Last Wednesday we celebrated Brian's 35th birthday. We had dinner at Russo's NY Pizzeria. We then headed back to the house to surprise daddy with his Star Wars cake. The kids had a great time singing happy birthday to daddy and helping him blow out the candles. Brian got a new iPod Touch and accessories - just like he wished for!


To see more pictures from the event, click here.

Galveston Fun

Well, we're back from Galveston and everyone is a little bit tanner. We had a good time. Clarissa had no idea how exhausting the 2 kids would be, especially after being in waterparks with them for 2 days!! We went to Moody Gardens on Saturday and did the Aquarium thing. Clarissa then took Kaylyn on the Ridefilm. After that we headed back to the hotel to eat lunch and change into swimsuits. We then spent the rest of the day at Palm Beach. For dinner that night we tried to go to Rainforest Cafe, but it was a 2 hour wait!! We went on the river ride at the restaurant then had dinner next door at Landry's instead.

Sunday we got up and packed up the car and checked out of the hotel. We had a nice breakfast at Starbucks before hitting Schlitterbahn. I had no idea that Schlitterbahn in Galveston was so toddler friendly. There were multiple kiddie pool areas, some in shade and some in sun. I also like that you can bring your own cooler into the park. The kids favorite part was the wave river...see above picture. Somehow I think Palm Beach will now just be a memory. They will want to go back to Schiltterbahn instead!!

To see the photos from the trip, click here.

This video is so true....

The Greatest Show on Earth

Well, I am a bit behind on my updates here, so let me try to catch up. Last Thursday my mom, my sister, and I took the kids to see the Ringling Brothers Circus at Reliant Stadium. We got cheap seats (they were actually good seats, just not expensive) through 97.9 The Box's website. The kids had a great time and my sister and I ended up spending more money at the circus than on the tickets themselves. The kids made out like bandits, as usual. Although I wouldn't agree that the Ringling Brothers Circus is "the greatest show on earth", it was entertaining. Kaylyn's favorite part was when Mr. Gravity (the evil clown) turned into a Bengal tiger. I personally liked the double human cannonballs just before intermission.

Now, Brian is off to Ohio with his mom to visit family and work on genealogy stuff. Meanwhile, I have the kids to myself until next Tuesday. Clarissa and I are planning to drive the kids down to Galveston on Friday afternoon to spend the weekend doing water activities. We have tickets to Schlitterbahn Galveston and Moody Gardens. We are staying at The Victorian Condos on the seawall. Pictures and stories to come next week when we get back. Hope everyone is having a great summer!

Summer Portraits

Well, not much too going lately worth blogging about. But, today we FINALLY took portraits of the kids. I've been meaning to take them since Kaylyn's 5th birthday (May). We went to Portrait Innovations again. I am always pleased with their work, plus we get the photos immediately after the sitting. It was a rough start to the sitting since Jack was not having any of it. He was grumpy and throwing tantrums. He has definitely reached the "terrible twos". Thank goodness for the patient staff who took time to play with him until he warmed up to them. They managed to get him to smile in his pictures! Kaylyn on the other hand is an old pro at the picture-taking. In fact, the photographer called her "quite the ham." Again, we were pleased with our portraits. Click here to see some of our favorite poses.

Wicked

I finally had a chance to see Wicked as it played here in Houston at The Hobby Center. Chris invited me to see it with her and some friends. We started off with a nice lunch at Artista, in The Hobby Center. We then attended a 2pm showing of Wicked. It was a great show, it was funny and had great music. I loved the 2 witches! I think I'm going to get on Amazon now and find the Gregory Maguire novel to download to my Kindle. Thanks for inviting me Chris!

