Maya Walks To School

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning, Grandma and Papa came along when we walked to school with the boys.  Jack came out of his house as we walked by and walked with us to school.

I went to work from Aaron's while everyone was here.

Grandma and Papa went along with Mike, Jen and Maya to Zilker Park.  They also had ice cream at Amy's Ice Cream.

When I got home, we walked to pick the boys up from school.  We bought Lizzy and Maya walked with us.  Grandma stayed at the top of the hill while Rachel, Maya and I walked up to the school.  The boys were excited to see Maya.  They each held a hand while walking her up the hill.  Part way through our walk, Jack came up.   He and Evan ran to Jack's house.

Evan and Jack played together this afternoon.  Maya took a nap when we got home.

Rachel went to tutor.  Grandma made salmon and I grilled steak.  The boys each ate both the salmon and steak for dinner.

Noah and Evan are both reading now.

Until next time...

Barton Springs Picnic Lunch

This morning I was trying to figure out what to do with the boys.  They were being good playing inside, but I thought we should get out of the house.

I decided to talk them to Zilker Park.

We parked at the lake trail and walked (Noah in the stroller) about 1.5 miles to Barton Springs / Zilker Park.  The Barton Springs pool was closed so we went to the free part where the actual springs are.  Evan had fun.  Noah was a little timid because there were a lot of rocks and they were a bit slippery.  The water was shallow though, which was nice.

After playing in the water we had a picnic lunch.

We walked back to the car.

At home I made shaved ice for the boys and me.

At 5:20 we went to the gym for swim lessons.  The boys did well.

We had leftover Coke Ham for dinner.

Morry is reading to the boys now.

Walk and PIcnic

Noah and I walked (he sat in the stroller) at the lake and then we had a picnic lunch at Zilker Park. After that we went to Noah's sports class.

Today, in sports class they did Karate. Noah like that a lot.

Noah chose to come with me to get Evan today and sat on the tandem bike again. He really likes doing that.

Evan seemed happy at school and we all rode our bikes home.

Before dinner, Morry and Evan played tennis in the front yard.

For dinner we had hamburgers. After dinner we took a walk around the block. The boys rode their scooters.

We just gave the boys showers and now they are in bed.

Here's a picture of Noah today after he gently got a butterfly in his hand.

Hat Hero

This morning it took us a long time to leave the house. I had everything in the car ready for our walk around the lake, but we didn't leave until about an hour after that. The whole morning Noah was acting like he needed to go to the bathroom, but he wouldn't go. I didn't want to get in the car and have him throw a fit because he needed to potty. I also didn't want to have him pee on the side of the trail like he does sometimes. I told him we would not be leaving until he went potty. He wouldn't go, so finally I told him we would just drop him off at Clubhouse for kids and then we would go to the lake without him. He still wouldn't potty. He threw a fit and I got him in the car. As we go tot he corner of our street he finally decided he would go potty. I had to quickly get him back in the house and to the restroom while Evan and Lizzy waited in the car.

At the lake the little Zilker Park train passed in front of us. On the train, a woman's hat flew off and I could see it was a hat decorated by a kid that said "Mom" on it. I quickly parked the stroller. Ran and got the hat and somehow caught up with the back of the train. It wasn't going that fast, but still at a pretty good pace. I handed the hat to the people sitting in the very back of the train so they could give it to the woman. Lots of people around were making comments about how fast I sprinted.

I was going to let Lizzy swim at one point, but saw the snake again. We went to a different part of the trail so she could swim.

This afternoon Gabby came and I tutored.

For dinner we had chicken in the crock pot.

The boys are playing upstairs now and we'll get them ready for bed soon.

Lizzy Goes to Work

I took Lizzy and the boys for a walk at the lake. I ran pushing the stroller for about a mile. We stopped so Lizzy could swim and Evan and Noah fed the birds bread. Then we walked back. On the way back to the car we saw the Zilker Park train. Evan and Noah were excited and waved to all the passengers.

After the lake we went to Morry’s work. People have brought their dogs into the office before, so we call came upstairs to say hi to people. Then, we went to lunch at Freddie’s. We sat outside with Lizzy. The boys didn’t eat much, but they enjoyed playing on the playground while Morry and I ate.

When we got home I put Noah down for a nap.

Gabby came at 4pm. I tutored two students and got home around 7pm.

Morry made chicken fried rice for dinner.

Evan and Noah are in bed now and it’s actually quiet up there.

