Surgery Update

Rach did have her port removed on the 2nd. It's nice to have one less piece of hardware (she still has the shunt and the G-tube)! She'll have to get another one put in at the end of September because we need it for radiation but for now we are enjoying not having it. We don't have to go to the ER for fever right now and she can swim in a public pool! It took her no time at all to recover from the surgery she just couldn't swim for 2 weeks. She bounces right back from anesthesia these days- I think she's used to it!

Rach is starting to like Emily :)

It's taken 5 months but Rachel is finally warming up to Emily. She helps me feed her and she plays with her. These are some of the only pics I've gotten of them together. I'm not sure what Em thinks of being this close to Rachel!

They were laying side by side but Rach jumped up when she saw the camera.

Riverwalk

Saturday night we went to the Riverwalk with Mike's sister Becky her boyfriend Sony and her friends Laura and Philip. The girls liked the boat ride but Rach got hot and tired of sitting the last 10 minutes and she screamed the entire end of the ride- totally embarrassing! There's not much stroller room at the Riverwalk so Em rode in the Bjorn with daddy- she wasn't sure what to think of the view from that high!

This girl loves to jump

Emily is a strong little booger! She can keep her jumperoo going and it's hillarious to watch. I'm going to have to post a movie of it. She tries to jump when we hold her now so she's gotten harder to hold!

Yes, her hair is red! Mike has some red-head genes and it looks like he passed them on to Emily!

Rach had to get a haircut :)

Rachel finally needed a little trim and not because her hair was falling out! Her hair was growing back pretty unevenly so Anna and I took her to a kid's hairdresser and got it trimmed. Anna teased her about having a mullet so it was time to get it cut off! It looks much better!

pre-cut mullet

4th of July

We didn't take a lot of pics on the 4th. The girls had a great day. we hung out with Mike's family and then my family joined us for the fireworks. I'm not sure Em could see much of the fireworks because we were pretty far away. Rachel liked them ok but she was more into dancing to the patriotic music.

Our Cruise

For our 5 year anniversary Mike and I took a much needed vacation! We took a cruise out of Galveston to Progresso and Cozumel, Mexico. It was a relaxing week but a long time to be away from the girls! Cruising is definitely a different way to travel with a lot of down time for relaxation- Mike and I are pretty bad at just relaxing! We had a great time and met some fun people on our ship.

These are dinner pics. We had an assigned table so we got to meet other people. We actually loved the people at our table so it wasn't bad that we were forced to eat with them.

We watched the sunset from the front of the ship leaving Cozumel and this is our sad attempt at a self portrait!

Enjoying the free margarita in Cozumel!

We went on ATV excursion into the jungle to look at Mayan ruins- it was an awesome but very bumpy ride! We were covered in dirt when we were finished. This is our tour guide standing over what was a Mayan grave.

This is our ship, Ecstasy, and another one that went to the same ports we did.

They had bingo every night so we played a few times. All of the elderly women playing several cards at once reminded me of Grandma Dorothy!

In Progresso, the ship was late and our tour to Chichen Itza was cancelled. I was very disappointed because it's the largest archeaological find in South America. We caught a cab and went to the ruins at Dzibilchaltun instead. They were really neat and we learned lots about the Mayans.

Every night we got a new towel animal from the ship steward.

Waiting to leave in Galveston.

The girls' week with Gj, Papa, & Becky

Michael's family kept the girls for the week we were on the cruise. His sister hadn't started working yet so she was around to help his parents. I think we missed the girls more than they missed us because papa and GJ kept them busy. The girls also wore them out! Rachel kept all of her appointments that week so they ran the girls to San Antonio on Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday. We really appreciate all of their help and I know the girls had a great time! Thanks Josts!

This is as close as Rach gets!

Rach is ready to mow!

GJ looks a little worn out!