Sprinkler Ball

 It's a general rule in the Roberson household to entertain ourselves cheaply, which is why we don't have cable and at times I will watch a TV show on my laptop.  So after hearing about this water toy that produced hours of entertain and was on sale for $2 at CVS, of course, Scott had to run to the nearest store and get one.  Unfortunately, they were sold out, so he settled for $8 at another store.  Boy was that $8 worth it, though!

Bailey wondering how the ball does such magical things

. It's a really large beach ball that shoots water out of four holes with the help of your water hose attached to the bottom.  It's called Discovery Kids Sprinkler Ball. We decided to combine this superb toy with our trampoline, since we pretty much live on our trampoline.   It has become a daily ritual for Bailey and Scott!  The minute Daddy gets home Bailey is pleading with him to change, so she can jump in the water. 

Scott trying his best to soap up Bailey

The best part is, Scott gives her a "bath" every time they jump on it.  He now has baby shampoo outside, so that he can suds her up.  That is if he can catch her.  As you can see from the picture above, she likes to run away from him while he tries to bathe her.

It was a blast the first few days we got it because it was so ridiculously hot here, but the other day with the "Texas cold front", Bailey was shivering after her water jump.  I'm hopeful that she won't want to jump in the water in January.  Surely not, right?

Water + Trampoline = Hours of Fun

I took these pictures about a week before I had to go back to school, while I was still enjoying the lazy days of summer.  One ridiculously hot day, Scott had a brilliant idea!  He rigged the hose to the top of our trampoline to create a waterfall.  This meant hours of fun running through the waterfall on the trampoline.

 As you can see Bailey just jumps in her diaper and actually now that this has become a regular occurrence, she jumps in the nude.  Who doesn't like cute baby butts, right?  This new, fabulously fun activity has become such a regular thing now that Scott changes into his swim shorts before heading out to jump with her. 

 Yesterday I asked Scott if he would bathe her after their water trampoline adventure and he asked me to just bring the soap outside.  So now we also have an outdoor shower.  Ha! 

 Of course I had to join in the fun! Scott actually managed to get some decent pictures of Bailey and me, too!

Looking Back on the Summer of Ups and Downs

Today was my first day back at work.  As a teacher, it's always fun seeing everyone after the summer break.  And of course, everyone asks the obligatory, "How was your summer?".  My response is usually, "It was great!".  However, today I didn't really know how to respond to that question.  I must say, I'm kind of relieved that this summer is finally at an end.  I have never had a summer with more ups and downs as this one.  It felt like I was on a roller coaster all summer.  I'd hit a high, then immediately a low.  My doctor had told me that I could stop taking my anti-depressant medication during the summer if I wanted to because I would be less stressed than I was during the school year.  I was good with that because I don't like taking lots of medication, so I took her suggestion.  Bad idea!  If any summer I needed to take my anti-depressants, it was this one!

My first week of summer, my dad received a call while we were in a meeting at church that my grandfather had passed away.  Before he had passed, all four of my grandparents were still alive.  So it was quite a shock.  I know that God's timing is perfect, though, because he had received Christ only a few weeks before.  He had already had to have both legs amputated and I know he was in so much physical pain, so I was at peace knowing that he was in a place where he was whole again.  Yet, it was still incredibly emotional to lose him and to say good-bye.

That very weekend we went to our family reunion, which was a high for my family.  It's at an amazing spot near Kerrville and Bailey had a blast.  Not to mention how great it is to always see family.  It was at the reunion that I realized I needed to take my medication during the summer.  As great as that weekend was, I just wasn't myself.  I was emotional, tired, easily frustrated, and very snappy with Scott.  All of those were symptoms I had in the fall with my depression.  As we drove away from the reunion I immediately broke down into tears and told Scott I didn't know what was wrong and why I was acting that way.  Boy did that sound familiar.  We immediately pinpointed the problem and I started back on my medication that night. 

A few weeks after our reunion, Scott and I got to go to Colorado and spent the majority of our time in Vail.  This was the high of our summer!  We both agreed that it was the best vacation we'd been on together, including our honeymoon.  I am so glad we decided on the mountains and we can't wait to go back and take Bailey.

 I had been dealing with an annoying cough for over 3 months.  Originally my doctor had told me it was just allergies, but I was tired of dealing with it and the symptoms were getting worse.  So Scott (of course), finally convinced me to go to see a doctor.  I just went to one of those drop in ones and he told me I had a sinus infection.  After about 5 days of taking the meds I was all better.  Why am I so stubborn?  I could have had it all long gone and not dealt with it for 3 months, but I just deal with stuff, instead of trying to get better.  Anyway, not long after I was done taking the meds I got sick again.  I was probably better for 2 days and then started feeling like I had strep.  I wasn't stubborn this time.  I immediately went to the doctor who diagnosed me with strep and I was better in a few days. 

