A Morning of Shopping

My mom wanted to take Megan shopping this morning for her birthday gift, so Megan and I met her at the mall ... Limited 2, to be exact. Megan began to browse the many racks of colorful clothes, and soon our arms were filled with shirts, skirts, sweaters, pullovers, and more, so we decided that she had better start trying things on. I was really surprised that Megan chose so many skirts and dresses. For the past year, she has really only wanted to wear jeans and shorts. Maybe we are making the transition into a young lady this summer.

After trying on a few shirts, we quickly realized that she has grown a bit since our last shopping trip, so we had to make a few size adjustments. In the end, she chose a precious dress with a colorful print of red, turquoise, and white with black accents and trim. It is adorable on her. She also chose a precious slightly v-necked white t-shirt with silver crowns embellished on the front and a peachy/pink skort to match. It looks so cute on her, and she loves it almost as much as the dress. My mom purchased these two outfits for her, and I put the rest on hold for me to select from for her gift from us. I will return tomorrow or Monday to make the final selection for her birthday so that it will be "somewhat" of a surprise.

After leaving Limited 2, one of the kiosk guys caught Megan's attention. His kiosk contained flat irons and unique curling irons. So, as I went off to clean my contact lenses, Mom watched Megan while the sales guy began to curl her hair. The first few curls were rather tightly twisted into curls which resembled Shirley Temple curls, but the next few curls were much looser and natural. The iron created a really beautiful wave of curls and made her hair appear shinier.

Megan was SOLD and wanted to buy it on the spot. Mom and I were a less anxious, especially after learning that the iron had a $150.00 price tag. Of course, the guy turned on his "salesman charm" and said that he would give us his BEST deal ... a $20.00 discount. That did not persuade me. Next, he said, "Well! Since your daughter is a student and her birthday is coming up, I will give you the student discount, as well. An additional $10.00 off." I was still not moved by the $120.00 price. Just as we started to walk to the side of the kiosk, he said, "I don't want you to leave without this, so I will do something even MORE special for you. I will throw in the curling iron holder, a $29.99 value, absolutely FREE." Megan was ecstatic, thought this was the deal of the century, and just could not believe that my mom and I were not just handing our money over to this man. We declined his offer, thanked him for sharing the information with us, and began to walk away. He called out to us and offered us one final offer. "$100.00 for you because I like you. That is the best that I can do." Again, we declined and walked away. Although the curls looked great on Megan, I think that her fascination with the iron would be rather short-lived, and she would be frustrated by the amount of time it would take to completely curl her hair. So, I think that it is best that we let this "deal" pass us by.

A Girly Day

I spent the day with my mom and sister doing "girly" things. My sister's birthday is next week, so I arranged a sister for the 4 kids (my two and my sister's two), and my mom, sister, and I set out for a day together. We kicked off our girl day with a trip to SteinMart, my mom's favorite shopping spot. We spent a few hours there, browsing for good deals and trying on a several things. Despite the fact that we tried on at least 15 items each, we each walked out with only a couple of things. But, it was a successful shopping trip. I purchased a blouse for my sister for her birthday and a shirt for my dad for his birthday. (By the way, July is a HUGE birthday month for my family. My brother-in-law's birthday is the 1st, my nephew's the 7th, my dad's the 9th, my sister's the 15th, and Megan's the 16th. Believe it or not, we have more familly b-days in July, but we typically only participate in celebrating the ones I listed. Thank goodness.)

Next, we headed to Maggiano's for lunch. After sharing some terrific zucchini and bread, Stephanie enjoyed some marvelous ravolio, while mom and I each ate the salad special - a crispy chicken strawberry salad. Everything was fabulous.

The movie theater was our next stop. We headed to Cinemark to see Sex and the City. It was the perfect chick-flick to round out our afternoon together.

Our day was terrific! We spent some quality time together, enjoyed some laughs, and had a fabulous time shopping, eating, and visiting. I love the fact that the three of us are not just family. We are friends, confidants, supporters, encouragers, cheerleaders, prayer partners, and more. I can't image my life without them.

