Lions & Donkeys & Bunnies, oh my!

This past week we took a little vacation to Reno/Lake Tahoe. First we went to Reno for the Safari Club International convention. It's a hunters paradise full of vendors selling their most exotic hunting excursion (think Africa, Asia, Alaska, etc.) My husband, brother & Dad were in heaven! We had fun looking at the cool mounts & beautiful furs :)

Our resort was really cool for the kids. There was a huge arcade, movie theatre, driving range into a pond, sweet shop, etc.

After our safari adventures were done, we began the drive to Lake Tahoe. We stopped off in Virginia City. It's an old mining town and the stereotypical "wild west/gold rush" setting from the 1800's. The kids loved "Stinky" who walks around town all day with his donkey. We even went in a little cafe called "A little bit Cajun" & the owner just moved to the area from Sulphur..what a coincidence!

Next we made it to South Lake Tahoe. When we got there it was pretty warm and no fresh snow on the ground. We skiied the first day and were shedding layers before we made it up the lift. We even saw people skiing in shorts & short sleeves.

We dropped Anna Kate off at ski school fully anticipating a phone call to pick her up before we made it up the lift. However, all morning, despite my incessent checking of my phone & answering any strange number that called me, I never received a distress call. So at lunch, I snuck in past the "no parent allowed" sign to make sure my daughter was still in tact. Not only was she not bruised or distressed, she told me she was having FUn!! Her teacher said she quickly became the leader of the class & was a shining star (proud Mommy moment!) JD & I decided to take a peak for ourselves after lunch. We hiked past the "No visitors beyond this point" sign & hid behind trees to get a glimpse of our snow bunny. She did great! She was whizzing past her classmates & even helping up her friends that fell on their way down. Obviously she gets her talent from her coordinated father & not her mother who decided it would be fun to ski straight into a snow embankment :)

While we were out skiing, Will went with my parents snowmobiling. They said he did great & had a lot of fun!

We woke up the next morning to a blanket of WHITE! We got about 6 inches of snow that night, which made the skiing great! Anna Kate braved the much colder temps & begged to go to round 2 of ski school (we had only planned on her going one day). She advanced through level 2 & is already planning her next ski trip (or maybe Mommy is).

Will & entourage went tubing on our 2nd day of skiing. I haven't seen the pictures, but apparently he thought it was really cool!

Overall, it was a great trip.

It's been a while!

I feel like I've fallen off the face of the blog world! I guess I've been using facebook to post pictures & updates lately, but I do miss my blog. I feel like the blog allows you to share even more details and personal tidbits than I feel comfortable with on facebook.

So since I haven't posted since May, I'll give a recap of what's been going on in the Hankins house. We had a really great summer. It started out with the annual Hankins/Kenny family reunion at The Woodlands Resort. Anna Kate & Will had so much fun with cousins Addison, Gavin & Gaege hanging out by/in the pool for hours, watching movies on the giant outdoor screen, eating lots of junk food & drinking pretty drinks with umbrellas! We wish we got to see our San Antonio cousins more often & are already looking forward to Christmas in Marlin!


The Day we got back was Anna Kate's first ballet recital. She was a butterfly & did a great job (especially considering she missed the rehearsal due to the family reunion).

The following week our church had Vacation Bible School. Our theme was "Jungle Journey" & it was a record attendance this year! Anna Kate did really well staying with her class and Will got to hang out in the nursery while I volunteered with crafts. We are blessed to have a wonderful church family that is full of young families for our children to grow up with.

After VBS, Anna Kate attended Einstein Art Camp with her good friend Sarah. I was pleasently surprised with Anna Kate's creations. She did a great rendition of George Rodrigue's "Blue Dog" as well as a self-portrait that was surprisingly very good. Apparently she got her talent from someone besides her mother!

We wrapped up the month of June with JD & I celebrating 5 years of marriage! This occasion deserves it's own post! My wonderful husband took me on a 10 day celebration to the Carribean sans kids!! It was quite a feat to pull off childcare for that long, but it was a much needed relaxing, rejuvenating, fabulous week!!! Stay tuned for a detailed post about our trip!

