Family Time

In case you were wondering: Yes it is hard to have Brandon gone for a month.  But we've been making up for it this last week.  

Thanks to Memorial Day Brandon had Monday and Tuesday off of work.  When he went back to work on Wednesday he found out it was Family Day so he came home and picked us up so we could go see where he works.  

We were able to walk around the motor pool and see lots of different things.  There were some weapons on display, and when we stopped at that area the soldiers asked us if we wanted a family picture.  I handed the camera to a soldier who handed me a pistol in return.  This was only the third or fourth time I've ever held a weapon so I tried to act natural while trying to not look like I was pointing it right at Lydia.  

Brandon showed us the Bradley vehicles.  This is what he spent the majority of the month of January sitting inside.  He's not a fan of Bradleys.  Charlotte didn't want to get inside, but Lydia and her baby doll were just fine getting inside.  

Derrick started crying as soon as I set him down on the seat.  I told him, "that's what your Daddy thinks about this thing too."  

Here are the girls in the drivers seat of the medical version of a Bradley.  The medics gave them lollipops so they felt really comfortable here.

Lydia picked out her dress all by herself when I told her we were going to see the Army guys that Daddy works with.  I guess she wanted to look good for all the men in uniform.

Thursday Brandon had to go back to work, but he was done by 2:00. He announced that he had Friday off as well.  That was just fine with me because I needed to go in for the oh so wonderful glucose test.  I told Brandon he could spend the morning in charge of the kids and I would go run errands.  So Friday I went to my dr's office, drank the yucky drink,  spent an hour working on a photoshop project that I brought from home, had my blood drawn, stopped by the bank to talk about car loan options, window shopped at target, got my hair cut, signed up for a library card, and went grocery shopping.   It was a very nice morning.  And when I came home all the kids were asleep.

In the evening we took the kids to a concert series that the City of Killeen puts on during the summer.  It's aptly called "Hot Summer Nights"  The concert didn't start until 8:00 and it was still pretty muggy outside.  The ampetheature where the concert was held was actually pretty nice.  It was shaded from the setting sun by a building so it didn't seem that hot.

We got there a few minutes early and so we just enjoyed relaxing on the lawn.

Here's the coolest baby you'll ever see.

The band was called the Space Rockers and they played 80 songs.  When they came on stage I asked Brandon if he thought any of these guys even looked old enough to have been born in the 80s.  But despite looking really young these guys knew how to play.  We were impressed that they knew all the words to the many songs they sung.  Think about it, do you know ALL the lyrics to 20 songs?

Charlotte and Lydia weren't as impressed by the music as we were.  They spent most of their time going back and forth from the garbage can throwing away random bits of trash that they found in my diaper bag.  (It has a lot of trash in it.)

Saturday we continued our family adventures by going to something called Waterfest.  It was held at the Belton Lake Outdoor Recreation Area, commonly referred to as BLORA, which is Army owned.

The flier said there would be many activities including a petting zoo.  The petting zoo turned out to be only two little ponies.  But the kids like petting them anyway.

Derrick especially had a lot of fun patting the pony.  Somewhere along the way my little happy baby has turned into a very unhappy toddler.  I keep blaming it on his teeth, but I think that he is just going through a grumpy stage.  I'm hoping that as he learns to talk and communicate his issues he will get his happy disposition back.  Anyway, I was very glad that he liked the pony.

After spending 5 minutes with the ponies it was time to go change into swimming suits and go to the beach.  Charlotte and Derrick weren't so sure about the water, but Lydia charged right in with Daddy.

Brandon would spin her around in the water and she loved it.

Derrick had fun throwing mud in a puddle.

And Charlotte threw sand into the lake.

Eventually we were able to coax all the kids out into the water.  The area we were in was really toddler friendly.  There was a line that marked where the water started getting deep.  So we didn't have to worry too much about the kids in the water.

Derrick went back and forth on enjoying the beach and being ornery.  Here he is taking a little break.

Charlotte liked being buried.  (Lydia did too, but I didn't have the camera handy when Brandon buried her.)

We had a little picnic lunch on the beach, which was fun, but also very sandy.  When we were done eating lunch the kids turned the tupperware containers into sand toys.

Every so often the lifeguards would blow a whistle and everyone would have to get out of the water for a few minutes.  That's when the kids would enjoy playing in the sand.

We had lots of fun on the beach for at least an hour and a half.  I would have been fine staying even longer, but the girls had spotted the playground.  So we picked everything up and went over there.  This is kind of an interesting picture. It almost looks like it could be a reflection.

The girls had fun on the playground, but it was a lot hotter than the beach (duh) so soon they were ready to go.

So we went back to the jeep and said goodbye to the beach.  We will be back again for sure.

The kids all fell asleep on the way home.  Later that night we watched, Lady and the Tramp for our weekly movie night.  The kids were transfixed by that movie.  

I'm so glad that Brandon is home and we can spend lots of time with him.  Here is a video of him playing a game with the girls.  They call it, "bag, bag" and as you can see they ask to play it "again, again, again."  Brandon says that playing with the girls is a more vigorous workout than Army PT.