Dallas Zoo Pictures

On our way to LSU!

Padme competes in a gymnastics meet at LSU this weekend. We are making the trip together, with Mema. We are excited to have some Special Time with each other! Pictures and videos to come soon!

Our Summer in Review

Following is a list of our summer activities, in case anyone ever claims our kids never get out of the house:

Vacation Bible School
A week at Mema & Poppie's
Gymnastics - lots of it! (camp & classes)
Dallas Zoo
Sandy Lake Park
Dallas Arboretum
High School Musical on Tour
Hawaiian Falls
Medieval Times
The Reptile Guy (He brought about 30 reptiles, amphibians, insects & spiders for us to see & touch!)
Group Dynamix - team building & lots of games!
High Touch High Tech science class
Bowling
Bounce Houses galore, including jousting, huge slides & rock climbing!
Laser tag
Arcades

We went to the movies every week, and sometimes shopped at the mall while we were there!
Swimming at least twice/week
Swimming at local water park with water slides, lazy river, etc.
Plus the usual playing or sleeping over at friends' houses, etc. Our boat wasn't working this summer, so that was a bummer, but we still got to play down at the lake in our backyard!

We had lots of friends and family visit us as well!

We really had an awesome summer! We have now finished our 2nd week of school, and are glad we have such fantastic memories of our first summer with our new girls! Next summer looks to be even better!

Sharkarosa Ranch

We had a fabulous field trip today to Sharkarosa Ranch's homeschool days. We enjoyed petting various wild animals, a bounce house and train ride, and a safety class by the local Sheriff's office. We learned about animal tracks and wildflowers as well. The weather was absolutely perfect and the girls and I had such a nice time together. I hope you enjoy these pictures.

Safety Town

I must tell you about an exciting field trip we went on this week. A nearby city has built a huge complex called Safety Town. In the main building are classrooms, a fire engine & wall of fire tools, etc. (and of course a gift shop where we dropped $20 for Safety Town t-shirts). Outside is a complete, miniature town designed to teach the kids about safety issues.

From their website:

"The complex consists of an 8,000 square foot Educational Facility alongside a miniature outdoor town which has 24 buildings, created on a 5/8th scale, that represents area businesses and homebuilders. Intermingled with the buildings are paved and marked streets, complete with working traffic signals, a railroad crossing and a toll booth."

Each year, the public school kids (and other school groups for miles around) visit safety town, and learn about different things. We went to the third grade class about Bicycle Safety. After class, the kids got to ride bikes (provided) through safety town! It was really a lot of fun. Other classes offered at Safety Town include 9-1-1 and Emergency Safety (Kindergarten), Motor Vehicle, School Bus and Pedestrian Safety (this is the first grade class, and they get to ride Jeeps around Safety Town), Fire Safety (second grade - the kids are in a "house" that starts smoking and they go through various situations to learn what to do in case of fire) & Burn Prevention, Severe Weather and Disaster Preparedness (fourth grade) and Internet Safety and Personal Information Awareness (fifth grade). This place, apparently the first one like it in the US, is so cool!

Regrettably, I forgot to bring my camera. These pictures are from the Safety Town website later. But you get the picture. :)