Blue Bell Creamery

I have been wanting to tour the Blue Bell ice cream factory since my parents first lived in Houston around 11 years ago.  Guess what?  I finally got my wish.  While on our family reunion/40th anniversary celebration we finally did it.  Never mind the fact that our GPS took us all the way around town before we found the fool place!

After we snagged this nifty picture, we stood in line and got tickets for the tour.  When we realized that our tour was going to start in 30 minutes, we decided there was just enough time to run back to the van and bring back the loaf of bread, peanut butter, jelly, chips, and drinks and eat lunch.  I have never seen a meal for 20 people prepped and eaten that quickly!  Nothing like three or four adults slapping pb&j sandwiches together on their laps and passing them out to hungry kids.  We even managed to get the crust off of certain sandwiches and only PB on some and only jelly on others.

This is my new favorite picture.  I love that little boy and from the looks of it, the feeling is mutual!

Amy showing us how much she likes her "free" ice cream.  I think this means ten times?

I think Jared was feeling jealous of the fact that Eric managed to get two cups of ice cream simply by asking.  We had so many kids (all wearing yellow so I could spot them all) that the scooper just handed them out.  I also managed to get a second scoop.  I told the kids it was because I smiled nicely and asked please and maybe they should try it sometime!

It was a really fun way to spend time with cousins!

Swimming

This summer Jared went on a canoeing trip with the youth he works with.  He wanted to be able to take some pictures, so he bought a water proof camera.

What happens when the Shannon boys combine pool time with a water proof camera?

Hand stand competitions

Under water conversations

Lots of pictures of the kids

How many Shannons can you fit on a float?

Ballerina Keeks

And this one just because I love it.

The Beach

While we were all together for the 40th wedding anniversary celebration, we spent some time at the beach.  Some of the world traveling grown-ups were less than impressed with the brown water and miniature waves.  But the kids!  They were impressed.  Having no other beach to compare Galveston to made it the absolute best.  They couldn't even fathom the idea of being able to see through the water.

It was a lot of fun to splash and jump in the shallow with the little girls.

Tara was in the water the whole time!

Eric liked the sand

Ian hated swallowing salt water and abandoned the water in search of living creatures in the sand.  Does this surprise anyone?  Not at all.

We had a great time hanging out with family.

It was a wonderful time.

Clyde and Linda's 40th Wedding Anniversary Dinner

We enjoyed a weekend together with the Shannon clan and celebrated Linda and Clyde's 40th wedding anniversary. It was a lot of fun.

Linda and Clyde

They did a pretty great job of raising five awesome kids who picked pretty incredible spouses (if I do say so myself!)

Jared and I

Michael and Kate (who we learned are Linda' favorite!)

Brent and Tamara

Mark and Catherine

Kristen and Micah

We had a wonderful time at dinner.  The goo-goo gang was at the end of the table totally happy to be free of the boring grown ups and left (mostly) to their own devices. 

most of the kids

Telling jokes

happily sharing cake

Not so happily sharing lemonade.  Jared doesn't like to share...

Brynlynn will eat from anyone, especially these two.

A great way to end the night.