Spain Day 3

We are in Sevilla. Sevilla is hot. Probably Houston hot, but we don't go outside in Houston and we've been outside for 9 or so hours. But it has been a fun day. We did a walking tour guided by a local, so learned fun facts about parts of the city that we wouldn't have otherwise learned. Visited a really big cathedral and a couple of little ones, a royal palace, bull fighting ring and a few other little stops along the way.

Thanks to the weather we are a bit red and shiny in the pics, but here are a few. I can't seem to edit them all and add captions, but the second pic is Michael at the bull ring, third is me in a patio at the Alcazar, and last is Michael standing in front of the bell tower. 

Bit of trouble getting the pics in order, but here is Michael next to one of the bells in the bell tower at the cathedral. Check out the pic below of the tower itself...yeah, we walked to the bell part of the tower, the big dark sections.  Fortunately it was ramps, not stairs, but it was a long walk!

Spain Day 2

Thank you hotel curtains for keeping the light out and letting us sleep! For many reasons it was nice to sleep in and have breakfast at our normal lunchtime. I could seriously get used to the late nights in Spain, late mornings, and mid day siesta! Kind of like I'm back in college.

More sights of the town on the bus tour, got to visit the Royal Palace and Prado museum. Palace is really nice, very ornate. Prado is very different from the Reina Sofia. Fortunately neither Michael or I are big art people, so we are able to cruise through the museums pretty fast - maybe even faster in the Prado. There is only so much I can take of portraits of random people. Did some walking around and lunch at the Plaza Mayor.

A drink and some blogging at an outside cafe before heading to our train to Sevilla. Speaking of trains, we have been public transportation riding experts. A bus from the airport into town, then the subway to the hotel in Madrid...then back on the subway to the train station today. May do more public transportation these 10 days than I have in my life!

Here we are in front of the royal palace

Spain Day 1

Really the only positive of the day is that we made it to Spain on the day we had planned. In a nutshell, delayed leaving Houston thanks to weather and air traffic control (sorry Dad!), sitting on plane in Philly waiting for late plane to get a gate (weather was terrible in Philly) and watching our direct flight to Madrid pull away from the gate, a little detour to Frankfurt, Germany and then about 8 hours later than planned we land in Madrid. But we made it!

Got a good amount of sight seeing in, thanks to the hop on hop off tour bus that drove us around the city. Even visited the Reina Sofia art museum. Lots of Picasso art, and if anyone wasn't sure, that guy was a weirdo. Very tasty authentic Spanish dinner at what I'd call a local dive (recommended by Rick Steves). Shower and bed. Bed was between 10 and 11 PM and considering how uncomfortable U.S. Airway seats are for sleeping and the lack of sleep we got, I am considering us super travelers!

No pics from today...not feeling real pretty after so much time on a plane and the goal is to not take tons of pics of buildings and landscape without one of us in the pic!

Lake House Weekend

This may go down in the history books as 3 of the funnest days in Addy's life.  While not giddy about the 6ish hour drive to get there, we had the best time at Carl and Kelley's lake house.  We'd been planning it for months and it all came off perfectly.  The common thread was Bellaire Class of '94 boys - Michael, Carl, Zach and Collin.  Plus their wives/girlfriend and kids.  The Loredo lake house is amazing, the girls were in the water nearly the entire weekend.  We swam in the pool, swam in the lake, went on the boat, hung off various devices off the back of the boat, Addy jumped from the 2nd floor of the boat dock (it was high!), Addy and Ella played with their new friends, we got to catch up with our old friends.  Not nearly enough film in the camera to capture it all, but here are some highlights...

 All of the big kids! Ellen and I kind of look like we are posing for a prom pic :)

 Kelley and I spent the entire weekend trying to figure out which clothes belonged to which girl.  Ainsley and Addy have very similar wardrobes -princesses and pink are common themes. 

 Ms. Ella in a life jacket.  I thought that she would revolt when we put it on her, but she did really good, all things considered.  She did try and get it off a couple of times, but a little snack distraction and she was fine.  Big thanks to Ainsley for sharing her Dora mermaid doll - that thing was Ella's best friend over the weekend. 

 Some of the kiddos jumping on the big tube.  Addy is the second from the left.  

 Michael is such a good Dad!  Ella was in and out of the water the entire weekend and he was helping her along the whole time.   She had very mixed emotions about the step ladder for some reason, she'd want to get out but would sometimes scream when it came to climbing up the ladder.  Other time she'd do it like a champ.  And she did fall off a time or two!

