GALVESTON

We decided to take a day trip to Galveston. I have been missing the beach a lot and I know the kids love it. We took a chance. It was one of the first beautiful days in a while. NO RAIN!!! The only thing that had me concerned is that it was a "red" flag condition. I wasn't to sure about the currents, but I would keep the kids in shallow close to shore. We parked our car on the beach. This way everything was right there. Especially with Vincent. The beach was great!! There was no seaweed!! There were waves out there, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. They weren't harsh waves. Boogie boarding was difficult on them. Still the kids were never allowed to go far. Vincent loved the beach. He played in the sand, ran from the waves, splashed around and napped.
It was just great getting to the beach again. Looking forward to day trips this summer.

(some are sideways I forgot to edit)

SWIM 2015

Swim has begun again. This is the only sport Ricky loves. It's really nice, because Hana can join in also. Even though we are dreading the early morning Saturdays and spending all days at meets, and all the practices during the week. They practice Tue-Fri. They are in different age groups so I am there from 5:45-7:30!!! It is great connecting with everyone again. We have been doing this for 4 years now and there are a few other families that do it yearly too. We as the parents get to reconnect and the kids love seeing friends they have not seen in a long time and making new ones.
I have to say Saturday's are brutal. We have a hard time recovering from them, but they are so worth it. I love that my kids do a sport that makes them strong swimmers and can potentially save them one day.
So much goes into this sport. It's all about take off and not messing up. Since they are only swimming 25meters at this age, if you have a late take off or a goof it's hard gaining the distance back. This is a sport that missing placement can be as little as 100th of a second.
We have already had a few meets and the kids are doing great. In most events they are getting faster each meet. Ricky is doing great! He is trying hard and seems to stay in the top/mid range.
Athletics just come naturally to Hana. She is very strong. She competes against approx. 40 girls and has been one of the top placers. At one of her meets she was #1 in butterfly (right now I believe on her team she is the #2 girl). She has finally qualified for both relays.
Meets this year are exciting because I get to watch about 10 events.
We have to meet our 21 volunteer hours so big Ricky is timing for most of ours. He enjoys it because he's right in the middle of it all. Also, he doesn't have to run after Vincent and deal with tantrums.

Go SHOCKWAVES!!
(thankful for our team photographer)

Getting ready to take off for his relay

Hana just chilling

She cracks me up. She was making puffy cheek faces while waiting to go.

SEA WORLD

For Vincent's birthday we decided to take him to Sea World. Also, it was a great opportunity to spend some time with some of our great friends, The Albrechts. Thankfully Lorelei had some Sea World passes that we only had to pay for 1 adult ticket.
We go to San Antonio (Lorelei's) Friday evening. Where we had a good time catching up. The kids just love spending time together. Saturday mid morning we headed to Sea World. Thankfully it was still early in the season and it wasn't overly crowded. David had to work so he caught up with us 3ish. I think it was a bit of a shock for big Ricky being around 6 kids. It was a great time. We saw a few shows, the kids loved the water area. Lil Ricky even rode a big roller coaster!! I think it was a bit traumatic for him. He survived it, but I don't think he will be getting on one anytime soon. The best part for me was just watching Vincent seeing the shows and his excitement over the animals.
The hardest part is timing the shows right and being there on time.
After Sea World we had dinner at a Mexican restaurant.
Sunday happened to be mothers day. Lorelei and David went all out and prepared a nice fajita meal for us.

He loved the water area.

The older kids got absolutely soaked during the Shamu show. It was awesome!