July Vacation

We just got back from a week in south-central Texas. Our first stop was in Uvalde, where we visited some important Matthews/Griffin family sites. From there we went to Concan to spend the next two days with the entire Griffin tribe. The river looked pretty sad, but the swimming hole at Neal's still provided lots of fun. On Tuesday evening, we left for phase two of the vacation: San Antonio. There we took in the zoo, kiddie park, hotel pool, a few restuarants, Tower of the Americas, Imax theater (Cars 2 in 3D), and the Alamo.


Outside a restuarant in Uvalde.

Morgan looks like he's ready for battle with some river creature...

Morgan loves his cousin Sylvia.

All the kids from Emma on up got their own walking stick...all of which had to be promptly confiscated.

the baby girls...



Viola, loving the water as usual.

I couldn't believe Morgan mustered up the nerve to jump off.

...Since he did it, I had to follow.



This is my favorite! Look at that pose.

Uncle Jimmy & Aunt Aggie (from Jan's side of the family) were passing through, so we met for lunch.

The kids had at least as much fun on the tubes out of the river as they did in it...

Seriously, we're talking hours of fun in a pile of floaties.

A little bit of coloring time







We're looking at the hippos underwater.

Proof that daddy was here...

...and again at the Tower of the Americas.

We've all kind of had it here, plus the kids aren't loving all the pigeons hovering all around.

We killed a little time at the Disney store before the movie.



Unfortunately, the random stranger we selected didn't know how to focus the camera.

Recent Fun

Here's a little photo & video compilation from the past month. We've had a busy summer, and it's going to get crazier from here on.


Here we are enjoying the Griffin nacho tradition on our 2nd night of watching The Fellowship of the Ring.

Emma & Viola are really close...here's Emma reviewing the ABCs with V.

And here they are in action, feeding the baby.

Emma graduated to a booster seat soon after her 4th birthday. It makes the car seem much roomier.

The kids have been doing a lot of swimming, and they usually dry off with a little time on the "relaxing swing" as they call it.

Here we are ready for our 10th anniversary date.

Swim Lessons

We took the kids to the COM center for their first swim lessons. They had a 30 min class M-Th for two weeks. They were both a little bit scared. Emma was especially afraid at first, and spent most of the first lesson clinging to the teacher's neck. After that, she warmed up a little. She ended up passing the first level and Morgan passed three levels. They both had a great time, especially on "pirate day", the last day of class. They got to jump off the diving board and swing on the rope swing. They''ll definitely need a few refreshers courses, so we plan to go for another round in September.


kicking with the dumbell

Morgan learning to float

Emma's toes say it all...she's a little freaked right now!



Morgan refused help and jumped off like he'd been doing it all his life.

Emma had to be dropped off the edge every time...

...but she always came up with a huge grin!

Baby Talk

I got a video sample of V's baby talk yesterday. She sounds a lot like Morgan did at this age. I've tried to capture her praying, but that hasn't worked out so far.

Cuteness Explosion!

I hope you're all ready for an onslaught of cuteness! We braved the 100 degree temps last night to do Emma's portraits at the park. This time Matt took all the shots while I helped with posing a little. Afterwards, we had a picnic and the kids enjoyed some playtime.

Grandparents, we will be sending you the digital files so you can make your own prints. It's going to be a tough decision because they're all pretty adorable, if I do speak from a biased perspective...


She's changed a lot since last year, lost the baby look....





















This is one of my favorites!



We had to include this one...she's a little bit concerned because it's "slippery".











tree hugger!

Emma's Party

On Saturday, we had Emma's birthday party. It was princess themed for the 3rd year in a row, and I'm pretty sure this won't be the last time. This year I bought the cake iced and bordered, so I just had to decorate the top with flowers and princesses. I have to say I was pretty pleased with this compromise. Emma dressed in her Belle costume for the party. We had both sets of grandparents, Aunt Kate & Mercedes, the Smiths, the Turners (our neighbors from a few houses down), and Kate (a new girl at church). Our house was very full!














The bi-annual "couch shot" of all kids in attendance.

One of Emma's new costumes.

Emma's 4th Birthday

Emma is 4 years old today! We woke her up with a "happy birthday" song, had cinnamon toast for breakfast, and let her open her gifts from us & from Grandma Motz. She got a "Miss Weather" set, Cinderella bride doll, princess pajama set, and Minnie Mouse purse. From Grandma she got a bigger pool for the backyard & a mermaid toy to go with it. She is now wearing one of her favorite dresses; and for lunch, she has chosen to go to Double Dave's. It's a good day!




Minnie Mouse purse

Cinderella bride doll

"Miss Weather" dress-up doll

Baby V was a little afraid of all the tearing paper.