Sunday - Tuesday

 On Sunday, we had plans to go to the Natural Gardener.  We put Chewie in the car and drove over only to find out they are closed on Sunday.  

We decided to try to find a place nearby to walk.  We ended up at the greenbelt in Lost Creek.  It was very pretty with lots of water.  At the beginning of the walk, we had to cross over water and there was not way to do it without getting wet.  Chewie loved that, of course.

Sunday afternoon Evan hung out with Reid at his house.  For dinner, they picked up Rudy's for all of us and we ate there.  As we were in the driveway coming over to their house we got a text that Evan needed a chance of clothes.  He fell in the pool!  He was reaching for a ball.  :) 

Monday was back to school/work.  I tutored in the afternoon.

Evan and Morry went to the first meeting for a baseball team Evan will be playing with in the spring.  Evan seemed happy with the coach and is excited to start playing.

Today, I tutored in the morning, went to school, and then tutored again in the afternoon.

Noah had Hebrew with Grandma.

We ate dinner. Morry grilled chicken. 

Then, after dinner, I met with another student at 9pm.  I normally meet with him at 5pm, but they had a conflict today.

Now Morry and I will sit down and watch some TV.

Here's a picture of the view from our walk on Sunday.

Active Day

This morning Evan and I ran to Starbucks (2.5 miles), got a snack there, and then walked home (another 2.5 miles).

We had the garage repair guy come today and fix the middle garage door.  The spring broke and few other things needed to be fixed on it.

Then, Elise, the petsitter came by to get all of the instructions.

We ate lunch and then went to the pool for about an hour.  Noah's friend, Grayson, happened to be at the pool and they enjoyed playing together.

We needed to leave by 2pm to get Evan home in time for baseball.

Evan and Morry left the house around 2:15. 

Then, around 2:30, the doorbell rang.  It was Grayson coming to see if Noah could play. So, Noah went over to Grayson's house for a little while and then they hung out at our house until Grayson went home around 5:15.

For dinner we made pasta.

We spend a lot of the evening going through the boys' clothes and pulling out items that don't fit anymore.  We are hoping to go to the outlets this weekend and wanted to figure out what we needed.

Now the boys are in bed.

Garrett's Party

This morning we picked up Grandma and Papa around 9am and then went to Cedar Park (45 minutes) to Garrett's birthday party.  They rented out a pool.  We had a nice time. The boys played water basketball for a lot of the time.  Evan also jumped off the high dive board.  We were surprised to see Ben, Matt's son, working there as a lifeguard.  He came up to say hi.

We came back home and took it easy until it was time for Chewie's training at 3pm.

Chewie did well.  He enjoyed eating all of the treats.

We ate dinner at home tonight and then went to TCBY for dessert.

Now the kids are playing in the gameroom.

Getting ready for school

This morning I took Noah's to his friend's birthday party at the pool.   I dropped him off and then got some stuff done around the house.

I made the kids' lunches, ate lunch, and then picked up Noah.  He said he had a good time.

This afternoon I did some cleaning and preparation for school.

For dinner, we went to Buffet Palace.

After dinner, we took Lizzy on a walk.

Now the boys will start getting ready for bed.

We have an early day tomorrow.

Queen in Dallas

We just got back from Dallas.

For the kids' birthday presents we got them Queen concert tickets.  They love Queen and were very excited.

We drove to Dallas on Thursday.  Thursday night we went to Fish City Grill and then Bahama Bucks.  We also drove by Grandma and Papa's old house.

On Friday, we went to a park, then to lunch at Ali Baba.  After that, we went to the Dallas Arboretum.

We took it easy at the hotel in the afternoon.  The kids swam in the pool.

The Queen & Adam Lambert concert was supposed to start at 8pm.  We got there around 7:15.  For some reason, it didn't start until about 8:45.  Our seats were pretty high up, but we were in the first row of our section and could see well.  It was a really good concert.

On the way back to the hotel we picked up Wendy's for dinner.

Today, we had brunch at Deli News and then drove back to Austin.

Tonight we got dinner at Fire Bowl.

Now the kids are playing video games.

Party, Pool, and Michael

This morning I took the boys to a birthday party at Austin Sports Academy.  Noah's friend Liam invited both boys to the party.  They had a good time.