Sleeping hat

Sometimes I sleep with a hat on because my head gets cold. Not having hair really makes a difference. Lately Evan has been wanting to wear a sleeping hat as well. The other day he found a yarmulke from a Bar Mitzvah we went to and insisted on wearing it to bed. Last night when we went to check on him, we found him sleeping with a winter hat on. We just had to take a picture.

This morning Evan was up early and Morry got him set up with breakfast a movie before he left for work.

This morning the boys played in the game room while I got some food ready to take with us. I put together a picnic lunch. The weather was supposed to be really nice today and I wanted to go out and enjoy it.

Evan gave me a really hard time this morning. He didn’t want to leave the house. He didn’t want to get dressed. I already had everything in the car and I didn’t want him to ruin the day for us. Somehow I finally got him dressed and put both boys in the car. I decided to take Evan and Noah to Zilker Park. When we got there we went to the playground first. It was packed. There must have been a few different classes of field trips there. I had a really hard time keeping my eyes on both boys. I finally told Evan we needed to leave the playground and have lunch. He wasn’t too happy about that, but eventually followed me.

We found a grassy area by the train to have our picnic lunch. Evan was in a bad mood and hardly ate anything. Noah seemed to enjoy it, but didn’t eat much either.

The playground seemed a little less busy so we went over there again and the boys played for a few minutes until it was time to board the train. Evan seemed pretty tired on the train, but Noah was having a great time.

After the train ride we drove back home and then I put the boys down for naps. They both slept well.

Blanca came at 4:15 and I tutored 2 students.

For dinner we had the leftover pasta casserole from last night.

We have put Evan and Noah to bed, but Evan is sitting on the stairs right now making excuses for not being in his room.

Zilker Park and Hula Hut

When I was pregnant with Evan I found an online message board on Baby Center. It was for first time moms with babies due in April 2006. Almost every day I would read and participate in discussions. I got to know the other women on the board and the message board is still going (though I don’t keep up with it as much as I did). For the first time, I met one of the moms in the group. She and her family live in Tacoma and are here in Austin visiting her husband’s family. She has a boy just a few days younger than Evan and a girl who turns one next week.

We met at Zilker Park. We rode the train and played on the playground. Then, we ate lunch at Hula Hut. She and her husband were very nice. The kids were cute. I wish we could have talked more, but I was having a hard time dealing with both Evan and Noah. Evan threw a fit when it was time to leave the park and he was very antsy at the restaurant. Noah was good at the park, but cranky at Hula Hut. He wouldn’t eat much there. We might see them again when we go to Seattle later in the summer.

The boys took naps when we got home.

Blanca came at 3:30 so I could shop and then tutor.

I came home at 7:00 and we ate leftovers from last night.

Evan and Noah are in bed now.

Wet

Hello everyone, this is Morry. It's my turn to write the blog today.

This morning, Rachel got up at 5am so she could help Alissa with the garage sale. She picked up McDonald's coffee on the way for the two of them. Rachel thought the coffee was pretty good.

I stayed home with the boys and we had plans to meet Barry, Lisa and Lincoln at the fountain that's part of Zilker (I think it's still considered Zilker). Evan got up at 8:50am and I went in and put on his swimsuit and got him all lathered up with sunscreen. The two of us went into Noah's room and got him ready. We came downstairs and the boys had breakfast while I got everything together like towels and food for lunch afterwards.

This was the first time I was taking both boys to a place where they were going to need sunscreen and swimsuits by myself. In fact, I'm not sure if I have ever taken Evan by himself to something like this. I was determined to get there on time. I had us moving and we got there 5 minutes early.

Unfortunately, it was raining when we got there. It seemed like a quick shower and it was. By the time the Kincarts got there, it had stopped raining (they were on time by the way). The boys had a great time playing. Noah started to kick and squeal when he saw the water. It was also really fun hanging out with Barry and Lisa and getting to see how big Lincoln is getting.

After we were there for 45 minutes or so the skies turned black and a really cold wind picked up. We knew it was about to rain, and rain hard. Thank God Lisa and Barry were there. We each had to grab a very wet kid. I grabbed Evan, Barry grabbed Lincoln and Lisa grabbed Noah. We ran back to the cars and each changed a child. Lisa had the toughest time because Noah was screaming and carrying on.

After we got the kids dressed, we drove over to Mighty Fine Burgers. On the way, though, Rachel called to tell me that, during the garage sale, the skies opened up without much warning and just started pouring down on them. They got soaking wet trying to get everything out of the rain. They are going to have to do the garage sale again.

