I just can't stop.....

Madalyn with friends Jacqueline and then Lily, Bristol going down the slide with his godmother Gay Lynn (sucking his thumb no less!!), Jeff's nephew Zach with his Aunt Pat and Bristol, and Jeff's other nephew Jake with Bristol

More pictures from the party - friends and more friends!

The Hernandez Crew (Adrian, Melissa, AJ, Shayna, Alyssa and Adam), Kels and Sam, Shilo with Jaxson, Jessie with Mike and my goddaughter Ella, and Aimee and Gerardo

1st Annual Halfway BirthRAY Partay

Well, on Saturday, July 21st we had the first annual Halfway BirthRAY Partay. It was at the City of Kyle Pool and it was awesome! We really had a great time, especially on the slides. We actually managed to stay out of the rain and enjoyed swimming, playing Lucky Duck, flamingo ring toss, and getting all of the candy out of the pinata. We had a cake for each of the kids, and really just enjoyed getting to see all of our friends and family. Thanks for everyone who made it, and if you didn't hopefully we'll see you next year!
The Raymond Crew during cake time, Bristol sporting Maddy's new hat from Lily, Beck with his pinata grub, Madalyn with one of her favorite presents- a Webkinz from Jacqueline, and Madalyn with Ried and Lily in the pool.

Basketball starts again!

The San Marcos Rec League has started the summer season for the Jr.NBA and Jr.WNBA teams. Madalyn is on the Mercury and Beck is on the Sixers. We have four sets of brothers and sisters on the teams, so some parents are getting a lot of my coaching abilities. The boys are still like herding cats and the girls are doing great. It should be another fabulous season.

Madalyn and the Princesses

I think I mentioned somewhere in here that Madalyn got an autograph book and loved going around to all of the characters to get her picture taken and their signatures. She was only too happy to wear her Belle dress to meet the Princesses including: Princess Aurora, Cinderella, Belle, Snow White, and Ariel. They all loved her dress, and Belle liked how they looked like twins. She just beamed, it was so neat to watch her with them.

Magic Kindom at night

Magic Kingdom was so cool, but it was totally different at night so I wanted to be sure to include some of those pictures in here too. I love the picture of me and Bristol and he loved that Mickey Mouse sword- we were tired and sweaty, but still having a great time. Disney really is the most magical place on Earth, I can't wait to go back!

Day Three: Magic Kingdom by day

Our last day at Disney was action packed including Space Mountain, the Tea Cups, It's a Small World, the Pirates of the Carribean boat ride, Mickey's Philharmonic, and I can't even remember what all else. It's the largest park and there is so much to do we really had to just hit the high points. Jeff was back with us, and Madalyn was chosen to drive the boat on one of the rides. The kid participation in things is really neat. It totally appealed to Maddy.
Pics are of Maddy and Beck with a Lilo and Stitch character, Madalyn driving the boat, Jeff, Julie and the kids trying to stop the spinning ball, me with the kids in the spinning tea cups at the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, and Cinderella's castle first thing in the morning.

Daytona Speedway - Pepsi 400

While we went to Epcot on Saturday, Jeff, Cody and my dad went to Daytona International Speedway for the Pepsi 400 night race. They went with Brody, Jessica and her parents. For you non-NASCAR fans, Daytona is like going to Mecca. They enjoyed the 'best' pre-race they had ever seen, a good race except that Dale Earnhardt, Jr. wrecked out in like the 14th lap. Apparently, the best part was waiting in line for the school buses to take them back to the car. Okay, they said that was the worst part, but just think about all those drunk rednecks riding on school buses. =)
Note in the picture of Cody that he is enjoying a nice Cheerwine coke. Try one if you ever get the chance!

Day Two: EPCOT

Day two at Disney was spent with just the ladies and the kids (see the next post). Epcot was a nice change of pace from MGM because it totally had a more laid back feel . We rode Soarin' first thing in the morning - it's the most popular ride at Disney and we totally understood why - super cool. We went to lots of tours and shows and did the other main ride, Test Track. Madalyn and I got to be part of the interactive show with 'Crush' the turtle from the Nemo movie, so she was totally beaming that we got to participate.
We spent most of the day in the front of the park and ventured into the back half of the park, but just to Mexico and Norway. This was one of my favorite days because we made it all the way to the Illuminations fireworks show and for the most part, was really relaxing. I think the kids might have actually learned something- at a theme park if you can imagine that. =)
Pics are of the famous Epcot ball at night, Mom in line with the kids for soarin, Julie with Bristol on the tour of the agriculture area, me with the kids at Turtle Talk with Crush, and Bristol with a Nemo character.

And on to Disney World!!

We left South Carolina and went to Orlando to take the kids to Disney World for three days! The first night we got there we got to hang out with our long-time friends Brody and his wife Jessica who now live in the area. They hooked us up with an amazing condo two miles from Disney.
Our first day was spent at the MGM park. We started with Tower of Terror that both Beck and Madalyn rode, then we went over to the Aerosmith Rockin' Roller Coaster - it was awesome. The day was highlighted with the High School Musical pep rally, lunch at Pizza Planet, and meeting the Red Ranger. Madalyn bought an autograph book and was all about getting it filled with signatures. We enjoyed the Beauty and the Beast show and then Madalyn met Remy from the new Pixar movie Ratatioulle and Mr. and Mrs. Incredible.
I loved the picture with the Red Ranger, us at the Muppets 3D movie, Madalyn and the Incredibles, Incredible baby Bristol, me, Maddy, and Jeff in front of the Aerosmith ride, Bristol's faux hawk, him running from the fan at the Indiana Jones stunt show. show.

Vacation Begins!

We took a big family vacation including everyone from the Raymond Ranch, my parents and Cody and Julie. Out trip started by heading to Pumpkintown, South Carolina to visit my Granny Smith for her 87th birthday on July 4th. We enjoyed hanging out with all of the cousins and family. One of the best things of visiting my Granny is the 'bank' at her house. Since she lives in the mountains she's got a really steep hill right in the front yard. It's been a favorite past time to slide down the bank on card board boxes. Since it is the 21st century we upgraded to some sleds. Whoo hoo!
The first pic is of Dad, Uncle James, Uncle Carl, Aunt Mae and Granny, the next of the kids coming down the bank, the second of the twins - Logan and Dalton working the skis, Maddy and Megan getting fancy, and then Uncle Carl, Dad, Maddy and Megan coming down the bank, and then the whole Niederwald crew.