Texas, Our Texas! all hail the mighty State!

When my sister-in-law Jenni moved from TX, my other SIL, Erin, crafted this super cute scrapbook of nostalgic things about San Antonio. I thought I would do the same thing except save myself some scrap supplies $, and document our local haunts and favorite places here.
We came here in 2005 for dental school. We were lucky to know the in's and out's and have friends and family waiting for us.

I made some super good friends.


Not all pictured here, but just as great nonetheless!









The beautiful temple we were so lucky to live near.














Only in Texas...love the lone star state. ps-it says "ya'll wish" under that t-shirt. I laughed so hard when I first saw David wearing it. He said someone gave it to him on his mission. So lame yet so funny.

Thisaway and thataway, roads well traveled.




A few trips here made for fun outings for the kids.
















Retail therapy when you need it. How dare I leave out Kohls and Target!
Good eatin'. No where else knows the meaning of the word fajita.
After dinner, catch a show.


Many, MANY trips to these places. Must to-do's for the kids and me.

Let's go to Moppie's house. Such a lovely home. Gonna miss the pool parties in the afternoon and good gab sessions. Mom gives the best advice.



Places I have lives. Red Jacket house and Countess Adria--growing up.
(What happened to the grass? And aren't the two cars that are exactly the same in the driveway freaky? Who does that?) Good times in those houses!!

My own family's house. Such a good little house. Love that familiar, home-y place.



God bless you Texas! And keep you brave and strong...I'll be back.

Goodbye little house

Hope your new owner is good to you, and we see a nice yard and big trees when we see you again.

Bloggedy blue, how I have neglected you

So I have yet to post old blog posts that I have been meaning to and have not really had time to yet. I will get to that later. I suppose time span is not going to matter in a book.

We have had our first visitors. Joe and Louise were here for a wedding and made a trip of it. It's been fun getting to explore downtown with them. One of the days we went to the Air and Space museum and then the Natural History museum.

The Air and Space Gunnar loved! He said "Mommy, uh go take a picture in front of the BIG air plane. So we obliged.















It's surprising to me how much the museums held my kids' attention. They liked them both pretty well. Good sports. This is in front of the Natural History. Gunnar was scared the the dino's head and was making sure it wasn't going to bite him.













We saw various things including the hope diamond, skeletal remains/reproductions, mummies, prehistoric stuff, etc. Gunnar did well holding my hand and saying "let's so see some more animals (etc)."






















Then, another day we went to the Zoo. Not bad for being free. It is not quite as good as the San Antonio Zoo, but it's free. Lily wanted to pose with the statue. A note on her outfit. It was pulled together last second. With moving, all the winter stuff I put away has been hung up since she has lots of closet space now. She saw a long sleeve shirt and pants she "missed" and "loved" and insisted on wearing them. I was barely able to talk her out of wearing them due to the heat and put on the first runners up she would agree to. Crazy child.

Showing off our zoom lens. Aaron went crazy taking pics. You would think we are animal freaks with the amount of animal places we frequent and then I blog about.






















This was so beautiful. A gorilla nursing her baby. It was so crazy, so many of the mannerisms and gestures I recognized as my own with "my young". It blows my mind how similar we are. The long infant arms waving about and the upside down head looking around. The mama started to get ticked everyone was staring at her baby and then tried to cover it up. I felt lucky to be able to witness it.






















That tamarin is the cutiest thing on this planet. I would have it for a pet if it wasn't going to turn psycho at one point and claw me to death. Also, I think turtles are my favorite. PS Using a GPS in DC sucks. Half the time you don't have satellite reception and the other half it tells you the wrong places to turn.

Retro action

Here is a little make up...a picture of Aaron's group that he worked with in dental school. All really cool people.

Make me smile

I asked my uber talented friend Beth to take pictures of my kids b/c I always see her blog and how awesome her shots always turn out. It was do or die, so I finally scheduled it in before the move. Phew! So many things to do! Anyway, seriously, Beth is one of the most amazing people I know. She is so awe inspiring. She is a practicing dentist part time, she builds tree houses and swing sets, she is a master gardener, and she taught me how to make bows and bracelets. And for fun she decorates cakes and does photography. SO amazing. Anyway, this is her art work. My kids were hungry, tired, and hot but we managed to get some good shots.

Last harvest

I was out doing yard work today and decided to look under the skirts of my plants. To my surprise I found this big honken zucchini. It's HuGe! I took the eggplant off even though it is too small because I wanted a chance to taste it before we move. I didn't think they would make it, but there are a couple on. The yellow grape tomatoes are the best. They burst in your mouth. And I never thought I was a cherry tomato fan, but these are very easy to eat a bowl of. This is our harvest after the kids got their fair share of "moes" as Gunnar calls them.
My kids dug their trick or treat buckets out of the garage since we are organizing and they came up to me while washing the tomatoes saying trick or treat. I dropped a couple in there with some strawberries. This is them chowing down on their loot. Lily has decided she wants to wear Gunnar's Build A Bear glasses. lol

Spoiled

Fo Sho. David has made it very clear he wants my kids if Aaron and I were to pass away. They took the kids to Chuck E Cheese and then Build A Bear. We are going to miss the free babysitting them.

Our new home

Many family members have inquired about the looks of the house we are renting in Maryland. Here is the front, the realtor locking up. She was fab by the way if you need one in the area.










This is the living room directly to the right of the entry way.
Dining room
Kitchen

Other half of the kitchen-lots bigger than my current one, hurray! I love closets, cupboards, and pantries...this house has an upstairs laundry room that is BIG too!
Family room

View from the edge of the family room to bring it altogether. There is a half bath and entrance to the garage in the hall.

Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys

He makes such a cute cowboy though.

Graduation

Love the beach

After coming home we took a trip to Panama City Beach with everyone. Beaches in FL are so gorgeous. I don't think I could ever go to Corpus again, because that place is nasty compared to these white sand, crystal blue water beaches. It was warm water too, but not scorching outside. Oh, and no trash on the beach. A trifecta.
I admit, when I was taking these, I felt like I was doing a shoot for Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. It was hilarious, Lily was so excited that she was rolling around in the sand. It was too cute.








Aaron way out there, trying to show the kids it was fun and safe.

Gunnar was into digging and making sandcastles. He was terrified by the waves, but Aaron has a way of calming him. He tamed him in the shower(b/c he hates the drops), and Aaron tamed him in the ocean. He bawled his head off when I took him in the waves and Aaron was able to settle his fears.


Al, my gal...and Molly, little dolly. Atticus with his scuba gear. Dave and Samuel must have not finished changing.

Animals! Their Kingdom...last day on our hot getaway

Tree of life




















Lots of animals up close. The safari takes you super close and the animals look natural in the habitat. No fences and the animals are walking around eah other.









More pretty animals.






















In Asia near the Mt Everest ride. I think this is my fav Dinsey coaster.