Yikes! Has It Really Been That Long?

Can't believe how quickly time goes by...has it really been that long since I've blogged? C'mon! I have to do better than that. Not because I think there are many people out there that are dying for me to post something, but so that my grandfather, aunts, uncles and cousins who live in Guatemala can, at least, be a part of our lives through this blog. So...I'm hoping to do a little better and what better excuse than Dave riding the MS 150!

About a month ago, Dave decided to sign up and do something he has been wanting to do for a while now. His friend encouraged him to ride the MS 150 with his team, so Dave went for it. One week before the ride though, it was questionable if he was going to be able to ride it. During one of his training rides, something got in his eye and it looked pretty bad for a week or so. Then the following week, he went riding and came back with a lot of pain on his right hand. He went to see the doctor and he told him that he looked more like a swimmer and should think about changing sports. Oh, but this did not stop Dave! The morning before the ride, Dave decided to go for it...

I was on my way to San Antonio with the kids when all of a sudden, I get a text on my iPhone with a map telling me where he was. Come to find out, he was only about 15 miles from where we were at the moment, so I decided to take a little detour and meet up with him. Well, that little detour added about 5 hours to our trip, but the kids had a blast being able to see daddy ride.

Break point at Fayetteville Texas

After seeing Dave at the finish line for the day at La Grange Texas, we headed to San Antonio. We met up with my parents at their stores at the Market and while they were working, we decided to party at Fiesta, which is going on this week. It was crazy!!!! Not very kid friendly.

After all that "partying" I had enough, so I went home while the kids and my parents went to see my parent's possible new store which is located right in front of the Alamo. While there, they decided to take the kids on a carriage ride.

The next day, we headed to Austin to see Dave cross the finish line! There were thousands of people. It was so much fun being a part of this. We found a great spot to cheer Dave on.

Good job Dave, we are so proud of you!!!

Rain, Rain Go Away - Spring Break Part 2

Our stay in San Antonio durning Spring Break was planned out - so I thought, until it started raining on and off for a couple of days.  But, no worries, we stayed busy during those rainy days too.  First of all, per Carson's request, I mean supplication, we enjoyed bagels for breakfast one morning!  We also went shopping, got haircuts, watched more TV than usual and enjoyed an afternoon at the Children's Museum.

Enjoying yummy bagels

Shopped until they dropped (which didn't take long)!

Ah, amazing what a haircut can do.

They loved "grocery shopping at HEB!"

     

They enjoyed making humongous bubbles too!

    

Oh, the things we do for the love of Tennis!

We are in San Antonio and we are loving it!  Dave and his friend Neil left Beaumont on Thursday, after work.  Dave had to play singles on Friday morning and I didn't want Natalia to miss school.  It all worked out fine.  The kids and I left Beaumont by noon on Friday and got to San Antonio by 4:00 p.m.  Let me tell you, they are wonderful passengers.  They listened to the ipods, played with their leap frog and read.  They are truly amazing!

After stopping by the market to say hi to my parents and getting their first doze of spoiliness (is that a word? -Anyway.... you know what I mean) we went home.  

The kids stayed at my parents house while Neil, Dave and I went to have dinner after their doubles match.  We went to Chris Madrid's.  I don't know, but I think they have the best hamburgers ever.  If you don't believe me, ask Neil...

Neil was so proud of himself for eating the whole thing that he asked for a Chris Mardrid's sticker for his truck!  

Hey, it's the weekend and we are in San Antonio, so we decided to go all out and enjoy some dessert too, so we headed to The Cheesecake Factory to get some of this...

After a lot of laughing, and talking, and cheesecake, we went back to my parents house to rest for a few hours before going back to the tennis club early in the morning.  Dave needed to be there by 7:30 this morning.

This morning, after Dave's match, we met Byron and Kristi at Mimi's Cafe for breakfast.  We all  used to play 42 (domino game) while we lived here in San Antonio.  We had a great time visiting and catching up.

Right after brunch, we rushed to a Brody's (my cousin's son) 1st birthday party.  Then, we dropped off the kids at my parents again and Dave and I went to visit my cousin Ceila at the hospital.  She just had her 7th, yes you read that right, her seventh child yesterday.  His name is Thomas and I wanted to steal him from her so badly, but I didn't!  He is a precious 7.5 pound baby boy.

We were getting hungry again, so we went to Papouli's to enjoy some more time alone and a gyro.  We ended the night by going to the Half Price Book Store and coming back to my parents house.  We could have not had better timing.  My mom had already given all three a bath and their teeth were already brushed.  Oh, what a treat!  I will definitely be coming back soon.  I mean, can you blame me?  ;0)

Sea World, here we come!

For Christmas, my parents gave us season passes to Sea World.  We were so excited, so we decided to take a short trip (well, short trip for me anyway - the kids stayed with my parents for the rest of the week :0)!) to San Antonio right before Natalia had to go back to school.  I planned it just right.  I left to San Antonio on Monday and then took the kids to Sea World on Tuesday right before driving back to Beaumont all by myself.  We had a great day.  Luke was so ready to ride the Shamu roller coaster.  He was so excited to know that he was tall enough to ride it.  This was his very first time to ride it!  He felt like such a big boy.  He had the biggest smile as he was preparing for take off.  That look quickly changed as soon as the ride started.  After the ride I kept saying, "Luke, wasn't that fun?"  Forcing a smile he replayed, "yea!"  

Luke could not wait any longer to ride Shamu Express!
Enjoying The Polar Express - 4D.  It was funny to see their reactions with all the special effects.
This thing always makes me nervous.  One minute I see them and then I don't, just like that.  There are so many ways out of this thing that I don't know where anybody is!

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!  

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls!

Today Mami, the kids and I got the opportunity to go to

                               

                                  

Natalia wouldn't open the cotton candy until the show started!

Natalia's favorite part of the show.

Seven Motorcyclist in that ball - crazy, crazy, crazy!

The Human Rocket - crazy man, if you ask me!

Thank you Papi and Mami for the tickets. We had a great time!

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