The World Aquarium!

So a few weekends back (July 8th-10th to be exact) we headed to Mesquite to visit Gerald's family. We hadn't been there in FOREVER, and a visit was due! Jake did GREAT on the trip there. We didn't even have to bust out the portable DVD player until after Abilene. He slept about 45 min, played with cars, trains, animals, more cars and more trains. He's really getting better and better at traveling. (I do wish he would sleep more though). So we got to Mesquite and Jake really took no time at all to warm up to his Bauchi and Grandpa. They went outside and Jake got to run in GREEN grass barefoot. He LOVED it. (We're in the middle of an AWFUL drought here in Lubbock and our grass is brown and crunchy) Bauchi and Grandpa keep a beautiful yard and flowers. Jake really enjoyed the BIG sunflowers. He also had fun running around with his four-legged cousins Leo and Mona, both dachshunds.
The next morning we woke up, got ready, packed a lunch and headed out the door to the Dallas World Aquarium. It was AMAZING!! It's WAY more than just fish. We got to see penguins, monkeys, sharks, turtles, GIANT crabs, flamingos, birds, alligators, etc. UH-MAZE-ING! Jake was a little busy body, but really enjoyed it. He especially liked the room where you actually walked under the shark tank. They would swim right over you. We stayed there for quite a while and went back at feeding time. (By then J was pretty tired and didn't care much, but we thought it was really cool). We got there around 9:20, and stayed until lunch. We didn't actually end up eating there, but it was good to have the sandwiches with us b/c Jake was able to eat his sandwich on the way home and it kept him awake. He CRASHED when we got back to the house. After he woke up we headed over to Aunt Michelle's house for dinner and a party for Bauchi. Her birthday is July 15th so we wanted to celebrate while we were there. It was SO GREAT getting to see MOST of his Aunts and Uncles. (We missed Aunt Dawna, Uncle Billy, and cousins Alyssa, Little Billy, Doug and David.) Jake really enjoyed playing with his cousin Grayson, who is 14 months old. Well... maybe I should say he was nice enough to "share" his cars and trains with Grayson (with a little convincing from Mom and Dad) I'm SICK because we walked away from there without taking even ONE picture of the two of them together!! We didn't even take pictures of the party! I guess we were just having too much fun. That night we spent the night out at Michelle's (Thanks Dust-Man for giving up your room for the night), then headed back to Bauchi and Grandpa's for lunch before heading back to L-Town. Jake got to play a little more in their backyard and ran around with Leo and Mona. We had a great trip back, minus our car croaking on the side of the road about 30 min from home. :-(  Luckily we have friends that love us and came to our rescue. We thought our CRV was a goner, but we're getting a new (used) engine put in and she will hopefully be back on her wheels again soon! YAY!! Anyway, that was our weekend trip to Mesquite, we had a GREAT time there!! Enjoy the pics we DID take!

The World Aquarium from Gerald Miller on Vimeo.


World Aquarium from Gerald Miller on Vimeo.

July 4th...

Well, our July 4th didn't turn out as planned. Our poor sweet boy was sick :-(

We discovered he had a fever AFTER we went to church on Sunday, Oops. He was acting perfectly fine, it wasn't until I noticed his red cheeks that I checked his temp. With a hope and a prayer we sent him to bed fever free. Unfortunately it came back with a vengeance in the night. So our hopes of taking him to his first parade were shot. It was a PERFECT morning for a parade too, cooler and overcast. Oh well, we still had fun. Gerald made a yummy breakfast of blueberry waffles and homemade syrup to start our day out right. After that we spent a good chunk of the morning watching shows (Thomas the Train and Cars are Jake's FAVORITES). Then we went outside for a little bit to let Jake "paint" the fence with water. At that time I think his fever was coming back because he didn't want to stay outside long and that's NOT like him at all!.

After a 3 1/2 hour afternoon nap (we finally had to wake him up) we were determined to keep the TV off so Mommy tried to use her creative genius (HA!!!!) Started out simple with a new Mickey Mouse coloring book and new crayons (real creative, I know). That lasted all of 5 min. He just wasn't interested in sitting and coloring, so back outside we went. He painted the fence a little more and played in his water table and sand box for a few. So I decided to bring out the big guns. I had made colored ice cubes for him to "paint" with.

I got a plain white T-shirt for him to paint and later use as a smock. So this was how it was SUPPOSE to go..

But this is what MOSTLY happened....

Guess they looked a little too much like Popsicles. Ultimately we put the "paints" away and got some real Popsicles out for him to enjoy. We'll try to paint our shirt again on another day when he can understand that they aren't to eat.

So that's it folks, that was the excitement of our July 4th. We had hot dogs for dinner and turned in early. We hope to have a make-up night with some friends that we were suppose to get together with. Oh well, it's not like we missed fireworks or anything, they were banned this year because we are SOOOO very dry. I think we've had just barely over an inch of rain ALL YEAR. They weren't even selling fireworks this year. It made for a very quiet 4th of July. I guess there is always next year!

I hope everyone had a great time celebrating the freedom we have as a country and the freedom we have in CHRIST!!

Galatians 5:1

1 Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.

2 Corinthians 3:17:
17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

So Thankful that I am no longer in bondage to sin!! That is TRUE freedom!!