The Stars at Night....

...are big and bright (clap, clap, clap, clap)... Deep in the heart of Texas! (Thanks Robyn for reminding me of that fabulous song).

I wrote some entries for our days during our San Antonio trip but didn't publish them until tonight because I didn't have all our pictures. So... they are short and sweet with some pictures... for my enjoyment... and yours if you choose. :) You'll have to scroll down through the posts, and even go to older posts to see the first one. Enjoy!

Thanks again to Tammy and the girls for putting us up and putting up with us for a week! It was a wonderful vacation!

Happy Father's Day

So... this is terribly late, but I was in Texas!!

This is short... and sweet... and to the point...

My dad, needless to say, is THE best. Throughout my life he has been someone to look up to, admire, learn from, and laugh with. He, along with my mom, are my heroes.. forever.

And my husband, of course, is the funnest dad around. He takes the time to play and laugh with the kids and makes life a little more interesting for all of us.

The Outlet Malls - Day 6

We visited the Outlet Malls... which are far better than anything we have in Phoenix. Because they have a Coach Store...enough said. It's a good thing there isn't one here.

My Sister's Keeper - Day 5

My super cool book club decided on My Sister's Keeper as one our books. Of course I hadn't gotten around to reading it, probably because it seemed incredibly depressing. Who willingly chooses a book to read when you know someone - a child - will die, and to top it off sees the movie? Well, me.

Tammy and I decided to see the movie Friday night while the girls watched Zoe in the evening. When I arrived in TX, I mentioned that I had wanted to read it, but didn't get to... and voila!... Ashley had the book. I was determined to read it before the movie. And I almost made it. I had about 50 pages before being done.... and then we saw the movie. I bawled like a baby, to say the least.

Then came home and finished the book.... And HOLY COW... totally not the same.

Happy Birthday Nate!

My little brother turned 30... and bought a house. WOWsers! So if my "little" brother is 30, then that makes me ancient.... because just the sound of that is scary...

(I'm sure he's excited about this pic!)

Highlights...
- the green M & M
- eating soap
- tipping the truck
- sliding down the stairs in boxes
- skate or die
- really tight belts

- desire for a pocket protector

-.... and I'm sure there's more, but like I said... I'm ancient, and can't remember

This is of course a little late since I was in Texas at the time... the 26th... but better late than never! And congrats to him.... he signed for his first house on his birthday!

Alamo and River Walk - Day 4

What happened to day 3, you ask? Well... not much of anything. We watched some movies, visited the pool, and got some Chinese take-out.

This day we went to the Alamo... in my mind I'm picturing Pee Wee Herman's trip... remember?


Yet, we didn't get that perky tour guide, because there were no tour guides. It's a building... you walk around for 5.3 minutes and that's it. We did see David Crocket's vest, gun, and knife or something... and maybe a journal. Took a few picture with my cranky child... the hotter the weather, the crankier she gets. Good thing it's free... don't think people would actually pay. But, I can say I did it! And I can remember it!

Then, we headed down toward the river walk. Now picture Phoenix weather over 100 degrees, but with humidity. No sane person would be outside, but here we were... with Tammy, Brittany, and Ashley being kind and showing us the sights when they'd rather be indoors.... walking along the famous San Antonio River Walk and deciding that shopping at the mall would be much more fun. So we did! ha ha... I of course bought shoes and Disney store items... great sales... while the girls shopped at American Eagle. Side note... sad times... I tried to secretly buy Zoe a birthday present/halloween costume without her knowing... yet she still suspected and I still pretended I didn't buy it... and she was so sad... Man, I'm the meanest mom... she may end up with it... especially since her birthday is like 4 months away!

Anyway, after shopping we ate at Rainforest Cafe...yum... then headed back to the house - where on the way Zoe actually did fall asleep. Zoe watched Beauty and the Beast before bed then we watched Confessions of a Shopaholic with homemade popcorn... my favorite!

In the Disney Store...

Sea World - Day 2

We made it to Sea World on Tuesday with Tammy, Brittany and Ashley... and 150% humidity. At least it felt like it. I would take Phoenix heat any day of the week over that humidity. Ugg... BUT it was a super fun day.

We were able to see some shows with Shamu (or Shampoo as Zoe calls him), the dolphins in Viva... very cool show... the sea lions, etc. I have to say my favorite part was when we were in the building with the sharks and stingrays and we were able to see a diver feed the stingrays and other fish in this huge aquarium. Zoe's favorite part was the splash pad... of course... and this huge "spider" rope jungle gym. That's where we headed when she couldn't sit through another show with Shamu... Shamu Rocks Texas (I think).

Oh... we did get to Dine with Shamu also. Amazing buffet with delicious food and desserts...thanks to Tammy and Co.! Yum... then we got to see Shamu, aka Keet, up close and personal. By then though Zoe was in a mood since she was beyond tired and refused to get in any picture with him. Bummer. But, still enjoyable.

The ride home, I was sure, would put her to sleep since she had to be exhausted, but no... she talked and giggled and played the whoooooole way home with Ashley and Brittany.... before and after the Krispy Kreme pit stop with hot doughnuts!

Feeding the dolphins. Sadly she never quite touched one because they were just too far away.

Dining with Shamu.... we were that close!

Zoe LOVED getting her pictures taken with these characters. She kept hugging this one... Dolly Dolphin, and cried when we had to go.

