Our Houston vacation

The grandkids. Of course we're missing Erin's kids up in Alaska. To read about them visit http://www.boehmeblog.blogspot.com/.

We went to Houston a week and a half ago and had a blast. Jared had never been to Houston and had never seen my stomping grounds. I was so thrilled to drag him around. Dustin and Paulette just had Kolton so we also got to go for his baby blessing. So, now they have Dylan, almost 6, Hayden, almost 3, and Kolton. See if you can convince them to use the blog I created for them (http://www.theflyingklinebrothers.blogspot.com/). Here are a lot of pictures from our trip.

Day 1:

I turn around and there's a hole in the wall. Did HE do it?? Actually, no. Dustin spoke lightly of creating a club house under the stairs. Then my dad got there. By the time we left the place had dry wall up and the hole was a whole lot bigger.Halle loved baby Kolton. Here she is shoving a binky in his mouth.

They covered their dining room table with paper so the kids could color. Great idea.

Day 2: MY BIRTHDAY!

Paulette needs a girl. She did this fabulous up-do for Halle.Halle on the teater totter.On the cute motorcycle. You just push a button under your right thumb and you're off! We went to the Astros game and Jared caught a foul ball. This is how this all occurred.

Emily: Sees ball high in the air quickly dropping from the sky. Starts hitting Jared and yelling, BALL BALL BALL!!

Jared: Finally looks.

Emily: Seeing Jared is paying attention, ducks in earthquake protection stance with hands over head. Hears laughing and looks up to ball in Jared's hands.

Jared: How did the ball get in my hands?

Emily: You caught it.

Turns out that the beer man was taking the ID of the people behind us and the people behind us were getting their change. Therefore, there was no struggle for anyone to get the ball. The ball bounced off of the bear man's hand and he started telling Jared that Jared had saved his life.

Anyway, then I turn to Dylan. His head is down, his cap down over his eyes, tears are streaming, and his lip is pouting. I guess this is about how this conversation went:

Dylan: But I want the ball.

Dustin: Jared caught the ball. If you caught the ball would you want to give it to Jared?

Dylan: No. But I want the ball.

Dustin: I'm sorry, buddy, but Jared caught the ball.

I think it was about then that I saw Dylan in this pathetic state. I turned to Jared, hit his arm and said, "Give Dylan the ball!" Jared was happy to give him the ball. He hadn't noticed Dylan's sadness. Dylan slept with the ball that night and the nights thereafter.

Day 3: Some of this stuff may have happened on day 3. I really only remember that Friday and Saturday were tax free weekend in Texas so we did a lot of shopping.

Day4:

Kolton was blessed.
Grandma wanted to take Halle on the motorcycle. Halle was pretty scared, but Grandma had a blast!!Then it was daddy's turn.And mommy's turn.

You know that picture with the hole in the wall? Well, Hayden didn't do that, but he DID do this. Either he was really fast unraveling all of that or nobody was watching.

Day 5:

Have you ever seen a 2 1/2 year old ride a bike? Amazing!This is the trick that Dylan and Hayden taught Halle. Jump from the coffee table to the couch. A ton of fun....she caught on quickly.

The Aftermath:

Wow, Mom. We have a coffee table too. Only problem is ours is BEHIND the couch. Problem? No, not a problem at all.

The big surprise

Like I said...I'm NOT pregnant. Really. The suprise is that we got a new dog. He's an Italian Greyhound that we adopted and have named Patch due to the fact that he has one single patch over his right eye. Previously his name was Pirate, but we just didn't like it. We got him on August 2. He was immediately glued to my side and is my complete shadow. He was bred to be a show dog, but he only has one testicle and you just can't show a dog like that. He is such a poser and prances like a show dog. He is 8 months old.

Isn't that face precious??Seriously, the dog loves me. This was the day that we got him.
Again, who can resist that face???
Rameses and Patch get along surprisingly well. They seriously adore each other. Rameses has finally found a dog that is willing to play with him. My mom's dog, Radar, pretends he wants to play, but then when Rameses decides to join in the fun Radar runs away terrified. (Visit my mom's blog http://www.klinelife.blogspot.com/). Rameses is completely thrilled that he has a play mate. Patch doesn't get tired quickly. Jared took him on a 1.5 mile jog and he never even panted. After playing in the yard with Rameses for a while we can finally get a little pant out of him.

Like I said, he's my shadow. If I'm in the closet then he's in the closet...under my clothes.
Look at that perfect show dog pose. He just does this when he's hanging out in the backyard or whatever. Legs back, head up, everything is perfect like this is what he has been trained to do.

And this is why he doesn't sleep with us in the bed. He must have his legs straight and his nose buried in some crevice, typically my neck. He can easily jump on our bed so he sleeps in the crate next to the bed. The first night he cried unless my hand was in the crate and I was practically falling off the bed. Now he knows that's where he sleeps and he curls (or straightens) right up and doses off.

Little Gym and The Castle of Chaos

Halle has been going to Little Gym since January and we finally decided we should take the camera along. She thoroughly enjoys this weekly event and knows exactly how to get there. We tell her we're going to Little Gym, which doesn't seem to register, but the moment we get off the freeway at that exit she starts yelling "YAY! YAY!" and clapping her hands.

I think this is one of Halle's favorite things to do. Forward rolls. She is really good at them too!
She likes the beam, but is really scared of being on it without mom or dad holding onto her. This was just a lucky shot that Jared got perfectly.
Every week there is time to play with balls and she loves making a basket. The bars are her absolute favorite. Often times we spend the entire 45 minutes of gym at the bars. She will not leave them. Look at that good form though! Straight body, pointed toes, that's my gymnast!
The last part of gym is stamps. She gets them on both hands, both feet, and her favorite, on her tummy. She usually stays late and tells the teacher all of the other places she wants stamps, "Right there, right there, right there..."

Our most recent new toy is a bounce house that we call The Castle of Chaos. We were in Park City at the outlet mall and there is a KB Toys. This thing was on sale and we just couldn't resist. It fits perfectly in our family room.

Uncle Mike helping Halle jump extra high.

Halle loves this thing so much. Only one adult can fit in it with her. We really need to find some friends and invite them over. She'd have a blast with them.

Adventurous Weekends

So I know I haven't done a post in quite sometime. This one will be short since I'm at work on a quick lunch break. I have so much to catch you up on:
The Castle of Chaos

A new surprise (no, I'm not pregnant)

Snowbird
We went to Snowbird last weekend where they have the alpine slide, zipline, chairlift, tram, trampoline, rock wall, bull ride, and bounce houses. We went with my mom and dad, and Lindsay and Catie, my cousin's little girls. Most of the pictures are at home on our camera, but here are the professional pictures we bought at Snowbird. Halle had a blast!

Mom and Halle

Dad and Halle

We're going to Texas to visit my brother and his family this week and then to Lake Powell the next weekend, so it might be a while until the next update, but I'm always thinking about my next posting.