Time To Go Back Home!

Okay, so I think is time to go back to Beaumont now.  We had two wonderful weeks here in San Antonio. The first week, we got to spend a lot of time as a family.  Dave and I also had several opportunities to spend some alone time, which was nice.  The second week, I took advantage of and started preparing for Luke's 3rd birthday party, which is quickly approaching.  

We were able to do quite a bit.  In addition to the things I already blogged about, we also enjoyed the following: 

We went downtown to an amphitheater to see a Mexican Folkloric Ballet.  

We went to the zoo with Dave.

The kids and Dave played a lot of basketball.  Games like CAT and Around the World.  Carson challenges every time, where as Natalia will never challenge.  Man, did Carson enjoy every minute of that.  Natalia always has such a hard time loosing, but she hung in there.  

When I came outside, I noticed that Luke was getting hit with the basketball way too often.  The basketball hoop was right next to the sandbox, where he was playing.  Nobody thought about moving the basketball hoop.  LOL.  They would just laugh every time they hit Luke with the basketball.  Poor kid.  Then again, you would think that if it bothered him that much, he would have moved or at least say something.  Luke is just a though little guy, I guess!

Oh, let's see, what else did we do?  Oh yea, we went on a "Nature Walk", as Natalia calls them.  It was the perfect day for a little hike.  The kids were so into catching bugs and looking out for snakes.  We saw several deer and a whole bunch of bugs.  

  

  

I also attempted to potty train Luke.  Ha, what a joke!  Not even close to being potty trained. I'm so mad at myself because I believe that he was ready to be potty trained last November.  He was already letting me know when he wanted to go, but with moving out of the house and all that construction project, I just pretty much ignored the whole thing and now, I wish I would have worked with him.

I've tried this week.  He gets to play with my iphone while he sits on the toilet.  We even have Wall-E calling my cell phone!  You should see the kids' little faces light up when they see Wall-E on my phone screen.  They get so excited.    Wall-E sounds so much like Dave, it's amazing.  But then again, Dora and Barney also sounded like Dave. Geez, I wonder why?

Anyway, we had great times here in San Antonio, but enough is enough.  It's really time to go home.

This time, we only broke an old chair and messed up the bed's comforter in our room with a marker.  Yea, I think my parents would also agree that it's time for us to go back to Beaumont.

Thanks Dad and Mom for everything.  We appreciate all you've done for us!  

Quality Time with Daddy

During evacuation, with a lot of time in our hands and no money in our pockets, we have been looking for things to do.  I'm glad Dave has been here with us though, because he can always have fun no matter the situation.  One day, he took them to Target (of all places) per Carson's request, I mean plea.  Carson has been asking for a costume for Halloween.  And no, this is not what they will be wearing for Halloween.  After all that nonsense, they went to EZ's to get a Cookies and Cream Milkshake!

For the last two days, he has been spending one on one time with each kid.  First up was Carson. Carson, being the big helper that he is, got to go with Daddy to Lowe's to look for some materials so that Dave could run a telephone line in my Dad's new store at the Market.  But, before work, they needed something to give them some energy.  They made a quick stop at Naddler's to enjoy a cookie.  Later, they went to the Market to work.  Carson really enjoyed his time with Daddy.

Carson had so much fun eating this cookie!  He thought it was funny how he was eating one body part at a time!  Leave it to a guy to find humor in that!  I guess that's what daddies are for.

Natalia had a hard time believing that she was not allowed to go with them.  "Ah, why can't I go? Why does Carson ALWAYS gets to go?"  Finally, somehow, we convinced her that it was going to be OKAY.  Later yesterday, she had the opportunity to spend a few hours with just Daddy.  They went to eat cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory.  I think this was probably her favorite part!  Later, they went to the Apple Store.  She was able to play with their computers  for as long as her heart desired.  Didn't even have to share! 

 

I don't know, but I'm having a hard time figuring out if she is enjoying this White Chocolate Caramel Macadamia Cheesecake!

Little Luke didn't get to spend time with Daddy yesterday, but he got his turn today.  First off, they went to Petco.  Believe it or not, my kids love this place.  Today in particular, Petco was the place to be.  Luke had the opportunity to pet a baby squirrel!  Then, they stopped by Coldstone to enjoy some ice-cream.  And to end their time together, they went to the airport to watch the airplanes take off and land.  When they came back home, I was even excited just by  listening to Luke tell me all about his time with Daddy.  I wish I would've taken a picture of him.  He had the biggest grin on his face and he was talking as fast as he could.  He was so excited! 

I am so proud of Dave for all these pictures he took and I'm also worried that he will gain 50 pounds after his one-on-one time with the kids.  

