Ice cream in 107 degrees

Is there anything better than a nice, yummy chocolate icecream cone on a hot sunny day?

Nope.

Is there anything that mum likes better than cleaning up after a nice, yummy chocolate icecream cone on a hot sunny day?

Heck no.

Enjoy. They sure did.

 Whereas Syd would lick the icecream with her tongue, Kendall would bury her entire mouth into the cone and suck. Hence the mess...

 Blue eyes and chocolate icecream. What a mix!

 What a beautiful grin.

 Kendall is becoming such a ham in front of the camera lately.

 Syd sure can bung on a smile.

 Look at those canines. Is she channeling a vampire?

 I would like to take this opportunity to showcase my edging in the next piccie. Edging I hear you ask? Yes, I have become the queen of the whipper-snipper and what a whipper-snipper we have. This thing is a power unto itself and (unfortunately) sometimes gets away from me. Fortunately, I have lost control a couple of times and so far the casualties have only included my passionfruit flower vine :(  But on the flipside I can plough with my new whipper-snipper and do fantastic edges!

Oh and apart from my edges here is another moment of puppy love. Well actually more like Rudy trying to lick the chocolate off the stomach of my child. Really not good for either... Especially a ticklish little girl.

Yes, it was bathtime right after this...

Yellow watermelon?

There's a first time for everything. And this was the first time I have ever seen a yellow watermelon.

It tasted pretty close to a red one but just wasn't the same. And it showed with the girls as well as it is still in the fridge and that just doesn't happen with watermelon in our house.

 Kendall enjoyed it for a bit though.

 By the way, here is another example of how the girls are helpful with the dogs. They're our official poop spotters. Yes, they fetch the bags from the plastic bag cupboard (on their level) and bring one each out the the backyard and then help in pointing out every poop that could possibly exist on a daily basis. They are so concerned with poop that they get most upset when they see the pups actually go. I just hope that they'll be this enthusiastic when poop picker-uppering becomes part of their chores....

 And then there's the swings. Gotta love the swings for dollies too!

Party time

Don't they look cute?

On their way to their first school (well actually day care) friend party.

How the girls love the boys

I am so happy that we have our dogs in our lives. These boys are (most times) the most perfect fit for our little girls.

The girls get such a kick out of the dogs and will give them kisses and hugs before naptime/bedtime, feed them every night as well as give them their carrots and dentastix in the morning. They also love to brush them (albeit not very well) but half the battle is the effort sometimes. We can always work on the execution.

Another thing that the girls really enjoy is making sure the boys are warm by covering with blankets. Yes, these poor dogs find themselves constantly covered in kiddie blankets from head to tail. Lucky we have air conditioning.

 And should the dogs get up and try to get away...

 ...they don't get far before they're covered again.

I so desperately want to get a pig and a cat. I wonder what they'd do to them?

Tipsy Canvas

I am so late in posting about stuff we've been doing lately. Most times I don't take piccies as it's too hard with the girls wanting to look at the screen on the camera and not stay in front of it.

Either way that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Well here's the story behind the tipsy canvas.

Every now and again the tipsy canvas holds a night up at the club. The intention is that we paint in acrylic on canvas in a class-like setting following an instructor whilst drinking alcohol. Hence the tipsy canvas. Logical huh?

This time we painted a beach/island scene. I was really happy with my effort seeing as though I haven't painted in such a long time and am really looking forward to the next time they hold it. For the painting - not the mango daiquiris of course. Of course!

Not bad. Quite happy.

Happy

So today as I was washing up after dinner I just happened to look out the window through the sunroom to see my darling girls sliding down their slide and their father monkeying around on the top of the fort. All of them had beautiful expressions on their faces and so completely absorbed in the moment that I was just taken aback by how wonderful life has become for us.


Moving has certainly brought out the best in our family. Yes, it's hot but (fingers crossed) it won't be for much longer (rain has gotta come our way soon!) and it will only get better when it does return to normal temps. 


What a beautiful afternoon, what a wonderful hubby and such sweet, happy little girls.


As for mum? I was very happy too.

Houston visit

I know it's been a while but I'm back with more piccies of our time with mum.

So, we went to Houston on the last weekend that mum would have with us. Now the weather as we all know has been hot, hot. hot here in TX and Houston was no different that weekend.

Our first stop was Houston zoo.

It was hot (just to let you know - again) but the zoo was nicely shaded which aided our visit a lot. I cannot wait to visit again as there was a lovely elephant area (with a new baby too!) and I loved the chimpanzees too. The girls fed giraffes and generally got a big kick out of looking at the animals.

It's so much fun watching them have fun.

With piranhas in the tube....

 Checking out the Meerkats.

  No, not Longhorns...Ankara cattle. Those horns are used for keeping them cool. I'm wondering if the person who created Hellboy got the idea of his horns from these guys!

 Checking out the Okapi looking hot...Poor Syd.

 Ahh...gratuitous family shot with one of the elephants behind us..

In the Africa area...trying out the masks...

And playing in one of the huts.

And making some noise on the drums...

And checking out the chimps in the air conditioned chimp watching area. A nice relief to the heat outside. The girls just loved getting so close.

Oh and it seems mum met her soulmate.

 And almost made out with him...

 Feeding the giraffes...

 See the platform at the back left hand side? That's where we fed the giraffes the lettuce.

 In the petting zoo petting a very sleepy goat...well hopefully he was sleeping?

 A howler monkey eyeing everyone.

 I've forgotten what kind of monkey this is (Gibbon?) but he sure does look bored in the heat.

 Even the fatty squirrels have heard of planking! What a trend follower!

 And the funny thing was these two sitting above the squirrel just watching him on the ground. I could imagine the conversation...
"...Um, hey Jerry. What's that little fella doin?"
"Well Stan I think they call it planking"
"Planking? What's that Jerry?"
"Well Stan, it's a new fad of where people pose on something laying horizontally, stiff as a board and have a photo taken before they fall"
"But Jerry he ain't laying on anything 'cept dirt!"
"Stan, you know squirrels ain't smart!"

Now this is where we had to go. Too hot and the girls were ready for their nap.

I cannot wait to go back when the weather is a little less warm....