A few days after I started feeling like myself again, we took Bailey to Sea World for the first time and got some other great family days in together.  Then for the first time all summer I finally felt like myself again.  No sinus infection or strep to deal with.  My sister wanted me to visit her in Midland, so I booked a flight and went by myself.  This was another major high for me!  I always love seeing Katie because nothing is EVER boring with her.  We had a total blast in Midland.  I went to a drive-in movie for the first time, threw popcorn at random strangers in a theater downtown (Summer Mummers), ate lots of yummy food, practiced our balance beam and floor routines in her living room, went shopping (which is amazing to do without a toddler), just sat around like a bum (which is also amazing to do without a toddler), danced the night away, and went to a pool party.  It was a busy weekend!

Then a week later, I got a phone call from my dad telling me to go to Seguin because my grandmother had double pneumonia and her kidneys had failed.  I headed to the nursing home right away.  We weren't really sure how much longer she had with us.  While my family met with the hospice nurse I stayed in the room with my grandmother.  I knew that she loved music, so I began to sing to her.  She opened her eyes just a little bit and looked at me and hummed along.  It was an amazing moment that I will never forget.  Shortly after the hospice nurse came to give her more medicine, my family prayed over her and said their good-byes before she passed away.  I'm so grateful that God let me have that moment with her.  He showed me again that His timing is always perfect.  She passed away only 8 weeks after my grandfather.  She couldn't stand being away from him for very long.  I will miss them both so very much, but I know how much pain they were in during their last year of life and how whole they are now with their Lord and Savior. 

I will miss my time off with Bailey and Scott that I got so much of this summer, but I am ready to put the summer of ups and downs behind me and looking forward to all the amazing things God has in store for me this school year!

Sea World

 We finally got to take Bailey to Sea World this summer.  I had wanted to go last year, but we never got around to it (the truth is Scott didn't want to deal with the heat).  Of course, now that Bailey is older he was totally willing to deal with it this summer.  The fact that teachers get in for free helped, too.  We went with our friends, Michael and Jenny, and their daughter Rhyan.  Thank goodness they brought a wagon because the girls sat in that most of the time.

First thing on the list was feeding the dolphins, which was my favorite!  I LOVE dolphins, so I was excited to see that Bailey enjoyed seeing them up close and feeding them.  It was super hot at that time and I was about to jump into the water with the dolphins, so thankfully soon after that we headed to the little water area there.

 Of course, being the water baby that she is, Bailey loved this part of our trip.  Scott chased her around while I just took pictures.  I love it when that's all that I have to do!

 After that we headed to see Shamu.  By then it was way past Bailey's naptime, so I think she was mostly out of it because she just sat and stared at Shamu.  Not a lot of cheering or much of anything besides staring.

 We were soon watching Elmo's Rock Show (or whatever it's called), which I thought Bailey would be squealing for and jumping up and down.  Again, just a lot of staring, but I could tell she enjoyed herself because at one point of the show they invite all the kids down to the front and she jumped at that idea.

 As you can see from the picture below she is up close!  She's to the left of Elmo's foot.  I thought she was going to jump up on stage with Elmo.

 After that we saw the penguins and then it was time to go home.  Here's Bailey hogging the wagon with her Shamu that she kept calling a dolphin.

*Excuse the pictures.  They were taken with my old point-and-shoot and I enjoyed just snapping pictures without thinking.  I wasn't about to deal with my DSLR that day.  I gotta admit, it was quite freeing!

Zilker Zephyr and Snowcones

 We try to take advantage of the summer when Scott and I actually get to spend his days off together.  Riding the Zilker Zephyr is one of our favorite activities to do with Bailey on these special days.

 I enjoy seeing her as she rides because every time she rides it she's usually 6 months older than the time before.  Needless to say, we don't get around to riding the train as much as we'd like.  So, it's a blast to get to see her react to it.

 Getting ready to head under the bridge. 

 And of course, we had to stop and get snow cones when we were finished.

 "Daddy, do you want some?"

 What a tease!

Friday Fun Day

 

My best friend, Ashley, came into town with her two boys this past weekend.  So, of course, that meant a play date for our kiddos with Jamie and Jess' kiddos, as well.  Jamie was brave kind enough to open her doors to our crew (pictured above).  Bailey loves these play dates because Jamie's house is way more exciting than ours!  Jamie let the kids make oobleck (sp?) in her kitchen, which is made of corn starch and water. 

Then it was off to Jen's beautiful, new house to swim in her pool.  Bailey has gotten so good at kicking and keeping her head above water.  She hasn't taken swim lessons yet, but she sure can dog paddle.  She has no fear when it comes to jumping into the pool and resurfacing (and holding her breath) on her own.  Of course, many times she sucks down water, but she's making progress. 

