Wednesday, July 6, 2022

DC and Father's Day

Father's Day weekend I got to fly to DC and meet my Dad and brother. We stayed at an airbnb and visited Joyce and Steve every day. For me, it was a really sweet trip. Joyce seemed very settled and was doing well. She was also able to recognize me since I was with my dad, which was a highlight for me compared to my trip last November. Steve was doing really well, too.

Listening to Joyce talk to my dad absolutely cracks me up. She is just so sweet natured and wants to make sure he knows that he is the favorite brother, most handsome brother.. wait scratch that! Most handsome man in the world! 


She enjoyed talking about the Wolf Point Paper and looking at family pictures we had brought her, especially that little cutie, Emerson. 

Dinner with Joyce and Steve

One day for lunch we went out for Ethiopian. Delish. 

We went out to dinner, and these two crazies ordered oysters.


Then the next day, Eli ordered deviled eggs for an appetizer and was surprised that Dad and I didn't want one. And then he brought the leftovers back to the airbnb for bfast the next morning. Ethiopian food to oysters to deviled eggs. Don't travel with us unless you have an iron stomach. 

Eli flew out the day before me, so it was just me and Momo looing for brunch on Father's day. We stumbled on to this place called the 4 providences of Ireland or something like that and trust me, it was 5 star. I know I was just talking about oysters and deviled eggs, but seriously. This buffet had it all. 

Back home in Texas, Jon, Nolan, and went to a new brewery and had ribs and bbq. Yum! 



All in all, a great weekend. I was glad to be able to connect with Joyce and Steve, plus got to see my dad and then fly home to Jon on Father's day. 

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

Summer Happenings

 I really thought I would be able to keep up better with the blog now that it's summer and I'm not working. Wrong! 

Perhaps it's the kids' ages. Not as many cute antidotes when you get several eye rolls and "I know mom. I'm not dumb" a few times a week. Or perhaps it's staying away from my computer in my off time. Or maybe the high priority I have placed on naps the last few weeks. Who knows? Here's a few pictures to catch us up. 

Napping the afternoon away on the porch. 

My friend asked me to go to goat yoga with her. Never have you seen a bigger eye roll than when I told my dad about it. Ha!


I gotta say though, I would do it again! Surely you get a dopamine hit from snuggling such cute little furry friends, plus an excellent stretch. All in all, I was feeling pretty limber and content after our hour.



This is my buddy Angel. She teaches with me. She grew up on a farm in Wisconsin and was the goat whisperer. She had 2 or 3 fall asleep in her lap by the time it was over. 


Ollie and his buddy Avery had a neighborhood lemonade stand the other day. It was in the low 100's, so I wondered if it would be miserable. They stayed out for close to 2 hours and made just over 100 bucks, so they were pretty pumped. 


More sleeping kid pics. Nolan and Kingsley. 


Nolan and Ollie participated in a soccer camp. This was both good and bad. Good: the boys loooooved it and had a blast. Bad news: the boys are both really good soccer players and were heavily recruited for teams. Okay, okay, this isn't really bad news. Jon and I have always been very leery of select sports because of the time commitment, cost, and tournament travel. Ollie was really wanting to get in a better league this last spring and we just kept putting it off. Well, the main coach and director about choked when he heard Ollie was only playing for the YMCA. Ha! 

I think we are going to give it a go for Ollie for the year, though. It will be 2 practices a week, one game a weekend, and 5 or so tournaments starting in August, ending in May. Sounds crazy, right?? We said no thanks to the offer to get Nolan on a team. Can you imagine that for a 6 year old? Seems a little extreme. Plus, I really need to get Nolan into some swim lessons. I think that's my next priority for him, as he really doesn't want me to teach him. 

Here are some sweet boys with lots of soccer in their futures!


We went to a little crafty town about 30 or 40 minutes away called Salado this past weekend. It reminded me of Clifton Virginia. We went to a couple craft/gift stores, did a wine tasting, went out to eat, got some gelato, and wadded in the creek. Two thumbs up!



The owner of the winery asked how we had heard about them. We said, well you had a bounce house set up in the front. That was the deal clencher. :)


Nolan is playing on a summer league for the Y. It's his first time playing basketball and it has been really fun for him. He's the littlest kid out there, but you would never know that by his hustle. I think it's also been fun for him to do something that the big boys haven't already mastered. 


He's a pretty good little ball handler and has made a few baskets every game. 


Ollie and Owen at the Dell Diamond watching Round Rock Express with their dads. 

Man, no pictures of Seth. He has gotten into a very teenage routine of sleeping in, lounging around the house, walking Kingsley, eating lunch as his first meal of the day, reading, and then spending the rest of the day playing Roblox. He is more anti-social than ever. He hasn't wanted to go to the pool with us once since Port A and even choose to stay home rather than go out for fireworks last night. I do worry about him and his lack of wanting to ever interact, but I guess it is what it is. 

Friends from our neighborhood and church watching the city show. Unknown to us, we were also right by a neighborhood house that set off a really good show, better than the cities. Three cheers for the red, white, and blue!