You DO Bring Me Flowers Anymore

My hubby brought flowers to my office this morning. He reminded me that we will celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary in almost one month. Yeah, he's pretty great.

Spring Break 2011 - Part 1

Over spring break we did something we haven't done since Cooper joined our family. Family Vacation. That's right! We went out of town for no reason at all. There wasn't a swim meet. No one was getting married. None of our families were having a reunion. I couldn't believe it actually happened!

At first, the idea of traveling on a whim was so foreign to us that we didn't know what to do. At the last minute, we decided to hit the road for Houston because it was just a few hours of driving. A quick trip would be painless and not cost us a fortune in gas.

The first day we went to the Kemah Boardwalk and enjoyed the coastal area. You would never know Abigail was born on an island in the Pacific Ocean and Cooper on the Atlantic coast, because the idea of seeing the Gulf of Mexico was exciting to them.



They were especially impressed with this lighthouse.


Cooper made sure to hug and kiss (yes, gross) the lighthouse, yelling "bye bye, see you later" as we walked away.


The kids weren't able to talk us into riding any of the rides on the boardwalk, but we did enjoy walking through the craziness.


They each tried their hand at being a pirate, but I don't think they will be joining anyone from Somalia any time soon.



This was my favorite spot on the boardwalk, but I hope it's the only time I ever see them behind bars!


After we made our way through the boardwalk, we settled on Aquarium for dinner. It's a restaurant that is surrounded by fish tanks and also has a large cylinder fish tank through the center of the three-story building. While we waited for our table, the kids and Daniel fed and touched the sting rays on display. I wasn't about to join them. I was happy to use the camera as an excuse to stand back.



The restaurant was absolutely amazing. Not only was the seafood delicious (We terribly miss living on the coast and having fresh seafood regularly.), but the atmosphere in Aquarium was awesome. There is another Aquarium in downtown Houston, Denver and Nashville. If you ever get a chance to try it out, I insist that you go for it!

Unfortunately, my camera battery had died by the time we got our table and I only have a phone picture to share. But, it was so amazing that I have to share it!


For a family that stays busy and on-the-go, this was the perfect beginning to our first family (of four) vacation!

Father's Day

Since we were in San Antonio for Kendall and Trevor's wedding over Father's Day weekend, the kids found their own ways to squeeze in Daddy time.

While Abigail and I attended the bridal breakfast, Daniel and Cooper spent the morning at Bass Pro Shop. They didn't bring photographic evidence, but Cooper does have a new bow and arrow set to show for his trip. Even though Cooper was the one who walked away with the new toy, I think Daniel was the privileged one to spend time with his little man in a Man Store.

Later that day during the wedding reception, Daniel and Abigail slipped away from the festivities to have some daddy-daughter time, and it was certainly a treat. I love the way Daniel treats Abigail to special time and showers her with attention. I see the way he is preparing her to have certain expectations from a man some day, and I love it!


They enjoyed a private carriage ride through downtown San Anotonio in a carriage fit only for a princess!

We are lucky parents to have these two taking this ride with us!

Wedding Extravaganza Part I

The first big event of June was Kendall & Trevor's wedding. Now, Trevor is Daniel's cousin. But, Kendall may be one of my favorite relatives! Ha! We do love Trevor, but he certainly did do a great job of adding to the family.

The wedding was a weekend-long event in San Antonio that we all thoroughly enjoyed. After the rehearsal, we were treated to a great dinner at County Line on the Riverwalk. That was a blast! Great food, entertaining speeches/toasts. Apparantly I was enthralled that I didn't bother to take my camera out even once. Oh, well. You'll have to take my word for it. It was a great night!

The wedding day began with a bridal breakfast at our hotel. And, this was a new experience for me. Abigail, being the main guest from our family as the flowergirl, was seated at a table with some of the bridesmaids. I was seated elsewhere, with the moms. Yes, that's right. I was relegated to the Mom Table. I'm trying not to take anything bad away from this experience, but I certainly didn't feel young and spry. Alas, I only have this far-away shot of my princess at the breakfast.



Daniel's sister, Daniel's mother and I took the flowergirls out for a stroll above the Riverwalk (read: panic trip to find the right size of shoes for the other flowergirl to wear to the wedding due to a last-minute growth spurt) after the breakfast. Yeah, it was sticky and sweaty and a good cause for either a shower or a trip to the rooftop hotel pool, but the girls were too cute and attracted attention and comments from tourists all around us.






