Maggie's First Swim

Maggie got to go swimming for her first time Memorial Day weekend.  She got dressed up in her red and white polka dot bathing suit (Thank you Mrs. Rosie!) and matching bow (Thank you Mrs. Valerie).  She really seemed to enjoy the water.  Of course, Cam & Kaiden had a blast in the "little pool" aka hot tub.

Cam's Allergy Follow up Visit

On Friday, before we left for Waco, Chris took Cam back to visit the allergy doctor.  He's really been doing well since we got him on a schedule with his medicines.  The doctor was pleased with his breathing as well.  He said that if we can go a month without having to use the emergency meds then we can go down a spray on his daily meds.  He'll also need to do a return visit in the fall, as the doc said that the change in weather/allergens/etc. will mean a change in medication schedule.  

The really good thing from all of this is that our trip out of town did not throw him into a sniffling/coughing little boy.  He made it the whole 4 days with no out of control symptoms like we've seen previously when we've traveled.  I'm so glad this regimen is working.

Saturday with Uncle Joe & Aunt Erica

On Friday we traveled to Waco and spent the night with Chris' parents.  Then Cam, Maggie & I got up Saturday morning and drove up to Carrollton to visit our friends  Joe,  Erica & Quentin.  We spent the day visiting, eating lunch, and watching the kids play.  Cameron and Quentin played so well together, even though they are almost 2 years apart in age.  Quentin has good toys so that's probably why!  Maggie enjoyed cuddling with Aunt Erica and stretching with Uncle Joe.  I really miss having Joe & Erica close by us.  We keep trying to get them to move to Houston, but no go for Joe.   I have no idea how I missed getting a pick of Q, but got some cute ones on Sunday when he was swimming.  

Cam's Last Day of School

Cam had his last day of school on Thursday May 22 and I am so sad.  Even though we have fun activities to do this summer, that wonderful consistency of Mrs. Angie & Ms. Haley will be missed.  The school had their annual Spring Sing and the money raised is going to go towards a park system.  There was artwork from the kids displayed in the gym,  Cam's class did the Noah's Ark.  Chris big on a sports themed basket during the live auction, mainly because Cam really wanted the skateboard.  He was very happy when daddy won it for him.  The kids performed 5 songs they had been learning in chapel, and then the Kinderskills class "graduated."  A very cute ceremony.

Aunt Susie & Uncle Mike Visit

You'll have to forgive me, I'm going to back track and get the family caught up on what's happened in the last week and a half.  Being out of town and then getting sick really slowed down the blog.  But you're about to get a ton of posts to catch you back up.

Uncle Mike had a conference down in Galveston the week of May 19th, so Aunt Susie tagged along to get some shopping done.  Anyway, on Wednesday night they drove up to have dinner with us and then Aunt Susie stayed the night.  Cameron was so excited and made Aunt Susie help him put together his Thomas puzzle about a dozen times.  He wanted to tell her stories, and show her everything that was going on in his world.  

Susie so graciously watched Maggie for me on Thursday while I took the car in for an oil change.  She and Maggie had some bonding time while she blessedly folded my laundry for me!  I got to read a book while I waited for my oil change - more than 2 minutes of a book was so awesome.  

We were so sad to see her leave.  Cameron really enjoys that Susie will get down on the floor and play with him, asks him questions, and just loves on him. 

Cameron goes to the Colonial

This past weekend we went up to DFW to see my family and so they could meet Maggie. My Aunt Sue and Uncle Gary were gracious hosts for the whole weekend for the 10 of us (Me, Rebecca, Cameron, Maggie, Nana, Pops, Bekah, Nick, Kaiden, and Zachary). We all had a blast!

The highlight of the weekend for Cameron was the Colonial Invitational. For those that don't know, the Colonial is a golf tournament on the PGA Tour held at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth. Uncle Gary had 2 badges for the tournament and was nice enough to give them to me and Pops for Sunday.

I have great childhood memories of the Colonial. It was the first tournament I ever attended. I remember my dad taking my brother and I out of school early to go watch practice rounds and attend the Junior Clinic. Since I had so much fun as a kid, we thought it would be a good idea to take Cameron since children under 6 were free.

Before leaving the house I went over a few rules with Cameron, which he memorized and actually quoted to people later in the day on the course.

Rule #1 - No running.

Rule #2 - Be quiet.

Rule #3 - Stay behind the rope.