Natural Bridge Caverns - Day 1

Our first adventure while in San Antonio was to the Natural Bridge Caverns. The over planner that I am brought tons of snacks in case Zoe got hungry... well, really me... and then when we got there (only a 25 min. drive away) you can't bring food in anyway... which makes total sense if I would have thought about it.

You can check the web site out for more information, like history and sciency stuff.... and then if you want to see some of the really cool stuff, then check out my pictures! A tour guide gives information to the tour group... which was huge... and even chimes in with some teacher lingo... "I hear voices that aren't mine!".... "You 'll have to be quiet if you want to hear me.".... "I'm not talking until you stop.".... awesomeness.

The climate inside is about 70 degrees, but with 99% humidity. Notice in the pictures my shining personality, thanks to that humidity. The rest of the group of course looks great. Zoe slipped twice, but thanks to my super human grip she was just fine... blah blah blah...

Take a look at the pics!

Zoo

We made a visit to the Phoenix Zoo... which allows kids under 12 in for free!... and has a couple splash pads for our summer enjoyment. We trekked there with Leslie, Brody and Matti in my lovely mini van.... Let me tell you, that ride was sooooo noisy. The weather was so nice though, so it made for a super fun morning. We met a bunch of other people there and that made it even nicer.

I can't express how much I love being a SAHM during the summer. I get to run my kids all around to things that I normally wouldn't, or stay home and do nothing... plus see my friends even more! Although we haven't done much of staying at home and doing nothing...much to Hayden's dismay this week.

Poor Zoe... she fell in the first five minutes, scraping her knee. We had no band-aids of course... where were you Karen??... so since she had one on her other knee for an imaginary owie, I switched it on to the real one. I know, so sterile. hmmm... it worked.

Here's, what I think is, a super funny video of Zoe on the carousel...

"boating"

I'm pretty sure this was illegal, and I had heart palpitations every moment, gave a great speech about upholding the rules of the HOA, lectured about setting examples for our kids.... but we did it anyway. I finally took a little ride in one of Jonathan's kayaks onto the "lake" (pond) behind our house. We took Zoe with us who LOVED it. Hayden was with his mom so he couldn't enjoy the fun... but I'm sure, almost positive, that it will be one of our evening adventures this week.

PS... we asked the cop across the street about "boating" in the "lake" and he laughed at us... or rather me... and said he had better things to do than take down a couple of "boaters" kayaking in a "lake". Whewwwww!

Music to my ears...

Melody visited! My wonderful roommate from college came to visit last week... I'm just a little behind. She was a blessing as a roommate for Karen and me... randomly found by our friend Barry in Washington DC... she went to his church and said she was moving to Flagstaff at the same time we said we were looking for a roommate. God really does work in mysterious ways.

I scrounged up a few pictures for my and your viewing enjoyment. I'll have to work on some more of Karen next....

Karen, Melody and I.... we went camping. Notice my uncool stance compared to theirs.
So this is from one of my attempted scrapbooks... sorry some of the pictures are small. Oohh... aren't I sexy in my "tankini" with that glorious hair... showin' off our tats!

Another scrapbook excerpt... from our cross country road trip to Washington DC, where Melody had been a nanny, and Karen was on her way to be one. She ended up working for the CEO of AOL! Crazy. We took that stupid cat all the way across the country, putting up with its whining, moaning, and PEEING on us... then it ran away the day after we got there.

My one and only "marathon"... I think it was a 5K. And, no, Melody's face is not wavy like this... must have been a wavy pic... sorry Mel!

The day she visited! Not much of a glamour shot, but she does look beautiful!

Our girls... not the best shot. I'll leave the picture taking to Melody. And my only picture of Isaac was so bad I didn't even post it.

It was so fabulous to see you Melody... next we'll have to reminisce about those college days... and our pot smoking upstairs neighbors, other roommates... "L", dancing at Maloney's....

What happened??

If any of you, or someone you know of, has lost any amount of fat lately... rest assured, I think I've found it. It seems to have found a new home around my mid section. Please contact me when you are ready and able to retrieve it. Until then, I cannot promise that I won't try to find a new location for it in the mean time.... but, like the other fat that has attached itself to me, it probably won't be leaving anytime soon. So, unfortunately, it's safe with me....

Rio Vista Park

Almost every day of our summer vacation is planned... no kidding... thanks to Karen... our group planner. I mean seriously a planner... with things planned into July. It's great. I don't even have to think about it! This time it was at Rio Vista Park.. which is half park, half splash pad. Who doesn't like free entertainment??

Zoe -waiting in her car seat until Brody could pick us up.

Les and I...big sunglasses unite... well, mine aren't really that big, and even if they were, they'd never be bigger than Leslie's... ever.

Water fun...

Sadly, the only picture I have of Matti... he's on top of the turtle, head down. Zoe and Brody

Brody showing off his muscles.... grrr.... Karen and Will Amanda

Over prepared

Hayden's list for his and Jonathan's 3 hour escapade to Lake Pleasant for kayaking. LOL

Rat's Nest

Every morning we get to deal with this...


then, voila!.... this :)

Date Night

It's funny how "date night" with the hubby is just a movie and some dinner... with a short stop at Sports Authority and an extra hamburger thrown in...but very fun and entertaining....and something we look forward to.