Lake Days

We are home after a long, fun - filled weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's house on the lake. Aunt Carlee, Uncle Mike, and Michael made the trip too, and it was nice to catch up with them. The buddies spent their days swimming, boating, fishing off the deck, playing golf, scootching trains, eating cookies and visiting with family and neighbors. They even had a chance to try out our new ice cream ball.

Check out our pictures here.

Another Trip to Our Favorite Berry Farm

Since today was our only free day for the next two and a half weeks, we decided to trek out to our favorite berry farm for some blackberry picking, before the weather gets too hot. Those who have followed our blog for a while know that Sweetberry Farm is one of our favorite places, so I won't bore everyone with a long recap of the field trip we've taken a half dozen times before. We followed our usual routine today:

Pick berries (blackberries this time).

Feed the goats.

Eat homemade ice cream (and sample your brother's flavor).

Our Fire Station Play Date

Today was our turn to host our weekly play date, so we invited our twin and triplet friends to our local fire station. It was educational and fun too!

Two friendly fire fighters greeted our wild crew and showed us around their station. We started with a brief lesson in fire safety: calling 911 for emergencies, sleeping with our doors closed, testing smoke detectors monthly and changing their batteries twice a year. I'll have to get to work on the last few as time allows.

Next, the fire fighters showed us their gear and let the kids try to lift their heavy coats. A few lucky kiddos tried on real fire fighter boots. After that, we continued our tour of the station, seeing the kitchen, the private bedrooms (not shared bunks, since many fire fighters are female now), the gym, and then, the main event: the fire truck.

Our kids loved exploring the truck and learning how many of its parts function. And best of all, everyone got to climb in the cab for a quick tour of the inside. A very nice paramedic showed us her ambulance too. To wrap everything up, they turned on the fire truck lights to the delight of all the little ones.

It was a fun and educational outing. The most important lesson we learned is that fire fighters are our friends. Our hosts today certainly were.

Lake Austin

The buddies and I met a friend this morning at her friend's lake front house and enjoyed some time on a private beach on Lake Austin. We've been searching for a nice local beach and this was the best one so far. It had a nice sandy beach, so we parked our shovels, buckets, rakes, and sandcastle shapes and hit the water.






Everyone loved watching the boats go by and swimming in the chilly water. There were even a few water skiers out today and Ace decided he wants to try to "skate on the water". We had a nice picnic lunch and then splashed some more, before heading home to rest. It was a great morning. Thanks Allison!

One More Bird

Correction: Our baby birds are TRIPLETS, not twins, as we previously thought. This was confirmed during a very fun Sunday dinner on the porch. Steve fed his babies hamburgers from the grill while we watched Mama Bird feed her babies tasty bugs. She is a very busy Mama Bird, indeed.

And our baby birds have names!

Mommy's bird: Little Johnny
Ace's bird: Little Ace
Ben's bird: Little Benny

New Life!

Our Earth Day Caterpillars are growing wild green hair. The buddies faithfully water them every day (lately with their squirt guns).

TWINS! We have two baby Southern Emu Wrens. My grandpa determined their species for us, although he called it a WAG (wild a** guess). We'll wait until they have feathers and are a little stronger before the buddies check them out up close and name them. One is already designated "Little Johnny" in honor of a story from our bird identifying consultant.

"Woo hoo! I can talk about it!"

Today was a day of sporting adventures. We awoke (at 6:15am, unfortunately) to thunder and lightning. Since the rain continued, we decided to check out the basketball courts at the YMCA. I have not been on an indoor court since my love affair with basketball ended 14 years ago and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Perhaps it was because I was seeing it fresh, through the eyes of my children. The buddies loved the big wide open space that we had all to ourselves. And I loved showing them the basics and setting up cones for them to dribble around. We played basketball and soccer and football and could have stayed all day. We were eventually kicked out for league play, so the boys headed to the kid's gym while I grabbed a quick 30 minutes on the elliptical machine. The Y may be our new favorite place to play.

When we left the Y, the sun came out, so we headed to our neighborhood park for two hours of fun. We played the "catch game" with our tennis balls and then headed to the playground. The slides were wet from the morning's rain, which meant my two wild boys went down very fast. Ace kept saying, "Woo hoo! I can talk about it!". It took me a while to figure out that he was mimicking his dad, who often says, "That's what I'm talking about!" when he is excited. That's right, Ace. You can talk about it.