Rule #4 - No playing in the "sand juice." This is what Cam calls bunkers and is more a carryover of the rules when I take him to practice at local courses.

First thing we did at the tournament was have our picture taken with the eventual champion Phil Mickelson (Cameron's second favorite golfer to Tiger Woods). Ok, we actually stood in front of the green screen and they added in Phil, but it is still pretty cool!

From there we made our way to the number 9 green. The green is protected by a water hazard in front. We sat down at the base of the grandstands with a good view of the green and within 10 feet of the golfers as they walked by. One of the golfers in the group, Steve Elkington, walked up the path and looked at Cameron with a big smile as he walked by. Cameron excitedly turned to me and said, "Daddy did you see that 'golfer man' smile at me?"

Elkington hit his ball with a lot of spin and almost had it roll back into the water. He was just off the green in the rough on top of the rock wall separating the green from the water. It looked like a difficult shot, but he proceeded to chip it in for birdie! As the crowd cheered, Elk pulled his ball out of the cup, took a couple of steps, turned, and tossed the ball right to Cameron! I haven't seen him that excited since he saw Mickey Mouse at Disney World.

It was pretty hot at Colonial and we didn't have a hat for Cameron, so we went to the PGA Tour store near the 10th tee box and bought Cameron a nice white hat with the Colonial logo on the front. He was so proud of his hat. He kept telling people on the course that he got a new hat and got a golf ball.

We kept having close encounters with golfers as they would walk between the ropes from one hole to the next. He got a "Hey buddy how's it going?" from Anthony Kim and Bo Van Pelt both of whom had just made birdies.

Cameron also waved to a golfer named Chez Reavie walking off the 14th green. Chez smiled and said, "Hi there little guy. Do you want a golf ball?" He then reached into his pocket and produced the Titlest he just used to make a bunker saving par on the last hole! Two hours into his first golf tournament and he has already has 2 golf balls from the pros! In all my years attending these, I have never gotten one, even as a kid. These guys really liked Cameron and they seemed to play better when he was watching. I think they were a total of 4 under par on the holes that we watched them on.

At this point Cameron was pretty hungry so we sat down near the 18th green and shared a pretzel and lemonade. Soon after we finished Reavie was finishing his round. As we stood near the scorers tent, Chez's girlfriend saw Cameron get the ball earlier and said that if we waited Chez would autograph it for Cameron. Sure enough he was super nice and signed the ball.

The very next group to finish was Steve Elkington. We patiently waited and Cameron politely asked Elk to sign his ball. Again, he was very nice and asked Cameron if he had a good time. At this point he was having a great time, but was a little sad because Tiger Woods was at home with a bad knee. Only my son would know that Tiger was hurt and the extent of the injury.

We were about ready to leave but there were a few popular players about to move from the practice green to the first tee. I saw Mike Weir, the former Masters champ, and we walked with him from the green. I grabbed Cam's new white hat and gave it to Mike. At which point Cam says, "Daddy, don't give him my hat." Mike chuckled and said "Don't worry kid, I will give it right back."

I thought Cameron would be excited to get another autograph. Boy was I wrong! "Daddy, he wrote on my hat! Wipe it off! We don't write on hats, only paper." I felt horrible. He was so proud of his hat and now I "ruined" it by getting a famous golfer to sign it. I felt so bad I went back to the PGA Tour store and bought a second hat. Since the first one was "ruined" I got Geoff Olgilvy (former US Open champ) to sign it as well. :)

We grabbed a Strawberry Chill for the road and walked back to the bus. It was a great ending to the morning. Cameron had so much fun! Thanks again Aunt Sue and Uncle Gary!

By the way, Cam didn't want to take the hat off the rest of the day and even went to bed wearing it!

Even though Father's Day is still 3 weeks away, I can't imagine a better gift then the smile on Cameron's face!

Sick as a Dog and then some

I've been laid up sick in bed since we got back from our visit with Chris' family over Memorial Day weekend.  Some stomach bug has really put me out of commission.  Even today (day 3) I'm still not up to full capacity, but at least I'm standing.  On Tuesday I didn't even leave our bedroom.  So I'm on the road to recovery, and somehow I'm the only person in the house that's had it.  

We have some really great pics and stories from last weekend, but neither of us has had a chance to blog since we've been back.  Promise to post good stuff soon.

Oh, and please pray that I am the only one that gets this miserable flu bug.