Rowan

My job is not glamorous and very few people have a clue what I do even after I explain it to them, but most people understand when I tell them I work for an offshore drilling company.  Few perks come along with working for an offshore drilling company, but one fun opportunity is getting to go on one of the drilling rigs.  Not something your average Joe gets a chance to do.  One of the rigs was in the Sabine Pass Yard for some repairs and inspections, so my group took a trip to visit.  Was actually my 3rd time on a rig, but I think that this may be the 1st photo I've taken on one. 

 Group photo on the helideck.  The structure directly behind us is one of the legs on the rig.  Bethany with a mildly crooked hard hat..

Photo from the yard with the rig in the background.  The rig is in the water jacked up about 10' above the water line.  It is a big chunk of steel that can still float somehow.  And in this one my hard hat is really crooked.  Nice.

Orange

 The first Friday of October was a "fall break" for HISD so we decided to make a quick trip to Orange to visit with Granny.  We were all excited for the trip, but Ella and her lack of calendar concept seemed extra exited and asked about the trip daily for a solid 2 weeks.  There were a lot of conversations that went a little something like this
Ella:  "When are we going to Granny's?"
Me:  "Next Friday"
Ella: "Tomorrow?"
Me:  "No, not tomorrow, next Friday"
Ella:  "In two days"
Me:  "Sure, whatever, yes, in two days"
So finally our trip to Orange was here.  Us girls had a great time shopping, park playing and relaxing.  Highlight for me was possibly dinner at Casa Ole!  It was also fun when Ella found the pictures on Granny's coffee table in the living room and we went through a lot of pictures that I had not seen in a long time.  Always a good time in Orange - we love you Granny!

Labor Day Weekend

Bit more rain than we would have liked, but it kept the crowds away a bit which was nice.  Fortunately we got some playtime on the beach and it must be hermit crab season (if there is such a thing!) because there were tons of them.  Michael collected a couple and then taught Addison how to feel for them in the water and pick them up.  Before long we had quite the crab collection.  The weather was making the currents really strong so there wasn't a lot of water play so the crabs were quite the source of entertainment!  Here are the girls and their crab friends

Not sure when we'll get back to the beach and it is a bit of a bummer that we didn't make it down more this summer, but this was quite the summer of travel for the Wolf family and we still had tons of fun. 

First Day of 2nd Grade

Kolter Elementary - Ms. Reardon's Class

First Day of Pre-K

And last first day at Bertha Alyce! Ella is in the owl's class with Ms. Laura and Mr. James.

Denson History

We made a stop by Great Grandma Brewster's house in Meridian, MS on our way back home. There were people sitting on the front porch so we felt a little funny taking too many pics and lingering but we can now say we have seen it at least. Little bit of family history for the record books.

Uncle Jack

On Wednesday Michael made a passing comment about the Jack Daniel's distillery. A bit of internet research later and next thing you know, our first destination on Thursday is Lynchburg, TN.  We now know a whole lot more about whiskey making, very cool tour and impressive facility.  Girls did remarkably well on the tour. They did remarkably well on all of the tours we did this week, we actually got compliments from other people, so it isn't just us being biased!!  

Here are the girls and Jack

Ella being silly

Michael and his girls in front on a whiskey barrel at the actual Jack Daniel's facility.  We also learned more of the history of the Jack Daniel's barrels we have as planters in our back yard. Too bad ours don't have the brand on them like this one.

Final Day In Nashville

We had a nice relaxing final day in Nashville. We were excited to have Denise and Connie join us at Belle Meade   Plantation. We learned about the horse farm and saw some cool old buildings, including a pretty swanky mansion. Then had a nice lunch at the plantation followed by a great family dinner to end the visit.

The family on the front porch of the mansion

The girls relaxing with Aunt Connie

Yummy Italian family dinner

We can't thank Denise, Steve and Aunt Connie for the generous hospitality. We had a wonderful visit and loved spending time with family.  I am pretty sure that the girls will continue to talk about Cousin Laura for a very long time!

Opryland

Today was all about the Opry!

The Grand Old Opry

Backstage in Dressing Room #1

Lots of picture with guitar opportunities here in Nashville.

Standing on stage in "The Circle"

Future Opry comedy act stars

Fun boat ride on the General Jackson and great lunchtime entertainment. Think it was more country music than the girls had ever heard!

And we ended the day with a visit to the Gaylord Opryland Resort and here are the girls horsin' around with some random "art" at the resort.  We also took a little boat ride around the little river and watched a fountain show to music. The fountain show was like the little baby sister to the show at the Belagio in Vegas. Or maybe more like a distant cousin.

Downtown Nashville

We spent most of the time at the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum.  Although we are not really into country music, I think that the visit was enjoyed by the whole family.  The museum was primarily made up of artists' guitars or other musical instruments and outfits from the beginning of country to modern day artists.  I think that the girls enjoyed looking at the instruments and when we got to the sparkly more current artists' outfits, that was a bit hit.  Taylor Swift had a rhinestone guitar on display that Ella really liked.  