Bowling

Our local bowling alley gave the kids cards for one free game of bowling per day throughout the summer. All we have to pay for is our shoes. So, we have been going bowling off and on. My mom took the kids bowling while she was here with them a few weeks ago, and this week, I have taken the kids a couple of times. Yesterday, my sister and nephews joined us, as well. It was a good time.

Although the kids always want to win, I really don't take the bowling too seriously. In fact, the other day, I bowled most of my frames with my cell phone in my left hand and my bowling ball in my right hand, all the while talking to my mom on the phone. The kids got a bit frustrated with me because they could tell that I was not "trying" too hard, but it was a fun hour of entertainment anyway.

The first time that we went bowling this summer, we were not on the "cosmic" side. In other words, the house lights were on on our side of the bowling alley, and there were not neon lights or flashes from the disco ball. So, now, each time that we enter the bowling alley and head for the cashier, Connor is quick to say, "We need to be on the cosmic side." So far, the cashier has been able to honor his request, and therefore, we bowl in the cosmic atmosphere which makes our white shirts and socks really bright, almost glowing, and all of the neon accents on the shoes, walls, tables, etc. are rather vibrant. Bowling in the cosmos seems to really add to the experience for Connor, so I hope that we can continue to luck-out and get on the cosmic side each time.

Megan has been at Police Academy this week. For the past two days, we have picked her up at 3pm and headed for the bowling alley. As soon as she got in the car today, she said, "I don't want to go bowling today. I am too tired." I was afraid that Connor was going to be upset because I noticed that he put on socks and his crocs as we headed out the door to pick-up Megan. I figured that he wore the socks thinking that we were going bowling. But, he was enthralled in his Pokemon game and did not seem to mind that I headed back to the house and not to the bowling alley.

I have not taken pictures during our bowling escapades, but I will try to do so next time. Until then ... enjoy your day and send some comments my way if you have a moment. I would love to hear from you!

Impact Camp

Connor went to camp last week with his cousins Colton & Carson. This was Connor's first camp experience, and I think that he really liked it. Since I was in San Antonio, he spent the night with Aunt Fe Fe, and then Aunt Fe Fe took him to camp. He spent four days at camp where he played basketball, went on scavenger hunts, played putt putt, and learned more about God. He earned two gold medals while at camp ... one for basketball and one for Bible Bowl. When I asked him to name his favorite part about camp, he said, "Putt Putt. Because I won!"

Fe Fe, thanks for telling us about Impact Camp, and thanks for taking Connor. He had a great time at camp, and he really enjoyed spending some extra time with Colton & Carson.

More St. Lucia Pics

Slide show of additional St. Lucia photos ...

While in St. Lucia, we had some sunset photos taken. Here are a few of Blake & I and our traveling group.

Independence Day!

We had a quiet Independence Day at the Richardson House. We slept in, Blake smoked a brisket, we relaxed and swam. Stephanie and the boys came over to eat and swim with us, and Aunt Carol came over for a visit, as well. The kids enjoyed playing basketball and volleyball in the pool with the new set that Blake purchased today. It contains a basketball goal and a net for volleyball and paddle ball. They enjoyed playing all three games, swimming, and jumping on the trampoline. Even Sophie took a little swim today, although I don't think she enjoyed it quite as much as the others.

Scuba Diving in St. Lucia

We went scuba diving several times in St. Lucia. The first day we arrived, we were lucky enough to get on the 10:20am scuba trip. We went to a cove called the Bay of Pigs about 25 minutes off shore. Evidently when the French first arrived in this cove, pigs were scattered around the beach.

Our dive was a reef dive lasting about 45 minutes. The coral was more colorful than Jamaica, but not nearly as colorful as Curacao. There was quite a bit of sea life. We saw many colorful fish, spotted eels, fan coral, and more. It was a very nice dive - plenty to see and enjoy. Over the next few days, we participated in the two tank morning dives. We dove around the Bay or Pigs cove 3 more times. On Monday, we dove a wreck. It was a ship that was sunk 22 or so years ago. It was covered in coral and other plants and inhabited by a variety of fish. Our second dive was along the coast - a wall dive. The dive was very relaxing - drifting along the coast with the current. On this dive, we saw a large octopus hiding in a nook along the wall. It was a light golden brown in color and blended in with the rocks and coral along the wall. I am including some pictures from our diving trips. I hope that you enjoy them.