Not Such an Itsy Bitsy Spider

I was pulling back the curtains in Ashlyn's room when I discovered this huge spider outside her window. I was not familiar w/this type, so the science teacher in me had to do some research. It was pretty easy to determine the spider is a yellow and black garden spider b/c of it's unique zigzag silk near the center of the web. I told Aaron that I didn't want to disturb the spider because I wanted to observe her over several days and to see if anything gets caught in her web.
On Monday, Aaron brought home a cicada from the golf course and decided to see if the spider was hungry. As soon as he placed the cicada on the web, the spider shot out a strand of silk and began wrapping it like a cocoon. It was pretty amazing to see her in action....guess all that web building made the spider a little hungry.

I think Aaron is ready to say his goodbyes. I wasn't until I just went back and read online that there can be as many as a thousand eggs in each sac that she produces. Hmm.... ..I think her departure will be coming VERY soon!!

Trip to the Country/Tomball

A couple of weeks ago, the girls, dogs, and I headed to my parents' ranch and then on to Tomball. Makenzie had been anticipating the trip for a very long time. She would ask me over and over again when we were going to see Pawpaw, Granny, and Aunt Heather. We were only at the country for a little over 24 hours, but the girls managed to get a lot in while we were there. They rode horses, went swimming, took several mule rides to see the cows and chickens. My niece was also up there so the three girls had fun playing with each other.
With three girls and two dogs in tow, I headed to my sister's on Tuesday and the girls spent the rest of the week swimming, playing dress up and grocery store, going to various parks, and playing with Barbies (this is a whole new world as my girls don't have a single Barbie and my niece seriously has too many to count!) We went to my parents' house one evening for dinner and the girls were also able to see their great-grandparents whom they have not seen in a long time.

A couple of funnies on our trip:

1.) While waiting on my dad and a friend of his who is at least a foot taller to complete their conversation, Ashlyn says to me, "Mommy, that guy is GIGANTIC!" I didn't even know that word was in her vocabulary.

2.) I reached into the baby pool in my sister's neighborhood thinking that what I was pulling out was a small, brown pinecone. Keep in mind this was already after my children had explored the pool and stuck their cute faces in it. Any guesses at to what soggy treat I pulled out of the water??????? Yep, some other child's poop! Talk about gross!!! The pool was shut down shortly afterward.

We really had a great time and look forward to seeing my family again soon!

Didn't see it coming!

I would like to think I will never forget what I witnessed on Wednesday afternoon, but given my horrible memory, I have to make an entry. The girls and I were at the park with my friend Brook and her two kids. The girls and I were playing hide-n-seek and it was my turn to be the seeker. I spotted Ashlyn & Kylie first, who were hiding together. I then proceeded to look for Makenzie, when Kylie spots her first and yells, "Makenzie has her pants down!" I turn the corner and spot my oldest urinating on the people's lawn that sits just a couple of yards from the park. My first reaction was "What are you doing? (like it wasn't obvious, but what else was I going to say?) and then I quickly walked away as if she wasn't my child! This was a BAD idea!! Afterall, what else do little sisters do when they see their big sisters doing something? Yep, they copy them. Within seconds, Ashlyn drops her shorts, rips off her diaper, and starts running around. I think Brook was laughing so hard she was crying, but secretly I know she was thinking to herself, "Are those McGilvray kids raised in a barn?" Now granted, there have been a couple of instances in the past few months where Makenzie had to use the restroom and we were nowhere near one. Our only option at those two times were to have her squat and go to the bathroom in the grass. But by no means is this a regular occasion. Not even on our last camping trip did we face this circumstance because we brought our travel potty with us.
I am still not sure why Makenzie acted so impulsively, but then again, she is four, and sometimes doesn't give too much thought before reacting. It's not like she told me several time that she needed to go to the bathroom and I ignored her. Nope, she never once mentioned that she needed to go.
Needless to say, we had a discussion at dinner about when it is appropriate to squat and when it is not. Someone's lawn that sits just a few steps away from a public park is definitely not the place to drop your pants and let it all out!

Kick Off to July 4th

Our friends, the Heath's, invited us over Saturday to let the kids play in the big inflatable slide they rented. Despite the cloudy weather, the kids had a blast splashing in the water, riding the see-saw, and just hanging out with their friends. This is the second year a group of us have gotten together, and because the kiddos have so much fun, I think this may become a yearly event.

Later in the evening, we headed to our friends, the Alcorn's, for dinner and dessert. As always, the girls had fun playing together. Little Beckham wasn't feeling well, so he went to bed earlier and missed all the girls' squeeling. We headed out with Brook and Kylie to see fireworks behind Wylie High School and aside from being attacked by tons of June bugs, the girls enjoyed watching the show.

The rest of our weekend consisted of church, a couple of park visits with the girls, and another fireworks show. Makenzie & Ashlyn also enjoyed staying up late doing some sparklers with their daddy. If you look closely at the last picture, you will notice distress on Makenzie's face. That's because Ashlyn innocently turned toward her big sister with sparkler in hand and that was the end of our fireworks at the house. Makenzie didn't care too much for the sparks touching her leg!

Fort Worth Stockyards

Aaron was off Friday so he planned a day trip to the Stockyards. The girls enjoyed the petting zoo and cattle drive. Plus, their daddy took them into the candy shop which was an extra bonus. We grabbed lunch downtown and then headed near the Forth Worth Zoo where we took a small train ride near the golf course. Here are a few pictures I captured of the girls.

Montana Trip

We made it back safely from our trip to Montana. We had a wonderful time visiting with Aaron's family, including his grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. Most of our trip consisted of waking up early and heading out to Glacier Park, where we went on various small hikes with the kids, viewed many waterfalls, had picnic lunches, threw rocks into lakes, and fed ground squirrels. The Going to the Sun Road finally opened at the end of the week, so we were able to drive up there, see all of the snow still on the mountains, and do a little sledding.

The girls had the opportunity to see many animals that we don't have the chance to see here in Texas, including bighorn sheep, mountain goats, moose, and a black bear.

Aaron, his brother Nathan, and I (accompanied with our bear spray) headed out the middle of the week for a 6 mile hike into bear country for the guys to do some trout fishing. The 2 hour hike in, 5 hours of fishing, and 2 hours hiking out were a little exhausting, but the successful fishing made it worthwhile. Plus, we got to see a mother moose and her twins drinking water out of Cutbank Creek when we first started our hike-pretty amazing! I still can't believe that Aaron and I did that same hike twice, plus another longer hike all in the same week back in '05. It's amazing what a few years will do to your body!

I know Aaron is missing the mountains greatly, but hopefully, we will be able to make another trip with the girls in a few years. Thank you Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Smith for opening your house to all of us and putting up with a little chaos for 8 days. We miss you guys and feel so blessed to have spent time with you!