Earlier this year a co-worker recommended The Hightaway on the Guadalupe as a great place to take the family for the weekend.   After some online research I proposed the idea to the Larsens and Hansens as a long weekend vacation.  Everyone liked the idea, so near the end of April we rented both the Hightaway and the Hightout from the owner, Stephen Hight.

These two houses sit on the bank of the Guadalupe River, north of San Antonio in Center Point, Texas.  The furnished accommodations come fully equipped with canoes, inner tubes, life jackets, bbq grill, fire pit, swing set, rope swing, etc, etc.  The fact that everything needed was already at the house made for a very relaxing vacation.

We spent most of our time on the water, in the canoes, playing on the rope swing, etc.  From campfire s’mores to tubing down the river to throwing a big lizard on Makana, I can safely say that everyone had a great time!

We surprised Makana with this friendly visitor (lizard in the lower-left)

Matt and Jake practicing for their circus act

Families are Forever! (...or... "Our Family Tree")

The shirt says it all

The Incredible Hulk made an appearance

This pretty much sums up our weekend

The property had a great kid's playground on it

Kalani and Olivia posing for the camera

And finally, a video of McKay surprising me and Kalani:

Last night was our ward (Church) talent show, in which all four of us played an important role.

Tia was in charge of the entire show and put in a lot of effort on the logistics, food, scheduling, etc.  She also MC’d the entire evening.

Kalani has been in a kid’s choir for the past year and took the opportunity to showcase some of her talent by singing Deep in the Heart of Texas.

As for me (and Mason), I saw this as a golden opportunity to pass on a tradition to my first born son:  performing Ice Ice Baby.  This was my 4th performance, and I thought it would be good to get Mason up there with me near the end so he could work on his stage presence.

Age 14, Ice Hair in Full Effect

His Eminence

My resume of Vanilla Ice performances now stands as follows:

1. 1992 – My first ever Church Young Mens / Young Womens combined activity (a talent show)
2. 2000 – In Tarbes, France, at yet another Church talent show
3. 2009 – On a cruise with my best friend
4. 2010 – Tomball Ward Talent Show

I would try to say my wife made me do this because she was in charge of the show, but there’s no hiding it… I was born for this.

So without further adieu, here are Kalani and Matt, doing what they do best.

A few homeschool families wanted to go camping for 3 days/2 nights.  I don’t remember saying that I would go, but some how my name ended up on the list saying that I was attending.  So I thought, “Why not, Kalani will have fun and we will make some memories.”   When I told people I was going camping at Lake Livingston I would  say, “I know I am crazy, you don’t need to tell me.”  Yes, I took an almost 11 month old and a 6 year old camping BY MYSELF…Matt had to work.

Kalani LOVED camping.  She talked about it for 2-3 weeks straight.  And whenever she saw the other moms that would be also going to camp she would show/tell them of her excitement.  We took a walk to the lake to figure out where to go fishing.

Kalani tried out fishing…but she pulled out the hook after 2-3 minutes and would try to cast the line again, but it would just get tangled.  Fishing just isn’t her “sport.”

Mason also enjoyed camping.  He LOVED his sister’s camp chair, which didn’t make Kalani very happy.  He LOVED being with the kids and seeing the dogs the other families brought.  He also went on a swing and LOVED that…pure joy!

The best part of camping…sitting around the camp fire and singing, playing games and telling stories.  Almost all of the kids that went camping are also in a homeschool choir.  Here the girls are singing and doing the motions for “Chapel of Love.”

This life is all about making memories good or bad, so I will probably do this again…camping with the kids while Matt is at work.  You don’t need to tell me that I am crazy…I already know that!  But next time I will be sure to bring an air mattress and hopefully Mason will be walking!

Kalani lost her first tooth today.  She bit a carrot about 2-3 weeks ago and that made it loose.  So, while she was playing a video game it came out.  She is very excited for the tooth fairy to come visit her.  I guess Kalani is going to be loosing teeth while Mason gets his teeth in.  So from now on Kalani is going to have a hole in her smile.  And I am sure the hole is just going to get bigger since she has another loose tooth!

Bearded Dragons are famous for their large spikey beards and ability to turn them jet black as a display of dominance, anger, or to attract a female.  Our very own Big Daddy rarely has reason to display his beard, the few times I’ve seen it were when we held him up to a mirror so he could attempt to intimidate the “other dragon” (Kalani says he was protecting his family).  However, today I was giving him a bath, and he either got really mad at me, or wanted to mate.  (lower-left picture below)