Family Vacation Part I

I took off from work this Wednesday through the Fourth of July for a week of family vacation. Despite rainy forecasts, we took off for Schlitterbahn on Wednesday morning and it turned out to be a perfect day to go. It was not too hot (the sun was actually shining most of the day) and the crowds were minimal for a summer waterpark. We stayed till the park closed and went back to our hotel to clean up before going out for dinner. By that time, it was 9 PM and everyone was starving. We ate at New Braunfels Smokehouse, which was excellent. On Thursday, we drove into San Antonio, which was when the rain finally hit. It was OK because we spent some time in the Riverwalk Mall, saw a 3D IMAX on dinosaurs, and then met April, Cesar, and Noah for dinner on our way back to Austin. It was a great start to the vacation.

Kenneth is Famous

Awhile back, through a neighbor who worked at an ad agency, Kenneth and Evelyn participated in an ad for Seton hospital's annual report (along with some other kids). They each got $50 to spend over Spring Break and that was that. We never saw that one in print. Soon after, I received a call from the same agency asking if Kenneth would like to be in another ad campaign for the new Dell Children's Hospital. He was paid $150 (which he is saving). He took some pictures holding a sign with an arrow on it (to signify that the Children's Hospital is moving from its current location downtown to its new location north on I-35). Well, that campaign has come to fruition and Kenneth is featured on the side of the parking garage on the current hospital location with his arrow pointing north up I-35. We took a picture of the side of the parking garage while driving slowly up an entrance ramp to the highway. You can see it better if you click on the image. Now, every time we drive past it, we all say "There's Kenneth!" and he smiles proudly.

Mom, God Can See You

We have a very important announcement: Elizabeth had her third baby! The baby's name is Ann Marie, and she arrived on Friday. Caleb and Kyle are both trying to be helpful, Elizabeth says. All of them look great! (I stole the picture from their website, so if you want to see more, check out The Simmons Family link and scroll down to Ann Marie's Hospital Pictures.) We will be visiting them to meet Ann Marie this Saturday. Elizabeth sounds great and is actually celebrating her birthday today as well. Happy birthday Elizabeth!

Sunday was spent doing several things. We had lunch at Central Market, and let the kids play awhile before going on the Cool House Tour. (Oddly enough, we ran into Elizabeth's in-laws, Joey and Paula, and Matthew and Jennifer's family, who had driven in from College Station for the home tour. Jennifer is Elizabeth's sister-in-law and Joey and Paula are her father and mother-in-law.) This tour is made up of several Austin-area "green" homes that have been modified in some or many ways to be environmentally friendly. We only saw 4 of the 8 homes on the tour, but the houses were spread all over town, and it would have been difficult to get to them all. These homes were being lived in and the owners graciously opened them up to any Austinite willing to pay $10 a ticket (kids were free). Needless to say, there were several volunteers manning almost every room in the houses to answer any questions, but probably to prevent theft. Shoes had to be removed in each house. Anyone who knows me well knows I am not fond of feet so I wish I had worn socks instead of flip-flops. I had to traipse around bare foot (like the majority of the visitors) all over these houses. If I were one of those homeowners, the hundreds of barefeet would have bothered me more than some dirt.

At the summer camp, the kids have a dedicated time each day for board games. Both of them have picked up on chess, which has impressed me to no end. I am learning by watching them play with Rod. I am not joking when I say that both of them can hold their own very well. They already know all of the tricky rules. Sponges, that's what they are.

On our way to camp and work this morning, a car pulled out in front of us and we nearly hit them. I had to slam my brakes hard. When we passed the lady who did it, she looked dazed and had a crazy smile on her face, and was going about 5 miles an hour. I looked at her and kind of waved my hands in a "what was that???" gesture. About a minute later, Evelyn informed me "Mom, God can see you." I told her that I was quite aware of that, but that I was behaving respectably towards the person that very nearly caused an accident considering that she could have hit Kenneth's side of the car if we had been 5 seconds ahead, but thanks for keeping me in line.

