The BIG Zoo

My mom, Bee, had been wanting to take the kids to the real zoo, the BIG zoo as soon as the weather was nice enough, but not too hot yet. So, last Wednesday we made the trek to San Antonio to enjoy some time with the animals.

Bee & Rebecca posing on the "Lion's Pride" statue at the entrance. (I remember this place being SO much bigger when I was a kid!)

 Owen climbed up by himself but then couldn't get down. Glad I'm still needed. :)

At first, not sure what to think about the BIG bear. Roar.

 Then she couldn't stop pointing and roaring.

 Owen was glad the bear was in a cage - very practical.

 Roar. (Not that I'd want to meet this guy in the wild, but he seemed pretty old and docile.)

 At least they're both looking at the camera.

 Hippo bottoms. Talk about making you feel skinny!

Mom and I like the flamingos a lot - they're knees are backwards and that imperfection is very pleasing to us - like there is a kinship. 

 This popsicle was so tall he had a hard time getting it into his mouth. No worries - he stuck it out and finished the whole thing.

 Being with Bee means that there are treats - of the edible and toy variety. Rebecca picked out a small stuffed panda bear (even though we didn't see a panda) - boy, does she like to roar! And Owen picked out this "kimona dragon grabber" (plastic head on a stick).

 Owen also got a new cap, which Rebecca couldn't resist pulling off his head and trying on herself. In her own style.

We finished the day with a train ride. And of course we stayed later than we had anticipated. But the weather was overcast, the zoo was near abandoned, the food was fried, and we had a great time. We couldn't figure out why we only ever came in the suffocating heat/humidity of July/August when I was growing up?! Bee is so much smarter now.   :)

Hill Country Camping Society - Laity Lodge

Thanks to our the Hill Country Camping Society Founding Member - Trey - we and 13 other families got to enjoy the beautiful Laity Lodge Youth Camp facilities (Singing Hills) for the weekend. Yes, I said 13 other families...something like 30 adults and 38 kids. The HCCS has been gaining momentum (and participation) for quite a few months, and apparently the lure of sleeping on actual beds in actual cabins with actual heat and bathroom facilities was too much for people to resist! It was great fun for all! Here are a few highlights...

At any given time there were probably 3-6 little people cruising up and down "main street" on their glider bikes or training wheel bikes. Thank goodness for the water puddles that made it that much more fun! (This was by far Owen's favorite activity.)

 

Emmy in her "serious biker" pose.

 Rebecca trying to be a big girl.

One, two, three...go! (Owen was on and off his bike so much that he pretty much kept his helmet on the entire weekend...racing, wading in the Frio River.)

 Cousin Blake (almost 1 year old) toddling around camp like a big guy.

 Climbing a pole with a little help from Mr. Joel.

 The Foshea Family exploring down by the water.

Joel and Boone having a rock climbing adventure.

 Perhaps Owen's 2nd favorite activity...fishing. Don't think they caught anything this time, but it's still fun!

Joel and Emmy.

 

 Cousin Bailey had gone through all of her changes of clothes within the first 3-4 hours we were at camp. The dirt, mud, puddles, river, etc. were just too much fun! Here she is taking a little drink from the Frio.

 "Hey, I may not be old enough to fish, but I still LOVE this!" - Boone

 Katie and Aunt Mel took the three Gen 1 canoeing.

Luke, Mel, Bailey and Emmy on another ride.

None of the canoers offered to take Rebecca out in their boat - I can't imagine why?!?!

 Owen was showing off one of his "silly faces". He has lots of them and they all look exactly the same in the face with different "rock star-esque" hand movements.

 One of us had to be "on Rebecca" duty the entire weekend. That consists of chasing her and keeping her away from the water, fire, cars, and other possibly dangerous things. She's fast, sneaky, small (so she slips through a crowd easily), fearless and clumsy. It's a powerful combination.

Looking down on us from the top of a an overlook - waving "hiya".

 Owen helping Kyle light the camp fire.

 Trey did an AMAZING job cooking for such a crowd. The food (stew and fried backstrap for dinner; eggs and sausage for breakfast) was awesome and he did it all outdoors and in a HUGE quantity. Remember - 14 families!

The "eight year old girls" and some of their followers put on two shows for us. The plots and the dialogue may have been hard to follow but their use of special effects (stage lights, ceiling fans and scattered leaves to simulate a tornado, splashes of water from behind the stage wall in the lake scene) were quite impressive. So were the number of non-cast members riding their trikes and dancing across the stage during each performance. (Oh the heels of finding out our little #3 is a girl - Kyle and I are thinking - wow, this is what little girls do - are we ready?!)

 And when it's all said and done, who doesn't like just sitting around a in camp chairs shooting the breeze with good friends? Here are our friends John David and JoNeel Vickery with Ellie and Josie.