 Addy on a jet ski.  

 Kids riding the tube behind the boat.

 Ella's first boat ride.  She doesn't look super happy in this picture, but I think that she actually enjoyed the boat.  

 Me, Addy and Zach riding the tube.  

 Addy "surfing" behind the boat.  I'm not sure if that is the technical term, but basically she is laying on a surf board type contraption being pulled along.  She loved it.  Michael and I are still in shock that she did it.  She'd even let go of the rope at times and she'd fall off.  No biggie, she'd swim to the board and Collin helped her get all set to go again.  

Not completely sure what this is called either.  Again, a surf board type contraption that Michael is standing on and paddling. I thought about trying it, but kind of looked like a lot of work - instead I continued to just sit on the boat dock and relax!

It was seriously the Disney World of lake houses - so many fun things to do and good friends to hang out with.  All the older kids were great with Ella, so while she didn't get to ride the surfboard and do things like that, she had pretty constant attention all weekend, so that was all she needed to be happy.   The drive was totally worth it - we are ready to go back next summer!

On the way home we stopped in College Station for dinner and drove around and showed Addy part of the campus.  Not sure she was completely excited about it all, but I'm pretty sure when the 1st Aggie home game is broadcast this fall, she is going to be talking about how she saw Kyle Field.  While not giddy about the campus tour, she is super excited about the mini key chain sock monkey with an A&M shirt that we got at the bookstore.  It is already on her kindergarten backpack, ready for the 1st day of school!  And she is all set so when people ask where she wants to go to college, her response is "Texas A&M".      

Not a Fluke

I figured after the hoopla of the last beach weekend with Ella FINALLY getting in the ocean, that it wouldn't happen again for the rest of the summer.  I was wrong, she still had a blast.  

Dad and Mary joined us again, so that was a fun treat.  Before we actually got to the beach, Ella was telling us that she would only go into the ocean with Granddad.  I think she actually let Michael walk with her out into the water, but she wanted to play with Grandad.  She was jumping waves, splashing around, having a ball.  

 Just a couple of other cute pics of Ella.  For some reason she was actually somewhat posing for me when I asked if I could take her picture, as opposed to saying no and running away like she normally does. Maybe it is a new phase and I'll have a cooperative model for a while. 

I've been trying to get a picture of the girls together at the beach and normally I have the Ella running away issue.  She was kind of doing that this time, but Addy could grab her and get her to come back with no drama.  I had about 7 shots and this was the best I could get!  

Bye, Bye Baby Teeth

2 wiggly teeth, 2 adult teeth poised and ready to go...

Then down at the beach house, a couple of bites of apple and the the 1st tooth is ready to come out.  A couple of tugs by Dad and the job is done.  July 20th.

Jump head a little more than a week later on July 30th and the 2nd tooth is gone.  No apple this time, just some serious wiggling and help from Dad again and it is out.  

Circus Time!

Addy has some internal circus alarm or something.  We've been the past 2 or 3 years, so I was planning on skipping this year, until earlier this summer she started asking about the circus.  Then she noticed the circus elephant sign on the south loop on the way to the beach one weekend.  So, off to the circus we went.  Michael had been the past couple of years and Ella is too much of a wiggle worm to sit through it, so Addy and I had a fun time together.  I splurged and got some seats closer to the floor and it was much more fun to be so close to the action.  Not too much more to report, except Chick-Fil-A was one of the sponsors and they had these funny cows around, so had to snap a pick of Addy with the cow. 

Ocean Again!

Big weekend - we went from "NO OCEAN" to "OCEAN AGAIN"!  The beach was amazing, low tide, no seaweed swimming around in the water and there were hardly any waves.  After watching the entire family enjoy the water, I finally just scooped Ella up and started walking out into the water.  There was a second of hesitation, but she was fine and ended up loving it. 

Here is Ella with Granddad and Meme.  See how smooth the water was??  It was like a swimming pool.  We were probably 50 or so yards out from the shore.  It has been a long time since I went out that far, but it was just lovely.  Another highlight of the weekend was that Grandad and Meme joined us!  

