First Week of Summer Camp

Summer camp has started again and the kids have settled in just fine. Many of the same friends from previous summers are there so they fell back into the routine immediately. One of Evelyn's good friends from when she was in pre-school there is also in her group this summer. Each week has a theme and starting next week, they'll be going on a field trip per week. The trips will range from the highly educational (Blanton Museum of Art) to the just plain fun (Interstate Bowling). The summer will go by quickly, I know.

Merle and Linda visited mid-week and we went out for a celebratory dinner for their one-year anniversary. They've been out at their land, getting things ready for the house-building to break ground.

The picture of Rod and Kenneth is from Chez Zee--we had a Memorial Day brunch at the restaurant. We followed up brunch by walking around The Domain (an outdoor Mall).

End of the School Year

Kenneth and Evelyn have finished out the school year successfully--no surprise there. Hard to believe Evelyn finished her first year of Kindergarten. The pictures are from their end-of-year award ceremonies.
Mom came to the house on the last day of school so the kids could ride the bus home. She stayed overnight so Rod and I could go to a Bob Schneider concert at Stubbs. It rained, but there was a lot of cover in the outdoor area. Of course a few people were dancing in the rain, but we tried to stay dry.

Today we took the kids to see Shrek III and wrapped up the day at the Walburg Restaurant's Biergarten--it is an authentic German restaurant with an outdoor area where they serve beer (of course), German food, and have live music on Friday and Saturday nights. The music is typically old-style band, polka, etc. We'll probably try to go there with some other families this summer since it's so kid friendly. It also has an old-style arcade within viewing distance of the outdoor tables.


The kids wrapped up the day with a bubble bath in my tub.

Deutschenfest

This past weekend, Pflugerville had their annual Deutschenfest, which we've apparently been erroneously calling "Pfluger-fest" for the last few years. It is your typical crafts fair, with carnival rides and kettle corn and smoked turkey legs, but with a twist--the addition of German heritage and associated beer. We're actually not really beer drinkers, but we go to check out the festival every year. Rod recently bought a ultra-wide-angle camera lens, and these photos were taken with that lens. I don't think I like it as much as a standard lens, but it is kind of a trendy look. Maybe I don't like it because close facial shots make your face very elongated and unnatural-looking (but we're not including those pics here!).

Sunday we went to Zilker park because it was so beautiful outside, and topped the day off with Mangia's pizza. That is a favorite Summer restaurant of ours--they make whole-wheat stuffed personal pizzas. The location we like to go to is next to Deep Eddy, which is spring-fed and "Texas's Oldest Pool" -- that's another topic entirely, but here's a link if you're interested in reading more about it: http://austin.about.com/cs/photogallery/l/blvttldeepeddy.htm

We recently figured out that one of the people that Rod is working with on a recurring project is a former neighbor of mine from Galveston when we were little kids. I think Dana's family moved away when I was about 7 or 8. Anyhow, she brought in an old photo from a birthday party and Becky and I are in it. Yes, that's me with the enormous belly hanging out of the midriff t-shirt. I would have been 3 years old in that picture.

Grandma Aixa and Evelyn's Kindergarten Musical

Rod sent me a picture from the visit to Houston last week, where Kenneth and Rod met Aixa for dinner.


Evelyn had her end-of-year Kindergarten musical, called "Animals!". Each class wore a hat with a specific animal on it and they sang about 7 songs. In-between each song, there were speaking parts. Evelyn performed a last-minute speaking part because one of the kids who was supposed to speak didn't show up. She had the best diction out of all of the speakers, despite winging it.
She sang with a lot of expression and during one song must have gotten temporarily miffed at Blaze, one of her classmates (as is evidenced in the picture).

The last picture is just me and Ken in the audience. My baby is almost 9.

A Sweet Mother's Day

We had a fun weekend. Friday, Rod went out to see some kind of Ultimate Fighting Championship with some friends. He said there was a lot of blood but it was pretty fun to watch. While he was doing that, we met my Mom at Central Market to have dinner and let the kids play on the outdoor playground. There was a great cover band playing--called The Eggmen--and they did primarily Beatles music. They sounded as close to the original Beatles songs as possible. We really enjoyed that.

The last soccer games of the season happened on Saturday afternoon. Evelyn was very sad because she will not be able to return to The Titans again. The next season splits into all-boy and all-girl teams, and her team up to this point was a mixed gender team. We will definitely be staying in touch with her friend Ethan, though. Kenneth has one final soccer party to wrap up the season.


Saturday, Mom came over and Rod and I went to see the Texas RollerGirls play-offs. I don't know if we'll go back, but it was fun to see at least once. It is an all-female roller derby, complete with pushing, shoving, and a few staged "fights." Afterwards we went to Rio, a Mexican restaurant housed in what used to be the living quarters of the cast of The Real World: Austin.

On Mother's Day, I woke up to an array of presents (very thoughtfully picked out presents, I might add) from my sweet husband and kids. Then we went to The Omlettetry, which is my favorite place to get whole-what pancakes. Yum. Fabulous weekend.

Don't Pick It Up

Kenneth was lucky enough to go with his Dad to Houston today to see his Grandma. He had been feeling sick (we picked him up early from school yesterday) but fortunately, he does not have strep. According to the school nurse, it is going around but a visit to the pediatrician and a throat swab later, it all seems to be fine. They ate dinner and hung out for a while, making it back to Austin by 9:15.

Evelyn and I bummed around after school and work. On the way to soccer practice, she told me she had a song that was "important for children". I pulled over and wrote her words as fast as I could because it was so cute:

If you see something on the ground and it looks like candy, Don't pick it up! Don't pick it up! It might be something that has bugs on it or it might be grown up's medicine, so Don't pick it up, don't pick it up. Doooonnn'tt piiiiick it uuuuup!

The picture is of Evelyn and her neighborhood friend, Elena. You can see Evelyn's missing two front teeth in the photo.

Cinco De Mayo

We've had a busy week. I took off Thursday and Friday to head to Houston. My primary objectives were to meet with a business acquaintance and to R-E-L-A-X. I stayed at a B&B and had a 2.5 hour massage/pedicure/manicure. Sweetness.

Friday, we went out to dinner with my parents to commemorate the 3-year anniversary of Becky's death. It's always good to get together on that day.

This evening, our neighborhood had a Cinco de Mayo party. It was the right mix of folks, so it turned out great. Not only did we have a kid's pinata, but we had an adult's pinata (not my idea!) with little bottles of vodka and liquor-infused chocolates. It was pretty funny, actually.

Evelyn lost her 4th tooth today during her soccer game. I'll post a picture soon--she is missing her two front teeth.

Kenneth made me a rose out of foil. He is so creative!