon.
The kids had a great time. Most of our time was spent at the beach. I'm thinking that's all we did, except putt putt one time.
I didn't know this, but there was a tropical storm brewing south of the island. This caused a pretty strop rip current, unusually high waves and high tide all the time. It was perfect for boogie boarding though. Ricky loves to boogie board, but it's always hard catching that right wave. Not this time though. He had 1 really good day of big and powerful waves. Now that I think about it, it's kind of scary. The currents are really powerful. The worst was when a wave would retreat back to the ocean. You had to dig your fee in and hold on. I have a huge fear of being pulled away from shore. It didn't look like anyone else around me was panicking but I was. Not only did I have to dig my heels into the sand, but I had to hold on to Ricky. One time I didn't have a hold of him but thankfully I did of the boogie board. He's just drifting out there only life support was the boogie board string. We had a lot of faith in it that day. Needless to say. I'm sure if we did get swept away it wouldn't be far and it didn't last long.
After battling the waves for about 2 hours and finding the perfect ones to take Ricky to shore, we finally discovered that because the depth was so unpredictable all over the shore had the best waves. Ricky caught his best waves near the shore. I rode a few and it's definitely a thrill.
What I don't understand with Ricky is that he'll go into the unforgiving and unpredictable beach with sharks, jelly fish and who knows what else. Boogie board all day but refuses to go on rides at water parks. The beach is so much more dangerous. Grrrrrrrrrr frustrating. 
Hana had fun playing in the sand and jumping the waves. Babi held on to her the whole time.
We'll make one more trip back this summer. For Ricky's sake I hope he has good waves for boogie boarding, but for my sake I hope there are no waves.

                   Kids having a blast with Babi

                     Hana flying away with the retreating wave

                          The kids found some hermit crabs.

Stone Bridge Church was presenting Destiny Sports Camp. They offered a lot of sport choices. You could do a morning or afternoon session or both. Ricky picked both. Morning football and afternoon baseball.
I was really surprised he wanted to do a sports camp. He liked football more. I was a little worried about baseball because it was in the afternoon and it was hot!! He survived though. It was suppose to be a 3 day event, but on the last day it rained so camp was canceled. We were so disappointed.
They ended the program with a ceremony and every participant received a towel.
Stone Bridge Church offers many camps. We will definitely be back next year.
 Oh I forgot to mention the best part. The Destiny Sports Camp was FREE!!

Ricky and Noah both attended camp. This was awesome because Ricky had a friend and I had got to car pool.

HANA'S NEW TEETH

In June Hana had her first Dentist appointment. She did great on x-rays. Unfortunately she wasn't that great on the cleaning part. Her x-ray results weren't very good and showed 2 cavities. I wasn't to surprised because she's a sweet addict.
Needless to say we had to go back. She was scheduled to get 2 shots. OUCH!! They had this all planned out and she was going to get a sleeping agent. We got there early, they took her in the back and gave her some sleeping medicine. Now all we had to do is wait an hour. Well an hour passed and Hana was still not showing signs of sleepiness. This wasn't going to be good. Unfortunately they don't allow you back there for procedures. They say the kids do better if they don't see the parent. I'm sure I did better not seeing her get the procedure done also. She wasn't in there long and from what I understood didn't really cooperate. I hate the fact that her head had to be restrained in order for them to do the work. I of course didn't know this. I only heard Hana telling little Ricky. She did reassure Ricky that it didn't hurt much. Just a little bit. Thank goodness!!
The procedure wasn't long, but when they handed her to me she was crying so hard she was hyperventilating. My poor little girl. They told me that she will probably sleep the rest of the day and no running around. She fell asleep on the car ride home. Every minute or so you heard her wimper from all the crying. So sad! I guess that is all she needed because there was no resting after that. Only my child would not have any reaction to a sleeping agent. We ended up going to chuckee cheese and Taco Cabana.
She is very proud of her silver caps and shows everybody.
She was talking to me and says:
"Look mommy, I have gray teeth"
"No, sweetie, they're silver"
"WOW (in her whispered surprised voice) they are going to look so pretty with all my dresses"

I just love her take on life.

                           There are 2. Each is on the bottom. One on each side.

HANA'S 4 YEAR WELL VISIT

The 4 year well visit is the visit that every parent dreads. They get 4 shots!! Horrible!!! I had planned on only having Ricky take her, but it was a new doctor and I wanted to meet her.
I felt awful because she was so happy and cooperated for everything. When it was time to hold her legs down she was giggling and thinking she was going to get tickled. My heart just dropped. I couldn't watch. She was great though. She cried, but not for very long. We made it up to her and took her to Target to pick out any toy she wanted (within reason that is).
Hana weighs 36 lbs which is 51%; height 39.8 in which is 38%; her body mass index is 16.1 which is 72%.

                               Kids with Babi after Hana's Dr appointment.

                                    Hana and her ballerina mouse that she picked out.

                                    Hana showing her boo boo's =(