Amarillo Summer Adventures

HIKING TO THE COWBOY DUGOUT IN PALO DURO - I took the kids hiking early one morning in June. Even though we got an early start, it was still very hot, but the kids were troopers! We braved the sun, mosquitoes, and wrong trails to eventually find the historic Cowboy Dugout. 

Having a snack break to get our stamina and happiness back

Climbing up on the roof

Stick 'em up!

We took an "alternate" trail to the dugout that involved some offroading. Sophie saved this little caterpillar from the trail so he wouldn't get stepped on. 

KIDS BOWL FREE - We live near a bowling alley that participates in the amazing Kids Bowl Free program. All kids 15 and under can bowl two games each day for free all summer long! We went a handful of times and Sophie even bowled her first game over 100!

The kids showing off their new bowling shoes I found. Sophie's were an amazing shade of pink!

Most times we were also able to meet up with or bring friends along to make it more fun

AMARILLO ZOO - Sophie doesn't get to join our zoo trips anymore because she's in school, so we were sure to plan one day there during the summer. It's a small zoo that doesn't take much time to see, but there is a fun sand pit that they always enjoy playing and jumping in. 

HIKING AT WILDCAT BLUFF - for YW one night we hiked to the windmill at Wildcat Bluff. During the summer our numbers are always light, and this time we only had one girl, which was too bad because it was actually a really pretty night for a hike. The plains were still green from all the rain and the clouds kept it from being too hot. 

SOD POODLES GAME - Amarillo got a new minor league baseball team - the Sod Poodles! This was their inaugural season in a brand new stadium downtown. I decided to meet a friend for a day game one afternoon, which was fun, but also crazy to attempt with all the kids by myself. 

I bought an ice cream because it was so hot, that of course ended up causing more problems than it solved. Lots of crying about sharing and so much sticky mess to clean up. 

The kids found a puddle and desperately wanted to play in it, and the moms were past caring at this point and said jump in!

FIRST FRIDAY @ DHDC - We went to the kids program in July and discovered the most amazing water coloring pages! They were so fun and so much prettier than any other kind I had ever seen before. I came home and ordered some for our family from Usborne because we loved them so much. 

The kids also had fun building tall towers 

COW APPRECIATION DAY @ CHICK FIL A - Free Chick Fil A day fell on the same day the boys and I were flying up to Seattle, but we still made it in for a quick lunch. I didn't have a lot of time to make costumes, so this year they wore cow necklaces made from little plastic toys and yard. Quick and easy!

Video: A few clips from July 2019

Summers are for Swimming!!

June and July are swim season for us! Since we spend the rest of the summer traveling, we try to pack in as much pool time as possible since it's closed by the time we return home.

Sophie has become an excellent swimmer and has permission to go wherever she wants at the pool as long as she checks in with me before changing locations so I know where to look for her during my visual scans. Davey was also permitted to move about freely as long as he had his floaty on (which was almost 100% of the time). He starting to learn to swim, but since I can't keep focus on him all the time we keep it on for safety. Charlie was the most difficult, as expected. He's fully mobile, too small for a Puddle Jumper, and completely unaware of danger.

Double flotation in the shallow pool just to be safe

Lounging and snacking

Charlie's favorite was the splash pad, which was funny because the other two really hated spraying water until they were much older

Davey probably spent more time out of the pool eating than he did swimming

Perfecting her dive

Showing off a new swim suit made by Aunt Amy

Snug as a bug in his towel

Happy Fourth of July 2019!

We had a fun-filled Fourth this year!! Our morning started with a parade down in Canyon, then I took the kids swimming to get them tired so they would take naps. The plan worked perfectly and everyone rested for most of the afternoon. For dinner we went to our neighborhood Independence Day BBQ, which was great! Last year we skipped it because there was a ward potluck, but the neighborhood event was much better - sorry Tascosa ward. 

After the party we let the kids watch a movie and then we drove back down to Canyon for the fireworks show. Dave and I were both braced for this part, because although the show is good, last year we got caught in horrible traffic on the way home and we didn't get back until 11:30. Ugh. Fortunately things went much better! The show started early thanks to cloud cover and no moon, and then we took a back way home and beat the hundreds of cars back to Amarillo. We actually made it home at the same time the show ended last year - success!!

Picture of the kiddos in front of the flag

Waiting for the parade to start

Charlie hung back with us while Sophie and Davey stood in the street to see better and collect candy

It's really not a very exciting parade - just a bunch of different vehicles rolling through. Most don't have music or even much decoration, but the kids still had a great time. 

Davey struggled to beat the big kids to the candy most times and this nice boy gave him his entire haul. Now we have enough candy to just skip Halloween. 

He was so thrilled that one of the trucks had water guns

Our picnic had a catered dinner of BBQ sandwiches and a Sno Cone truck!! I may have had three :) There was also face painting, a craft, games, and inflatables for the kids. 

Charlie hanging out while the big kids were in the bounce house

Waiting for it to get dark

Happy Fourth of July!!

Video: A few clips from our day (mostly because the kids looove to watch these later!)