Ice Cream, Swimming & Baseball

Can you get any more summer than those 3 things?  We've had another busy week and have had lots of fun.  At the beginning of the week, we were trying to think of some fun things to do with the kids.  My brother asked if I had ever been to the Blue Bell Factory in Brenham and since I hadn't we decided to make a trip of it.  To those that aren't familiar with Blue Bell ice cream - I'm so sorry....its only the BEST ice cream in the world!  It is just soooo good - I have yet to find anything that even remotely compares...it is just THAT good!  We have also heard from several different people about a pool that is right across the street that is good for kids b/c it has a splash pad area for small kids and a waterslide and other fun things to do for the older ones - perfect - a full day of fun!  Once again, Natalie & Blakelyn joined us at the pool - they had been there before and we had been talking about making it back out there sometime together so the kids could play.  We made arrangements for Cannon to go visit Andy's Aunt Judy since it was way too hot and sunny for him to be outside for any length of time so it was just Brookie, Andrew, my brother Michael and me.  We had a really fun time - we were worn out when we made it back home.  The kids played hard!  Here are some pics from that day.

Doing the customary tourist pose outside the Blue Bell Factory with the old time delivery truck

We had a lot of fun at the pool - I got a little too much sun on my back - I never got a chance to put sunscreen on my back b/c Brookie was running to jump in the pool the minute I got her ready.  That girl is fearless!  She was running everywhere - I definitely had a workout that day trying to keep up with her.  I realized very fast once we got there that I made a huge mistake in forgetting her lifejacket.  She's still not 100% with it but it definitely would have helped her (and me) out.

When we got home that afternoon, Andy called to tell me that he was given 4 free tickets to the Astros game on Wednesday night with a parking pass.  We haven't been to a game since I was barely pregnant with Brookie so its been awhile.  We used to go 3-4 times/ week prior to that but since we've had 2 more kids - we haven't been able to get down there.  So the next day we just rested at home trying to recoup from all the sun & water that we had the previous day before we had to head downtown for the game that evening.  Of course it was torrential downpours all day so getting downtown during rush hour was no small task...it was a mess!  Luckily right as we were pulling into the parking lot at the game, it stopped raining!  We totally lucked out and were able to walk to the park without turning into drowned rats.  We had GREAT seats - they were 14 rows up from the field behind home plate - I could get used to those - ha!  We only stayed until the middle of the 5th inning since we had Brookie & Andrew with us and we made the mistake of buying them cotton candy.  They were W.I.R.E.D.!!!!  Especially Brookie - she was just bouncing off the walls - it was way past her bedtime and she was full of pure sugar - not the greatest combination for a 2 year old!

This was our view - they were great seats!  Lucky for us it was far from crowded so even though Brookie didn't need a ticket/seat to get in, we were able to spread out and she didn't have to sit on our laps the whole time - that would have been a challenge!

And this was Brookie right before we left - on her sugar high - she was such a mess by this point....hahaha

Like I said...she was bouncing off the walls - this next pic was taken right before she hit her teeth on the chair in front of her....she was just so wired - she couldn't keep still.