Once we enjoyed our afternoon in the pool, a nap and another shower, the main event was calling our name. I must say, my babies have never been more lovely.








And, we didn't disappoint as a family, either!




Once the wedding was in the books, the party began and it certainly disappoint. We had the entire Buckhorn Museum & Saloon to ourselves, plenty of food and drinks to fill us up and a wonderful band to entertain. My kids were the stars of the dancefloor, especially Cooper. I never could talk him in to dancing with me, but I don't think there was a pretty sorority girl in attendance that left without getting a dance with the Coopster!









I did see Cooper getting his shoes tied by more than one girl and I'm afraid he may have been setting them up to be able to look down their dress. Ha!



I wish I had pictures of Kendall and Trevor, but you'll have to trust me that they did get married! It was absolutely beautiful and we can't wait to hear all about their new life they've just begun this week in OKINAWA!

Summertime!

School was out a month ago, but my summer started last week! The kids are gone for a few weeks to visit grandparents, and I am in true summertime. The first few days were spent overcoming exhaustion, tackling neglected housecleaning and catching up on all the life I had missed in the busyness. Now that I'm all caught up, I'm getting to play a little.

Yesterday we drove down to Lockhart to check out the world famous barbecue mecca. We met Kelly Ann and Taylor at Black's BBQ for our first foray into the BBQ scene. Next time we'll plan to go on a Saturday when Kreutz is open, as that's where we really wanted to eat. But, we weren't disappointed with what Black's had to offer... all kinds of tasty bbq with live music to set the atmosphere.


It was Sunday, so there weren't many shops open in Lockhart, but Daniel and I did peruse a few cute antique stores and I picked up some paintings in one of them. (Now I can't wait until I can talk Daniel into painting my bathroom so I can hand my new decor in there.)

After lunch, Taylor and Daniel went to a watering hole for a few rounds of pool while Kelly Ann and I roamed around to see if we could find any shops open. We did see this comical sign for a Chinese takeout restaurant...


Ha ha! Small towns just crack me up. They are too cute!

When we drove back into Round Rock, we decided to lengthen our day of outings and go to a baseball game at the minor league park near our house. Unfortunately, our team is an Astros farm team, meaning they stink this year, but we still had fun.


Tonight we're off for more excitement and something we've never even come close to doing. I can't wait to share it with you tomorrow...

Hitting The Range

I've picked up a new hobby. Well, I guess one night on a driving range doesn't make a hobby, but that's the plan.

I now have my own set of golf clubs!


After trying them out by hitting balls down the street one night, Daniel and I made a date night of it at a nearby driving range. It was great! 


Of course, I'm used to hitting balls in this fashion...


But, I'm getting the hang of this new-to-me sport. And, it's awesome to be able to share something outdoors with Daniel. This is definitely going to be a great date-night past time.

Put on Your Dancing Shoes

Abigail went to her first school dance Friday night. Fortunately, she was escorted by her father as it was a Daddy/Daughter Dance.


I think the idea for the night was genius as the dads were given the chance for special time with the girls and, most importantly, time to show them how a princess should be treated. Obviously, she played the part of the princess beautifully.







I heard all about the evening's events of decorating a personalized crown, laughing at the ventriloquist, enjoying tea for two at a "cafe", the dancing, and a blissful carriage.


But, she was especially excited to have her daddy all to herself for the evening

Snow Day

Aside from a 10-minute show of flurries earlier this year, Abigail and Cooper have never seen snow. In their opinion, they've been so deprived. In fact, Abigail was in tears a few weeks ago upon learning that her cousin Avery was playing in another heavy snowfall just a few hours north of us in Dallas. Claims of "Avery always gets snow," and "We never get snow," and "It's not fair at all," were all she could muster up between sobs. Well, she got her wish today when we had 2-3" of snow fall in huge flakes. I was only able to snap a few photos of the fun because I detest snow and anything that has to do with cold weather. I preferred to stay inside. But, this is what I captured in my short visit to the tundra...

Abigail just wanted to eat the snow.




Cooper didn't know what to do with it.




Daddy knew just what to do with it: throw it at the neighborhood boys.




Then, he had a better idea that didn't involve tormenting the neighborhood boys: snow ice cream! Yum!