The Glazery

Brian took Jack to Lufkin on Thursday to spend a long weekend with Nia and Papa. Brian stayed the night on Thursday and then did genealogy research on Friday on the way back home. In the meantime, Kaylyn and I had mommy & daughter time! We started off by seeing The Karate Kid together on Thursday afternoon. Then, we picked up some Sonic and met Aunt Clarissa at the house who fixed our TV for us. "YAY AUNTIE!" On Friday, Kaylyn and I went to The Glazery to paint some pottery together. Kaylyn painted a coffee mug for her daddy and I painted an airplane keepsake box for Jack. They are being fired in the kiln and will be ready to pick up next week. I will post pics of the finished products when we pick them up. After painting, Kaylyn and I had a nice lunch at Pho Mai Vietnamese Noodle House. Then we took a trip to the new Sienna Branch Library to check out some new books. Kaylyn picked out some Curious George books to read before bedtime and I got a Tess Gerritsen audio book, The Bone Garden. We had a great day.

Kaylyn's First Fishing Trip

Kaylyn and Jack went for their second visit of the summer to Nia and Papa's house. We started off with dinner Thursday night at Cafe Del Rio. Kaylyn ate quesadillas, chips, and tortillas with squeeze butter and honey. Our pediatrician would be proud of her nutritious meal ;) Friday we went and saw Toy Story 3 at the Lufkin Mall movie theatre. The crowd was well-behaved, the kids were well-behaved, and we enjoyed the movie. I even had unexpected tears at the end...who would've thought that a cartoon movie about toys would be so sentimental? Friday night, Brian and I headed back to Houston since we both had to work on Saturday. Saturday morning Kaylyn went fishing with her Papa, Uncle Scott, and a family friend. I've been told that she caught 2 fish and handled the minnows like a pro. I'm so proud!! See a video of her fishing trip HERE. Later in the afternoon, Kaylyn went to see Shrek Forever After with Nia while Jack hung out at the house with Papa and Uncle Scott. Sounds like they had an eventful weekend full of movies, crafts, and outdoor activities. I hope they're thoroughly worn out and go to bed without a sound tonight!!

Mini Olympics

Kaylyn has been taking gymnastics classes at school on Wednesday mornings. Today was here Mini Olympics. It was a chance for her to show off what she has been learning in her class. The Mini Olympics was held at Alpha Omega Gymnastics. Kaylyn got to wear a Alpha Omega Gymnastics leotard as her uniform and perform for her mom, brother, grandma, grandpa, nia, papa, and aunt. She was so very excited to receive a trophy with her name on it and ribbons for each event: bars, beam, floor, and air track. Go Kaylyn!!!

To see more photos and video from Kaylyn's Mini Olympics, click here.

Galveston Trip

As a late celebration for Kaylyn's birthday we spent the night in Galveston. I had made a reservation at the Moody Gardens Hotel with a package that included an all-inclusive 2-day pass to all Moody Garden attractions. We drove in Wednesday morning and checked into the hotel. We then spent most of the day at Palm Beach. The kids had fun as we rotated through the splash pad to the swimming pools to the water slides and then started all over again. We got lots of sun and had lots of fun in the water.

Later in the day we went up to the hotel room and took baths and got dressed for dinner. We drove down the seawall and had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. We were having dinner and it was like a volcano epidemic.... the staff brought out at least 5 volcano desserts to other tables while we were eating, so we joined the crowd and ordered a volcano for us too! Brian and I couldn't finish off the large brownie and felt guilty for leaving some on the plate, it was so good!

The next morning we woke up to a view of Schlitterbahn next door. We'll go there when the kids are a little bit older. Instead, we ate a great breakfast at IHOP on the seawall and then saw all the sights at Moody Gardens:

The Aquarium Pyramid
The Discovery Pyramid
The Rainforest Pyramid
Happy Feet 4D Special FX Theatre
Wild Oceans 3D on IMAX
Amazeing Butterflies
Colonel Paddlewheel Boat
Ridefilm Theatre

We did a lot and it was an exhausting day. We headed home about 6pm and stopped for dinner at Russo's on the way home. This is Kaylyn's favorite restaurant. It was a fun trip!

To see all of our pictures, click here!