I made lunches and did laundry.

Then, later in the afternoon, I took the boys to the pool for about an hour.  It was overcast and only about 75 degrees outside, but they still wanted to swim.   The pool was pretty empty.  For most of the time, it was just Evan, Noah, and one other kid in the pool.  Evan knew the other kid. He is in his class this year.

Around 5:30 we went to Grandma and Papa's house.  Michael is in town for work.  So, we all went out to dinner at Maudie's.  We had a nice time.

It started raining pretty hard tonight.

The boys are in bed now.

Spring Training

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

The boys and I are back from Spring Training.  We were back yesterday but we didn't have time to write.

The boys and I were able to see three Pirates games.  Evan got 5 baseballs while we were there and Noah got one.  During one of the games, Evan was in the outfield for batting practice and got three home run balls.

While we were there, we stayed at a house with a pool.  The boys were able to do a lot of swimming.  The house was very nice and was easily the best place we've ever stayed in Bradenton.

On Sunday, in addition to seeing a baseball game, we made our annual trip to the miniature golf place.  And in the evening we went to see the King Kong movie.

While we were in Florida, Rachel was busy going to a ton of SXSW events.  She was able to get a ton of free stuff and basically eat for free for 4 days.

Last night, Evan stayed over the house of one of his teammates from TRPD.  They hung together all day as well and went to the trampoline place, Altitude.

The last two nights, we've been able to eat outside on the porch.  The bugs are not out yet and the temperature is quite nice.

Until next time...

Swimming and Bowling

This morning I went to get my blood drawn.

At 11am the boys and I met some people at the pool.  Lorena got a bunch of entering 3rd grade boys together to meet a new kids coming to the school.  We stayed at the pool until 2pm.

Around 4:45 we met a friend of mine and her sons for bowling.  The kids had a good time.

For dinner we had leftover grilled chicken and then went for a walk.

The kids are playing Minecraft now.

Here's a picture from today.

Monday and Tuesday

Yesterday I took the kids to our community pool.  They had a good time.  They were there for 4 hours, and even after that, still didn't want to leave.

Today, we met Lorena, Owen, and Liam at the UT campus.  We took the kids bowling at the UT student union and then ate at the food court there.  We walked around campus a little bit and went into the bookstore.

From there, we went downtown for Voodoo Donuts. The kids really enjoyed that!

For dinner we ate at Hula Hut.

The kids had fun playing together at home tonight.

They are getting ready for bed now.

Here are some pictures of our day.

Swimming

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Rachel took Noah to his cooking camp again this morning.  I left to go to Aaron's shortly after.  Evan was home by himself for probably 30 minutes or less.

When I got home, I had a phone meeting.  Rachel and Evan were going to pick Noah up.  When they got home, Rachel took the boys to the pool to go swimming.

Dinner was kind of make whatever each person wants.  The boys ate well.

After dinner, we left the boys home and we took Lizzy for a walk.

The boys are in bed now.

Until next time...

Seth

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning, I took Rachel's car to get cleaned.  I had a Groupon for the basic wash but I had them do some interior cleaning.  After over 4000 miles of driving, it needed to be cleaned.

Shortly after I got home, Rachel took the boys to the pool to see Noah's friend Owen.  Evan saw a boy he knows and played with him.  They were there for about 3 hours.

Later in the afternoon, the boys made their own t-shirts with t-shirt paint.

For dinner, my friend Seth, who used to be with Hey Cupcake! came over.  He has a new idea for a business and wanted a bit of advice on the website and wanted to run it by Rachel and me.  We grilled steak and salmon and ate outside.  We always enjoy Seth's company and it was great having him over.  Evan spent quite a bit of time with us.  He seems to like Seth and wanted to be a part of the conversation.

The boys are in bed now.

Until next time...

Home from Costa Rica

Morry and I went to Costa Rica from Monday to Saturday.  We got back late last night as our plane was delayed in Houston because of weather.

The kids stayed with Grandma and Papa.

Today was spent unpacking and getting ready for the week.  I took the boys to the pool for a little while (even though it was only 70 degrees outside).  Morry took them later in the afternoon for haircuts.

Here are a few pictures from our trip.

