Summer!!!

Wow has summer gone fast. Two weeks from today we are due back at school. I thought this picture was a pretty accurate portrayal of how we feel at the end of most days. We have done lots of fun stuff and lots of crazy stuff to keep two little girls entertained. It has been a great couple of months. Now it's back to school! We do have a few changes for next year. I have just finished my Master's Degree in Educational Leadership from LCU and will be teaching 4th grade next year. (I've taught special ed the last 5 years.) I'm looking forward to the change and hopefully a step in the right direction to get some experience for administration one day. Since I am done with the grad school thing (for a little while anyway) Gabe is now starting. He was a great support for me and now we are switching roles a little. Who knew this was the direction we were going? We're looking forward to seeing what God has in store in the next few years. Our other big change for this year is that both girls will be going to the same daycare! We are super excited about that. I think Sadie has picked up on how excited we are too. Today in the car she said, "Mama, when we go to school, you are going to take Claire and Daddy is going to take me?" I said, "Do you remember that you and Claire go to the same school now?" She said, "Hallelujah!" I said, "I know, say it with me, Hallelujah!"

Here are just a few picures from our last couple of months. I probably say this at the end of every summer, but we are so grateful for the time we have all together during this time of year. I'm sure we spend way too much money and spoil the kids a little, but as we have been saying at our house... "It is summer!"

Claire playing princess. We have played a lot of "princess dancing", "school", and "cooking" in the last couple months.


Sadie helping us cook some brownies.

Watering the flowers.

Pushing the buggy is hard work.

Enjoying a drink at the best little picnic table ever. I highly recommend it!

Enjoying the pool with Les and Jenny.

Dressing up for Church.

Daddy and Sadie at the pool. (Les and Jenny are in background with Claire.)

Hooray for Summer!!!

Sweet Sadie

Here is Sadie showing us her pretty teeth. I just have to share her latest stalling tactic at bedtime. For the last few nights when we tell her it is time to go to bed she starts fake crying and says,"but my filling's coming out!" and points to her teeth. It took us a little while to figure out what she was saying and then of course we thought maybe her teeth were hurting, but soon realized that she was stalling. (She doesn't have any fillings) We have no idea where she picked this up and I try not to laugh, but it has become pretty funny. I can't even remember the last time we talked about fillings. Obviously she heard it somewhere, but it has made us laugh at the end of some pretty crazy days.

More San Antonio sites

Just a few more pictures from our trip. We went to the riverwalk one day and went on a boatride and walked around the Alamo. We also did some shopping and took a few pictures at Bass Pro Shop.

Boat ride with squirmy Claire.

Gabe and Sadie enjoying the ride.

Our walk through the Alamo. Nice time to get out of the stroller and stretch.

Bass Pro Shop

Silly faces on the bench.

The Gillespies take San Antonio

Well, it was time for our family vacation and we were all excited to go see San Antonio. We loaded up our car and left early in the morning so that the girls would hopefully sleep for a couple hours. Sadie was super excited and of course did not go back to sleep, but she was quiet till the sun came up and Claire slept, so I would say our plan worked. Sea World was top priority during the trip and Claire had even learned to say fish. It really sounds like, "ish", but we'll go with it. There are lots of water areas so the girls just stayed in their swim suits the whole time. Sea World has a great Sesame Street kids area that the girls loved. They are not too sure about characters in costumes, actually they want nothing to do with them, but we still got a couple pictures.

Here we are with who Sadie calls "The fairy princess." I think her name is Abby. We don't know our Sesame Street characters very well. Notice the forced/scared smile on Sadie's face.

And Claire...Looking at Zoe like "Don't even try to touch me." Maybe they will enjoy them more as they get older. Right now, they are good looking at them from a distance. Claire was excited to see Elmo. She called all of the characters "Melmo" and would point, but wanted to keep her distance.

Dolphins

Gabe and Claire looking at the dolphins.

Sadie's first Amusement ride. She really is on there with Gabe even though you can't see her. (Second row from the left.) And yes, Claire was whining at the gate because she couldn't go.

Another ferris wheel kind of ride. It was the only one Claire could ride. (And only one picture from the guy working the ride so of course Claire had her eyes closed.)

Another ride for Sadie and Daddy.

We did make it to most of the shows, even with a squirmy 18 month old. They both loved Shamu or as Sadie says "Shampoo."

A quick picture of Sadie with the map planning out day 2. We were fortunate to get fun passes that are good for the rest of the year so we decided to not deal with grumpy girls and go for two days.

First thing on the agenda Day 2 was to see the sea lions and seals. This is Sadie feeding a few.

Waiting for the show.

Quick picture of Max the Walrus.

And Sadie's first roller coaster.

Leaving with "Baby Shampoo." Claire got a penguin, but she was asleep in the back of the stroller by the time we left.

A few other pictures from the rest of our time in San Antonio. We went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner once which was soooooo yummy. Check out Sadie's crazy curly hair in the humidity.

We also went to the Children's Museum. The best part was the HEB market. They had carts, food, and checkout lines. It was a lot of fun for the girls and fun for us to watch too.

Claire with her groceries.

Saidie with her groceries. I love that she chose a lobster and a fish. Also, two hamburger helpers and some laundry detergent. Too funny!

Here is Sadie being a checker. It actually beeps when you scan the barcode.

Sadie taking Claire for a ride on the trolley.

There are still a few more pictures from our visit to the Riverwalk. I'll put those in a seperate post. We had a great time. Mama and Daddy came home tired, but I guess that's how it's supposed to be. Vacations sure are different with little ones, but I think they keep getting better.