I was thankful, again, that Barry and Lisa were with me at Mighty Fine Burgers. They helped me bring the stuff and the boys in and helped again on the way out. Barry actually strapped Evan in the car for me on the way out. The food was good at Mighty Fine but it was packed. Noah and Lincoln sat next to each other and it was really cute. I had told Evan he could have a milkshake after lunch if he was ate well. He didn't eat very well so we didn't get a milkshake. But the Kincarts had a gift for Evan so I think that made up for the lost milkshake. Evan ended up playing with it for the rest of the day.

The boys took good naps today. I watched the Preakness. I thought Mine That Bird was going to pull it out again. I think, had the track been longer, he would have won. Of course the stupid sports reporters say nothing about that.

For dinner, we went to Logan's. When we got there Evan remembered that he had heard the Life is a Highway from the Cars soundtrack the last time we were there. He wanted to hear it again. Their jukebox is free so we went and picked it out. Both boys were incredibly well behaved at dinner.

We gave them baths and they are now in bed. They seem to be quiet which is good.

Until next time...

Ducks and Fountains

This morning we met Yenis and Kevin at the lake about 11:45. They had been there a little while and Kevin didn’t want to walk. They were heading home when we got there.

Evan wanted to walk instead of riding in the stroller. He walked/ran to the part where the ducks are (maybe a mile). We stopped for a little while and fed the ducks sandwich bread we had brought from home. Noah ate about 2 ½ slices. Evan probably had about 2 slices for himself as well. I think the boys ate more than the ducks.

We walked back to the car and saw the Zilker Park train go by full of kids. Evan was very excited about seeing the train.

There’s a splash fountain area on the lake, but it wasn’t too close to where we were. I put the boys in the car and we drove over there. Evan had a blast. I could hardly get his shoes off. He wanted to run right through the fountains. The water was cold, but he didn’t mind at all. Noah, on the other hand, did not like that cold water at all. He cried when I set him down. We stayed for about 30 minutes. Evan threw a fit when it was time to go. I had a hard time getting him to the car.

By the time we got home, cleaned up, and ready for naps it was about 3:00. They both took good naps.

Morry got home around 6:00 and we ate Coke Ham and mashed potatoes.

While Morry cleaned up I took Evan outside to help me water the plants. We got him a little watering can at Target yesterday. He enjoyed watering all the plants and trees outside. He even watered himself too.

Then, we went to HEB to order food for Noah’s party.

We came home, gave the boys baths, and now they are in bed.

Zilker Park, Train ride, Rachel’s on TV again

Grandma/Lynn/Mom came over to the house this morning to hang out with Noah, Evan, and me. We decided to go out to lunch and then to Zilker park. We drove over to Austin Java Company on Barton Springs, but there was no parking out front. Luckily they have a parking down the street and a free shuttle that will take you to the restaurant. It worked out well and Evan loved riding on the “bus”. It looked like one of those over-sized golf cart things. Lunch was fun. We were able to sit in the enclosed patio that overlooked Barton Springs road. We got a high chair for Noah and Evan sat in a regular seat. I ordered a turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce on it. Evan ate most of my turkey and cranberries so we ordered him his own sandwich. He ate quite a bit of it.

After lunch we went across the street to Zilker park. They have a small train that goes around the park. Luckily it was leaving within the next 10 minutes so we were able to get tickets and not wait too long. Both Evan and Noah love train rides. Noah was talking and jumping up and down in my lap. Evan and Grandma shared a seat, but Evan insisted on sitting on Grandma’s lap. Evan enjoyed waving to the other kids in the park.

When we got off the train we went to the concession stand and got snow cones. We gave Evan his own and let him choose the flavor. He got Banana/Strawberry. Noah had a little of my snow cone and seemed to really like it. We sat at a picnic table overlooking Barton Springs Pool. There was no one there at the pool for us to watch. We later found out why.

As we were eating our snow cones Evan noticed some men with large video cameras. We thought maybe they were shooting a movie or something. One of the guys keep looking at over at us and I jokingly thought maybe they are looking over here because they want me in their movie. One guy who was holding a notebook came over to talk to us. He asked if we knew that the pool was leaking. He told us the pool was closed because it was leaking about 4 inches of water an hour. Then, he asked if I would like to be on TV and talk about it. He said they were there with KVUE news. So, I got interviewed for the news. Those of you that know me well know that I always seem to get on TV somehow. Unfortunately, I didn’t have an opportunity to say “It tastes like chicken.” (from when I was interviewed eating alligator a few years ago). We’ll watch the news tonight and see if I really got on TV.

So, yes, we got on TV. Here's the link to the video of the news story. http://www.kvue.com/video/index.html?nvid=289346&shu=1

Poor Noah got Mike Wazowski’d (Monsters, Inc). Every time they showed him, his faced was covered by something.