HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY RICKY!!!

Seven years ago on July 25 at 5:09pm I held a beautiful little 7.4lb 19" long boy. I never thought I could love something so little and so new so much. My life has never been the same since that day. I wake up every morning blessed to have such an amazing little boy in my life.
We had his birthday party at a friends neighborhood pool. It was perfect. It was like a private party since we were the only ones there. Everyone had so much fun and Ricky was surrounded by so many friends. On Ricky's 7th birthday he weighs 52lbs and is 49 1/4" tall.

                                     Ricky and Logan

       Birthday Cake - So yummy. We did have a Phineas and Ferb theme going on with the plates =)

Ricky,
Happy Birthday, little buddy. You are such an amazing blessing to me and daddy. We love you more than words could ever express. You are an amazing little boy. We are very proud of all your accomplishments and talents. We love how sweet you are. You have such a big heart. You make sure everyone is included and yes that means even your little sister. I love seeing you wanting to learn and try new things each day. You are an amazing little guy and I just know will be an amazing man. For my sake let's not hurry with the man part because I want to keep you as my little boy forever.
I love you to the moon and back times infinity <3 <3 <3
Mommy

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.