Post Ike

As soon as we woke up this morning, Dave was ready to go.  I'm telling you, this boy does not sit well.  He went to get breakfast tacos at his favorite place, Taco Cabana, at 6:00 a.m. and then he started getting ready for his trip back to Beaumont!  He went shopping for gas tanks, coolers, food, car phone charger and other survival items.  My cousin Adin and Adin's friend Brent, were kind enough to take Dave back to Beaumont.  It took them approximately 7 hours to get there, but thank God, they got there safely.  

We are so thankful to God that our house made it!  It also looks like the practice didn't receive a lot of damage either.  Of course, we will know more as the days go by.  

No pictures yet, but don't worry, as soon as I get my hands on some, I'll make sure and post them.

On another note...

While Dave was getting ready to go to Beaumont, Kim, Adin's wife, called me and invited us over to swim. We all had such a wonderful time!  We ate, swam, ate, jumped, ate, played and ate some more.  What a great day we had.   

Baking Cookies

Playing Wii

Ashlyn and Natalia working on a 500 piece puzzle

Running away from Ike!

Enough is enough. I was going a little crazy not knowing what we were going to do. Didn't know if we were going to stay or if we were going to evacuate to Dallas or San Antonio. We definitely didn't want to get stuck in traffic like we did three years ago, so we were a little reluctant to just pack up and go to San Antonio. Finally, on Thursday after having an "emergency planning meeting" (just an excuse to meet and have good food for lunch at Pho's Vietnamese Restaurant), sitting in Dave's office while he did a root canal, and then having a "follow up emergency meeting" (another excuse for some more good food and good company), we decided that we would evacuate to San Antonio at 4:30 a.m. the next morning. We tried to convince Matt to go to San Antonio with us, but he would have nothing to do with the idea. He decided to stay!

We left Beaumont on Friday at about 6:30 a.m. It was a great trip. No traffic at all. As soon as we got to SA, we dropped off the kids at my parents house. Dave and I escaped and had a quiet lunch at Freebirds! Oh, it was so nice. Although, Matt (kind of) ruined our day because we could not stop thinking, praying and talking about him. We constantly checked on him. Poor guy, he was probably sick and tired (that was for you, Elizabeth) of us calling and texting him, but we couldn't help it. We were too worried about him. Dave and Matt probably stopped texting at 11:30 p.m. or so and then Matt called at 5:00 a.m. the next day. Boy, were we glad to hear from him again. ~We are so thankful to God for keeping Matt safe! I'm telling you, next time, we are NOT leaving him there. No way!

Tracking Hurricane Ike

Dave and Natalia have been tracking hurricane Ike on a daily basis.  Natalia has been listening to us mention that we might be evacuating to Dallas.  After seeing where the hurricane is going, she asked (with a heavy East Texas accent), "Daddy, why are we going to Dallas?!"

Plywood vs Mortar

In Beaumont, while everyone was at Lowe's buying plywood, batteries and generators on Sunday morning to get ready for the hurricane, Dave was buying mortar!!!

I'm telling you, he can't stop.  He just took this as an opportunity to get some work done around the house. 

I'll post some pictures of the finally project later.  This is just a little preview.  Tomorrow, he'll be applying the grout and the backsplash will be finished! 

THE HUMAN RACE 10K

While a bunch of you were keeping an eye on Gustav on Sunday evening, I was running the Human Race in Austin.

It was so fun!  There were approximately 13,000 people running the race in Austin alone. Including Lance Armstorng and Benjing gold medalist and former Longhorn swimmer, Brendan Hansen.

  

I wish I had my own camera to take my own pictures, but since I didn't, I had to borrow these from the Nike website.  

   

This was the course we ran.  Let me tell you...those were some hills!!!!  I did okay on the first hill, but by the 2nd hill, I wasn't too sure why I was doing this.  I walked a little during the second hill, but decided not to walk anymore.  I was afraid I was not going to be able to keep running if I stopped again.  You see, when I run, it is normally early in the morning.  The sun is not out yet and it is probably only 78 degrees.  Last evening, the sun was still shinning bright and it was 92 degrees or so.  Oh yea, and did I mention that there were hills??? 

I'm glad I had the opportunity to run the Human Race after all.  For a while, I didn't know if I was going to do it.  Brooke at Everyday Bailey, Elizabeth and I were going to go on a girls weekend and run the race.  Our plans, for the weekend, fell apart because of Gustav.  So, I wasn't 100 percent sure I wanted to drive from San Antonio to Austin just to run the race and then have to drive right back, but I did it and I'm glad I did.  I met up with Lucy and Lindy and we had a great time.

It took me one hour and eleven minutes to run the 6.2 miles.  This is a little longer than usual. I normally run it in one hour and five minutes, but I think the hills and the heat made it a little bit more difficult.  

I can't wait for my next race....