Pool Party

For Independence Day this year, our family hit the road (wait...that's what we do every year!). The night of July 3rd we went out to my (Damon's) folks' house.

Cayden and Avery were pretty excited about getting their hands on the toys that stay at Nana & Papaw's house:

Entertainment for the evening was provided by The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly...powered by D'Lynn, and acting in conjunction with a song on a cassette tape. It's a doll that's almost as old as I am (she grayed earlier than I did, but I'm getting there) that was used in classrooms originally and now hangs out in the back closet at Nana and Papaw's. After hearing the sad tale of her eating all sorts of odd things (a fly, a frog, a spider, a horse, etc.) that ultimately ends in her death, we decided there was a reason kids didn't sing this song anymore. We now live in an enlightened age where everything for kids has to be politically correct and possess some degree of educational content (or at least involve a few Spanish words) in order to receive mass acceptance. Other than not eating bugs and farm animals - valuable lessons, certainly, but not nearly important as "please shut the door" in Spanish - The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly unfortunately falls short in this area. Oh well, here's a picture...

For July 4th, we headed to Gammy & Papa's (Erin's parents) and spent the afternoon playing in the pool. You may have heard, we had a world-class diving competition in the back yard. If you missed it, well, you definitely missed out. But there was a good representation of onlookers and spectators from all walks of life ready to witness the festivities.

A local Hawaiian princess:

White Tiger, equally at home on the picnic table as he is snuggling in bed with Avery. He's never had a bath. We just try not to think about where all he's been. Once we have to change his name to "Brown Tiger" or "Dingy Tiger" or even "What's This Stain on Avery's Tiger?" he's going to experience the inside of a washing machine.

This guy:

An excited little boy:

And the snail found a friend! I wish this had happened on its own, but it was completely set up. I like the duck's eyes looking up at him, they make me smile...

And with our audience gathered, we could begin the diving competition...

The Little One didn't have quite the variety of her brother, so just take the following and multiply it by about 50 and you'll have an idea of what Avery did...

This makes me laugh...she's down there...somewhere...

Papa got in on the action...a little blurry because he moves with cat-like quickness, but worth sharing nonetheless:

And not everyone was a willing participant. Don't worry, the wedding's still on...

And this guy wasn't much of a diver, but could swim like nobody's business:

Brief modeling intermission..."Hey ladies, when I'm not in the pool, I like to sit beside it..."

And the Little One ended up with my hat at one point, and clearly felt guilty for the theft:

When diving got boring, the children turned on me:

You can see all of the plastic balls floating in the background...they made fantastic weapons:

They could also serve as a muscle suit/flotation device if need be:

And they're not just for kids anymore! (featuring Justin, Andi's fiance)

Andi is clearly in awe...

And finally, here are a few pictures of the crew just hanging out:

Normally a July 4th blog would end with fireworks...this one ends with a drought and burn ban. Oh well, a good time was had by all nonetheless! All these pictures can be found in the Just For Fun Gallery of DamonWestPhoto.com, if you care to go comment on any of them. Thanks for reading!

Damon

May and June in pictures

I wish that I was witty and creative in writing blogs like Damon, and my cousins April and Summer, but alas, I am neither witty, funny or creative….at all. I’m learning to accept it and since I love my cousin April SO much and she keeps asking me to be better about blogging, I will at least give you some pictures to look at.

Damon has been super busy with his new photography business that we started a couple of months ago, so anytime he is at the computer, he is editing pictures. SO, the blogging job is falling to me this time….sorry. What I really want to do is post an entire blog of Damon’s photo shoots because I’m so proud of him, but I’ll do family first and then maybe next blog I can post some of my favorites of his pics.

 

Back in May we had a fun day in Amarillo and Doug and Terri’s house where we got to meet baby Wyatt for the first time and see his Mommy and Daddy, Leslie and David. We had fun with some other cousins and aunts and uncles as well.

Avery and her best friend at school, Abby were hugging one day in their classroom and their feet got tangled….and down they went, with Avery hitting her head on a metal chair rail on the window. It made a pretty bad gash, that this momma still thinks needed stitches. Our doctor friend from church that immediately worked her in when we called, said that since it was in her hair, he didn’t want to put her through the trauma of stitches. Here is Avery all wrapped up in her pink “civil war soldier bandage”.

 

Moving on to Cayden….We are really into Star Wars right now, folks…. Damon has been telling him for over a year now that when he turned 6 they could watch them together….(I may have watched a few with them too….they are just a little addicting) Anywho… here are some Jedi moves.

 

I asked Damon why, with all the technology out there, they hadn’t made light sabers with the sounds and lights like the real ones. When he told me they have but said how expensive they are….well, ummm….I was surprised at how tempted I was.   Maybe for my next birthday…

 

We had a late Easter/Mother’s Day/4 May birthdays party at GG’s house….

 

We got to have some fun lovin’ time with Miss Kendall on one of our Plainview visits… playing with very age appropriate toys.

 

My big boy… this is our official “6 year old picture”…..it’s so nice not having to go into a studio anymore! (You spoiled us, April)

 

And lastly, swimming lessons were a HUGE flop….the lessons were 30 minutes long and they have them toys to play in the shallow end for at least 15 minutes of the lesson…. so we got a refund. But here are some pics from what we call “play time” not swimming lessons. It was super cute when they asked them to hold hands and get in a circle, Avery and the boy in the hat held hands and just walked around the pool together, while the instructors chased the other kids around trying to get them to hold hands…. Is it just me, but I thought you didn’t have to hold hands with anyone when you swim….Hmm… Maybe I could teach swimming lessons.

The Graduate

Recently Cayden graduated.  We’re still weighing college options, but in the meantime, it’ll be on to first grade!

Each kid had their own poster as the backdrop for the program.

 

A diploma and a hug from Mrs. Tiffiany, Cayden’s “prisubl”

 

And those, my friends, are your future leaders of America.

This red-head had been sitting next to me crying during the whole program, so I asked if she’d like a picture with me and Cayden.  Just trying to help out where I can.

Avery’s allergies were wearing her out that day, but it was cool to see her still pretty excited and proud for Cayden, even if she wasn’t entirely sure what exactly was happening. :)

Ladies, ladies, we’re right here!  Zachari, Cayden, and Caden

Here’s a few from the official cap and gown photo day.