playful deer in our backyard

I'm not sure how well u can see this on the video since I couldn't zoom in any closer, but we saw a momma deer and her fawn in our backyard this week. The baby was so cute, she would leap and twist in the air just playing by herself. Almost as if she had a bee or fly on her nose. It was so cute. They were out there for a long time. They were so cute. The girls of course loved them!

First day of school!

The girls had their first day of school last week. As u can see from the picture above, W was beaming with excitement! She really loves it. This is her first year, she goes for 2.5 hrs a day to pre-k. She is really excited and full of smiles and energy regarding everything related to school. T, on the other hand, is not as excited this year, because after attending the school down the road from our house for the past 5 years (pre-k through 3rd grade), she now has to attend a NEW school, with NEW teachers, NEW rules, and a longer (hot) busride. She is not admitting yet that she likes school this year. However, these pictures were snapped on the first day BEFORE she went to school when she was still a bit happy about the prospect of what was to come.

This is W in line to go inside with her class for her first day.

On the first day I pick them up from school, so their first busride home was on day 2. Big smiles from W for her first ever busride!

Boobies and Bags

I am very particular about my wallet and purse. I like things to fit in it a certain way, so whenever I buy a new one I look like a fool because I will pull everything out of my old one (in the store, mind you) and put it in the new one to see if I like it and if it all fits the way I want it to. I like my wallet to sit upright in my purse so that I can reach in and pull my credit card out of the side of it without ever having to open my wallet or pull it out of my purse (that's a serious shopper for ya! lol). So my purses tend to be taller in shape rather than short and wide (couldn't fit my wallet upright in one of those). Well, anyway, last fall I got one of those big bag type purses. You know the kind, the ones u can fit almost anything in but the kitchen sink? I didn't know if I'd like it because my things would just float around in there and get all jumbled up and messy (a smaller purse would hold everything tightly together in place). One of my friends said once I tried it, I'd never go back, I'd always want a big 'bag' purse. I've heard this phrase used as well when people get breast implants. The saying goes "always go bigger than u think u want, because after you've done the surgery you'll wish u had gone bigger". Well, I guess its true... at least for bags (if you've seen any pictures of me you know I have no first hand knowledge of the latter LOL).
I am now getting bigger and bigger bags, and I really like them. All this space! Stick a water bottle in there, sure! A pair of flip flops, no problem! Need a tissue? I've got a whole box in here (no just kidding, just one of those small carrying packs), but the point is, my friend was right. Once u try it, u usually wind up going bigger and bigger (at least in the bag department ) ;0

Vacation to Sea World, part 1

We took a summer family vacation this month to San Antonio Tx. Our goal was to visit Sea World, shop in San Marcos, stay and relax at a fancy resort, then head to Houston to see Dan's parents for the weekend before we headed back home, bringing his dad with us. Well, even the best laid plans... (see the itinerary below)... Don't always work out as planned.
It started out as orginally scheduled. We left Friday and drove to Austin, spent the night there with the intent of watching one of the largest bat colonies in America take flight at dusk... problem was, dinner was too yummy and we ate too long, so when we got back to the hotel I looked out the window and noticed it started to become dusk and realized we had missed our chance to see this interesting and unusual phenomenon. (The bats evidently live under a bridge, and every night they take flight together in search of food (bugs and such)). I think it would have been really cool to see, but unfortunately we missed it.
The next day we drove from Austin to the outlet malls in San Marcos. Not many good sales at this time of year but I did buy another Coach purse (because u can never have too many,right?) That evening we drove to our hotel in San Antonio. Sunday we went to Sea World and saw all the shows. It was lots of fun and the girls really enjoyed the animals. The next day we spent most of it at the waterpark within Sea World, then on Tues we went back again to feed and pet the dolphins, buy souveniers, and see one show we hadn't seen yet. Wednesday we were able to get early check in at the fancy-schmancy hotel (J.W. Marriott in the Hill Country), so we drove over there and spent the day at their pools and waterslides. It was a pretty hotel, but too expensive for the location and amenities offered. We were supposed to stay there 3 days, then head to Houston, but by this time we had received word from MI that Dan's grandma was taking a turn for the worse and would not have many days left here on Earth. His dad had already flown straight from Houston to MI, and his mom was heading there shortly so it would have been pointless for us to head to Houston when no one was there. The Marriott let us check out early(after just 2 days), and we headed home. Dan was able to wrap up some loose ends at work when we got there then he flew out the following week to attend the funeral. As you can see it turned out to be a very stressful and eventful 'vacation'. We do have some pictures though, that were taken before we received the news of her deteriorating condition, and as u can see, we had a fun time together as a family enjoying the sights. The picture below is when we first arrived at Sea World.



This is a picture of a tortilla maker (at the yummy restaurant in Austin that resulted in us missing the bats). They take balls of dough (on tray in front), place them in indentations on a conveyor belt thing (upper left corner), it drops them on to flat surface which then spirals down through heat till the cooked, fresh tortilla comes out the bottom (lower right corner). It was pretty neat, but obviously not so unusual for folks down there to see this because they looked at me like I was crazy when I took a picture of it :)

This is the girls watching the Shamu show in the 'wet zone'. I would like to point out that I did NOT want to sit in the wet zone. T insisted...

This was the result! Notice the drenched shirts, water dripping off Dan's face, and wet hair on the girls! we were SOAKED! They loved it though :)

Sea World Trip

Our family at Sea World on day two (the waterpark day, notice the swimsuit cover-ups)

T feeding the dolphins.

Our family. I got lots of good family pictures on this trip :)

At the Marriott, chilling as we wait between phone calls to MI. W took this pix so its really blurry, but it sure was comfy so I had to post it anyway :)

Below, the girls and I are standing in front of some of the pretty landscaping that the Marriott had. Very nicely decorated hotel.

Zappos

Zappos.com is such a fun website. They have free shipping and free returns(for up to a year from purchase!) I have been ordering jeans from them and really enjoying myself trying them all on to try different fits and styles without having to trudge through the mall and be disappointed that they don't have my size in the style or length I want. And fortunately, since I return almost everything, except maybe one pair out of a 10pair order, I'm getting refunds on all the purchases. Because my goodness, if you didn't, this online shopping thing could get addictive and expensive! Thank goodness for these free returns, and the lovely time-frame to let u decide if you really want it or not. This was my go Zappos post, ha ha.

Frogs frogs frogs

If there is one thing my girls love, its critters. Bugs, beetles, crickets, grasshoppers, butterflies, and... frogs. We usually find a poor unsuspecting frog in our pool at least once a week. He then (unfortunately for him) becomes a plaything for the girls until we make them release them (they've killed so many from malnutrition and dehydration that they aren't allowed to try to keep them anymore). This fine young guy was in the pool and the girls thought it was funny to put him on their heads. W in fact swam (lots) with this guy riding on the top of her hat for a good part of the afternoon!

Kissing a frog, someday her prince will come (some day a lllloooooonnnnggg time from now!) :)