In Honor of the French Open

Our friend Jeannott came to visit for the Memorial Day holiday. He and John used to play tennis when we lived in Houston so they decided to hit the courts a few times this weekend. It looks like Jack and Isabel are hooked now. John hopes they'll be the next mixed doubles team for the Olympics. If only the racket wasn't as big as Izzy!

Cooling Off

With temps in the 90's, we pulled out the baby fish pool for some water fun! Jack just barely fits in it anymore! Luckily the UP pool opens this weekend. We plan to spend several days each week swimming.

Giants of the Savanna

The beautiful new section of the Dallas Zoo opens this weekend. As members, we got a sneak preview this past weekend. Along with hundreds of other people, we checked out the brand new lions and the additional elephants and giraffes. The habitats are just amazing. The elephants have so much more room to roam. There are mud pits for the warthogs and fields for the ostriches to run. You can even feed the giraffes - we hope to try this next time.



Riding the elephant statue...

Waiting to get in. The line wasn't too bad.

The best view!

Check out the elephants!

Holding up Jack so he could see the warthogs.

The giraffes will walk right up to get big lettuce leaves from you.

Jack loves this safari jeep. The back half is in the cheetah habitat.

All the new rocks - a little boy's dream.

Some of the new lions - they were sleeping as all cats do.

Happy Birthday John!

Jack was so excited about Daddy's birthday last week! He loved baking John's favorite birthday cake and wrapping his presents with pirate paper. We took John to dinner to celebrate.

Yard Work

Jack loves doing yard work with Daddy. He has his own lawnmower and weed whacker. He uses them while John is doing the real work. Our neighbors think it's adorable.

Squeaky Shoes

For Cookie...hopefully you can hear the squeaks with all the noise. Isabel was "singing" while she walked and Jack & John were in the background talking.

Jack loves these shoes since we'll always know where Isabel is...

School's Out for Summer

Jack's last day of school was this past Thursday. I can't believe it has already been an entire year since my baby started preschool! Parents were invited to join the kids at school and see what they learned all year.


Each child was given an award for completing the Leaps and Bounds program. Mrs. Emmett and Mrs. Kyle were such wonderful teachers. They described Jack as the class protector - always asking if everyone was ok and holding the door at playground time. Such a little gentleman!

They started with art time and made visors for the summer. Jack covered his with all kinds of sports balls - such a boy.

Circle Time - the kids said their prayers, sang the ABCs, counted and named colors in English & Spanish and said what they are thankful for. Jack was thankful for his semi truck.

The Bean Bag Boogie!

Putting the bean bag on their tummies...

"Let's Go Swimming" - a cute song about fish. They were riding bicycles here. We all just cracked up when they jumped on the floor to do this.

Visitors!!

Grandma & Grandpa Rankin came to visit from Seattle for the past 10 days! They loved the warm sunny weather so we spent tons of time outdoors. A picnic at the Dallas Arboretum and a couple trips to the Dallas Zoo.