Happy Birthday Wade-O!!

Happy Birthday Wade-O!!!

Our baby is three years old!!! That is not a baby any more which makes me sad, but three happens to be my favorite age. Three year-olds are like little sponges. They learn so much everyday and their attention span is so much better. I can't wait to do lots of fun stuff with him this year. I am planning on enrolling him in swimming lessons this Fall and going to story time at the library each week. I asked him what he wanted for his birthday and he said a gun (a water gun like one at the pool), cake, and presents!!

At three years old, Wade is a happy little guy with a great belly laugh. He is so much fun when things are going his way. He talks constantly. He sounds so grown up sometimes. On the flip side, when things are not going his way Wade has a horrible temper. He SCREAMS like a girl to let you know things are not going his way. It REALLY gets your attention fast. I can't wait until he grows out of the screaming. Wade is also a little OCD. He likes to line everything up. He parks all his cars in the living room with the back wheels lined up perfectly. It is pretty funny and cute.

Wade has a very limited diet. He only eats bread, cheese, cereal bars, cheerios, macaroni and cheese, milk, grapes, apples, raisins, pancakes, applesauce, yogurt,  peanut butter, crackers, cookies, cakes, ice cream, popsicles, and his favorite fruit snacks. I wish I could get him to eat better, but he is not willing to try new things. Actually, he eats very little at meals. He looks healthy so he must be getting enough.

Wade's favorites are cars, trucks, his new puppy, going for rides in Granddad Bob's car, Mickey Mouse, Barney, his Dr. Seuss books, swimming, jumping on the trampoline, going to visit other people's houses (he never wants to leave when it is time to go), and his new scooter and water gun.

Wade is 39 inches tall and about 34 pounds. He is going to be as tall as his daddy one day!!

Our precious baby boy with the surprise red hair and sweet smile will always be the baby no matter how old he gets. We love you so much Steve Wade and are so proud of our little boy!!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

While we were gone my sunflower bloomed!! I had been watching and waiting for this sunflower for some time. I was so excited to see how pretty it still was when we finally got to see it.

It grew so tall!! Chris is 6'6", so this gives you some perspective.

Me with my prize sunflower!!

I also had some squash and tomatoes waiting on me.

I was really shocked at how big the squash had gotten. They were longer than my foot!!

I have had so much fun with my planter bed, I got another. I went ahead and got some more tomatoes and planted beans, pumpkin, and zucchini squash. It may be too hot right now, but we will see if we can keep it alive until it cools off some. I am really hoping we can actually grow our own pumpkin!

I picked these cucumbers this morning. Luke and I eat the cucumbers. They are pretty good. We are still getting a few tomatoes off every other day or so. The tomato plants seem to have something wrong with them, so I don't know if I will be able to keep them alive much longer. :o( But maybe the new plants will produce some.

The kids enjoy the garden too. I just wish we had more room to grow a real garden. We do get enough out of the planters to enjoy and not have too much.

Fourth of July

We headed straight to Snyder from Galveston. We all wanted to be in Snyder for the July 4th celebration in the park.  We got in Wednesday afternoon and headed to the carnival that evening. 

First stop the Dragon Roller Coaster. This is a favorite ride every year. After the big kids went a few times, Wade decided he wanted to ride too. 

He was good the first few times around, but got a little scared near the end. Those are not tears because he was sad the ride was over. I figured we had ruined his riding for the night with this ride.

The big kids on the Hang-Glider Ride.

This is Wade not wanting to hold Daddy's hand. This cracks me up because he looks just like Chris.

Oh look he did ride another ride!!

The Slide

The next morning was the parade in the park. Granddad Bob's blue Studebaker was in the shop, but his friend let him drive one of his Studebakers. Luke and Rachel rode in the car and threw out the candy.

I did not do very good getting pictures of the parade, but I always look for this guy each year. You never know what he will be driving.

Watching the parade and collecting candy....lots of candy!!

Wade enjoying some DOTS.

We had great seats for the fireworks this year. We watched from the park not far from where they light them. Wade was scared to death when the first one went off. He dove to the ground in a hurry. He spent the rest of the show in Memaw's lap.

Another fun Fourth of July in Snyder!! Next stop was Midland. We were all ready to get home after 8 days on the road.

Galveston Island

We went to Galveston to play at the beach, but when we drove into town and got to see the city we got really excited!! There were lots of places to eat and so much to do and see. We knew we would not have enough time to do everything we would like to and immediately started figuring out how we could stay longer. The first day we just checked into our condo and headed to the beach, but the second day we did some sight seeing.  Our first stop was The Strand.

This Pirates Museum caught my eye. I thought the kids would like it and it might even be a little scary. Wade had fallen asleep, so Chris stayed with him in the car. I took Rachel, Kate and Luke and we headed inside. It was a cute little museum with a little scavenger hunt. I think I was more interested in it than kids. The kids were just interested in the scavenger hunt and could care less about reading the information and looking at the exhibits. 

As we wandered around The Strand we found this plaque. It showed how high the flood water got during Hurricane Ike. I can't imagine that much water.

I believe this is the first cruise ship I have seen in person. I can't remember the name, but my cousin Gary had worked on it a few months ago. 

We were really amazed at the size. Look at it up against the buildings.

We stopped for some refreshments. Wade sure does think his big brother is cool....too cool!!

My sweet boys.

One thing we were really excited to see were several blocks of Victorian homes. They were all so pretty! We drove up and down the block owing and awing.

This is the Sacred Heart Catholic Church established in 1884.

Across from the church was the Bishop's Palace. It was originally built between 1887 and 1893 as a private residence but later acquired by the church. The American Institute of Architects has listed the home as one of the 100 most significant buildings in the United States. It was really beautiful. One day when our kids are older and don't feel they have to touch everything, I would like to take the actual tour.

We went to Moody Gardens Aquarium on the third day before we headed out of town. It was smaller than we thought it would be. There are several parts to Moody Gardens. I think if you bought the ticket to do everything it would have been really cool.

Sting Ray

Sea Dragon

Penguins

Petting the Starfish

The sharks were really cool. It was neat because they swam over you. We got a really good look at their teeth. Yikes!

We ate lunch at the Rainforest Cafe before we left town. We had never been to one before, and the kids loved it. The mechanical animals kind or scared Luke and Kate, but it was fun. Wade even wore a hat for the first time in his life. I was shocked he left it on.

We left Galveston sad because we were not ready to leave. We all want to go back, soon. Next time we will plan at least a week and find a much bigger condo/house. If we have any complaints, it was our condo. It was way too small for six people. Everything else was great even the weather!! This post is really making me want to jump in the car and head southeast!!