Our 4th of July

We headed up to San Marcos (Dwaine's old stompin' grounds in college) for the July 4th holiday. Alli has been wanting to see fireworks for the last couple of months, so Dwaine and I thought it would be fun to take the kids up to San Marcos for the town celebration.

We decided to make a full day out of it and take the kids to Wonder World for some added fun. Wonder World is a little amusement park with a cave tour and a train ride through a petting zoo. After discovering that the cave tour is an hour and a half long, we opted out of that and just took the train ride.

We knew it would be cheesy but figured the kids would love it anyway. And, we were right. It was very cheesy- think 70's style amusement park- but the kids still had lots of fun...

Waiting for the train. TJ was playing peek-a-boo behind the bench. The boy can't sit still.
Here it comes...
And off we go
little bags of food in hand ready to feed those animals.
As we passed under the waterfall at the entrance to the tunnel, TJ ducked down really quickly and then slowly looked up to make sure all was OK. He stayed down on his belly until we made it through the tunnel, though.

So there were deer, peacocks, turkey, llama, emu and a few other caged animals. By no means the biggest or most interesting animal park we have ever taken a ride through, but Alli loved feeding those deer anyway. That is until one of them took the bag right out of her hand and swallowed it whole. We replaced it with TJ's bag 'cause he was keeping a safe distance from the animals only to have it snatched out of her hand as well (I hope wax paper bags aren't bad for deer).
Then it was off to meet Grandma and Pop after we killed some time at the awesome city park playground. We had an early dinner at Grins (yum!) and then headed to the river park for the festivities...

There was a bouncy house, bubbles, games, a super fun train ride (2 in one day- wow)...
and of course cotton candy! Yum again!
We headed over to Sewell park after Grandma and Pop left.
Dwaine and Alli did a little more swimming. Dwaine used to take frequent dips in the San Marcos river at this very location in his college days. I'm guessing that he never imagined that 10+ yrs later, he would be taking his daughter for a swim in the same place.
We had 2 hours to kill before the fireworks show. I was really hoping that the kids would lay on the blanket with us and rest a little as they hadn't napped at all. NO SUCH LUCK! They were all over the place and Dwaine and I did our best to keep them under control, but it got a little hairy after their snacks and drinks ran out. Let's just say my head is still a little sore from the sippy cup to the head- from TJ's hand of course (although I do think it was an accident- not the throwing part but the part where it hit my head). Here they are hamming it up while we are all waiting for the fireworks that Alli has been asking about.
Well, 2 firework explosions into it and TJ is on his belly thumb firmly in his mouth and Alli is crying saying she doesn't like fireworks and she wants to go home...
So, here we are. TJ was sound asleep by the end of the show- the finale however woke him out of his slumber in fear. We were at least able to calm Alli down enough for her to watch the show and admit that it was pretty, but those hands stayed cupped over her ears the entire time as well as mom's hands over the top of hers for most of the time.

Another funny thing worth mentioning: just as the fireworks started, we discovered that they were on the other side of the coliseum so that we could barely see them over the top of the building. This was apparently a surprise to everyone else in the park as well because they quickly got up and started walking to the other side. We were obviously going nowhere, but it was kind of nice because the fireworks got higher and we now had the entire park to ourselves.

So, overall we had a great family 4th of July- definitely one to remember!

Theology with a 3 yr old

Alli has become quite the little singer/song-writer lately. She will just randomly start making up and singing songs, some of which are quite amusing. The lyrics to one of my favorites were "CoYOte, CoYOte at the petting zoo." I'm thinking: I'm not sure a coyote is a good candidate for a petting zoo animal, but it would be interesting.

Alli has also really started diving into and absorbing her religious education lately, so the following is a great video that captures the two...

In case you didn't catch those lyrics they go a little something like this:

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus- what are you saying?
hmmm, mmm, mmm, hmmm, mmm, mmm
Jesus, All the power.
Jesus, All the power.
Jesus, Jesus- where are you going?
Jesus, Jesus- where are you going? where are you going?
Before Buzby, before Buzby (Buzby is a character on her Christian cartoon)
The Lord, the Lord...

We have also had some funny conversations about God with her lately. Here are some examples:

1. Alli was on the phone with daddy one day and happened to be very talkative rambling on and in the middle of it all she says:

"Jesus is the Lord of my blessings!"

Before daddy could even finish his response of "Somebody's been going to church," she follows it up with

"AND, Shamu is the Lord of my blessings!"

Daddy responds "Somebody's also been going to Sea World lately"

2. As I was putting Alli down for a nap, she got frustrated with me and shoved her Bible onto the floor. I sternly explained that we have to treat the Bible with extra special care because it is God's book. Her response:

"I want to give it back to Him."

Mom: "No, I mean He wrote it for us..." Nevermind. "Just please don't ever push it to the floor again."

3. At the dinner table, Dwaine and I were explaining to Alli that we can't hide anything from God because He sees everything we do (for what reason we felt we had to tell her that I don't remember). Her response:

"Where is He?"