A Visit from Aunt Katie and Uncle Mike

Oh what a fun weekend we just had! The buddies were excited to find Aunt Katie and Uncle Mike (aka Uncle Wags or "that guy") at our house when they awoke on Saturday morning. They were greeted with hugs and presents and things just kept getting better after that.

The theme for our weekend seemed to be outdoor fun. Yesterday, we took our relatives paddle boating on Lady Bird Lake, near downtown, and then to eat on the patio at one of our favorite restaurants, Shady Grove. Steve even sang karaoke in a Southwest Airlines promotional vehicle while we waited for our table. His rendition of "Baby Got Back" was certainly memorable, but probably didn't make us look like the best parents in the world. Afterwards, we made our 2008 premiere at our neighborhood pool, before heading home to grill burgers in our backyard.

Today, we checked out the beach at Emma Long Metropolitan Park. The park spans a full mile of the Lake Austin shoreline. Since the sandy beach was underwater, we grabbed a great spot on the shore, next to the volleyball pit, so that our sand toys could still get some use. The buddies had a great time searching for shells with their dad and digging in the sand with Aunt Kate and Uncle Wags. They splashed in the water some, but the lake was still a bit cool.

It was a quick visit, but definitely a fun one! The buddies and their Aunt Kate and Uncle Wags are clearly part of a mutual admiration club. The boys had such a great time with them. Tomorrow, we'll all return to normal life with refreshed spirits, slight sun-burns, and lots of great memories.

Check out the rest of this weekend's photos here.

Silly Mama Bird

What was she thinking building her nest at eye level of two wild boys??? Over the past few weeks we've enjoyed an up-close nature lesson that I fear will have a tragic end.

Luckily, Mama Bird doesn't seem too bothered by us. Her nest has been hit by a baseball twice and peered at countless times by two noisy boys shouting, "LOOK, A NEST!!!". When we first discovered her nest and five speckled eggs, I felt sure that she'd abandon them soon enough. But, each day, she endures our curiosity and returns to her post. Steve has even taken to feeding her, calling her "a part of our family". Soon enough, we'll have a few more "family members" to peer at.

So, what kind of bird is she? She's a little brown bird and her eggs are white with red speckles. Gramps, please consult your bird books and let us know.

Our 3 Year Stats and a Few Songs

The buddies visited with their nice pediatrician this morning for their 3 year well check. Their stats are:

Ace
height: 40"
weight: 36 lbs 8 oz

Ben
height: 38.5"
weight: 32 lbs 6 oz

Then, for a fun activity this afternoon, I shot video of each boy singing the ABC song. They LOVED watching themselves and each other on the computer screen. I bet we watched the videos a dozen times each. They were particularly entertained by Ace's dramatic ending. These two love slapstick comedy.

Cinco de Mayo

In celebration of Cinco de Mayo yesterday, the buddies and I invited our neighbors over for a "Sangria and Scooters" party. The kids brought their favorite modes of transportation while the moms (and a few dads) enjoyed a few glasses of my famous sangria.

Our motorcycles were a huge hit amongst the 3 year old crowd. The older kids decorated the street with chalk. Until the next rain, the road in front of our house will say, "No Sisters Alood" in more than one place. We hope it washes away before Steve's sister arrives for her much anticipated visit in just 3 days!

First Crawfish Boil

This evening, we attended a crawfish boil and scholarship benefit, thrown by our neighbors. It was a great way to introduce the buddies to a great tradition from our neighboring state. When we arrived, Ace and Ben were thrilled to see a giant bounce house at our neighborhood park. But, the highlight for Ben was the chance to play with live crawfish. He had a blast scooping them from their large bucket next to the boiler and transferring them to a nearby "crawfish racetrack". He played and played until it was time for the last few crawfish to make their way to the boiler.

When it was time to eat, he happily sat at our picnic table and munched on tails, saying, "I like crawfish!" Ace wasn't as big of a fan. He got pinched by one during playtime and then later declared them "too spicy" to eat. Our neighbors thought Ben made a great Cajun.

Scooping...

Admiring...

Munching...

Motorcycles

We received two large boxes on our doorstep this week from Uncle Jeff. The buddies were thrilled to find motorcycles inside. Not only can they press the foot pedal and cruise around the neighborhood, but the buddies can blare the real-sounding police sirens from the attached "walkie talkie". Oh snap! They LOVE them.

Ben was quite sick this week, but between breathing treatments, he was on his motorcycle. The buddies both call them "Uncle Jeff's motorcycle - I can make it go!". You can see the sheer joy on Ace's face the morning after they arrived, when Daddy had them assembled, powered up and ready to ride. Thanks, Uncle Jeff!