More Updates: July!

In July:

• Fourth of July Family Gathering with Brad and the Ferrells!
• Avery's friend Ava's dress-up-princess birthday party
• Michael growing out of his baby bed and into a big boy room with a big boy bed, big dresser and sidetable
• Pool party at Grandparent's house with the Shippy boys
• Family summer weekend trip to Glen Rose for Fossil Rim and to Kingsland for Lake Getaway with my dear highschool friend Leslie and her family
• Birth of Stacy & Todd’s twin girls Elizabeth and Bethany
  

Uncle Brad takes Mike for a sky tour!

Aunt Helen with her first grandson Evan

Avery is a true fighting princess at her friend Ava's fourth birthday party.

So many princesses and each are left waiting for their prince.

At the pool party - bubbles and watermelon are all you need for a backyard party!

Our Four Day Family Weekend!

Here we are at the beginning of our tour of Fossil Rim.

Feeding the animals brought this one close encounter! We saw the giraffe, zebra, rhino, deer, turkey, wildcats and much more...but you can see those animals on the Fossil Rim website~we'll save space here for our wild ones!

Now...the rest of our four hour drive takes us to the Lake House!

Two Hot Mommas!

The kids go for a dry run.

Two Too Too Cute Friends!

Gearing up for a boat ride on the river.

Dave decides to show the kids how to wake board - or skurf as we call it.

Yea! Dave's still got moves on the water!

Relaxing on the lake and river water was phenomenally relaxing. Just what this busy family of four needed. This was the first both the Cope and Sutera families of four got together to let everyone play! A great time was had by all. We capped the evenings off with glow-in-the-dark sticks while the neighbors shot a few random fireworks over the water. A charming church Sunday morning was the cherry on top of this fabulous weekend. I look forward to going again!!!

These sweet girls belong to Stacy and Todd. They look so much like their older three brothers!!

A sweet way to end the month of July.

Catching up...Here's the word from the rest of June '08!

In June:

• Father's day
• Alex's HS Graduation Party (on Father's Day)
• Splash day with our neighborhood playgroup
• Bunko Dinner at our house
• Avery's Hannah Montana obsession increases when she gets an 'electric' guitar from a neighborhood friend
• VBS
• The Family Nap (including a barbie doll!)
• Kitty growing up and getting wet
• Funny faces
  Dave is holding cousin Tim & Lynda's little Evan. They were discussing the lack of football games

My little man sporting his teeth and buzz hair cut!

Alex and his then girlfriend at his graduation party (sorry, I can't remember her name).

While I hosted ladies for an Italian inspired Bunko dinner Dave, Avery & Michael spent the evening at a neighbor's house. Avery came home with this 'Hannah Montana' (actually a 'Bratz' brand) guitar. She's punked out and ready for stage!! "I'm Hannah Ma-on-tan-nah! Yea!!"

The Vacation Bible School theme this year is "Outrigger Island" thus the volcano. I have a hundred pictures from all of the extreme decorations from this one week of fun.

Our fun, fun, fun week was tempered with rest periods. Here you'll find Avery resting on Mom's bridge, along with our Kitty and Avery's mermaid doll. 'Baby Kitty' thinks he's one of my kids!

Kitty has found his favorite chair in the house: one fit for a dominant feline, of course! Here Kitty waves to Dave in the window just like the kids as Dave leaves for work. 'Baby Kitty' even tries to get in on the kids activities. He watched with curious eyes during this bathtime.
'Baby Kitty' waited until the kids were finished with their bath to explore the tub, but did not wait long enough, jumping into shallow bath water. He does not like to wade in the tub.

And this picture is just my absolute favorite from the month of June:

Mike can see clearer, now, with his x-ray vision goggles.

Thanks for reading to the end!

Avery's Ballet Recital

Friday, June 6, 2007 at 6:30pm - Avery performed in her second dance recital with Raising the Barre dance studio in Frisco, TX. Here she is with the 'other Avery' from her class during the rehearsal Thursday night.




Our Avery is the second girl to the right of the older dancer. The last three on the right side are all named Avery. The one on the very end danced her own choreography all night! Avery practiced on the right side ...as noted in this picture. When you see the video from the actual recital, you will find Avery on the far left side. Stage lights can do that to you!

