A belated Happy Christmas to everyone we know and love!

Trip to a Fort and Pioneer Museum

This week we went to Fort Martin Scott. It was very windy, but the kids enjoyed exploring the old buildings and reading about the old fort which was more like at outpost. With lots of old log cabins where the soldiers used to stay.

Here is Alan and Jade on the ruins of one of the buildings. It was quite interesting how they established the fort and survived out in the wilderness on the frontier.

On the same day we also went to the pioneer museum in Fredericksburg. They had many old buildings and neat displays. They had an old fashioned one room school house which the kids stayed at for quite a while, as it looked like something right out "Little house on the Prairie".

Here is Kenny and Ashley next to a display of a cowhide frontier men's outfit. They had a lot of interesting stuff about life in rural Texas in the late 1800.

More interesting things that Kenny found.

This was a little cabin that was "found" in the middle of a much larger old house. Apparently they had built on to it and added rooms until the original cabin was "lost" and only when they tore down the house did they find the old cabin in the middle of the old house. So they restored it. They kids thought that was pretty cool.

LBJ Ranch and Museum Visit

We took the kids to the Lyndon B Johnson state park last week. They had a great time! The park features the LBJ ranch and nice picnic areas and a living history farm. All for free. Here is a pic of the kids next to some of the cars that Lyndon B. Johnson used to drive when he was president. http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/lyndon_b_johnson/

Here is a picture of the farm. Everything was as authentic as they could make it and was exactly as an early 1900 fully functional farm would have been in rural Texas. Water was pumped by a windmill, they grew, butchered and cooked all their own food on a wood stove. etc. They didn't have any electricity or gas.

Here we are with one of the volunteers who worked there in time period clothing.

Here is the lady giving an explanation on how they preserved the things they grow on the farm.

Here is an old fashioned milk separator

The kids collected the eggs from the hen house, which they though was really cool. Over all they had alot of fun at the LBJ park and ranch. There was alot they saw that we didn't get to record but at least these are the high lights.

Happy birthday Alan. 7 Yrs old

This weeks big event is that Alan turned 7. We had a fun birthday in the park with our friends. It was a bit cold and windy but the kids had lots of fun. Alan had wanted his birthday with just Mommy and Daddy and the baby. but in the end agreed to have Kenny, Ashy, Jade and Adrian there too.

Leila made a beautiful cake and decorated it with a little Alan figure boy, which was made out of frosting. it came out looking pretty good.

Kayaking at the Boerne lake

here are a couple of pictures of the boys out kayaking. They had a lot of fun and were learning how to get the hang of it. We have since gotten two kayaks and more life vests. And the boys sure enjoy going out on the lake. plus its good coordination. Enjoy

Tract & Treating

Here are some pics of Ashy and Jade passing out tracts on Halloween in Boerne, which by the way is a really cute little Texas town about 5 minutes from where we live. The girls dressed up for the occasion and passed out salvation tracks to the different people they met.

Ashley really enjoyed herself and explained to each person she met all about her little bug outfit. She likes to meet new people and is very outgoing.

The other day we went to pick up a wrought iron candle stick for our living room which someone was donating. Ashy offered to sing "Away in the manager" to the lady at her front gate. The lady happily agreed and Ashy stood there and sang her carol from start to finish. To say the least we were all quite impressed.

Ashley and her friend Jade showing off the salvation tracks they passed out, and their cute little outfits that were donated to us.

Here's a recent Jolynn pic, so you can see how much she is growing.

National Museum of the Pacific War

In Fredericksburg, a town pretty close to Boerne, they have an awesome museum and we were able to take the kids there recently. It's called the National museum of the Pacific war and it started with Pearl Harbor and went through the US's involvemnt in WW2 in the Pacific.

Admiral Nimitz, who was the commander in cheif of the US navy during WW 2 was from Fredericksburg and the museum is in his family house. The kids loved it and were so impressed by how many real artifacts they had at the museum.

Kenny, Alan and Ashley in the Japanese Garden of Peace, a gift from the people of Japan to the US people and Admiral Nimitz after the war.

One of the shells of a "fat boy", an atomic bomb like the one dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. This would have been one of the third or fourth bombs dropped had the Japanese not surrendered.

Inside a Q hut fitted out as a medical facility.

Having a tour of the combat zone.

This was a real PT boat, a restored boat that saw action during the war.

An audio visual show, part of the museum tour.

Some of the neat displays.

The boys loved this. It's a real B29 bomber plane.

Another favorite, this was a real Japanese midget submarine. During the attack on Pearl Harbor the Japanese brought five midget submarines on the backs of big submarines and sent them into the harbor. This was one of those five and was displayed as if it were riding on a Japanese submarine.

They had really put a lot into making the museum displays as authentic as possible with paintings on the walls, sounds, lights, etc. very fun and exciting for the kids. They went through it so fast as they couldn't wait to see what was around the next corner.

http://www.nimitz-museum.org/index.htm

Ashley's first Ballet class

This week Ashley and her friend Jade went to their first ballet class. They were both so cute!

Visit to the fire station

This Sunday's outing included a visit and tour of the fire station. The firemen were really sweet and took the kids around for an hour and a half, talking to them and explaining everything. It was very educational, the boys asked lots of questions and they all loved it!

Birthday Party Fun!

Happy birthday Kenny and Ashley!

I can't believe Kenny is 9 already! He's so tall and handsome and such a smart and talented boy! We love you Kenny! Thank you for being our awesome son!


And Ashley is our funny, monkey princess girl! 4 years old and so full of wise observations, funny sayings and drama! Happy birthday Ashley! We love you!

We try to take the kids out every Sunday to do some witnessing along with an excursion to some fun or educational place. For the kids witnessing last weekend we went to a senior citizens home. They passed out tracts and gave hugs and talked to the sweet people there. They were an instant hit and very bold and talkative.

Alvin and the chip monks

The boys recently saw the kids movie Alvin and the chip monks and they really liked it. So much so they made some instruments and were singing the theme song through out family day. So we made a VDO clip of it. Here it is.

Family day at the Boerne lake.