Horse Camp

She definitely takes after me! Kate is in love with horses...any color, any size! She would be thrilled to have one, sleep with one, feed one, ride one, smell one! Yup, that's my girl!

In lieu of buying her a horse, ugh-umm...I signed Kate up for a week of Horse Camp. Ms. Kathleen runs a pretty tight ship at Blarney Stone Stables! She give her individual attention to a very small group of campers and instructs them on everything from grooming, feeding, leading, riding, patience, and temperament of horses. Kate would attend on a weekly basis if allowed.

Meet Shorty, Kate's horse for the week...oh, and he is anything but short!

The first hour of the morning included learning tools and how to groom and prepare the horses to be ridden. The second hour was spent in the arena practicing the basics. On this particular day, they rode bareback. Both English & Western is offered. As you can see, they were not "actually" bareback but on a blanket only...a bit easier on the hinny! Some assistance was needed to mount...

...cuz like I said, Shorty is not short...at least to a 10 year old.

Toes up! The one thing that is the biggest struggle for Kate! However, Ms. Kathleen said she had good form otherwise.

They even learned to emergency dismount!

Kate would do this every day if she could...did I already mention that?

Yup, she is in love!

Then the last hour was all about cooling off, cleaning up and letting Shorty get some rest.

Yup...in love!

Who wouldn't love a face like THAT?

Thank you Ms. Kathleen for a great week!

We will definitely be seeing you again real soon!

...and He Is Off

AIT wrapped up for Travis the end of May. He is officially a Dental Specialist in the US Army.

Travis and one of his instructors.

I gladly picked Travis up from Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio to bring him home for 24 days of leave.

This was a precious time spent together for all of us. We did have a few folks out to say farewell before he shipped out to South Korea where he will be stationed at the DMZ between North and South Korea. He is stationed there for at least a year.

Aunt Lori came all the way from Austin

Aunt Vickie & Kyle & Eric celebrate with us

Meemaw & Grandpa

Uncle Kyle came from San Angelo

The gang from Amarillo

Mimi & Granddaddy from Arlington

Uncle Jamie, Aunt Amy and cousins Jesse & Kylee

...so now he has left! In my own private time, I will shed the tears that flow from being a momma who is far away from her baby. The rest of the days will be filled with praise for Skype and cell phones!! I am so excited for Travis and this new adventure. I am also extremely grateful that God has provided such opportunity for Travis. 

I. AM. BLESSED...by the fact that Travis is able to take on the challenges before him!

Double Digits for Katiebug

The day arrived...April 8, 2015!

No longer a "little kid"...officially a "big kid" with the big One Zero!

As usual, Kate brought in the big 10 with lots of smiles & friends.

A roller skating party this year!

Cupcakes! Laughs! Bumps-n-bruises! Just plain ole fun!

Army Boot Camp for Travis

On January 12, 2015, Travis Dowty shipped out and arrived at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma for Army Boot Camp. He enlisted in the prior November and accepted the position of Dental Specialist. After 10 long weeks and lots of letters, we arrived to watch him graduate with his battery.

March 26th & 27th were our 2 days together. Thursday was spent just hanging out, eating a couple good meals, touring the Field Artillery Museum at Ft. Sill and lots of visiting. 

Uncle Jamie and Aunt Amy

On graduation Friday, the ceremony started out the day and we finished it off with a steak dinner and lots more visiting. There just didn't seem to be enough time to hear it all and get caught up. Before we knew it, Saturday morning arrived and Travis was put on a bus for AIT at Fort Sam Houston in SanAntonio, Texas where he will spend 8 weeks learning his job. We are looking forward to the few weeks of leave he will have between AIT and his first assignment. 

The Gang from Amarillo

Aunt Vickie

Meemaw

MiMi & Granddaddy

Spring Break 2015

This year, we gave Jack & Kate a little...okay, a BIG surprise for Spring Break! After talking about taking a road trip thru DFW metroplex and on to east Texas and down south for the week, the evening we headed out we stopped on the side if I-20 to stretch and said... your gonna need those! 

A little history: Terry and I started dating when Kate was 4 years old. In "breaking the ice" with her they used to talk about Disney World because she, like most little girls, really wanted to go to Disney World. During those times, Terry promised he would take her some day! That day arrived...

The next morning, we flew out of Dallas for Orlando.

We arrived at our resort and got settled...

...and immediately checked out Downtown Disney for the evening.

Lego store 

Much to our surprise, Downtown Disney was a lot bigger than we initially thought at this point. We would not discover this until we returned later on in the week. None the less, the whole "we are here" was enough to sustain us through dinner and a HUGE ice cream from Ghirardelli's Ice Cream Shoppe. Our first park-day would be spent at Animal Kingdom.

Besides Chip & Dale, we saw lots of live animals on the Safari tour.

Say HI to Pluto!

We had 3 fast passes at each park, each day. We mostly looked forward to Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom. It's a pretty good size, fast roller coaster, which all of us loved! It is in the background above.

There was only ONE princess Kate was truly interested in seeing on this trip...Belle from Beauty and the Beast. I made reservations weeks in advance to eat with Belle, and some other princesses, on our first full day.

Beside some great food, Kate was tickled to visit with and take pictures with Belle that evening. Daddy & Jack were a little too big for their britches and discovered that Cinderella was not easily discouraged.

They found themselves in a picture, with a princess...and still managed to have smiles!

Although Kate has never really been into the "princess" thing, she had a blast and could have hung out with them longer, I do believe.

The next day took us to Hollywood Studios.

From Indiana Jones stunt show to Toy Story to Beauty & the Beast show to Tower of Terror, this was our favorite park of all. 

Not because of those things, although we enjoyed them all, but mainly because of ONE GREAT ROLLER COASTER...Aerosmith's Rockin Roller Coaster!

If you don't like fast, dark, fast, loud, fast rides, this may not be for you! The take off does something that pulls your tongue into your stomach and gives you the feeling of tingle's all over. Did I mention it is FAST? Super exciting and fun for this entire crew!

After day 2, we realized we were all kind of tired! Day 3 was Epcot and we cherished the fact that rides were minimal, shopping was lots...

In honor of Jack's favorite Disney movie when he was younger, we had to snap a picture with Bambi and Thumper.

...therefore we retired to the resort mid afternoon to refresh for days 4 & 5.

Even there, we had great fun! 

The pool had a perfect temperature. 

That night, we ate dinner by the pool while watching an outdoor movie...Disney, of course! 

In all of his years, Jack has always been a true boy. Not surprisingly, catching lizards and frogs is still one of his favorite things to do. He loved the fact that they were everywhere he turned. I did not love the fact that he still thinks it is funny to put them in my bed! 

Day 4 was spent entirely at the Magic Kingdom!

We rode mostly the BIG rides and a few smaller ones...Peter Pan & It's a Small World to Haunted Mansion, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Space Mountain & Splash Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean. 

We also climbed the Swiss Family Treehouse!

Of course, we ate some sweet treats too...

And rode the train...

...twice...

And Kate got a little something to take home...

Good thing because on the bus rides to the next park or back to the resort, it made for a good pillow for napping.

Day 5 was split up between Magic Kingdom and then back to Hollywood Studios where we squeezed in as many rides on the Rockin Roller Coaster as we could. The trip would not have been complete with seeing the night parade and fireworks surrounding the castle.

The trip would not have been complete without seeing the night parade and fireworks surrounding the castle. If you ask Kate, no doubt she will tell you: BEST VACATION EVER!!