 I have never seen Star swim so much.  She was either enjoying the calm water herself, or freaked out by us being out so far from shore and she was coming to "rescue" us.  She probably swam out close to 25 yards, maybe not quite that much, but close.  And she did it multiple times.  She could reach the bottom close to shore, but was paddling the rest of the way.  Little black spot in the middle of the picture is Star!

 The little boat that has lived under the beach house for a year or so, finally got its 5 minutes of fame!  Dad brought the motor down this trip and the boat is so tiny, Michael and Dad could pick it up and carry it from the trailer to the water.  Addy rode the boat while the carried it, but definitely did not set foot in the boat while it was in the water!

You see that little speck right in the middle of the picture?  That is Dad and Michael in the boat.  I know I was not very optimistic that they'd pull it off, but I should have known that Dad could do it.  Michael mentioned that the waves had more propulsion than the tiny motor on the boat, but the motor turned on and pushed the boat around a bit, so mission complete.  Before the boat even hit the water, there was talks of getting rid of it and getting ocean kayaks - new project for Lee!

 In addition to great weather and great company, we had plenty of great food over the weekend.  Full of fresh gulf shrimp, homemade vanilla ice cream, donuts for breakfast, hot dogs with homemade chili, chicken cooked over a charcoal grill (I forget how tasty it is compared to a gas grill!), and smores!  Smores = messy children 

Happy Birthday Michael!

June is a big month for Michael with father's day and his birthday right together!  With a birthday on a Friday, he had a lovely day at work and then we went to dinner with the family.  

 We have two very helpful present unwrappers these days!

This was the highlight of my night - a little sombrero and happy birthday singing at the restaurant. 

Father's Day

A nice low-key father's day - did a little swimming in the morning and then cooked hamburgers on the grill for dinner.  Unfortunately Grandpa was out of town, so he didn't get to join in the fun, but Grandma, Granddad and Meme were there. 

I somehow managed to not get a picture with Michael and the girls, but got a picture of the dads grillin'! 

 Dad and his girls!

(and this was the best of the 10 we took - not sure why we never remember to take pics until the end of the night when the odds of cooperation are non existent!)

Star Loves The Beach

Ears blowing in the wind, water and sand in the fur - life can't get much better!

Itsy-Bitsy Akavish

Ella was singing in the car the other day and I could tell she was mostly singing the Itsy-Bitsy Spider, but something about it sounded weird and I thought that she was just mixing up songs or something.  Then Addy chimes in and tells me that "akavish" is spider in Hebrew and that Ella was singing the version of the song that they learn at school.  It is mostly English, but they change a few words.  Addy sang the whole song for me and it goes like this...

The itsy-bitsy akavish went up the waterspout
Down came the geshem and washed the akavish out
Up came the shemesh and dried up all the geshem
And the itsy-bitsy akavish went up the spout again.

 

It was super cute to hear Ella sing this rendition, and it was equally as cute that my 5 year old was translating for me! 

 

Slip-n-slide

These are still as fun as they were when I was a kid!  Addy loves it.  And despite the "no adult" warnings, I did it a few times and it was lots of fun.   I was mildly afraid I'd hurt myself, so I didn't do it too many times - didn't want to push my luck.  But Addy has mastered it and the jury is still out for Ella.  She likes to lay on it and you pull her along, but no running and sliding yet.  In due time!

Growing Up

Our tadpoles are really growing up.  Addy has pretty much dropped out of caring for them, but Michael wins the tadpole owner of the year award.  He was on his way to a conference in Vegas and before he boards the plane, I get this message...
"The tadpoles appear to be fine. I put some extra rocks in there today in case any of them want to "emerge" while I'm away. If you think of it, they probably could use some lettuce in the next day or two. Their water is probably fine until I get back. "
Well, take a look at what I saw when I got home from work today...

I am so proud of the little guy, making his debut as a big kid out of the water!  He still has a tail, but he appears to be quite content up on the rock.  Now I'm starting to get a bit worried because they are all getting big and their current home is quite little.  Pretty sure it is going to start getting cramped...I'm not sure the process for releasing them into the wild exactly, but if there is any weaning involved or something, might need to start coming up with a plan!  Maybe we'll just take them back to live in the pond at Dad's house!!    

The Beach

I promise I won't document every single beach weekend, and maybe if I do, I'll just be sure to just cover the highlights!

