.4th of july.

.i was really excited for 4th of july this year. it meant andrew had the day off, and it was going to be our last 4th of july as a family of 3.

.we know we have some expenses coming up with baby coming next week, so we wanted to stay pretty low-key and also knew it would be SO BUSY with people wherever we went.

.we started the day off at church, for the 4th of july breakfast. OH MY GOODNESS....this mama was IN HEAVEN. i am not complaining about breakfast here at the hotel, but they had SO MUCH FRUIT and i LOVE fruit, but CRAVE it when i am pregnant. YUM. they had pancakes, waffles, tortillas (for burritos), raspberries (MY FAVORITE), strawberries, blueberries, watermelon, pineapple (another favorite), cantaloupe, eggs, potatoes, bacon....can you say YUM. this mama loaded up her plate and ate it proudly (until i have to get on the scale today at the doctors). it was delicious.

.than we headed back home and let b take a short 45 minute nap (her new thing...annoying). than she got up and we headed out to the pool for an hour and a half. it was awesome. there was barely anyone in there, and we got her some fun new things for the pool that makes it easier for me when i take her by herself. grandma debbie also got her a little outfit that has built in floatation...she doesnt know what to do with it. with all toys, she lasts about 15-20 minutes before she is bored and wants it off. but it helps andrew and i teach her to kick her little feet and swim. it was 95 outside, so it felt great, little b got darker, mommy got darker, and daddy...well he burned...like normal.

 .little "lifejacket" from grandma debbie.

 .this boat was totally worth 5 bucks. it has little holes for her legs, and she just sits in there and loves it.

.b on her 4th of july swim.

 .we came up, got lunch,  took showers, b went down for another nap, andrew did homework while she slept, and i went and laid out by the pool for longer while i waited for laundry to be switched over and done. it felt SO good to just soak in the sun for a little bit, with no worries about b or andrew, and just enjoy before life gets really busy next week.

 .if we are out and about during happy hour, we always grab a slushie...hello a buck for all that drink, and we all share it?? heck yes.

 .b right out of her bath, taking over the slushie....

.we never did get to see the rest of it, that girl downed it.

.laundry done. laundry folded. dinner ate. headed out to watch fireworks. except.....it didnt happen. we went to the park where andrew's work was putting on the show, and the line to get INTO the park was so long, and stretched for miles and miles, and we could NOT find parking. b had fallen back to sleep, so we decided to head back to the hotel and just have family time before bed. 

.we played and played. and laughed and laughed. and took pictures, and just enjoyed one another....until 11:30 pm. yes my little miss didnt fall asleep until 11:30. i rocked her to sleep last night. i have not done this for a LONG time, because i dont want her to get use to me rocking her to sleep in order for her to go to bed. but let me tell you, every once in a while, i LOVE it. it was a little harder with a big belly, but i LOVED rocking her to sleep last night. it just finished off the day so well. 

 .so i am still experimenting with the whole pigtails, so bare with me. . . i think she looks like the statue of liberty...which is fine cause its the 4th of july right?

 .outfit from my sis kristina...yes kris, it should fit your little one perfect next year.

  .b and i having fun with the camera... she does the "mommy stare" pretty good.

 .and than we are great at being goofy too.

 .love this smile.

to end the night, b wanted to show everyone what she has been doing for over a month now...i guess she has watched mommy and daddy too much, because the ipod is no longer a "safe" toy for her to not be able to get into....at the very end of the clip, you will also see her attitude she is developing....it doesnt work for her, so she throws it...thats brooklynn.

.b showing her ipod trick.

.that was our 4th. not to conquer the next 2 days until the weekend, and than have our last weekend together before we embrace a "little brother" into our family. 

"we hope YOU had a good 4th of july too."

.lazy family weekend in texas.

.i LOVE how we have done something as a family every single weekend, and since it seems we have been going, going, going to big places, and spending a lot of money...we decided to have a low key weekend.

.thursday i had my doc apt, and she checked me and i had no progress (not a big surprise). well when i got home, i was bleeding. i didnt want to stress out, but was a bit worried. so i called my sister, and she just told me to take it easy, and watch it, if it gets worse, than i should call my doctor. anyways- i had cramping through the night, and started to stress about all the things i dont have done in case i were in labor.

.friday morning i took andrew to work, so i could have the car in case my doctor wanted me to come in. called the doctor, and she said it was probably from her checking me, totally normal and a mix of my body getting ready for labor. . . anyways so i am not TMI... things are good, we are good. no baby. it was normal, i had just never experienced that with brooklynn. different pregnancy.

