Follow the yellow brick road

I took the girls to see Wizard of Oz on the big screen at the Orpheum last night. Anna has seen the movie once but this was a premiere for Caroline. Both had seen the play at Harding this spring, but until you see the classic on the big screen you just have not seen The Wizard of Oz. The girls took pictures with the witches in the lobby of the theatre before the show. Caroline loved it so much she wanted to "play" Wizard of Oz all day on Saturday. They made a witch costume for Caroline and ruby slippers for Anna. Such a classic and such fun!

Visit from the cousins

My nephews Blake and Drew were up from Dallas for the week and the girls loved having them in town. They spent Saturday through mid-day Wednesday with mom and then headed over to Dad's until Saturday morning. Sunday afternoon was swimming fun and then we took the kids on Monday to the Botanic Gardens "My Big Backyard." It has become a favorite for the Zyrieks. It was such a hot day that we did not stay as long as we could have but luckily the "rainstorm" that happens every 30 minutes there helped cool off the kids a bit. On Tuesday we made the trip downtown to the Memphis Fire Museum. This was a new adventure for us and the kids all really liked it. There was quite a bit to learn and do and we enjoyed it, especially the air conditioning! We really wished they lived closer but cherish the time they spend here with us.

blake and anna at the pool
the cousins at my big backyard

drew and caroline putting out fires

anna enjoying the fire museum

all the cousins flexing their muscles by the big red fire truck

Small Fry Triathlon

Caroline participated in the Germantown Small Fry Triathlon on Saturday and she had so much fun! The event was sponsored by the Germantown Parks and Recreation Department. For the $5 entry fee, Caroline got a race t-shirt, race number (her personal favorite part) and a goody bag with all sorts of fun treats. Caroline was ready for the race (not really a race) to begin. The kids were put in groups of 5 and then rode their bikes and trikes first, then upon dismount and removal of their helmets, ran in the parking lot and grass and then finally ran through the sprinklers for the "swim" part of the triathlon and were given their 1st place medal. Caroline LOVED it. She was proud of herself for completing the event and receiving a medal. Of course, no race is complete without a stop by the post-race refreshments of juice boxes and fruit snacks. Anna was really wishing she was out there but she was no qualified due to the age requirement of 2-6 years old. We have Anna registered for a triathlon later this summer and hope she enjoys it just as much.

all geared up and ready for the start!

so proud of her race number....just like daddy she said

running with all her heart

proud of her medal!!

Rocky Mountain High

Gary and I try annually to take a couples only trip.....to refresh, recharge and to reconnect. This year we kept running into obstacles to getting our trip booked. We really did not have a very busy summer planned, however, our weekends had lots going on. Finally just a few weeks ago we booked a trip to Colorado Springs, Colorado. With a random google search I found the Broadmoor Hotel that looked very nice with great fitness facilities, great choices in food and of course views of the mountains!

We were hoping for cooler temps but of course we landed during a rare heat wave! The temperatures were in the low 90's but the good news was that the morning temperatures were in the low 60's. We had a wrap around balcony on our hotel room that allowed us to really enjoy the views and the weather.

We hiked on Saturday, biked on Sunday after a yummy brunch and took in a tour of the Olympic training center. We had plenty of time for sleeping in, reading books, exercise, great food and loved not being on a schedule. The trip was definitely needed and we had a really, really good time.

view from our room....cheyenne mountain
the broadmoor hotel

awesome dinner on saturday night

hiking up to 6,700 feet!

on the podium at the olympic training center

How did she do that??

We took the girls down to the Orpheum last night to see Mary Poppins on the big screen as part of the Summer Movie Series. Anna and I have seen the movie but this was the first time for Gary and Caroline. We ended up meeting lots of family there and took up the whole row. caroline sat with me for a while and was asking questions non-stop. She was really amazed by all the cool things that Mary Poppins could do. She wanted to know if she could slide down the bannister or if she could snap and her room would be clean! It truly was fun. We even got a picture of the girls with Mary Poppins at the beginning of the night! One suggestion to the Orpheum (even though they had a matinee showing of the movie yesterday) is to start the kids movies earlier. A 7:15 start time really means 7:45 when you include the organ player, the trivia contest and the previews of EVERY single show coming up in the broadway series. Good advertising but makes for restless kids.

the girls with "mary poppins" in the lobby at the orpheum before the movie started. afterwards caroline said next time she hopes she wears the white dress from the movie because it is prettier!

