Houston

i've been wanting to get down to houston this summer, but have been a little nervous to make the trip with the girls by myself.  i finally sucked it up and went last week, and i'm so glad that i did.  as always, we had a great time.  the girls were great in the car.  i may or may not have exceeded the speed limit in order to make the trip as short as possible.

we met up at the "world's largest indoor mall playground".  i'm not sure if i believe that after having been to it, but it was pretty cool.  the kids had a great time, so that's all that really matters.  maybe one day we'll get a picture where every kid is looking at the camera and smiling...that day will probably not be for many years to come.

 most mom's put their kids in bright clothes when they go places like this...but i just have to look for the big poof of hair.  it's usually pretty easy to spot, especially since it just grows as she gets sweaty.

here's a great story.  so, after we got to brittany and matt's house, we took the kids for a walk.  there's a little lake/pond near their house, so we headed over there to let the kids ride bikes/ explore.  well, this lake is man made, and is concrete for about 5 feet before you get to the mud.  and the concrete is covered with a good inch or two of scum.  brittany and i were talking and all of a sudden she goes "nash!" and he trips, hits the scum and slides right in.  it's not too deep, but obviously he can't swim. so she runs to get him. and then she slips on the concrete and slides right in.  she finally grabs him, but can't move because it's too slippery.  so i go to help, and what do i do? yes, that's right, i slip on the concrete as well.  now all three of us are stuck.  it was so slippery, we tried several times to climb out and we kept sliding right back.  finally we start to scrape off the scum on the concrete to try to get our footing.  i get my balance, take nash and pretty much roll/push him up to the other kids.  then i grab brittany and push her up, and she pulls me up.  we were in that stupid pond for at least 7 or 8 minutes.  i didn't know whether to laugh or cry...so i think i did a little of both.  

this picture doesn't do the nastiness justice.  our backs were pretty much covered in pond scum.
 the whole time we were in there, the kids were yelling "oh, no" or "you're stuck", and noah was my favorite "don't step there, it's slippery".  i'm glad that brittany wasn't by herself with the kids, or she might not have made it out.  and i'm glad i wasn't by myself in a nasty pond covered in scum.  it's always better when you have someone to commiserate with. 

this guy is a total sweetheart.  he was so kind with mae and izzy.  mae asked if she could watch something with him and he said "of course you can mae".  love him.

these girls are too cute.  tessa is a little nurturer.  and it was so sweet to watch her play with mae. they had a great time together.

nashy!  he finally warmed up to me.  we spent some quality time together.  he has the sweetest faces.  

 and of course friday we got icees before we went to the pool.

we had such a great time.  i'm so glad that we live close enough to family that mae can grow up with her cousins.  and, i'm so glad that my sisters-in-law are so much fun. 
thanks brittany for all of the pictures, i am such a slacker parent!