play dough on the porch.

multimedia message: the last night of summer camp.

{God is so cool. even when we're super sweaty and exhausted.}

lots of rain makes tall green grass.

(and i.love.the.clothesline!)

all clean.

they've been building mud castles.

sea world: the park.

today was the big day, and sea world did not disappoint. we were a little nervous we were going to be rained out, but the prayer ellie prayed before we left must have worked. there were a few dozen rain drops, but it was mostly breezy and quite comfortable. there weren't any crowds either, being that it was wednesday. we were at the park from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and ellie walked almost the whole way. she only fussed a couple times and was mostly a sweet, sweet girl. she had a great time with papa john and can't wait to bring grayson back next summer.

we're here!

the first thing we saw were some bottlenose dolphins.

next, sharks!
(i worked very hard to get this shot for you, landon. hehe.)

the coral reef exhibit. such a pretty fish.

ellie pointing at two fish that were "kissing."

a "spikey lobster" and an eel.

walking.

and walking.

random-faced ellie and mommy.

making sure we knew where to go to see shamu.

very intent while watching...

...SHAMU!

next, the water park.

water ballet.

swimming.

wave jumping with papa john.

"hi!"

more waves.

blowing bubbles.

water baby.

sacked out after saying, "i love sea world! i had so much fun!"

sea world: on the road.

ellie and i are at my dad's in san antonio tonight on the eve of a much-anticipated visit to sea world. ellie has been waiting for eons to come to papa john's and go to sea world. we waited until later in the day to leave so both landon and papa john could work. when we finally walked out of the house after loading up, ellie sprinted circles in the driveway screaming at the top of her lungs, "i'm going to sea world!!!!! i'm so excited!!!!!" so yeah. she's pumped. we got here in time for dinner and a trip to heb, and we'll be there when they open the gates tomorrow morning. here are some shots from the road. (no, of course i didn't take any of these while actually driving. ahem.)

thursday.

i'll let you guess what she's doing with her baby here.

please excuse the paint chips hanging on the wall.

we watched "the princess and the frog" twice today.

raw corn.

after cooking some for dinner the night before, i had two cobs of raw corn still sitting on the counter one morning last week. grayson saw them and threw a holy fit when i told him he couldn't eat one. so i changed my mind. and the children chewed on raw corn for an hour. they loved it. clearly.

random summer photos.

we just got back from a week of ndt a/g district council. these are some photos that were left on my camera from before we left.