.so saturday. we slept in until 9. than went down and had breakfast, and than headed to an indoor play area. some girls from the ward went there friday (but since i was taking it easy and not feeling too hot, i didnt get a chance to take b). so we took her. parents are free, and brooklynn was $3....LOVE THIS. ..AND...you can leave and come back the same day and not pay a re-entrance fee. so $3 for the entire day...DOUBLE love this.

.the play area is maybe 5 minutes from our place, and has AC. it was a cute little place that had lots to do. brooklynn was in love. there was an infant/toddler area, but brooklynn wanted nothing to do with it, she got bored. so andrew chased her around the big area, and she did everything like a champ. she LOVED the slides, and would climb to the top, sit down, and go down by herself. 

 .infant toddler area.

 .infant toddler area... last 5 minutes.

 .and than she moved on to the bigger and better.

 .they have a little movie area.

 .thats my girl.

 .baller baby.

 .daddy helping her shoot a basket.

 .she LOVED the slide.

 .she went alot faster than daddy thought..i caught the action of daddy flipping out trying to get to her, i laughed SO hard.

 .haha. she pressed her nose up against the window when she saw me taking a picture of her.

 .pirate ship playarea.

 .castle playarea.

.tractor play area.

.she also LOVED the basketball area (thats my girl). she spent probably 20-30 minutes, chasing the basketball, bouncing it, kicking it (yea...SOCCER TOO!...thats my girl)...and just loved it. i was such a proud mommy. loved seeing her loving basketball. awesome.

.well afterwards, we headed out, and brooklynn was worn out. we decided to head up to the temple, so i could get a few thing at the distribution center, and just check out the temple and the area around it. we looked at houses and it was fun to see what houses we could probably afford, and others there was no way we could. gave andrew and i an opportunity to talk about our future, what we liked, didnt like, and explore more area around us. 

.we went out to lunch. we NEVER do a sit down restaurant, and i told andrew i really wanted to today, to get out of the car. we tried a chinese restaurant and loved it. it was soo good, and we havent been to a good place in a long, long time. 

.we drove around to other places 15-20 minutes from USAA (in case we did move down here, we want a 15-20 minute commute for andrew).  we looked at more houses and just talked. it was so nice.

.it was a nice, low key weekend. we have 4th of july and our last saturday as a family of 3 this weekend, SAD. so i hope we have alot of fun this weekend. 

.brooklynn has been playing with toys this week...poor girl, this momma is worn out and so we have not got out to the pool all week, but we have a goal to try and change this, this upcoming week. 

.i got this car for 6 bucks at a secondhand store called kid to kid. LOVED this. she wanted it so bad, and she drives it around, it sings 2 songs, and she takes some of her animals for rides too. its adorable, and i love that...these pictures are from her "shopping"...i looked over and she had her purse up on her shoulder and driving her car....i asked her if she was going shopping and she smiled.

.she also has rediscovered her swing (well meant to be her bothers). look how big she is. she LOVES it. she will climb up in there by herself with her blanket and rock and rock. many times she fell asleep in there, its ridiculous how big she is in that swing... i see some fits being thrown when her brother is in there. thanks andrew, for showing her how cool her swing is.

.thats it for today. we will hopefully have some posts from our 4th and this weekend.

.our seaworld adventure.

.we talked about seaworld since we moved here. but looking at prices ($80 per adult), meant a lot of money. we put it off for a few weeks while we were here, but andrew kept insisting we go and experience it.

.so we did.

.and it was worth every penny.

.we ran errands until 10pm friday night, so by the time we got back, and i packed lunches for the following day, and we got b down, and go to bed, it was close to midnight. i figured we would get up around 8 or 9, and that was fine.

.i had everything set out for us, and everything ready to go for our adventure, just needed to stop at the ice machine in the hotel on the way out to fill the cooler (thanks to my friend Maren, from church, who let us use her cooler). anyways around 7:15am i woke up to run quickly to walmart to exchange some swim bottoms...well miss b was wide awake, so i took her with me and left andrew to sleep longer. we got back around 8am, and andrew was up jumping in the shower.

.we head downstairs. ate. came up. changed. and headed out. we arrived around 10:30am...and my goodness is was HOT and PACKED. it took an hour to get through the ticket line and inside the gates. brooklynn was grumpy because she went to bed so late the night before, and woke up so early. i thought, "great this is going to be the longest day ever, and not going to be any fun with such a grumpy child." good thing i was proved wrong.

 .b at the enterance of seaworld. it was really pretty.