 After swimming it was back to Jamie's house!  Bailey loved this little car, which I think is awesome because I used to have one of these.  In fact, I must have played with it so much, because I remember it only having three wheels. 

 They had a blast in the bed of Jamie's truck.  Jamie and I had some fun adventures in that truck, but those stories are for another post on a different blog!  It's hard to believe she's had it since she was 16! It was pretty cool to see all the kids piled in the back.  Who knew it could be so much fun?

 Don't even have a clue what this pose is...maybe she had a question for me?

 Then, Jamie brought out the bubbles and nobody likes bubbles more than my sweet Bailey!

Needless to say, she did NOT want to leave Jamie's house that day.  AND she hadn't had a nap yet, so you can imagine the fit that was thrown when she got in the car.  I feel so blessed that Bailey gets to play with the children of these amazing mommies that I grew up with! 

Vail, I miss you already!

Scott and I originally had a difficult time determining where we would take our summer vacation this year.  We had wanted to do a beach resort, but then we changed our mind.  We thought we'd much rather escape the Texas heat during the summer, so we set our sights on Colorado.  I've been to Colorado many times, mostly on ski trips, so it was very different going in the summer time.  I thought Vail would be a great place to visit.  Thank goodness we did!

We stayed at the Tivoli Lodge, which is family owned and the most charming lodge.  It is located right in Vail Village, so it was super nice to be able to walk to the village for shopping and eating.

 It was amazing to wake up to the beautiful view of the mountain every morning.  The weather was great!  It was anywhere between 60-80 degrees during the day and of course in the 50s at night.  I even had to buy a sweatshirt!

The first night we got to Vail we just walked through the village to shop and eat. 

Our second day there we had bike riding, a massage, and a movie on the schedule.  We rented bikes and set off riding through the valley along the creek.  It was a gorgeous day and best thing was that Scott and I didn't get injured!

I was surprised to find out later that Scott's favorite thing we did during our trip was the bike riding!  I never would have guessed he would enjoy it as much as he did.  No worries about the picture below, he was just pretending.

Scott goofing off for the camera

After bike riding, it was off to a massage to ease our sore muscles.  Then later that night we found this great movie theater in the village, which is similar to Alamo Drafthouse, but much nicer.  The Cinebistro served dinner with nice, luxurious leather rocking chairs with foot ottomans.  The food was so good and of course the movie was okay, too. 

After our rafting trip

The next day was our adventurous day.  Our plan was to go white water rafting and zip-lining.  We got in the car ready to go and a few minutes down the road Scott realized that he had forgotten the map to our rafting destination.  We were supposed to be there at 8:00 and it was supposed to be only 15 miles from Vail.  We tried looking up the map on our Smartphones and had no luck finding the map.  Needless to say the website for this rafting company was not very helpful, not to mention trying to search the web in the middle of the mountains doesn't work so well either.  Well, we finally decided to just head to the resort that sounded familiar to Scott, which was actually an extra 45 minutes away.  I was worried that we wouldn't make it on time.  Thank goodness we got there in time and made it onto the trip. 

The water was really low this summer, so the rafting experience was great for the first 20 minutes where the rapids were and then the rest of the time was very slow.  So, Scott didn't have the best first experience on his rafting trip.  I'd like to take him again to show him how much fun it can really be.  After we were finished we headed over to lunch and then zip-lining.  The same company has ziplines going across the Colorado River, which was pretty cool.  I wish that we could have done that a couple more times, but we were exhausted from the trip.

Aren't you jealous of my awesome zip-lining outfit?

Our last day in Colorado was spent taking a day trip to Breckenridge before heading to the airport.  Our flight didn't go out until later that night.  I'd been skiing a few times before in Breckenridge, but never been in the summer and Scott really wanted to check it out and go to the top of the mountain.  We were so excited to get to Breckenridge and realize how much cheaper it was than Vail.  The parking was free (wow!) and the gondola was free (it was $30 in Vail).  So we happily took the gondola up to the top of the mountain.

On the gondola

They have some sort of  Fun Park at the peak that has all sorts of family activities, from an alpine slide, putt-putt, rock climbing, and the coaster that we rode on.  You can ride the coaster by yourself or with one other person.  Scott and I of course chose to ride separately.  You can choose your speed by accelerating or braking with a handle.  You also are not supposed to get within 80 feet of the person in front of you.  I rode in front of Scott, which normally wouldn't have been such a bad thing.  I am definitely the faster driver of the two of us.  In fact, I call him "grandpa" when he drives.  But he was so not "grandpa" on this coaster.  He almost ran into me because my short arms could hardly reach the handles to accelerate.  It was so much fun and I wish we could have gone again. Then it was lunch down the mountain and off to the airport.

This was by far our favorite vacation as a couple and we are already planning to go back next year and bring Bailey with us.  I would highly recommend escaping the Texas heat to head to a cute Colorado town, such as Vail or Breckenridge.