Take us out to the ballgame....

The second week in July we headed to Houston to see our cousin Nick play some baseball.  This is his first year playing MLB at the highest level for the whole season, and we were glad they (The Cardinals) were coming to play the Astros in Houston.  The twins were SO excited...they see Nick on TV and know he plays baseball, but it has been awhile since we took them to a live game.  They LOVED it.  They were excited to see Nick, but let's be honest: they might have been a little more excited with the endless snack possibilities offered at the ball park.  By the time we'd left our family had consumed one order of giant ballpark nachos, one huge bucket of popcorn, and two GIGANTIC bowls of Bluebell ice cream served in the 12.95 commemorative plastic batting helmets.  (Okay, I'm guessing on the price, but I'm sure I'm not too far off)  I was excited to get to visit with Casey (my ACTUAL cousin...Nick is just by marriage)  We talked the whole game, and only stopped to pay attention when Nick was batting.  I think the Cardinals won (shows how little I was paying attention) but that is probably just a good guess since the Astros aren't that good.  Nick and Casey live in Magnolia during the off season, and since the allstar break started the day after we got there, they were going to be home for a few days.  After the game, we headed back to Casey's mom's for some relaxation. (It looked a little like this....)

The babies (mine, plus Kate, Casey's little girl) got to run around and play while we visited.  We left the next day so Shawn could get back to work, but it was a fun little two day trip! Here are some more highlights:

Running ahead of us on the way into the park....so excited!

As usual, climbing something and making me wonder where she went....

Longsuffering husband at the game.  In his defense, I think this is right after we polished off the nachos.  That would explain the grumpy look.

Coveting the guy's popcorn in front of her.

Petitioning Popee for ice cream.  Seriously, the kid is smart.  He knows which tree to bark up, and when.  Popee is always good for some ice cream.

It's Nick's turn!  We are all paying attention here!

This is totally unrelated to my family or baseball, but we saw this guy at the gas station on the way from the baseball game to Magnolia.  Hello?  Seriously?  You can see two rolls underneath his black, size 4T crop top.  When editing pictures, I was laughing at the image presets available....Should I edit this photo with "Soft and Dreamy"?  No, not quite appropos.  "Surreal Moment" is more like it.  In the end, I didn't edit it at all.  Nothing can be done to improve this image.  The blur in the foreground is my dash board....I was hunched down like a papparazi trying to get this shot without this dude seeing me.  Because clearly he's the kind of guy who might whup some ass if he saw you photographing him.  Then again, probably not. He didn't bother to pull up his own pants.  

Cale at cousin Brenda's.  So, SO excited about the plastic Barbie jewelry set he found inside.

Playing with cousin Kate.  Notice the blur in the photo....no sitting still for these three.  The situation looked a little like this:

"Hey guys?  Look over here!  Right here!  At my camera!  Now smile....no!  Don't go up the stairs!  Come back!  Sit down!  I mean it, cousin Brenda doesn't want you going upstairs...come back!"

Sweet baby Kate!  Love her!!  We were so excited to get to spend some time with her!!