Flash Back Friday - 1936

Bevins Family 1936

Iowa

This is my grandmother's family.  My grandma, Charlotte, is standing in the back on the right side.  She was about 13 in this picture. I inherited her mother's sewing machine (Beulah is the adult standing in the back).  Great grandpa Tom is holding his daughter Lois, in the front.  She died from illness at the age of 2 1/2. My great-grandmother had a total of 10 children, but only 6 lived to adulthood.

Spring Break - Park Clean Up

Wednesday of spring break was low key.  We brought home one of Erin's best friend's from Okinawa, Katie Buck.  Howard is good friends with her father, and I am good friends with her mother.  We were stationed together in Spokane, and again in Okinawa.  This day we went to a local park for a cub scouting activity.  Howie worked while the rest of the kids and I played.

Howie with his good friend, Jacob.

Katie and Erin

Jack...being himself!

Luke is getting to be so fun at the park now that he can explore more on his own.  He's so fun!

Look at my big boy climbing!

I LOVE this picture! He climbed up the tube slide and his expression is just priceless!

Deep in the Heart of Texas...Part 3

Sea World

Thank goodness for the Here's to the Hero's program, otherwise this trip would have been a lot more expensive.  We still had to pay for one kid, but $42 for a family of 6 is AWESOME!  Of course we still had to pay for food, but we didn't cringe every time we fed our kids because it was so cheap to get in.  I am SO thankful for the military programs that businesses offer, it is such a blessing to our family!

The Sea Lion Show

We sat in the splash zone and didn't get a drop on us.

The Dolphin Show

We sat in the splash zone and once again, didn't get a drop on us.

It was my favorite show which featured a clown, trapeze artists, synchronized swimmers, high divers, and the traditional swimming trainers/jumping dolphins.

Shamu Show

It was sad to think that just a year ago this happened, which is why none of the trainers got in the water with the animals. but it was still fun to watch.

We sat in the slash zone again and didn't get wet...we got SOAKED!

The bottom left picture shows just how wet my camera and us got.  The top right is me soaked. The center picture was at the end of the day.  We had a very fun, but exhausting day.

Deep in the Heart of Texas...Part 2

Riverwalk

We enjoyed our stroll along the San Antonio Riverwalk during our spring break trip.  10 years ago (in June) Howard and I were here for his Basic Training graduation.  We ate at "Dick's Last Resort" and that's why we decided to return.  Although if our memory served us better we probably would have skipped it all together.  It's better when you don't have kids and we probably won't go back with them again, but whatever...we had fun (kinda).  You see, Dick's specializes in rude waiters, rowdy patrons, and making fun of each other.  Our kids LOVED their hats and the waiter's antics, and I sure got a kick out of the hot pink MEN'S t-shirt pictured on the bottom left of the collage.  It was very eye catching to see it worn my some of the male waiters.  

Deep in the Heart of Texas...Part 1

We are on Spring Break and since our original plans of visiting California at this time were moved up because of my Mom, we decided to take a trip down south for a few days.  We arrived late Friday night (when I say late, I mean 1am Saturday).  We were able to play Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.  Tuesday was the trip home.  Without further delay...

Our Trip (part 1)

They say everything is BIGGER in Texas!

Some random stranger's pizza.

Sorry it's so grainy, I had to zoom in extra because I took the shot clear across the room.  I didn't want to look like a freak taking pictures of people eating their pizza weird.

We opted for the modestly large pizza, and still had plenty left over. It was SO good.  I highly recommend Big Lou's Pizza in San Antonio.  We were lucky and got there early for lunch on Saturday.  They said wait times get up to 3 hours on busy days.

What would be a trip to San Antonio without a visit to the Alamo?

We were a little board, but we can only blame ourselves for taking 4 kids and expecting them to be interested in something they knew nothing about.  Oh well, at least we tried.

Obligatory family picture...

So we weren't technically supposed to take pictures inside the Alamo.  My flash was off and my camera was hanging on my shoulder.  Can I help it that I "accidentally" pushed a button without looking?  I was very impressed with this shot!  The other "accidents" didn't turn out so well.

As we strolled downtown we saw this and knew Jack would love it.  It would move and roar, it was a wax figure!

Our favorite activity was the Hall of Mirrors.  The lights would change colors and the first time was rather difficult to get through, but very fun!

Here Erin walked into the mirror.  Ouch!

Once we came out of the maze we were greeted with CANDY!  Of course it wasn't free, but we're suckers for sweet things.

Howard had a great time picking out his candy!

Our last stop before we hit the Riverwalk was a service members Christian Society offering A/C, free snacks, drinks, and games. We LOVE free and ended up spending over two hours there.  It was run by elderly couples sharing the Christian message.  Our favorite "missionary" was their pet dog.  Luke LOVED him!  This is just one of the many pictures I took of them loving on each other.  We enjoyed a few games of checkers, chess, and darts.  We also got to add Howard's hometown pin on their maps they had of service members. 

Broken Arm...take three!

The last time she hurt her arm, we thought it was broken, but it wasn't. Although she did have to wear a splint for a few weeks.  Last week she got into a fight with the trampoline...and she lost.  I'm just grateful that Howard was the one who took her to the ER and her doctor's appointment.  She goes back in three weeks to see how it's healing.  She re-injured her last break...the radial head.  I love her glow in the dark flower.