Pool time in Tyler

Paul finished with his last test in his 3rd year of medical school on the last Friday of June. We were all very excited for this rotation to be over and even though he would have to study a ton during July we were very glad that he was taking the month off and would at least be at home and we could have lunch together and go on little study break outings.

We decided to head to Tyler to visit Paul's parents and younger brother and sisters for the weekend. It would be our only chance all summer to visit with them. We arrived late Friday night and were grateful that the girls went to sleep pretty easy. They hadn't been sleeping well and we had been having some rough nights.

The next day Paul spent some time with his little brother and mom while watching the girls and I got to do some light shopping with his sisters before we headed back to the house for lunch with his cousin and our friend Mary Beth. Paul has known Mary Beth since High School, but in unrelated events Mary Beth and I met at a summer camp for special needs children and adults that we both worked at the summer before I went to graduate school. Paul and I were just dating then and it was such a small world when I found out they knew each other. And as luck would have it Mary Beth attended UTMB for Occupational Therapy school and we all got to hang out some here in Houston before she graduated and moved back to Tyler. Anyway, we were excited to get to spend some time with her while we were in town.

Me and Mary Beth with the girls

Mary Beth with Hadley on the left and Hailey on the right

 After lunch, we all went to the neighborhood pool for some fun. It was the girl's first time in the pool. They have been to the ocean, played in their splash pad and love baths so we were excited to introduce them to the pool. At first they were a little nervous and Paul didn't help the situation by jumping in the pool on them and splashing them, but after a while they loved it and had lots of fun.

Hailey and I in the pool

Hadley and Paul in the pool

 

 

My little fishes

Paul, Me and Mary Beth with the girls

The whole group

Hadley and Hailey swam until they fell asleep

family photo

We headed back to Houston Sunday afternoon so Paul could start studying for his second board exam, but we enjoyed our brief vacation to Tyler.

1st Official Father's Day

Paul had to work the morning of his first official Father's Day :(. We worked hard to make the rest of the day special for him though. Once he got home we showered him with his Father's Day gifts and then loaded up and headed to BJ's Brewery for lunch.

Wearing their I love Dad shirts!

All of Daddy's gifts! We love him sooo much

Paul and his girls

Paul is such a great dad to Hadley and Hailey and they just adore him. I am very lucky because I get to watch the three of them together and it is the best thing ever!  They have the best little belly laughs when they are playing with their daddy and their faces just light up when he enters the room.

Happy Father's day to the best Daddy ever!!

Ashley came to Visit!

My friend and roommate during graduate school cam to visit us in the middle of June. I love when Ashley comes to visit. It's like being back in grad school again. Paul spent so much time at our house during those two years that not much seems different except this year we added two more friends to the mix ;). It was Ashley's first time to meet Hadley and Hailey and we had a lot of fun!

We took a trip to the beach, and I don't know why we waited until Ashley's 3rd visit to Houston to take her on the Ferry. That is usually the first thing we do with our guests, but somehow Ashley missed out. I always get nervous that we won't see dolphins as I promise all of our guests that we will and that it is so much fun to ride the ferry. This time we didn't see any on the way there, but had a great show on the way back with a few dolphins playing very close to the ferry. This is easily my favorite free thing to do in the area.

Ashley with Hadley(left) and Hailey(right) waiting on the ferry

All of us on the ferry

After the ferry we headed to the beach for some fun in the sun and waves. The girls had so much fun they both crashed on the way home.

Playing in their pool on the beach with Ashley

with the ocean in the background

Hadley all comfy and crashed out...the beach just wears her out

Paul had to work most of the weekend for his Internal Medicine Inpatient rotation at Methodist Hospital downtown. During this rotation he worked 6 days a week for 12-16 hour shifts. He even had to work on Father's Day :(, and if he did get off early he spent the rest of the time studying.
Anyway, Ashley and I didn't let that spoil our fun.

We took the girls to the Houston Museum of Natural Science to see the new dinosaur exhibit and the Egyptian exhibit. They loved the dinosaurs and after a bottle, some crying and rocking they finally slept as we walked through Egypt.

Hadley (purple) and Hailey (pink) with Ashley and a dinosaur...they enjoyed looking at all the dinosaurs...they were confused why they couldn't touch the stuff behind the glass and I hope that the museum doesn't mind cleaning lots of tiny fingerprints off.

Ahh T-Rex is going to get us!

We ended the evening with a visit to Paul's favorite restaurant Lupe Tortilla. Hadley made friends with the little boy at the table next to us and Hailey ate a little too much and ended up making our waitress earn her tip.

I'm very grateful that Ashley has made the trip to Houston to see us the past three years. We always have a great time when she comes to visit and look forward to more visits with us.