After Avery's class performed, Michael was quick to congratulate her.

Avery was entranced by the other dancers. After her class performance we stayed to watch about four more classes perform. She has a huge heart for dancing! She's so serious about dancing!
After the recital on Friday night, Avery was full of bubbly energy!


Running around helped her run into friends was fun! Avery loved running into John Brock from her preschool class. His older sister was in the recital following Avery's class.


When presented with roses, she resumed her poise and grace.

And added a touch of drama



After the recital we went out to eat for Mexican food, then headed home where she climbed up to my computer chair and typed her messages for all of you (sorry, it was a bit hard to translate, so I've left the gibberish off of this posting. I hope you understand!)


Avery, you are a beautiful and precious gem. We love you!

Stanley Cup Playoff Final Game

Michael may prove to be a hockey fan. As soon as we turned on the TV to the final game between the Red Wings and the Penguins he pulled out his 'helmet,' stick and puck. He practiced his game winning goal.

Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington

With preschool out and summer on it's way, we decided to have a family outing before the school kids are let loose on our first unscheduled Tuesday, 5/27/08. The day after Memorial Day sounded like a good idea! We were greeted with lines of school buses - oops! Didn't think about Senior Trips! So, the place was crawling with high schoolers about to graduate and seeking high thrills on the big coasters - which means the kiddie rides were vacant!
Our day trip to Six Flags was cool! The kids enjoyed going on rides. Avery was the perfect age and size (42 inches) to hop on and off of the kiddie rides. Mike was always accompanied by an adult (32 inches)

Beth and Jen took Avery & Michael up the Hot Air Balloon ferris wheel. A great 'big picture' opportunity as we gazed across the park from the top of the wheel.

Jon and David took Avery & Michael on the roller coaster. You can see them in the last two rows. Michael cried. When asked after the ride 'Was that fun?' Mike said, 'Yeaa.' And then 'Do you want to do it again?' Mike said, 'Nooo.' Avery said she was scared, but wanted to do it again.

We moved on to a swing ride for Avery that she could do all by herself. Mike wanted nothing more to do with rides for a while.

We rode two more kiddie rides then headed for lunch. After burgers, fries, onion rings and a bit of cola we headed out into the dark cloud covered sky for a ride on the Batmobiles.
The clouds were productive. As soon as this ride ended, Avery & Jen walked to a scrambler that Avery wanted to ride, yet even as we walked to stand at the end of the line the rains came. We quickly abandoned the ride joining the rest of our family running for cover alongside an 'old' building across from the Flashback ride. The rains were no challenge to the highschoolers. Wet shirts were less appealing to us. When the rain let up enough to seduce us from the building, we headed to the flashback waiting area to let the kids run around. Just as we made our way to our new shelter the rains poured again. Let the kiddie races begin!

The rains ceased enough to make our way to the train station. We rode around the park, discovering the parts that were still offering rides. The best ride of all was the Chantrelle cars (a former competitor to the Ford Model T cars) which allowed Avery and Michael to drive us around. The picture here is of the end of the ride. Oh, was it funny tho, to hear Avery talk of racing Michael and to see Michael rocking the steering wheel back and forth in superfast motion!

Pumped up from our car chase, we found our way to the Wild West boat ride through a cave, complete with loud gun fire, explosives, and the Looney Toone characters.

Avery and Beth went through the ride again. Dave, Jon, Mike and I rested in this covered area...then watched the downpour once more. Oh, if only we could find one of those rain ponchos, or towels, or umbrellas left on the shelves to be purchased!! Hey, we are happy not to be fighting the scorching sun, or dehydrating heat.

We made a run for the hills in the sprinkling rain to get one taste of funnel cake and head for home. Ah, wait...we also found a store on our way out that has the rain coats!! Yea!!! And our tweety bird friend found our little ducklings!!

Avery saw the large carousel on the hill as we attempted to exit...Finding one more ride the kids could do together, we agreed. We were also guranteed NO RAIN on that ride!Once the raincoats were on the rain came to a rest as well as our littlest adventurer!

The kids did great for a full 8a-5p day!