Great Wolf -July 4th trip, part 1

We loaded up and headed out to Dallas on Friday afternoon after Anna's Camp Invention Inventor's Showcase. We knew we would be in late but wanted to get on the road anyway. Thanks West Memphis, Arkansas for continuing to have AWFUL construction (going down from three lanes to one lane) for about 5 miles after we exited the bridge from Memphis. This literally cost us 45-60 minutes. Lovely way to start the trip. We ended up not eating dinner until 8pm that night but thanks to games and DVDs in the car and lots of good snacks that I packed we all survived. We ended up arriving in Dallas around 11pm on Friday night. Kids were asleep in the car and never really woke up which was great. Saturday was full of fun things for sure.

Saturday started the Tour de France....a FAVORITE in our home. The cyclists that Gary cared most about were at the end of the prologue so we waited until they were done and then headed out to Great Wolf Lodge. This is a place I was not famliar with until my brother suggested we go while in Dallas. It is located near the Dallas/Fort Worth airport in Grapevine, TX. It is a resort of types with an indoor and outdoor water park. You have to stay on the property to use the water park (of course my sister, sister-in-law and I are such crooks we were trying to determine if we kept our wristbands on if we could get back in at a later date!). We arrived at 1:30pm and by 2pm had it all figured out and were in the water. Of course Anna, tall giant that she is, measuring almost 53 inches could ride anything there. Jennifer's twins (lucky ducks!!) and Blake were tall enough for everything but the two largest slides and that left Caroline and Drew (each 1 inch too short) and Henry (many inches too short) to the smaller slides. All of the kids (and grown up kids, I might add) had a blast. I cannot even remember the last time I was at a full blown water park. We were remembering Adventure River in Memphis growing up but that has been since high school.

We spent the night after a full afternoon of water activities and tired faces, ate plenty of pizza and headed off to bed. The next morning as Gary and I were packing up the car and the kids were behind in the hotel room with their cousins we decided to sneak in a quick ride on the Torndao Ride. It was insane with a huge drop in the dark. We were one of the first ones on that morning and had very little wait. We enjoyed a good day on Saturday as well. Kids were getting tired by mid-afternoon so we headed back to my brother's house. Enjoyed some fajitas for dinner and noticed that the parents were WAY more tired than the kids.

Highly recommend Great Wolf Lodge. Lots to do but cannot imagine staying more than 1 or 2 nights. We heard of people going for a week....have these people heard of Disney World? It costs about the same if you stay that long!!! Many locations across the country but none really close to where we live, so definitely a treat!

gary with caroline after one of her MANY trips down the smaller water slides....FEARLESS.

shooting the water pistols, probably at perfect strangers

anna with me after going on one of the big slides....she was super brave and went on every single thing multiple times. she was definitely up for the challenge.


the whole crew
gary and anna in a double float on one of the outdoor slides

external view of the "torndao" slide that starts and ends indoors but takes a trip outside as well. very crazy ride with a large drop in the DARK!

Camp Invention

Anna attended Camp Invention this week hosted at her school. It was a week of very creative and inventive fun. The kids each had to bring an old electronic item to "take apart" and understand the inner workings of this item. Being the computer geek household, Anna took an old hard drive. The kids also had to brings lots of recyled materials to use throughout the week. On Friday the camp hosted the "inventors showcase" and we got to walk through what a day was like for her. She showed us her invention which was a "CD Checker" that made sure that CD's worked and were not scratched and cleaned them if they were scratched. She got a "mock patent" for her invention. She used the old hard drive to make this invention. She also showed us her robot that actually walked around. So awesome to see the spark in her face when she showed us how it worked. She learned so much this week and is already ready for next year. Love that camp for sure!!

anna's robot that could walk around
anna's invention

Fish Funeral

Anna got her first beta fish for Christmas 2008....Sassy she was named. She was a great fish. She had been slowing down lately and her fins were looking a little sad. While packing for our July 4th trip to Dallas, I noticed sad Sassy, upside down in the fish bowl at the bottom and completely void of color. I texted Gary who was still at work and asked how we should break the news. When Gary arrived home we sat Anna down and Gary told her that Sassy had died. Immediately the girls wanted to go and look at her. Anna was a little sad but when given the choice of how to "bury" Sassy, she chose a good old fashioned burial in the backyard. Caroline was trying to feed her because she said she was just hungry but we tried to explain it without being too graphic. Anna wrote a note or eulogy for Sassy and we found a paper clip box to bury her in. Anna said a few words and then we all said goodbye. We promised to get another fish upon returning from Texas. I think Caroline is very concerned about whether Sassy is in heaven or not and whether she is happy now or not. Sweet girl. This honestly has been a major conversation topic of Caroline's (heaven and whether people and/or animals return from heaven once they are there) for about 2-3 months. Rest in peace, Sassy.

anna's note to sassy: "I loved Sassy so much. I am going to miss her. She was always smiling at me. I cared for her"


gary digging the grave

anna reading her note to sassy

finishing touches