Summer Activities

We had our annual 4th of July celebration at the Tate household awhile back. We all sported our red, white and blue. We had burgers for lunch and fried chicken for dinner. Mom made lots of yummy side dishes to go with everything. It was a great day full of family time and a traditional late night of fireworks.The fireworks did not end till around 10:00 pm. So the girls did not get to bed till almost midnight! Luckily, they both took a really late nap. The crazy thing is by the time we got home and gave them baths they did not even seem tired. They acted just like it was their normal 8:30 bedtime.

Precious pictures of Aubrey and Kate

Some of the cousins: Aubrey, Kate, Kale, Isabelle, Ian and Ellee

Our family of four

Zack was trying to get Kate to sit in the tree. She was not a fan of this idea!

Carly on the other hand enjoyed it.

Ian with Aubrey and Kate this year

Ian with Aubrey and Kate last year

I love Aubrey's face in this picture. Here is Aubrey, Isabelle and Kate.

Here they are with their Mommies this year

And this is last year

Kate loved putting her feet in the Grapevine lake before the fireworks.

Carly loved the watermelon!

Having a good time watching the fireworks

Later on that week we treated the girls to some ice cream after dinner. It was a great way to cool ourselves off after a hot summer day! Both girls love ice cream just like their daddy!

I love this smile that Carly gives when she is really excited about something. She was glad I gave her the spoon and ice cream to feed herself!

On Tuesday we went to the grand opening of the Sea Life Center in the Grapevine Mills Mall. It was really neat! Kate loved looking at all the different kinds of fish. Zack also has a great knowledge and love for fish, so this was perfect for him! I would definitely recommend it!

They have a part at the end where you can touch some different things. That was Kate's favorite part!

Then on Wednesday we had my Mom babysit Carly and Ryleigh while Kamara, Rod, Zack and I took Kate and Aubrey to Six Flags for the first time. I was so excited! I grew up going to Six Flags many times and I always enjoyed it. Since my mom had the summers off with us this was a common activity along with what was then Wet N' Wild. Now it is called Hurricane Harbor. I don't think we are quite ready for that yet, though. We had such a good time at Six Flags. Kate and Aubrey had a couple of rides that they really enjoyed. Kate especially seemed to like the rides. Aubrey had a little more fear, but it was still fun. What was nice is we could all take turns riding the adult rides with each other too. It had been so long since I had been to Six Flags, and I had forgotten how much your stomach can drop on some of those rides! Zack and Rod did more roller coasters than we did, but Kamara and I were fine with that. Kamara and I were all set to go on the new Texas Giant, but they had it temporarily closed. Zack and Rod said it was awesome! I guess we will have to do it next time. Since it was such a hot day, there weren't many people there. We pretty much walked on all the rides. We usually just had to wait for about 10 minutes. The longest wait was for Zack and Rod when they rode the Giant, about 30 minutes. So even though it was hot, it was worth it to not have to wait for a long time. We were worn out by the time the day was over. We got there right when they opened at 10:00 am and stayed till a little after 6:00 pm. Kate and Aubrey had skipped their naps, so they were exhausted by the time their heads hit their pillows that night. We drank so many liquids to keep us hydrated. Kate's hair was extra curly because it seemed to stay wet with all the sweat. Don't worry, we loaded on the sunscreen, too! It was a fun day!

The little roller coaster

The little swings

Cooling off and being silly in the shade. We had just finished the Raging Rapids and Kate and I both got soaked!

We all enjoyed cooling off on the ride that used to be called The Cave. I don't know what it is called now.

Another tradition that I had growing up was eating the Pink Things when we went to Six Flags. We were so excited to get one for the girls. It was still good but we were disappointed that they changed them. Now, they are more like push-ups. They use to be kind of like popsicles, but with ice cream.

Notice how sweaty our faces are! It felt so good to take a nice long shower that night.

We have really been enjoying some of our summer fun with Daddy being home.

Abilene/Fredricksburg/Sea World

Almost a week ago we got back from a 7 day/6 night trip. Zack's Grandma, Nannie passed away so we started off in Abilene. Nannie had been ill for awhile so it was not a surprise when she passed away about a month ago. However, we are still saddened by her loss. We spent three nights in Abilene. Kate and Carly enjoyed spending time with the other cousins and family. We also enjoyed celebrating Nannie's life and talking about memories of her. She lived a wonderful life. Then, we drove up to Fredricksburg to see Nettie for the day and spent one night there. We drove up the following day, Tuesday, to go to Sea World. We got there at around 11:00 am and stayed the whole day there until about 7:00 pm. We met up with our friends the Dunkles, too. We had planned awhile back to go to Sea World since Zack and I had the teacher discount. Our friends, the Dunkles, were in the same boat as us, so we decided to all meet up together. Then, we went to Sea World the following day to do all that we missed on Tuesday. The girls were troopers! Kate did not nap at all while we were there and Carly took short naps in the stroller. We had our first hotel experience as a family. We stayed at the Embassy Suites so we let the girls sleep in the living area while we slept in the bedroom. It worked out perfectly! The girls were so tired from the day that they had no problem falling asleep at night in the same room. Thank goodness! On Thursday, we went swimming in the hotel and stopped by the Alamo and the Riverwalk on our way out. Zack had a picture taken of him in front of the Alamo when he was three years old, so we wanted to take a picture of Kate too. Carly fell asleep while we walking around town. The bad thing about that was that then her and Kate were both awake the whole way home which was about 5 1/2 hours. It was a long drive home! We had a great trip, though. I will write a little more detail by the pictures.

All the Pruett cousins at Nannie's burial

While we were in Abilene we had a great visit with our friends, The Littles. It was fun watching the four girls together.

Carly had her first ice cream bar. What a mess! She loved it, though!

One of the best things at Mom Mom and Dad Dad's house is their big tree in the backyard. The kids always enjoy climbing from it and swinging from the swings that hang from it. It also puts off such great shade! Oh, how I wish we had a tree like this in our backyard. Kate decided she wanted to climb it, too. Luckily, Uncle Jason was up there to help her. Thanks Uncle Jason! This was Kate's first true tree climbing experience.

Nettie and Kate in Fredricksburg. Kate loved being there with the animals.

Zack and Kate on their first fishing trip in the creek. Kate really enjoyed fishing and putting her feet in the creek. Zack was so proud!

This is Carly sleeping in the stroller at Sea World. She would go and go and then just crash. It didn't matter how much noise was around her. Notice the apples all over her. She loved eating on an apple before she fall asleep. She also loves to spit out the parts she doesn't like. I didn't want to wake her up, but I did clean her up after this picture was taken.

One of Kate's favorite things at Sea World was the rides. She even rode a big ride with Zack. It was a lot of fun!

It is nice that they have a splash area to cool off. It really helped the kids on the two hot days that we were there.

We were excited to try the 3D movie that was there. It was so nice and cool in the theater. However, we lasted about 5 minutes. Carly kept wanting to play with the glasses and stand on her chair. She is really into standing on things right now. She was not heavy enough to keep the chair down so I had to hold it down. Kate really didn't get into it, either. At least we got to cool off for 5 minutes.

Kate and Caleb decided to hold hands at one point. It was so cute!

Kate loved the Sesame Street characters! Carly wanted me to hold her but she kept squeezing his furry arm.

Zack and Kate swimming at the hotel. Kate is really improving on her swimming. She will even put her head in the water for a couple of seconds now. The pool was the perfect temperature!

Here Kate is in front of the Alamo.

Just the two of us!

What a great trip!