Hmmm, the abstract concept of God being everywhere all the time even though we can't see Him is a bit too much for a 3 yr old (though I tried). She seemed more pleased with the answer "He lives in heaven" so we left it at that.

At other times, she seems to have just the right words for Him. Her prayers often go something like this "Dear God- Thank you for my blessings. I love you. You love us. In Jesus' name, Amen" How perfectly simple is that?

So, we're learning- all of us. Knowing what to say and what not to say to a small child about God can be very complicated. I think the key is to "plant seeds" as our church calls it. God made us. God loves us. God cares for us. We'll try sticking to those concepts for now, deal with questions as they arise and watch in amazement at how He is at work in our lives!

Sick Days

The kids are a little under the weather today, so this is what a good part of the morning looked like...

I received a little help from Clifford the Big Red Dog (or "ro ro daw" as TJ says). Sitting still on the couch watching a show is rare for TJ, so I can really tell he's not feeling well when he does this.

Already feeling a little better by lunchtime.

Yay! Hopefully this thing won't keep us down for long.

The Boys...

We are so blessed to have TJ's best buds Grant and Jake live just down the road in Boerne. We get to play with them a lot and TJ always gets excited when I tell him we're gonna see them and their mommy, Miss Wawa (Laura). If ever he's giving me trouble getting dressed or getting in the car, telling him that we are going to see Grant and Jake is a surefire way to speed up the process. He's 100% cooperation after that (I only use that little trick if we are in fact going to see them, although it is tempting sometimes when we are not).

Having fun in the water.

Typical boys- loving the Gator!

These 3 guys are going to be best friends for a long time I'm quite sure. I'm wondering how much stress they are going to cause Laura and me with the kind of trouble they may get into. The stories that I hear from Dwaine about the crazy life-endangering stuff he and his friends used to do have me a little worried.

So, I'll speak for Laura and myself when I say that for now, we'll handle the stress of the temper tantrums, the occasional hitting or pushing (usually TJ's doing), wrangling them up for meals, and doing our best to keep them from climbing onto and standing on and jumping off of things they shouldn't. At least we have them right under our noses knowing where they are and what they are up to at all times. We still have some control, most of the time, I think, don't we Laura?

We love you guys bunches!!!!

Lake fun!

We recently hit the lake for some family fun and had a blast....

TJ and Alli LOVE the boat. It was a long, exhausting day for them, but they were having so much fun that they hung in there and were actually very well behaved. I just love days like that!

Alli even had her first tubing experience...

She thought that was the best and didn't want the ride to end. But, thankfully she was also excited about climbing the ladder onto the back of the boat, so that kept her from throwing a fit about the tubing ride coming to an end.

It looks like we're flying across the lake, but trust me, we were not. Nervous mommy instructed daddy to just putt around. But when I discovered that the tube just collects water at a turtle's pace, we had to pick up the speed just a little. What an awesome first mommy-daughter experience. I was really trying to soak it in and was thinking "I can't believe she's old enough to do this with me!" And, I couldn't stop imagining how many more fun times like this lay ahead of us.

And yes, mom and dad had a little fun of their own too!

Above: daddy's second ever wakeboarding experience- he's quite the natural.

Below: mommy's first ever wakeboarding experience!!!!! I can't wait to do it again!

My goal was just to get up on the board, but to my surprise I popped right up there with Dwaine's "expert" advice about how to do it. And then I stayed up for quite a while.

The hardest part about it was getting my feet in those boots- I was pushing and pulling with all my might and was rather tired when my second foot finally squeezed all the way in. The funny thing is that board, boots and all, flew right off when I face planted while attempting a 180. What was I thinking?

Dwaine and I were starting to feel young again with all the fun and athletic recreational activity, but as we hobbled around in soreness and exhaustion the next day, we were reminded otherwise.

Meet Woosy and Efel

I came home from work a couple weeks ago (yes, I actually worked a day) after Dwaine had been watching the kids all day. And the first thing he says when I get home is "come look." I'm not sure what to think- that could either be really good or really bad.

I look out in the backyard and see a half-built chicken coop. So now I'm wondering "is this in preparation for the possibility that we might be getting some chicks soon or do we already have some chicks?"

Sure enough, we had 2 baby chicks. Wow- you never know what's gonna happen at home when you go to work for 12 hours.

So, the next day, Dwaine worked hard to get their little home finished. And it turns out he's not as bad of a carpenter as he thought...

Introducing Lucy and Ethel...

Lucy is the one with the reddish head and Ethel the blonde of course. Funny thing is their personalities match their names also. Lucy is a bit of a firecracker, Ethel more calm.

Alli loves them and always wants to let them out. She's constantly hollering at them "Come here Woosy!", "Get out of the mulch Efel!"...

Today she was even instructing them to share. "EFEL, YOU SHARE THAT OR I'M GONNA TAKE IT AWAY." Then she proceeded to chase Ethel around trying to take something out of her mouth. I can't imagine where she got that from.

This is the girls just a few weeks after Dwaine brought them home. They literally change daily. Yard eggs anyone? We'll have them in no time!