After we got back from our trip, I had a minor surgery. I've always had chronic ear infections which has resulted in hearing loss. After a hearing test and visit with Dr. D it was decided that putting tubes in my ears may relieve some of the pressure and help with the hearing. So I joined the host of 2 year olds & had tubes put in my ears!! It seems that the tubes are helping as I do think I am hearing better.

We had a 2nd annual trip with friends to our ranch in Nacogdoches, Texas. This year five families came along for the fun. We had 9 kids 10 & under and they had a ball riding four wheelers, fishing, drinking grapefruit highballs at San Augustine drug store, playing board games, etc. The parents had fun having a chance for the kids to run & play while we got to visit and enjoy adult conversation until 2 am! We are so blessed to have wonderful friends!

Well those are just some of the highlights of our summer. There were plenty of afternoons in the pool, trips to the Snow Cone stand, boating on the river, birthday parties, swimming lessons, blueberry picking & overall Summer Fun!!

Day by Day-Autism Awareness Fun Day

As some of you may know, I joined the Junior League of Lake Charles last spring. My first year in the League is considered your "provisional year." It has consisted of lots of meetings, volunteer activities, but mostly fun with a fabulous group of women. By coincidence, 3 of my book club attorney friends were in my provisional class so it was fun having friends to go through the process with. I made a lot of new friends throughout the year and even have started attending a play group with some of them (look at the post below). Our class was required to produce a "provisional project" and we chose an Autism Awareness Day. It was awesome to see how our project actually impacted parents whose children have already been diagnosed with autism or were still in the diagnosis phase. We received so many accolades that we were able to provide resources and information that they have not been able to find in other places. Overall, I think it was a great success!

Play Group

We have just joined with a few of my friends from Junior League as well as some of their mutual friends in a little Friday morning play group. The kids are mostly around Will's age (not quite 2), but Anna Kate loves "helping" with the younger ones. Every Friday we go somewhere different like park, zoo, Children's Museum, fire station, etc. I took a few pictures at the Children's Museum a couple weeks ago.

Level 2 Gymnast

Saturday Anna Kate competed in the Contraband Classic gymnastics meet. This is her second year competing in the meet. We were so proud to find out she has been promoted to a Level 2 gymnast (she is the youngest one at her gym!) She received a gold medal on bars, silver on vault & beam & a bronze on floor and a bronze medal all around. I don't think she has taken off her medal yet!! She is so proud of it!

Senior Tripping

My Aunt Tracy & I brought my cousin, Lauren to Galveston & Kemah for a few days last week to celebrate her high school graduation. This has become a tradition in my family since Aunt Tracy brought my cousin Cara and me on our senior trips to Galveston as well. We had a delicious dinner at Gaidos (I'm still salivating from the pecan balls- pecans rolled in vanilla ice cream topped with chocolate sauce!), a fabulous spa day at the San Luis Resort (I had the Balinise experience- 1 1/2 hour massage, scrub, soak & lotion application), Rock the Dock in Kemah, Walk along the beach in Galveston. I can home from our adventure with 2 new hermit crab friends. Anna Kate LOVEs hers. HOwever, Will just screams, "It MOOOOOOOOVES!" everytime we show it to him! Poor little guy is not a fan!

A Tea-lightful Day!

Our precious Anna Kate turned 4 on May 11th and we celebrated her milestone with a Mom & Me Birthday Tea. We had it at a little tea house in town. It was so precious to see all of her little friends from school, church and a few cousins come dressed in their prettiest dresses. The girls decorated foam crowns, sipped tea, munched on quiche and tea cakes, dressed up in an assortment of boas, jewels, hats, etc. and had a fun surprise at the end- Horse & Carriage rides around downtown! While I had a lot of hiccups in my party planning (party favors didn't arrive so had to spend the morning on Plan B, Tea house put us in the smaller room & we had a HUGE turnout, etc.) I think it went very well & the girls seemed to have a "Tea-riffic" Time!