 

One of the main highlights from this weekend was fishing.  We went down to the water on Saturday with the casting net and Addy and Michael's fishing rods.  The casting net was pretty successful, with this guy being the most exciting catch.  No clue what kind of fish it is, but I called it an angel fish and that stuck with me and Ella at least.  She kept on asking to see the angel fish after we'd thrown the fish back.  

Here is cute Addy fishergirl!

We took the car down to transport all the fishing gear and when Michael 1st got there, Ella wouldn't get out of the car.  I walked down with Star shortly after and Ella was still in the car and wouldn't come out.  Once I sat down and basically ignored her, next thing I knew she'd gotten out and was on the chair next to me.  Shortly after she was running around.  Still shouting "no ocean" when the water came up close, but she was not afraid of the seaweed.  Unfortunately it was still there this weekend, but Saturday it was bearable.  There wasn't a barrier of it between the sand and water.  But when we went down today, it was back with a vengeance and smelled.  Fortunately, Addy accepted the idea of skipping the beach and heading back to the house to play in the kiddie pool.  

 I'm really not sure what is going on here, but Ella was just sitting there reading her book like it was totally normal to be her sister's foot rest.

 Ella is convinced that this is the proper way to wear sunglasses.  

It is somewhat mean that Michael took this picture, but because he did, I'm going to be somewhat mean and post it on the blog b/c this is such a cute face!  Ella leaned back on what she thought was the lounge chair and she found herself on the deck.  She made this face for about 2 seconds and was back up and climbing on me a second later.

Here is the proof, this is seconds after the mishap above.  A rare picture of me, a.k.a the mommy jungle gym.  Why is it that the girls can both be ignoring me 1 second, then someone sits in my lap (this time Addy was first) and all of a sudden both want to sit with me, but they don't want to touch each other.  Next thing I know there is kicking and fighting.  All I know to do is to resort to tickling, hence the giggles above!

Trip to PA

Rewind a bit to the weekend of May 4-7.  Addy and Michael headed off to Pennsylvania to attend Michael's cousin David's wedding.  Why only Addy and Michael you ask?  Think 2 year old on a plane for 3 hours.  Yeah, very early on we knew that Ella would not be making the trip, so in the end Michael and Addy decided to go.  Ella and I missed seeing everyone, but it was for the best.  As I was not there in person, the camera was not there, but thankfully Grandma took plenty of pics for us to document the occasion.

Here is a cute pic of Addy at the wedding (sorry Michael, your eyes were closed so I did a little cropping!)  Michael said she did great during the ceremony, was super excited to see a real wedding.  We both expected her to love the reception, but nope, she had fallen asleep in Michael's lap before they cut the cake and the DJ really got started.  So, it was an earlier night than planned, but still a good time!

 A very exciting part of the trip was getting to see Susan, Jon and most importantly Heidi!  I'm not sure Heidi has an iPad at her house, but no doubt after this trip she wanted one. 

You can't have a trip to Pennsylvania without a trip to the school house.  The last time we were there it was November, and not really boating season.  Weather was much nicer this time and Addy and Michael went for a boat ride.  This 1st picture is Addy getting boating 101 lessons.  By the look on her face you can tell she isn't 100% sure what is going on!

And in no time she is cruising around the pond like a pro.

One of the activities was building a little foot bridge over what is a consistently muddy/wet spot along the pond.  Uncle Bob found this little bridge kit and used some of the extra hands around to put it together.  Addy had fun with this project.  

But this might have been one of the highlights, for multiple reasons.  I'm not sure what this big disk is called exactly, but we'll go with frisbee, although it is big and soft and made out of a foam like material.  Addy had great fun playing with David and Suzanne.  And kudos to them for playing frisbee with Addy - I wasn't there to witness this, but I don't imagine Addy is the greatest frisbee player and David and Suzanne were likely running around quite a bit.  But the highlight was when Addy got hit in the face/mouth with the frisbee.  And normally you wouldn't expect the word "highlight" to be part of a description of getting hit in the face by something...it could have been a complete coincidence, it could be from the frisbee, but after this incident Addy discovered a loose tooth.  Big excitement!!  Granted, it is about a month later and it is still barely wiggling, but the tooth fairy must have us on the radar screen at least.  Now, imagine my excitement when I talked to Michael while they were still in PA and he told me Addy got hit in the face and has a loose tooth.  I envisioned the little tooth barely hanging on, ready to fall out any minute.  Initially I didn't share in Addy's excitement, but fortunately it wasn't nearly as dramatic as I originally imagined!