We decided to take the tour of RCA Studio B which was really neat.  It was an old timey recording studio used by a lot of the country greats and of course Elvis.  Elvis is everywhere in Tennessee, even outside of Memphis.  It was a fun experience but the girls got tired of standing so they decided to share a seat next to one of the old recording devices.  A super cute photo op!

Addy is standing in front of one of the mics and podiums used by a lot of the old country stars when they were in the recording studio. 

Broadway is the main drag in Nashville full of honky-tonk bars and clubs, restaurants and boot shops.  There were some really tall boots and this is Ella standing next to a pair that was half as tall as she was.  The girls liked to go around the story and say which ones were their favorite. 

We visited the Pawn Star's place in Vegas, so we couldn't miss American Pickers Nashville Store.  No major purchases, other than an Antique Archaeology hat.  

We met up for dinner to celebrate cousin Laura's birthday.  Unfortunately we didn't get a picture when Laura was around, but the girls really enjoyed being able to celebrate with her.  Here are the girls with Aunt Connie at her house before dinner. 

Memphis

The first half of the day started with a car ride and 30 of Elvis' top hits to get everyone ready for Graceland. Not sure the music was a huge hit with the Wolf family, but Graceland was certainly worth the stop. It was quite a throwback to the 70's. The green shag carpet in the Jungle Room brought back memories of my childhood.

The girls seemed to enjoy the planes and the pink cars that Elvis had. I think they liked the mansion tour as much as any 4 and 7 year old would. 

Standing by the bed in Elvis' plane.  

Big plane!  It isn't very often that you get to walk around underneath a plane. 

Elvis' pink jeep. 

Elvis' front porch. 

The girls hangin' in Elvis' backyard. 

Then we made our first trip to a Triple D "dive". We thank Guy and the Food Nerwork for taking us to Uncle Lou's fried chicken. I know we would have not stopped there on our own!

Time to get to the final destination. Nashville here we come!

Family Vacation Day 1

Lots of quality car time. We had lunch at Wendy's for the 3rd time in about 3 weeks which is a record. As a result of our frequent Wendy's visits, it became Ella's #1 request when it came to lunch options.  Except she calls it Dorothy's.  Took us a while to figure out what in the world she was talking about - we immediately went to Wizard of Oz and thought maybe she was thinking we were in Kansas.  Nope, she just likes Wendy's, I think because of the good kids meal prizes and Frosty's. 

 Today we stood in Texas and Arkansas at the same time.

 Walked across a big dam bridge. 

And had our dinner delivered to our table by a train at the All Aboard Cafe in Little Rock. Ella is looking up at the train that is coming to deliver our food.

Lakehouse Weekend 2014

A fabulous time was had by old and new friends!  It is so fun how all of the kids love to hang out together now. 

 Water in the lake is 20+ feet below "normal", so the water is a bit murky by the dock.  The girls don't care though!

 Ella and Ainsley holding hands jumping off the dock!

 Addy continued to love the water sports - tubing, kids style surfing (she almost got up to standing), and riding the jet ski.  But this year was a breakthrough trip for Ella, she rode the tube a lot with Michael or me, but then she rode by herself the last day.  She also rode the jet ski with us.  I expect her to be unstoppable next year!

 Cute kids!

Good times with great friends!

4th of July 2014

 Check out the post from 4th of July 2013 to see how much they have grown! 

 So much fun having Granddad and Meme come play for the weekend.

Wouldn't be the 4th without fireworks.  Ella was excited to have Meme to hang out with her inside this year!

 Chocolate s'mores faces

Not long after her first trip into the water, Addy was talking non stop with another kid.  We had no idea who he was and figured she got very social all of a sudden and had made a new friend.  Turns out it is a boy in the same grade at her school.  His family has a house in the same beach neighborhood.  I am not sure how much they hung out during school, but they are BFFs now and had a blast playing with each other over the weekend. 

Happy Birthday Michael!

Horseshoe Bay Weekend

While the girls were playing with Granny, Jean, Tom and Betsy, Michael and I were playing with friends at Lauren's wedding in Horseshoe Bay.  Such a fun weekend catching up with everyone!

LOVED hanging out with my girls!

Happy Birthday Granny!

I am sad that we missed the fiesta, but I know that the girls had a blast celebrating Granny's 91st birthday with her! 

Circus Camp

Circus camp is definitely the highlight of Addy's summer!  She was super excited when she got assigned to the skate performance - it was amazing how much she learned in only about 10 hours of practice. 

No children were harmed but this picture sure makes it look a bit like she was being strangled.  This was by far her favorite part of the act!

Really incredible stuff, not only were the kids working at it, but the coaches doing the tricks with the kids were fantastic.