Dead Battery

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning, the vet called early to tell us that Lizzy was doing well.  Her calcium dropped appropriately over night and she was walking around.

I went into Aaron's in the morning to do some fixes for Your Trainer and do some testing.

In the afternoon, Rachel and the boys were going to drive to the pool.  They got in the car and the battery was dead.  It's actually pretty amazing as I think the battery has lasted for nearly 5 years.  That's pretty long for a battery here in Texas.  So she called AAA.  They came out and replaced the battery.  But she had to cancel tutoring that she was going to do later in the afternoon.  They did walk to the pool which is where she called AAA from.

I had an eye doctor appointment in the afternoon.

In the afternoon, the vet called and said that Lizzy was doing really well.  They think she can come home tomorrow afternoon.  That's good news and earlier than we had anticipated.  I'm very happy to hear that.

For dinner, Rachel made frittatas.  After dinner we went to HEB.

The boys are getting ready for bed now.

Until next time...

Jeremy's Birthday Party

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning, everyone got up a bit earlier.  When I got up, I did some work while the boys played.  When Rachel got up, we got ready to go to Jeremy's birthday party.

We were first to the party.  Eventually, Lauren and her family came as well as Aunt Susan and some other people.  Jeremy played with the boys the whole time.  In fact, they were so busy playing, they didn't eat lunch.

After the party, we came home and then Rachel took the boys to the pool.  After the pool the boys cleaned up.

For dinner, we had hamburgers and corn cooked on the grill.

On our walk, we walked by Grandma and Papa's new house.

The boys are about to go to bed now.

Until next time...

Low-Key Fourth

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

All of us slept in to some degree today.  Rachel and Noah slept in the longest.

We thought we'd make waffles and pancakes for brunch and then go to the pool.  After we ate, the boys said they didn't want to go to the pool.

Nathan invited Evan to go to his house so he went down to Nathan's and was there until dinner time.

Rachel, Noah and I went to HEB to get some things for tonight and the week.  We saw Aunt Sandy there.

We took it easy in the afternoon.

For dinner, we grilled hamburgers, shrimp and corn.  I also made some garlic bread on the grill.  The boys ate very very well.

We went to Sweet Caroline's for dessert.

Until next time...

Swimming

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Evan woke up a bit earlier this morning than he had been getting up.  Noah still slept in.  I had to get to Aaron's early for a meeting.  I had the meeting then got a haircut and came home.

I did stop at Smoothie King on the way home and got smoothies for the boys and me.

The boys stayed inside in the morning.  After lunch Rachel and the boys walked to the pool and went swimming.

We had an early dinner of leftovers and then went to Costco to get some things.

When we got home, we went for a walk.

The boys are about to go to bed.

Until next time...

No Baseball This Weekend

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

I'll try to catch everyone up quickly.  Two kids couldn't make it this weekend so we pulled out of the tournament that we were supposed to play in.  So we decided to go to a "Hit Night" at a local baseball academy.  Basically, they have two or three coaches and it's $20/kid for an hour and a half of working solely on hitting.  6 of the 9 Bucs came.  Just as we were about to leave, though, Noah said he wanted to go.  So Noah came to Hit Night.

All the Bucs were very good to Noah and they all cheered for him while he was hitting.  I think the whole experience was good for Noah.  They played two hitting games at the end.  Evan won both games.

On the way home, I stopped with the boys at Via 313 - a new pizza place near us to get dinner for Rachel and me.  It took 45 minutes to get our pizzas, though so the boys and I didn't get home until nearly 9:30 and so Rachel and I ate late.

On Saturday, the boys and I went to see Paul Blart.  The boys enjoyed it though they both agreed the first one was better.  We stopped at Barnes & Noble so the boys could use gift certificates they had gotten for their birthday.

Rachel and I went to an open house in our neighborhood to look for a house for Grandma and Papa.  It was nice.

In the evening, Rachel and I went to a Persian restaurant.  We had never been.  It was pretty good.  Then we went to see Insurgent.  We both enjoyed it.  Blanca babysat.

Today, Rachel and I both slept in.  After lunch, we took the boys to the pool.  It opened this weekend.  I don't think people knew it had opened up because there was barely anyone there.  The water was still pretty cold.  Our neighbors ended up coming so Evan and Noah played with Brody there for a while.

