We managed to fight the heat though by having an inflatable pool in the backyard where the kids bounced from that to a homemade sprinkler system that Dad built around the trampoline. Everett pretty much taught himself how to swim and was an absolute water boy this summer. He loved to go under the water hold his breath and have me count to see how long it was. Haven loved to splash and flop about getting in and out of the water, while Rory for the most part hung out with Me inside trying to keep watch from the windows.
We did discover though that Midland has an absolutely Awesome library and that soon became one of our favorite places to visit when we needed a break from outside. Everyone got their own library card and checked out books to read or look at pictures. No doubt every book Everett gravitated to had animals or dinosaurs in it. We met our cousins at the park some mornings before it got way way to hot and had picnic lunches.
Dad had just started a new job here in Midland and hasn't fully worked up his vacation time yet so this summer we did not take any big trips anywhere. However we did manage two mini getaway from Midland though.
The first one was an overnight stay in Abilene. They have the best closest zoo and Aunt Nene and I decided to take advantage and drove all the kids over one morning. The best part was Aunt Cindy being able to drive up from San Antonio and meet us, she always makes any excursion more exciting! We had a Chick-fil-A picnic lunch at the pavillion outside the zoo before going in and seeing all the animals. Everyone had a blast. We then went and checked into a hotel and let everyone swim in the pool. It was a quick and simple getaway but the kids absolutely loved it and although we were braving it on our own with 6 kids it was a nice change of scenery. It also came at a perfect time because our air conditioner went out and we were getting a new roof put on the house.
Our other fun adventure was over July 4th we went to Amarillo and stayed with Nana for a few nights. The move to Midland was hard because we left Nana in Amarillo and my heart has ached for her everyday since. The kids and I would frequent Nana's house several times during the week and they too were in desperate need of seeing her. While we were there we met Drew's family at the new triple A baseball stadium in Amarillo to watch the Sodpoodles play. We sat out on the lawn and had the absolute best time. Rory ate a massive slice of pizza on her own and Everett and Haven played on bounce houses with their cousins. We had to leave early as a massive storm came rolling in but it had made the evening cool and pleasant. We waited out the rainstorm and caught the fireworks at the end of the game. The next day we visited Amarillo's zoo, not as good as Abilene's but they have lions and tigers and that was exciting enough. We played at Nana's riding bikes and visiting her neighbors, had BBQ with Aunt Doss and then drove out to Canyon to catch their Fourth of July fireworks. Haven was horribly scared of them and Everett loved it.
The rest of the summer we went back to swimming, trampolining and playing with cousins and had an absolute blast doing it all!