A Conversationalist

We were all sitting at the table eating dinner the other day and there were a few moments of silence, so Alli begins with...
.
"Soooo, did you have a good time at work today Dad?"
.
It just cracked us up 'cause she couldn't stand that nothing was being said and she was truly trying to bring some interesting conversation to the table.
It's times like this that make us realize just how much she is growing up.
.......
Speaking of conversations, TJ is finally becoming a little better at communicating verbally and putting 2 and sometimes 3 words together.
Some of his 2 word phrases have included...
"NO, JACK"
"STOP, ALLI"
"DON'T MAMA"
This is a boy who definitely knows how to stand up for himself (even when it is uncalled for).
We still haven't heard those 3 little words that every parent loves to hear, but mommy is working on it. He did place his hands on my cheeks and plant a kiss on my lips today when I requested one and that's enough to melt my heart for now.

Corpus Christi and Port Aransas

Last Friday, Dwaine and I decided a getaway down to the coast would be fun for the weekend. So we got on the computer late Friday evening, booked a beach house for Saturday night and hopped in the car first thing Saturday morning. How's that for spontaneous? (not typically like us, but becoming so more and more these days)

We never know if a trip will go well and be fun for everyone or if it will turn into a stressful event with cranky, over-tired kids and frustrated, over-tired parents. Thankfully, the former was true for our weekend and we look forward to doing it again- and hopefully often! The kids had an absolute blast, the timing of everything was perfect, and Dwaine and I enjoyed ourselves too!

First stop- The Texas State Aquarium

Quick stop on the way in for a priceless family photo- we don't have many with all 4 of us.

Alli leading the way for TJ. They were both so excited. I don't think they had any idea where we were, but they were sure it would be fun.

TJ checking out the stingray. He would say "ooh ooh" every time something would swim by.

Quick flashback...

This was the last time we were at the aquarium- TJ was in tow, but wasn't actually able to enjoy any of it. I remember thinking I couldn't wait to come back when he could partake in the fun. So, fast forward 2 years...
Now, my hands are a little more full, but it's definitely well worth it!


Next stop- a seaside lunch at Pier 99

The perfect location to hype the kids up about our next destination- aboard the USS Lexington or the "big ship" as we called it! And, the blues music playing on the patio was great for our listening pleasure- I think TJ enjoyed it the most. He was clappin' to the beat and bobbin' his head.



"APAIY!" That would be airplane in TJ speak- he absolutely loves them.
It wasn't always fun dragging the kids out of the cockpit (they played in it and a couple others a few different times), but there was usually something else fun to distract them with...
Giant weaponry, perhaps. Daddy was nothing more than a big kid himself.
And, of course a trip down the escalator on the way out- an original fixture, I'm sure. I was very grateful when we saw it 'cause the steep ladders that we had to climb on the way up would NOT have been fun going down with two small children.

Stop 3- The Beach at Port Aransas!
Alli doing her best to strike a surfer pose on the boogie board.
Building sand castles.


TJ with his truck- no big surprise there.

It took quite a while for the kids to warm up to the beach. Neither of them would go near the water for a long time, but eventually TJ decided that running through the shallow waves kicking up water and chasing the shore birds was loads of fun. He was all over the place!

Alli, on the other hand decided it would be better to keep her Strawberry Shortcake swimsuit and her well-fixed hair dry. As much as I would have loved to see her splashing in the waves, I can't say that I blame her. I generally prefer to stay dry and semi-clean as opposed to wet and sandy as well.

Here she is just chillin' and checking out the view...

Now that's a good way to enjoy the beach!

...

Our "new home"

We stayed in an awesome little beach house that was super clean and very homey. The kids thought eating at the bar was super cool. Dwaine told Alli that this was our new home and she was totally fine with that with one little exception. She said "Are we not gonna live with Chili anymore?"

...

Day 2- fishing the bay...

Waiting to catch a fish.
It's hard to tell in the pic, but while daddy was helping Alli fish, TJ was "fishing" with his Scooby Doo pole.
Unfortunately, all he managed to do was bust the bobber into a few pieces when he slammed it down on the ground.
Success! An itsy bitsy tiny little perch! Dad used it for bait but wasn't able to catch any big fish. Every time we would reel in the bait, Alli exclaimed in a very excited and proud voice, "You caught another fish! Very good!" No, unfortunately, that was the same itsy bitsy little perch. We made our way under the bridge after catching a couple more of those and then both Alli and TJ caught countless number of bigger perch. Alli has even figured out how to reel them in with very little help. Making daddy proud (and mommy too)!

What a fun-filled family weekend. We were all completely exhausted come Sunday evening, but can't wait to do it again!

Who let the TJ out of the bag?

Just thought this was too cute not to share. He was having so much fun in that thing and big sister just couldn't stand it. Unfortunately this is how a lot of activities end- with one of them crying mad at the other.

Little Southern Gal

Check out this thick southern accent. I'm not sure where it's coming from, but I think it's awful cute...



I stopped recording right before she and Jack shouted "GO SPURS GO!"