We went to Costco to get food for the week later in the afternoon.  The boys ate their dinner there.

The boys are cleaning up now.  They should be finished soon so they can have their showers and go to bed.

Until next time...

Tryouts and the River

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning, Noah had tryouts for coach pitch.  It was his first time at tryouts.  Every kid makes a team it's really more of an audition.  Noah's tryout was at 10 but we got to the fields around 9:35 to get warmed up.  Evan came with us.  They threw Noah 5 pitches.  Unfortunately he didn't hit any one.  The pitches really weren't that good, to be honest.  It didn't seem to affect Noah too much which was good.  Then he went out to the field and got three ground balls and three pop ups.  He got 2 of the 3 ground balls and the one he missed he really stayed with it.  His throws to first were on target though they did bounce.  The first pop up they threw to him he actually caught but it took his glove off.  The ball stayed in the glove.  Everyone who was watching cheered for Noah and cheered for him to get the ball and throw to first.  All in all it was a good tryout and I think Noah felt good.

After tryouts we went home briefly and then drove down to Jack's family's house in Canyon Lake on the Guadalupe River.  It was about a 50 minute drive.  Jack's grandfather built the house in the 60s and they've had it in their family ever since.  Jack's dad, John, grilled burgers while the kids played.  The river was very shallow.  In fact, it was very creek-like.  I guess the drought has had it's effect on the river.  So the kids were down running through the water and playing.  After lunch, we walked to another part of the river and got in tubes and floated back down to their house.  Again it was very shallow and at times we hit our butts on the rocks.  But it was nice and relaxing and the kids loved it.  Jack and Evan even got in a kayak which was kind of funny to watch.  They have a pool at the house too and all the kids played in the pool until we left.

We came home and had dinner and now the boys are in their rooms.

Until next time...

Marauders Tournament #2: Day 2

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

The day started very early this morning.  I got up at 5:45am so I could get some things ready before Evan's alarm went off at 6.  I got some breakfast ready for Evan, got his uniform ready and started getting the car ready.  We left the house around 6:25am.  Of course we stopped at Donut Taco Palace on the way.

With no traffic, we got to the fields quickly and early.  Evan wanted me to throw batting practice to him.  I threw him about 50 pitches before everyone got there and the other coach started pitching to everyone.

We were playing a team that scored the fewest runs in the tournament yesterday.  Through the first two innings it seemed obvious why.  They just weren't hitting.  But in the third, their bats broke out.  They hit three home runs over the fence accounting for 8 runs.  They hit several balls off the fence.  We played well but we weren't hitting the ball like that.  Evan played well again.  He seemed to have no effects from being hit in the face and fielded several balls cleanly at second base as well as in left field.  He had another hard hit line drive single into the outfield.  The outfielders in these tournaments are so much better than during the season.  These were the balls that would be played such that they would get past the outfielder and Evan would race around for a triple or home run.  But instead, they held Evan to singles.  In the end the other team's bats just were too much and the Marauders lost.

When we got home, Uncle Marvin and Aunt Sandy came over.  They are putting money down on a house being built about 10 minutes from us.  They will be moving in to their house around mid-late July.  We drove over to the house and walked through it as it was being built.  The boys thought that was really neat.

Afterwards, we had lunch and the boys watched the Gremlins.

At 3:30 we went over to a pool in another development.  It was our end-of-season party for the Rockies.  It was good seeing all the parents.  The kids had a blast in the pool.  I enjoyed talking to all the parents.  I handed out trophies to the kids and they kids made a banner for me which was nice.  The parents chipped in and got me a gift card.  We had a good time.

The boys are in their rooms now.

Until next time...

Good School News

This morning I took the boys to the pool.  They had a good time.

We ate lunch at home and spend most of the afternoon at home too.

Around 5:30 we met Jack's family and walked to school. They were having a little event there with vendors and display of the class lists.  Noah got Evan's kindergarten teacher (who we really liked) and he has his friend Cole in the class with him.  We don't know anything about Evan's teacher, but he has 3 friends in the class and he was happy about that.  It was all good news.  The boys got shaved ice there and then we walked home.

For dinner we had pasta.

We just got the boys ready for bed.