 A camp chair and a snack will even keep this little tornado still...for a second.

 Such beautiful country. What a treat to get to enjoy it with such a fun group of people!

Oh, I can't summarize camping without talking about Owen's 2 favorite parts: marshmallows (he and R may have eaten a few...) and getting to sleep on the TOP bunk of a bunk bed. The combination of no nap and the thrill of the top bunk may have made putting Owen to sleep on Saturday night one of the easiest bedtimes we've had in months! But the marshmallows in R's system put her on such a sugar high (my fault) that Owen called us back in the cabin a few times to tell us that she was keeping him awake! It was all worth it to sit around the camp fire and listen to Trey tell stories...

Already looking forward to our next trip!

Diamonds and Poop

Two stories you'll never believe happened all within 24 hours...

1) Kyle wins me a pair of diamond earrings at Owen's preschool's "Rhinestone Rodeo" dinner/auction fundraiser event. He rode the mechanical bull for the record 47 seconds. The time to beat was 32. The average time of most folks was 8-12. He rode twice, the first time for 11 seconds. So 47 was a freakishly long ride. At first people were just cheering him on like we had done for everyone else. Then everyone started jumping and screaming. I just started laughing so hard I seriously almost peed in my pants. It was like - is this guy EVER going to fall off?

He's pretty much a local celebrity now. All the other men hate him. All the women were jealous. It was, in a word, awesome. People were asking if he had "previous professional experience". Seriously? He says he injured a testicle (but we agreed we won't be needing those anymore) and his thumb. Poor baby. We continued to laugh for the rest of the night. Stinking unbelievable.

Happy early Valentine's Day to me.     :)

***Sunday morning update: Kyle's notoriety grows. He got "congratulations" and "wows" from several people at our small (non-preschool affiliated) church that he had never even met before. Word of greatness spreads quickly. We're expecting calls from the local news to start poring in at any moment.

2) Rebecca wasn't falling asleep for her nap as easily as usual so I went in to check on her. She had practically been asleep in my arms 45 minutes before when I was getting her ready to put her in bed so what I saw was even more shocking...

Dancing, prancing, jumping and having a grand ol' time in her crib with POOP EVERYWHERE. Her diaper was still on so I guess she just decided to dig around and have a little dance + art party. Immediately to the bath. Bedding and lovies immediately in the wash. Thank goodness for Clorox wipes.

Happy Saturday afternoon to me.      :)

Bath Day + Snow Day

Wednesday was really cold and we were hunkered down in the house all morning. To break up those long hours we had a pre-lunch bubble bath. 

 Baths always include tea parties. 

 The Happy Hostess.

 Mr. I Don't Like Water in My Face.

 Rebecca is in to putting on everyone's shoes. She could only take a few steps in Kyle's big "work" boots before falling flat on her cute little face. 

And today was Austin's "annual snow day". (I know I shouldn't get my hopes up - or the kids' - that we'll get a little snow each year, but we've had 1 day both years we've been back.) It's a real treat. And to be honest I'm glad it only lasts a day. Owen remembers playing in the snow last year and building "Grassy the Snowman" but Rebecca was too little. 

Here they are all bundled up. 

 Kyle and Owen put a cup of ice out last night as an "experiment" - a teachable moment about water freezing and turning into ice. Here he is testing the outcome and explaining it to Rebecca, his lab assistant.

 Truthfully, Rebecca didn't last long. My fault really. Her only gloves are knit - which work fine 99% of the time in Austin - but once they're wet with snow you might as well take them off. Her poor little paws were just frozen and she did NOT like it. 

 Some neighbors walked down the street and played for a bit (while Rebecca was inside warming up) - there was a little bit of sledding on plastic storage bin lids, a lot of snowball throwing (Owen: "I got you!" - from 1-3 feet away from his victim, usually Ben's dad Mr. John), and a pitiful little snowman or "snow-mound" as Kyle called him when he got home. At least he had a carrot for his nose. 

 You should see him after the melting kicked in...not pretty. 

Fun times! 

End of January

It's definitely been a while since we had a general update on the kids, etc. so here we go! 

Let's start with a story of clumsiness. See my toe? I stubbed it. Hard. Then just as the bruising was getting better, I stubbed the one right next to the pinky (on the same thing) and so the bruising perked right back up and spread further across my foot. A limping pregnant lady is quite a site. We thought the pinky might be broken but actually seems like everything is healing up nicely now. Just in time for me to start waddling!

 Our Austin weather has been all over the place recently - spring time sunny days (which have made the cedar crazy high and my allergies out of control!) - and insanely cold days (our pipes are frozen today)! So, we've been doing lots of wintry activities...

Here is Owen "doing art". We have a new little display area for his masterpieces which he is quite fond of filling up, and not so fond of taking things down from (to make room for more). 

