Mongoose Mayhem

They say the perpetrator often remains near the scene of the crime...

The cats are obsessed with anything smaller than them and fluffy. The boys won these monkeys at Six Flags earlier last week and I warned them to put them some place safe.

I stumbled on the crime scene when heading to do some laundry in the laundry room aka the Cat Cave (their food dish is above the washing machine).

Horseback riding lessons are one of the activities Jimmy wanted to try this summer. Yesterday we went and tried out a barn that a friend recommended.
The instructor, Monica, was wonderful. Very professional, great horse-side teaching manner, friendly, and so on.
She let Jimmy get to work right away! We arrived and she said, "Let's go get Red" and had Jimmy get him from the paddock across the road and bring him down to the barn, all on his own. Next, Jimmy groomed him and saddled him up. They spent some time in the ring working on some basic skills to see what level she can work at with Jimmy. After all that work, we headed into the woods behind their property and got to cool down and enjoy some shade on a small trail ride. Last, it was bath time.
Jimmy got to do everything. She led him through certain parts on one side of the horse but overall it was very independent and Jimmy thought that was great.
I asked him afterwards, "Did you have a good time, a great time, or an awesome time?" and he replied "It was awesome!".

We have five more lessons and it seems it will be money well spent ;)

The other day, I noticed this interesting vine mass atop on of the downtown buildings. Immediately, I thought how much it resembled a human form, one hand on a hip and the ohter pointing off into the distance. I hope it stays that way over the summer - if so, I'll have to take another photo in a few weeks!

The moving, pop-up course!

Mike (2nd row, 2nd from left) had a great time this year. It was very hot but he was able to bring our small tent instead of being inside the big platform tents that are full of bugs :)

One of his best buddies, Nick Sandt (next to him wearing the sunglasses) bunked with him. The Sandt family is great and it was nice to know that Jeff was keeping a close eye on them both.

Mike earned a few badges but I'm not 100% which ones aside from Scientist.

Texas has its share of weird weather and this was the most recent, two weeks ago. This monster rolled in soooo fast - I debated coming back inside a few times because the winds were so odd and intense. It seemed like a tornado could drop out of the sky at any moment.

Meanwhile, Jim and Mike were at soccer practice. Jim ended up grabbing two other kids on the team because the moms weren't back before it all hit. Luckily, everyone was reunited and Jim made it back in time before there was a chance of hail damaging his brand new car.

Unfortunately, some close friends of ours had their home hit by the lightening and suffered extensive home damage. Luckily, they were at Medieval Times for their youngest son's birthday dinner. They found out about the growing fire from a neighbor, on her iPhone via Facebook! Talk about modern technology. Being in quick touch allowed the neighbors to save the pets and some family photos. They are now trying to finish up sifting through the mess, tallying losses, and adjusting to a rental home for the next 6-9 months. We are so grateful that everyone was safe and things will be okay ;)

As for Dallas, TX...No rain in sight now. Just HOT and more HOT. Welcome to our summer!

Jimmy fixing the broken toilet handle.
















We are trying to grow tomatoes and blackberries ( I think the birds may win the blackberries).

































Mike's version of the Alamo.















Watermelon Kid.

Mike stayed up late the night before and we found him like this one Saturday afternoon.















Another day Mike created this obstacle course in the garage. If you click on the picture you'll see he's on his Ripstick, navigating.












The outdoor battle pics are just the boys having fun with their Ren Faire boppers.

Their team "Hawkeyes" didn't fair so well. But none of them had played together so it wasn't surprising. The coaches were great guys who really focused on the positive, teamwork, sportmanship, etc. so that made up for the losses.

And, I guess this sums it up matter-of-factly...

You'll need to click on this one as well, to open it up large enough to read the name on the base.

It could be interpreted in more than one way :D Perhaps the gentleman had a good sense of humor to go along with his name...or maybe I'm just immature! HAHA

The Graves Family. Seriously. Click on the photo so you can read the actual markers. HAHA The whole lot was doomed from the start ;)

Rabbit? I'm assuming that was a nickname. Hope he didn't have an overbite...

Charles A. Angel. Hehe. Is Bosley around here somewhere too?

Mike thought the cracked one was cool -

Poor folks on the left didn't have much luck with babies ;(































I thought these were intriguing. The one on the left has children two years apart but the headstone was done together. I wonder why? Maybe not enough money the first time? Or perhaps they lived somewhere else and that first child isn't even buried there but they wanted to have a nearby memorial with his sister?

Then we have Margret and William. What happened to Margret? Is she still around ;) Not likely. I surmised that she must have moved away at some point. Maybe she went to live with children or other family after William died? I'm assuming that they were husband and wife.

As I've mentioned before, I'm fascinated by cemetaries. Old ones, to be more specific. I'm not a fan of the sterile, flat slab versions that are...easy to mow, I guess?

The old ones, like houses, have great character. The epitaphs give you insights in the time they lived. Health care, disease, nutrition,hardship...all come to mind.

I took several photos the day we dropped by Pecan Grove. The boys and I had been meaning to stop for years and finally one day we had time to waste and happened to be in the vicinity. We wandered around the quiet, hot, sunny slopes observing names, ages, family ties, and of course rating our interest based on different monuments.

The lady above was beautiful in my opinion. I still wonder if this is a true representation of her. She was a mother based on her marker. Her dress and hair seem very Civil War era. The boys were impressed with how lifelike stone could be fashioned by an artist. I was too and kept waiting for her head to turn or her to speak, like something out of Harry Potter movies.

There are more monument photos to come - many have interesting names and some are downright amusing...

The cats love to bug you when you are on the computer - guess it would be newspaper if we did that on a daily basis ;) They know you aren't going anywhere quickly if you sit down with the laptop, so they ambush us. Notice how Jordan is licking Jim's arm HAHA



The pool shot is a from my bedroom.

Jimmy and his guitar teacher, Jerry Rizzi. Jerry is a super fantastic guy. He's so nice and really great with kids, even ones who don't practice like they are supposed too (hmmm, who might that be?)

The main room of the studio. Joanne, the owner, teaches yoga and we teach bellydance.