Three years old! It's a pool party!

We had a fun pool party to celebrate Asa's 3rd birthday with his friends. We managed to choose one of the hottest days thus far this summer, so thank goodness the pool was nice and cool! Asa was so cute as his friends were arriving. He was floating around in the pool and everytime he saw a friend arrive, he'd say "Hi! Do you want to come to my birthday party?" Of course they did!! We had tons of floaties and the kids had a ball splashing around, throwing the beach balls and just being silly. The highlight of the afternoon was the pinata! Our neighbors surprised Asa with a Thomas pinata filled with tons of candy. The little ones weren't quite sure what to do, but the bigger kids showed them how to hit it as hard as you can. What fun! We are so thankful for our wonderful friends that came out to celebrate Asa's special day with us. Lots of fun memories were made.

Asa's train birthday cake

The canopy which provided much needed relief from the heat and where the goodies could be found.

The birthday boy taking a swing that the pinata

Asa's friend Ethan showing the younger ones how it is done

A hug between good friends - Asa and Ivy

Carriage ride at the local rodeo

The local rodeo had a special day this summer when kids and parents could go for carriage rides and hayrides. Asa really enjoyed riding in the carriage and hearing the clip clop of the horse hooves.

Getting ready to go on the carriage ride

The carriage we rode on

Looking cool with our shades on - notice Asa's are upside down ;)

Birthday Putt Putt

On our way home from chuch in Fayetteville, we would pass by a Putt Putt course. Asa had been asking us for months to go play putt putt, so we decided it would be a fun birthday treat for him. It was quite toasty out that day, but he had a great time and we swung by Cold Stone Creamery for a cool treat afterwards.

Practicing his golf pose for future photo shoots ;)

'Assisting' mommy with her ball

Daddy showing Asa the proper golf stance

Enjoying his birthday treat - love those rosey cheeks!

Let's make a cake!

This was one of the most fun meetups our playgroup has had. There's a place in Springdale, AR called 'Cake Party'. The kids were able to decorate a cupcake and a small cake to take home. They had a blast squirting the icing, adding decorations and of course eating the cupcakes. With the cakes, they had a chance to use some airbrush paint to decorate them. Lots of fun!!

First baseball game outing

We went to our first baseball game this summer. We watched the Arkansas Naturals play, munched on hotdogs and enjoyed the great weather.

New experience, takes a serious approach.

Arkansas Naturals' mascot "Strike"

Chillin' out

Last hoorah at Gymnastic Joe's

A monthly meetup for our playgroup has been Gymnastic Joe's. It has been great fun to meet with our friends, celebrate montly birthdays and let the kids run and bounce around for an hour. Asa absolutely loved going and couldn't get enough of the trampolines. We definitely miss our Gym Joe meetups.

Birthday celebration with family

About a week before Asa's 3rd birthday in June, we headed down to Benton to celebrate with the family. Grandparents, great grandparents and an uncle were there to celebrate his big day.

Summer time and s'mores!

We spent several evenings in June making s'mores with our neighbor girls in Fayetteville. We had a lot of fun seeing who could roast the perfect marshmallow :)

Devilish grin as he eats a marshmallow and notice the weapon he's holding! With our friend Jasmine.

Too much fun!

Our dog Hershey trying to score a s'more.

Hershey's best friend Rocky waiting patiently for his share of the loot.

Scraping off every bit of marshmallow that he can.

Snackin' and people watchin'

Asa has always been one to take transitions slowly and needs time to warm up to new places. Such was the case this summer when our playgroup went to a local splash park. It has several toys that squirt water and buckets that fill up with water. Asa however, preferred to sit, eat and people watch. He had a wonderful time doing so :)

A good friend's 3rd birthday party!

What could be more fun than a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese?!?! Asa's good friend Alice celebrated her 3rd birthday in style at Chuck E Cheese. She and Asa are just a couple of weeks apart and have known each other since they were just a few months old, taking turns crying in the church nursery. Oh what memories ;) They have grown up since those days and now enjoy more mature things such as playing games and being silly with bubbles. It was a great time!

Hey you! I'm driving here!

Catching a ride with the birthday girl.

Boy cand daddy drive FAST!

A trip to the Fire Station

In May, our playgroup took a tour of the Bentonville, AR firestation. It is a brand new facility and ranked as one of the top in the nation. The kids had a wonderful time! They got to go through all of the fire trucks, check out the rooms the firemen sleep in, their kitchen and TV room. They weren't too sure of the fireman in full gear, but thought his gear was pretty cool when he took it off.

Asa reading a very important fireman magazine

Checking out some of the equipment

This is serious business!

Cheese :)

Check out the 2 happy guys in the middle :)

National Racquetball Championships in Houston

Over the last 12 months I've been playing a lot of racquetball. Although I've been playing some tournaments in Arkansas, I've never had the opportunity to test myself against players outside of this area. Thus, when an opportunity to travel to the National Racquetball Championships in Houston opened up I jumped at the chance.

Matches were held at the YMCA in downtown Houston, began early Wednesday morning and ended late on Sunday night. There were 500 competitors and the semi-finalists from the highest divisions qualified for the US national team.

Of course I was not in such a category and played in the main bracket of the C division (about 40 players) and the age bracket (under 30s) of the C division (about 25 players).

There were some very long days, but I battled to the final of both my divisions and unfortunately lost both finals in tiebreaks to very talented junior players. However, it was a great experience and to come home with two silver medals from the national championships was a welcome surprise! It was a great feeling to know that all the hours practicing paid off.

The tournament will soon be moving away from Houston.

The downtown YMCA where the tournament is held.

Registering. The screen on the right streamed live online so people could see who was playing and on what court. It also uploaded results.

Serving in one of the finals.

The consequences of not getting out of the way!

Making new friends!

Outcome, two silver medals!

Much awaited celebration!

On Saturday, April 25th my brother Saul and sister-in-law Carol celebrated their marriage with friends and family in Little Rock, AR. It was a long over due celebration! They were married in December 2007 in Brazil and have spent the past 14 months or so going through the visa and green card process. PTL Carol got a visa in Jan 09 and was able to come back with Saul to Arkansas. They are now in the final stages of the green card process and hope to have it all finalized by the end of the summer. We had a great time catching up with old friends and family we haven't seen in a long while. Mom made the cake and it survived a 30 minute ride from mom and dad's to the church - with the help of roses and the loving touch of mom and her best friend Liz. The cake topper was the one they had on their wedding cake - made just for them!

The happy couple cutting the cake.

The beautiful cake created by mom!


Asa made a new friend - Cousin Izzy from Illinois.
They had an absolute ball playing together.

Follow the leader.