September

September was so much fun. It wore me out but we enjoyed a much needed change of pace after being locked in the house for the Summer of Extreme Heat and Misery.

Besides the excitement and terror of the The Great Fire Evacuation, we also got back into the swing of AWANA and soccer.

Soccer has been fun so far. I was sort of dreading it because last season was a little crazy and I was struggling to live thru the first trimester of pregnancy. This fall, God has smiled on us and blessed us with practice just one day a week for both Hailey and Reese AND their practices are at the same time! Can't beat that! I'm glad that girls are playing again. They are both finally "getting it" and while no one in this family has ever scored a goal (including old Mom and her several seasons played as a child), the girls are really enjoying playing and I'm happy to have them doing strenuous outdoor exercise that does not involve me ;) 

We were fortunate enough to be able to attend Homeschool Day at Seaworld. That was a pretty neat experience. The girls got to feed the dolphins (everyone's favorite) and we got to see a lot of exhibits and a few educational shows. I am super grateful to a friend and her family for helping out extensively with my brood of girls and our bag lady stroller. The trip would not have been a fraction of what it was without them.

We ended our month of fun by spending a few days at Great Wolf Lodge. We are blessed enough to have managed to take a family vacation every year and it is usually to North Padre Island, just south of Corpus. This year we decided that it would be a bit much for the giant pregnant woman to do the beach thing so we opted for a different route. Probably a good choice as four days at the beach and all of the packing/lugging/dragging/etc tends to wipe me out on a normal year.

But man oh man. Great Wolf looked like a lot of fun! I was sad to sit there like a stranded whale while the rest of the family went down water slide after water slide (ok, minus Penny but she had a fabulous time too).  But hey, I got a break from cooking and cleaning for a few days so what's not to like?

The two older girls got their initiation to Scary Rides when dear old Dad took them down the craziest water slide at the resort right off the bat. He's a big baby when it comes to rides (me too, we are perfect for each other--eternal bench sitters at amusement parks) and he said the slide scared him to death. He couldn't even act brave for the girls who reportedly whimpered the entire ride and afterwards found me and were in tears, vowing not to ride anything else the entire time were there. After a brief counseling session (for Jason too), everyone decided to stay away from that particular slide and to let Dad (chastised as he was) try the rest of them first.