 Owen painting a picture for Nana's birthday and Rebecca coloring with crayons (and not eating them)!

Owen made several pieces this morning and chose the one that looked "like a sunset" and not the "dark one" to give to Nana. 

 Climbing the only climbable tree in our backyard with Dadda's help. 

Pointing at "his tree". 

 Sweet Rebecca coming in for a close-up. 

She could just run, run run. 

 And maybe do a little flying. 

 Having a little fun hiding in the laundry hamper. I love these old built-in ones! They're just like I had growing up. So fun! Plus, when they pull all the clothes out to play it forces me to put a load in. 

 A little kiss following some peekaboo!

 Rebecca practicing her penmanship. 

 Still ambidextrous at this point. 

Other Rebecca News:

*She is making more and more sounds we're going ahead and calling "words" even though there are just a handful of us that understand what she's saying. Her "No" and "Yeah" (both with head movements) are pretty clear, and her animal sounds are becoming more distinguished. Her favorites are "Kak kak" (quack), growling like a lion and barking like a dog. She's also got her own little version of "outside" (ahh aye) and "thank you" (dih oooh). Her favorite word is still "Yea!" (and clapping) - such the little cheer-leader! She also likes "Mmmm" especially when she's eating pretend food from her kitchen or drinking soapy bathwater from her tea-cup. Yum.

*She has no trouble keeping up with Owen. When his affection is a little too...smothering?...she is happy to defend her personal space. To a fault. We've had quite a bit of shoving and one little bite. Uh oh. She "plays up" to his level quite often now...tackling trains (actually playing with them around the track, not just knocking them down), building towers, pouring water on him during bath time, and of course running running and running. It's so great to hear them laugh with each other and be in their own little world even if its only for a few minutes. Kyle is quick to remind me that this is why we're having our kids so close together (at least one reason anyway). Case and point: they are playing with play-do together right now. Nobody is eating it and they're having fun together!

*Recent trips to the Austin Zoo (which shouldn't be called a zoo, but rather a sad petting farm with a few sad caged large animals...sad) and the Austin Children's Museum have provided all the exercise I plan on getting during pregnancy...chasing after those two, really Rebecca, is exhausting in a setting like that! Rebecca is not timid, not afraid to run off and explore totally on her own (in a way Owen wouldn't have at her age) and isn't afraid to push her way through smaller and larger kids..."Alpha Cous Gen 2".

Other Owen News:

*Owen is getting really good at riding his glider bike. He'll get going really fast and put his feet up on the rest bar and just balance and glide for quite a while! It's exciting to see him make progress! We were riding with his little friend Ben who fell down and got a boo-boo on his forehead. He was fine but it was a little scary. After getting him cleaned up and giving him a Diego bandaid, Owen had to have one too. On his forehead too.

*A few new fun phrases he's started using a lot: "What in the world?," "Mighty fine,"  "Don't taze me bro" - look that one up online and "That won't due". He's also getting better and better at expressing his emotions using words - e.g. "I'm pouting," and "I'm just a little bit sad, " and "I'm frustrated". Hopefully as this progresses we'll have fewer and fewer fits!

*We're not quite sure how the bedroom situation is going to work once the baby GIRL (it's so weird to know that) gets here...but we think we'll probably keep her in our room in a pack n play for a couple of months and then move Rebecca in with Owen until we move out of this house. I casually brought it up to him the other day and he said "I think that is a GREAT idea!!!"...except he wants Rebecca to actually sleep in bed with him!

*Owen tells me how he's going to "make the baby laugh" and help her "not do no-no's". Even though we have our own discipline challenges with him, he's definitely in the mode of telling when Rebecca is doing a "no-no". The other day she was pouring some of her milk out through its straw (soooo tired of this behavior!) and he gently reminded me that I needed to give Rebecca a spanking. Thanks Owen. :)

*Owen's story-telling continues to evolve. Right now favorite characters are: Big Chugger (a diesel train), Big Truck (an 18-wheeler, car-transporter truck), Pablo from the Backyardigans (humming of the theme song included) and Puppy (his newest favorite stuffed animal - a little girl puppy with a very high-pitched voice). Each story starts with the exact same words...

Once upon a time, one day, Owen was sleeping and he heard Baba Babwahhhhh (think loud deep train horn)....

The thing I have come to realize about telling stories with or for Owen is that the structure I would normally follow doesn't matter to him at all...he wants lots of climaxes (the story never ends)...and it seems to make less and less sense the more we tell. You may start out at the zoo, but the you're at a construction site and Big Chugger isn't feeling well because there is a carrot glued to his boiler, and then Pablo wants to go on an adventure is the Snakey Woods which are very very creepy even though the monsters are nice, and on and on and on...

That's it for now folks! Happy winter-weather advisory!