The EASY SKI!

My parents bought a new lake toy called the Easy Ski. It is for little kids who aren't strong enough or coordinated enough to ski. It inflates, has two places for your feet and a handle bar. The rope is attached to the Easy Ski and an adult holds the other end in the boat. It gives the kids a feel of what skiing is like without all of the pull on their body. It was a hit!

Barrett was a champ! With a little coaxing/trickery from Dad and Dave, Anna took it for a spin. She wasn't too fired up to try it at first but once she got going, she LOVED it!!

Brooks is turnging into a little dare devil and insisted on doing it backwards.
So much fun! Thanks Mom and Dad for the new toy! Hope to get in a few more lake trips before football season!

Ross-Watkins-Prince Party!

Once a summer we get together with the Ross Family and Prince Family, our long-time friends!

Mr. and Mrs. Ross have a beautiful house and backyard and always put on a party! I wish I had a picture of the originals, Mr. and Mrs. Ross, Mom and Dad, and Mr. and Mrs. Prince. A list of the kids...

The Ross kids-Julie and Jeff, The Watkins kids- Wendi and me, The Prince kids- Glen and Jill. Matt and Ashley Franks and their son Roman have been able to come the past two years. Matt grew up with us too! Now everyone is married and 12 babies have come along. And two more will be in the picture next year! We always love our time with them and it gets crazier every year as our families multiply! I'm so thankful to still be in touch with these sweet families!

Townley Times 2011!

Every summer we spend a few days with all of the Townley girls and the grandkids. My mom and Aunt Terry are the original Townley girls. Aunt Terry, cousin Sharon, and Sharon's three daughters traveled south from Arkansas to Texas for a wonderful Townley Times 2011!

A couple of pics from the day before they came at Honey and Papa's awesome community pool.

The Arkansas girls arrived on Tuesday in time for dinner. 8 at the kids table!

We spent one morning at the pool.

Honey bought this fun cardboard house that they all colored and played in. (This was clearly Graham's side for coloring.)

Anna got to spend the night with the cousins a couple of nights while Graham and I headed home. Here are most of them minus Graham and Whitney.

We always do some cookin'!

Our great Aunt Rosie came over to the chaos for a day.

The whole crew!

Papa set up the backyard bonanza complete with water slide, pool and bounce house!

Brooks making his Honey nervous doing a back flip.

Aunt Rosie with some of her great-great nieces and nephews.

G was missing from this above pic because he was happily outside watering with Papa.

Snowcone run!

Friday morning we took the kids to the Safari Park. It was a little crowded but overall a good few hours of fun. Here they were waiting to ride the animals.

Barrett with his arm around G cracks me up!

These mechanical animals were funny/strange/WEIRD! But they liked it!

G wanted to ride the train and then changed his mind. ha! bless him!

We planned a cousin pic which was definitely challenging.

This one turned out the best, I think.

It was such a fun week with our sweet Townley Family!! Mom and Aunt Terry had a few hours to do some fun sisters things and Sharon, Wendi and I even got a girls night out. But the best part was watching the sweet cousins play and play and play!! Townley Times is always a highlight of our summer!

LAAAAAKKKKEEEEE!

We spent an awesome week at the lake with Honey and Papa...and all the way from Doha....Aunt Sissy, Uncle Nick, Brooks, Barrett and Georgia!! Our first family gathering of the summer was spent at no place else but THE LAKE!! Our favorite place!

Immediately when Dave pulled up in the boat, the kids were ready for a ride!Al, Georgia, and Aunt Sissy




Nick and Brooks who is the first born of these 5 cousins. Can't believe he is about to be 6!

Many meals on the deck.

How many monkeys can you fit in the tub?

One day we drove to the great town of Athens, hometown of our Honey, to visit our Great Aunt Leta and Uncle Mac.

AL and Georgia

cuzzies.

The little bits thought gathering sticks would be fun.

Uncle Mac always takes each child on a tractor ride.
AL enjoyed it and even got a little bossy telling Uncle Mac where to go.

Honey, Papa, Aunt Leta and Uncle Mac

Attempted Watkins Family pic. ha!

We had some good home cookin' at the Old West Steakhouse and somebody was enjoying her ice cream.

Back to the lake for some fun on the water.

Daddy and Anna Lou on the tube.

Honey and her girls.

Fruit kabobs!

The deck had a hot tub which we thought was kind of pointless in the summer. But make for some great entertainment for the big kids. AL was taking extra safety precautions in this pic.

The babies of the group who actually will be in the same grade when they are older. Although looks like Graham could sit on her and break her now.:)

Barrett actually caught one of the only fish caught that week right after this picture.

Honey and Papa pulled out all of the stops to provide non-stop entertainment for the kids!!

G found the sand, of course.

Next day on the tube this little missy wanted to go by herself. (Probably bc her big bro cuzzies were doing it!)

Loving it!Can you blame her, it's good.

Fun game of screaming and throwing our hands up when we drove under a bridge.

Daddy showing me up, big time!

Every morning the men would wake up early to go fishing. Unfortunately they didn't exactly bring home the dinner. Just wasn't our week for catchin'. But they had fun anyways!

We took turns cooking and here is Uncle Nick showing up my tacos with bacon wrapped filets. yum!

lots of good food!

i think he likes the powdered donuts.

Do you need a spoon? So you can eat her up!

Honey got these cute suits for the girlies.

AL looking a little wet.

woohoo!

Graham was napping but the rest of 'em.

Papa made these cool mini marshmallow guns! They loved them!

Hugs saying goodbye after a blessed week!

Trying to get cuz pic that didnt work out so well.:)

Our ragga-muffins with H&P!

Loved, loved, loved every moment at the lake with my family! We are so happy to have our Doha family home for the summer. We are sad Uncle Nick is now back in Doha, but excited to spend time with my sis and her three while they are in Texas for the summer!! Thank you H&P for serving, hugging, loving, cooking, enteraining and making our week memorable! We love you!