She had a great year in dance. She enjoyed was seeing her friends every week in class.
A special thanks to Grammy and Pop for driving all the way from Arkansas to see the performance. They even bought her flowers. We got some great video too. Enjoy!
This past Memorial Day weekend we were excited to have our cousins come for a spur-of-the-moment visit. My brother and his family live in Laredo and so they like to get out of town every so often. We love having them! Here is Maisy and Olive in their matching dresses. They were tickled to be wearing the same dress.
Here's my brother and his wife at Wil's baseball game. That's Eliot there little boy. They were such good sports because in the 4th inning it started pouring rain. I mean the kind of one-minute-it-was-sunny-and-the-next-it's-dumping-water rain storm. But, we survived.
The kids were so good and we had a great time. Thanks for coming Cam and Kress! Come back soon!!
Okay, so here come the random parts of this post. Our rose bush has been so gorgeous this season. We love having *the yellow rose of Texas* right in our front yard. Oh, and they smell delicious too!
And I realized I never showed an updated picture of our family room. We finally found a paint color that we liked. I got the curtains sewed and mounted. And to tie up the room--a few throw pillows. I realized that gold pillows look a lot more aesthetic in the room than gold walls. So yea!
It's totally got that small town, neighborhood hang out diner ambiance. When we go there, we fully expect to see Ralph Malph, Potsie Webber, Richie Cunningham, and the Fonz eating in the booth next to us.
The 5th Quarter is very family friendly with a great kids menu. It previously was a sports bar, but was recently bought out and now has a new owner that has changed the atmosphere completely.
This is what Maisy and Wilson always order--The Mini Corn Dogs and Mac-n-Cheese (The mini corn dogs are homemade, I think--but I'm not so sure about the mac-n-cheese.)
These are just sample pictures of some of our favorites. Honestly, we love a lot of things on the menu. Above is the Fettuccine Alfredo with grilled vegetables and fresh broccoli. The kids love the broccoli.
Here's Brett's hamburger with the most delicious Sweet Potato Fries! They are sprinkled with a little cinnamon and sugar--YUM! I have found that my favorite dish is probably the Chicken Fried Steak. That's what I usually order.
So it might sound like we frequent the 5th Quarter regularly. Well, we do. And one of our favorite nights to go is Friday because it's KARAOKE NIGHT! That's right--they have a stage and everything. In fact our very own Wilson has graced the stage. I'm kicking myself that I don't have pictures of it. But I wasn't expecting him to sing Karaoke that night...
. . . where we boarded these motorized canoes and traveled for two hours to get to our eco lodge in the middle of the Amazon basin. 
They served us an awesome rice stir fry in a banana leaf, which we promptly tossed into the river when we were finished. 
The rooms can only be described as jungle-chic. Each room had three bamboo walls and a fourth side open to the rain forest. There was no electricity at the lodge, just candles and kerosene lamps. It was a completely unique and beautiful place to spend two days. 
I'd like to meet the mosquito that can make its way through this net. 
Well, here's our bathroom. Only bathroom I've ever been in where I can shower and wave at passers-by at the same time! 
Our guides were Fernando and Pedro. They were great guys who loved to joke around with the kids, and knew everything there is to know about the rainforest. 
We climbed a 120 foot tower that ascended above the canopy of the rainforest, and we were treated to some spectacular views . . . 
. . . at sunset. Perfect. 
Our last full day in Peru, we went out onto the river before sunrise to go view some exotic jungle animals. We were successful, and witnessed a family of giant river otters, numerous interesting birds, and some really super huge gigantic jungle insects. 
Fernando and Pedro gave us some primitive fishing poles with a piece of raw meat dangling on the hook. We dunked the bait in the water and pulled up some piranhas! 
We got up close and personal with our new toothy friends.
Here we are organizing and bagging the supplies. I can't tell you how impressed we were with our students through out this whole experience! And a special thanks to all those that donated items. It wouldn't have been this successful with out your help!
The kids loved their bags of supplies. They clutched them close and wouldn't let go of them. They were so precious! They looked at us with somewhat eyes full of wonderment. 
The school was very small and meager. There were only wooden tables and little chairs in the classrooms.
Their native language is Quechua. So basically our students taught them how to say the names of their new school supplies in Spanish. 
We also gave them toothpaste, toothbrushes, and dental floss. We showed them how to use those items, and we think that was the first time some of them had seen a toothbrush or toothpaste. This little guy was so excited and he pulled his floss out to give it a try right away.
As we were leaving, the children sang us their school song as a final good-bye. Then of course they wanted us to sing a song too. Thank goodness the students knew the Melissa Cardinal's (our school) fight song and they sang it loud and proud. The children loved it of course.
After our visit to the classrooms, the adults of the village demonstrated their farming techniques to us. It was a spontaneous gesture of thanks for our service. They even invited a couple of our students to participate. Our students were not as efficient as the villagers, if you can imagine (the air is a little thin 14,000 ft. above sea level!)