Exploring Egypt - from home

Last week we did a "lap book" on Ancient Egypt. We learned about how mummies were made, the gods of the Egyptians, pyramids, the Nile River, and some of the Pharoahs. When we finished our lap book, we had an Egyptian party. Gabe and Selah dressed as Egyptians and we made gluten-free Egyptain flat bread. It was so fun!!

Then we met Aunt Suzy, Devon, and Xander in Waco (they are visiting Memaw and Papaw, but live in Colorado). We all headed over to the Mayborn Museum on the Baylor University campus. There they had a special exhibit on Egypt!!

Above, the kids are rebuilding pottery as archeologists do. Below, they got to climb on a camel statue! They also were able to see a real mummy, hieroglyphics and more! There are also discovery rooms in the museum....each room more exciting than the last!! We had a blast!!!

The Wax Museum

On June 20th Byron and I celebrated our 13th Wedding Anniversary. We really would have loved to have gone on a date, but right now with Miguel still little (and nursing) it is hard to get away from the kiddos - so instead we had a fun family day visiting the Palace of Wax and Ripley's Believe it or Not museum in Grand Prarie. Even if it wasn't a romantic date night - it was a great way to celebrate our anniversary and our little family that came "all because two people fell in love".

Gabriel has really been enjoying his bike and is a very good rider! In fact, he has a goal to enter a bike marathon in the fall with Daddy. So he has been "training" by riding laps around our apartment. One morning I showed him pictures of Lance Armstrong on line and we read about his races, so it was really neat that we walked in and the first wax person we saw was Lance Armstrong!

Here is Gabe interviewing Johnny Depp:

And Mommy and Miguel being interviewed by Oprah!

OK - this would be a Letterman to record on the DVR!! I'm sure Gabriel would have Dave in stitches! 

Selah was pretty much creeped out by the wax statues, and though she LOVES the Wizard of Oz - she was clinging pretty tightly to Daddy when they got this close!

And of course, I had to get a shot with Michael!! (For those of you that don't know I am a huge Michael Jackson fan....I can't help it - I love his music - and I just think he was a musical and performing genius in his own right. I literally mourned his death....yes, I know - somewhat pathetic....)

Until next time....

Same "bat" time....

Same "bat" channel!

Flag Day Parade

Yesterday was flag day.....

Flag Day is a day when all Americans celebrate the flag by showing respect for the flag and its makers and its designers. One of the main symbols of the United States of America is the flag.

The original U.S. flag was authorized by Congress on Saturday, June 14, 1777. It had 13 stripes - 7 red and 6 white - that represent the original 13 colonies. There were 13 white stars in a blue field representing a new constellation.

Since 1777, there have been different versions of the flag that have been adopted. The red and white stripes with blue constellation have remained the same. Each state in the union is represented by a 5 point star. The number of stars have changed as states joined the union. There are currently 50 states that belong to the United States of America. (Taken from apples4theteacher.com)

We learned about the flag, sang The Star Spangled Banner, said The Pledge of Allegiance and had our own flag day parade! We decorated Gabe's bike with a flag and Selah marched and waved her own plag while You're a Grand Ole Flag played from my iPhone. Fun, fun, fun!!!

Speaking of my iPhone....these pictures are from it - so the quality is not that great, but it is so handy for snapshots and quick videos! I love it!

Happy belated Flag Day!!!

8 Months Old!

Miguel turned 8 months old on Monday! It has been quite the month for him! He learned to crawl, met Papa Russ, went camping at the family reunion, and now has 7 teeth! He is a big boy, weighing in at around 20 pounds. He is very much happier now that he is independently mobile, but Daddy says he should have been born with whiskers - he keeps getting into tight spaces! This month he also decided that since he is such a big boy, he should be eating real people food - not mushy baby food! So many changes in one short month!

1 month:

 3 months:

 6 months:

7 months:

8 months:

 Isn't he looking grown up?!? Just look at that mouth full of teeth!

This one is my favorite this month:

 I love his sweet smile!!!



Some time with Papa Russ

My Daddy (who lives in Las Vegas) came to Grapevine for an Engineering Convention at the end of May. He got to stay at the beautiful Gaylord Texan and we were able to spend a good part of the day with him one of the days he was here and dinner at one of the hotels fancy restaurants the next evening. It was so great seeing him!

If you live near Grapevine or are ever in Grapevine, you have to see the Gaylord Texan. Parking is $12 a day, but it is a really cool place to hang out.

The kids loved the miniature trains:

Daddy really liked the guitar track this train rides on!

This is all still INSIDE the Gaylord!



 This was Mig's first time to meet Papa Russ - and he LOVED him!! He let him carry him around the hotel and sat in his lap at lunch....and if you know Mig, this is a big thing!

And my favorite picture for the week......

Miguel Crawls!!

Lloyd Family Reunion

Last weekend our little family of 5 headed to Crockett Texas for the 25th Lloyd Family Reunion.

It was held at the Crockett Family Resort- an RV campground there in Crockett. We slept in a cabin, got in a little Putt-Putt golf:

Some fun games:

And Daddy wowed the family with his mad horseshoe skills!

But - the kids' favorite thing was meeting cousin Tim (Tiny) and his pets!!

A Chinese Water Dragon named Puddles:

And a chameleon named Little Foot!

Guess what Gabe wants for Christmas!?! We'll see.....

We spent a lot of time with family - this is Byron's mom's side of the family - her sisters and brothers families. There were around 40 of us there, which is only about a fourth of the family.

Here is the 3rd Generation (we are the purple generation).

This is the 4th Generation (the orange shirts):

 Byron is the youngest in his generation by a number of years and so our kids are the youngest in their generation as well....our ages are closer to the orange generation ages and our kids are actually the ages of the next two generations down! This is especially interesting because I am the oldest in my generation on both sides of my family - so my cousins are the ages of my kids' cousins and my aunts are the ages of their aunts. Kinda confusing - but interesting!

We had a great weekend!