A Relaxing Saturday

We started the day by heading to The Omlettetry, which is one of our favorite breakfast places. After that we looked at some furniture in a store where the starting price for a dining room table is ~17K. Not exactly our price range, but Rod convinced me that I wouldn't feel out of place in my shorts and t-shirt because it is Austin, citing that it would be in Dallas or Houston that I would feel out of place. Yeah right. He had worked with the furniture store through the Austin Home magazine (with which he's working) and wanted to show me some things. As soon as we pulled up, two ladies in their "Casual Wear" were outside the store discussing the qualities of a chair in the sunlight. Needless to say, the furniture was ornate but ridiculously out of budget so we left fairly quickly.


We visited a local pond/park, to which I had taken the kids over Spring Break. We saw some adolescent ducks (is that term applicable??) which may have been the baby ducks we saw in March. I don't know how fast ducks grow, but Evelyn was convinced it was them. It was the first time Rod had been to the pond and he thinks it will be a good place to bring the kayak with the kids. It is so conveniently located near our house.

At home later that day, we had some yard work to do and Kenneth (who is almost 9 now) mowed the entire back yard by himself. I couldn't believe it--he turns the mower and everything. He has no idea the level of work he's gotten himself into. Evelyn picked some weeds and helped me clean up inside while Rod was edging the grass. Highly productive!

Visit to Kerrville & Mom's Visit to Taiwan

I left Sunday (6/10) afternoon for the long trip to Taiwan, so Rod took the kids to visit Grandma Linda and Grandpa in Kerrville. They're working on their land and have set up a campsite that they've been living on for awhile now. According to Kenneth, they found neat rocks, saw cool scenery and hiked. According to Evelyn, they roasted marshmallows and used a potty that was open in the woods. Rod kept them busy while I was working overseas.

It was pretty busy, without too much downtime, but I did manage to finally see Snake Alley on my last night there, which is probably the most infamous of the several night markets in Taipei. Last time I was in Taiwan, I was with a colleague who speaks the language, so we went to a night market, but it was nothing like this one. (This time, another colleague and I went--neither one of us speaks the language, but we figured with some cash and directions back to the hotel, we'd be able to catch a taxi pretty easily.) Think crowded, flea-market-like environment, but with "attractions" such as snake handlers, the ability to purchase snake venom and blood (to drink for virility and fertility, not kidding), and the observation of snakes being skinned alive and hung up. So awful. That's mixed in with clothing, shoes, food carts with steamed squid, and other delicacies, and the regular moped sighting with a toddler standing on the platform, holding the handlebars, without a helmet.






The last picture is of headless turtles. I swear it's amazing how culturally different it is from Central Texas.

Off to Taiwan

Although I knew I'd be travelling to Taiwan this summer, the travel dates had been changed again and again, and it was finally somewhat settled that my travel would be in mid-July. Well, at the end of the day today I found out that I had to be in Taiwan on Monday! So...no more blog posts till after I get back on 6/16.

I picked the kids up early today so they could do some early Father's Day preparation at the ceramics place. If I'm not falling asleep on Sunday (6/17) in a post-trip stupor, I'll take pics of Rod opening all of his goodies.

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!

Kyle's Birthday

We visited College Station today to celebrate Kyle's birthday. They're going to have a party next weekend, but we thought it would be nicer to have some cousin-only time this weekend instead. We spent most of the time at the community pool off of Rock Prairie, which brought back lots of memories. That was the pool where I used to take the kids all the time when we lived there. After the swim, we drove over to Freebirds and we ran into Dr. Moore in the parking lot. Steve Moore was my mentor/chair of my dissertation committee. He was with his son Cassidy, who is now a senior in high school. When the Moore family moved to College Station, Cassidy was the age that Kenneth is now. Time moves very quickly.

If They Were Rubber...

Tonight was Spring Fling at the school. Let me boil it down for those unfamiliar with such festivities: parents spend $15 - $20 on tickets that kids can use to buy drinks, food, bouncer time, cake walk turns, etc. It is massive entertainment for the kids and we get to hang out with other parents. Last time the school had something similar, I worked a booth the whole time, but this time I 'just said No.' :)

Evelyn has several loose teeth--she seems to be losing them at a very fast rate. She was telling us that teeth must be bones because "they're definitely not rubber."