 .under the towers.

.me and be about ready to head into the waterpark. it was so hot.

.we went to the waterpark immediately because we were hot and knew how much of a water baby brooklynn is. we walked around for a good 30 minutes trying to find where to purchase a locker....FINALLY we found it... sucky thing was out locker was RIGHT next to a smoking area. YUCK! But we survived for the day and tried to make any locker stops as quick as possible and not with brooklynn around if we could help it.

.brooklynn touches a sting ray at seaworld.

.the waterpark was great. obviously the park is more for older children and adults...but we still had such a great time. they had a few different kid areas, and brooklynn just loved every minute of it. we went to a first kid area, and brooklynn laughed and screamed and squealed while she played and her daddy chased her around and mommy took video. when andrew picked her up to take her to another kid area, she thought we were done and cried and cried.

.brooklynn throwing a fit to leave the waterpark.

.luckily she realize we were not done and taking her to another area of the waterpark. this area was kid friendly as well, but alot older kids too. it was pretty much a 2 story playplace that always had water dumping down somewhere. brooklynn LOVED it. every 5 minutes or so this HUGE HUGE HUGE bucket of water would fill up and dump down... andrew took her in it and i thought she is gonna drown in how much water force was behind it. . . but my gosh that girl just took it and clapped with excitement afterwards. she is SUCH a water baby and will just go right in (scary sometimes how much she has no fear). but she loved it.

.brooklynn and the big bucket of water.

.after about 2.5 hours at the waterpark we decided to head out to the seaworld park of the park and watch some shows. we realized we had about an 1 or so to kill before the next show of what we wanted to see was available so it was a perfect time to get lunch. poor brooklynn was WIPED after just the waterpark of it.

.well andrew and i realized we could drive out of the park, and come back... and there was a mcdonald's right outside the park, so we packed up brooklynn and headed down. we both got a dollar burger, and shared a cherry berry chiller...than came back to the park, and ate some of the food i packed as well. i throw the leftover food in the bag, and we headed back into the park.

.we went to "azul"...the dolphin show. brooklynn was memorized. she loved watching all dolphins, and  the girls, and the "jumpers" it was a great show. i loved it. the show was a lot smaller, so we were probably 3-4 rows back. it was great. brooklynn watched the entire thing. no fussing at all. it was wonderful. i loved all the different things they had going on. really kept our attention.

 .azul stage, it was really pretty.

 .dolphins doing their tricks.

 .this lady reminded me of Tammy Kirby because she was hanging in the air from practically nothing.

.more dolphin tricks.

.azul dolphin show.

.more azul dolphin show.

.than we went to a whale show. those animals are HUGE. my goodness. it was packed, so we were not as close, so brooklynn didnt pay AS MUCH attention... but she still did awesome watching. we then headed to an elmo show for brooklynn. at this point she was done...but we were right in front, and they told all the kids to come up front and dance with them (just below the stage). So we could let brooklynn  stand and dance and so it was not bad at all.

 .b's face the entire show. she was awesome.

 .see the spray from the whale's tail??...it SOAKED the audience.

.more soaking.

.seaworld whale show.

 .elmo rocks show.

 .b getting hydrated before the show.

.elmo show at seaworld.

.anyways, at this point we were DONE with shows, and ready to get back in the water. i was ready to get in the water too. (i didnt really get in the water the first time, because i was taking video). so we went to the locker, dropped our stuff and got in the water. it was COLD but felt good (if i had my feet in it). lol. i did chase around brooklynn for a bit, but i was SO tired from walking around 37 weeks pregnant, it didnt last too long. luckily andrew was awesome and chased her around for me. 

 .b and i after a long day.

 .andrew and i after our day at seaworld.

.thanks seaworld. it was alot of fun.

.we ended our day with dinner at carl's jr. yes. carl's jr. its one of my FAVORITE places to go when I am in the mood for a burger. i love love their teriyaki burger so much, and when this mama is pregnant, she LOVES herself a good pineapple burger. i was so thrilled when andrew said we could go. we got shakes too...we usually only get something off the dollar menu. it was just a great day.

.overall, our trip was AWESOME! it was a lot of money. it was alot of walking. it was alot of sweating (it was over 100 that day). it was a lot of patience. but overall brooklynn's squeals, and smiles, and face was priceless. she was SO tired by the end, we all slept so good. it was a great place to go. and another place to check off out to-do list before we leave and before our baby boy comes.

.thanks seaworld for the fun. i think we all decided it was our favorite thing we have done in texas.