Evelyn's class has been learning about conservation (given the recent Earth Day). She brought home some cut-out messages and taped them up in the bathroom all by herself.

Project Night

The kids have been working on their GT projects for a couple of months. This particular project allows children to work on the development of it at school over a period of time, with no parent or teacher assistance (other than providing the supplies). Kenneth chose to do a project on aerodynamics, with details about why certain aspects of a plane design provide better aerodynamics. He also made a game where players are supposed to draw cards to advance along a board, encountering various jet-related issues such as "Lost a Wing: Go Back 2 Spaces" and "You Got a Faster Jet: Move Forward 5 Spaces". He also made each player piece out of tinfoil to represent specific plane designs (ala Freebirds style). Evelyn drew the lifecycle of a flower, complete with labels and a butterfly "just because I wanted a butterfly". She wrote about the lifecycle and sounded out all the words that she wrote on her own (click on the picture to read her lifecycle story in detail). She is learning faster than I could have ever expected. We are so proud of both kids!

So Old

Kenneth was explaining to Evelyn that his blanket that he had when he was a baby was "SO OLD, older than you, 8 YEARS OLD." Fast forward to this morning on our way to a soccer game when he told me that he couldn't believe that I'd lived as long as I had.

Directly after soccer, Evelyn changed into one of her fancy dresses, strapped on her bike helmet and clogs and rode around the circle. Nana spent the night last night so that Rod and I could go to a hospital network gala down in Seguin. Today, Pops came over to help Rod remove a tree stump that we've had in our yard since last summer. (The tree had actually been killed by bees, which had created a hive in such a large portion of the inside that the entire top half of the tree had no nutrients. Bizarre and since bizarre things regularly happen to Rod, it doesn't surprise me all that much.) Evelyn joined in to help with the tree stump removal in her party dress.

Turn A Sharp Corner!

It's been pretty busy lately. Last weekend, Kenneth had a soccer tournament where he scored 7 goals--a record for him. The boys in the picture with him are his closer friends on the team. The longer hairstyle is coming back for little boys, but I can't bring myself to introduce him to it. He can make that choice when he gets older.

Evelyn came up with a phrase and simultaneous strategy for handling the passing of gas. She announces "Turn a sharp corner!" and you know that something might be coming our way.

Austin Fine Arts Festival

Today we visited the Austin Fine Arts Festival with the kids and my Dad (Mom was in College Station helping out Elizabeth). We had a friend who was exhibiting her artwork from her travels to Singapore and at least a dozen other countries. This art festival was very nice--higher end art than what you typically find in street fair environments. I think Kenneth was inspired, because later in the evening he created a very intricate abstract design. Tomorrow he'll color it. I told him we'd buy him a frame for it when he finishes.

Please, No Gorilla Bar

Evelyn and I were coloring this evening and conversation turned to the snack that I put in her backpack that she gets to eat during her class snack time. Believe me, I try my best to provide variety but (silly me) for two days in a row I gave her a granola bar. She asked very politely, "Please, no gorilla bar tomorrow Mom. Can I have some crackers instead?" I told her no problem, but for future reference it's called granola bar, not gorilla bar--she took it in stride and you can bet she won't make that mistake again!

We've also been going over how to write "big" numbers (in the ten-thousands). She calls out a number and we talk through how to write it. One of the numbers she came up with verbally was "fifty-five thousand, fifty-five hundred and five" which is not a number. After I showed her how we couldn't find place values for all of of those numbers, she sang a song about it in a very melodic way, "...and it's NOOOOOOT a real number, it's a FAAAAAAAKE number, and that's OOOOOOKAAAAYY because I'm making it up in my MIIIIINNND."

Rod mowed the lawn (which was in dire straits because of the recent rains) and discovered a pair of butterflies in the grass. He stopped the mower and placed one on Kenneth and one on Evelyn. They thought it was great.