La Cucaracha

A friend and I took our kids to the Sea Life Aquarium at Grapevine Mills Mall today.  As usual, my kids had a blast looking at all the creatures.  Shelby even noticed the octopus was smaller than last time, only to find out the previous octopus had to "retire".  Goes to show how observant I am...I didn't even realize it was a different size!

None of these are my kids.  My camera was dead...

The Interactive Rockpool is always a highlight, where the kids can touch all kinds of creatures.  My girls are so much braver than I ever was, eagerly petting the sea stars, snails, hermit crabs, horseshoe crabs, and something called a "shark egg".  I had to google that one to learn all about it.

Shark egg

After the aquarium adventure, we took the kids to the food court.  While trying to keep 3 crazy girls at the table eating their Sbarro pizza, Shelby decided to crawl around on the floor for a minute.  I finally managed to get her back in her seat.  Unsuspectingly, I asked her what was in her hand.  

*Warning:  the faint of heart should not read past this point!!*

Little did I know, she had caught a COCKROACH on the floor and was hoping to play with it at the table.  I tried to be as casual about it as possible, as I want my kids to be way cooler around creatures than their mama.  But, I really wanted to scream, toss all the food in the trash, and make a run for it.  HUGE thanks goes out to Ms. Alicia for coming to my rescue with the sanitizing wipes and a smile.  

Needless to say, the next time we go to the aquarium, we are not visiting the food court, no matter how yummy that Sbarro smells.

The Way Fishing Should Be....

A perfect day of fishing should include:

• Chamber of Commerce type weather (no wind, perfect temperature)
• Shady spot under a big tree
• A fish on your hook within 5 minutes of casting, with no humans hooked at all
• Limit reached before you get bored
• Beautiful surroundings

Luckily, our big family outing to go fishing included it all!  The Lakes at Isleta is the ideal place to take kids with short attention spans, as both girls caught their 3-fish limit within an hour.  The lakes are stocked with catfish in the summer and trout in the winter.  Needless to say, we will be going back to catch some trout on our next New Mexico trip!

Take at look at all our fun:

Be sure to bring your Barbie poll to catch the "big one"

Bryon teaching Haley proper technique

Haley's first catch...hard to tell who's more excited, Bryon or Haley!

Shelby looking bored after waiting a whole 5 minutes for a bite

The men teaching the ladies how to fish

Grandpa telling Shelby how to talk to the fish

Shelby doing the Happy Dance

Shelby's first catch

Shelby loved the worms as much as the fishing

Bryon teaching Shelby how to cast

Beautiful scenery

Just check out our bounty!

Look, Up in the Sky!

Bryon's dad, Norman, has the coolest hobby of building and flying his own airplanes.  I am hoping his love of all things that fly will inspire my girls to shoot for the stars as well!

Last week, we drove out to New Mexico to visit Grandma and Grandpa.  This particular trip quickly became  "All Things That Fly" themed, starting with our stay in Amarillo.   We were woken up at the crack of dawn by an Osprey helicopter buzzing around.  These flying-wonders are made in Amarillo, and we were all fascinated with watching them out of our hotel window.

Our Awesome Hotel View 

Bryon's parents live in an airpark, where every house has an airplane hanger, and it isn't unusual to see one driving down the street.  Again, we were all fascinated with the sites and couldn't get enough of it.

Norman's first plane was an Ultralight that he built himself.  The girls enjoyed sitting in it and were thrilled to watch Grandpa takeoff and fly around the house for a little while. 

For the past 4 years, Norman has been working on his second plane.  He is now oh-so-close to completion.  

Almost done

The girls got to run some tests on the plane, checking out the communication equipment.

Norman teaching the girls how to start it up!

"Let's land this plane, Haley!"

Hopefully in the near future, we will get to see Norman and Janice arrive in Texas in their flying beauty.  And, maybe one day, our girls will pilot our own personal aircraft from Irving to Los Lunas, eliminating the grueling 11 hour drive!

Back to School

After a very long summer, the girls have finally started back to pre-school.  Shelby is now a "Senior" at CCDC, as she is in the 4-year-old class.  After this year, she will be graduating to Kindergarten.  She seemed very apprehensive about going to school this year, so I gave her a secret potion bottle that contained some dried lavender to spook away monsters at school. 

Much to my surprise, she embraced the idea and loved having the secret potion hidden in her backpack.  She didn't even stop to give me a hug when I dropped her off in her new classroom.  I hope her teacher this year, Ms. Monica, finds her as sweet and smart as her mommy and daddy do!

Shelby's first day 

Haley turned out to be on the other end of the spectrum.  She could NOT wait until school started and had packed her lunch way back in July.  She didn't seem scared for one moment to be starting school.

Little did we expect, she freaked out when it was time to be dropped off in Ms. Liz's classroom.  We almost had a total meltdown until she got distracted by the playdoh.  I can only hope Ms. Liz finds her as funny and curious as her mommy and daddy do!

Haley's first day

Getting the girls to tell us about their day at school is next to impossible.  So far, here's what Shelby has divulged:

• She saw some of her classmates from last year on the playground
• She wants to either walk to school (5 miles!) or ride home on the bus with her teacher (there is no bus)
• She learned "rojo" at Spanish
• She saw Haley in the hall and gave her a hug

And here are Haley's little nuggets:

• She cried at lunch because someone took her milk
• She cried after lunch because she missed Mom and Dad
• She doesn't like playground
• She hasn't made any friends and doesn't like the boys in her class
• She doesn't want pull-ups in her backpack because she uses the potty, even though it is a rule that we send a pull-up just in case of accidents

I can't wait to see what they have to say in a few months!

The Rainbow Connection

Last night, we made a last minute decision to go to our favorite hamburger joint, Big Daddy's Ship Store.  They sell little bags of dog food that the kids can feed to the fish and ducks, so it keeps the kids entertained while the adults enjoy a little beverage.

The fish will practically eat out of your hands, and the turtles just play with the ducks.  It's funny to watch the girls' different techniques.  Haley's all about the instant gratification and tosses all her food in at once.  Shelby is more calculated, throwing a few pieces to each duck to make sure they all get a bit.

Because it is on the lake, the atmosphere is VERY relaxed and casual.  What more could one ask for in a restaurant?  Well, how about fridges stocked with adult libations that are "free", with "tips" suggested.  It's help-yourself, so no need to wait for a waiter to come around for refills.

What we didn't expect was a short sprinkle of rain followed by a beautiful rainbow over the water.  Shelby was beyond excited, shouting, "It's my first rainbow!"  Both girls had lots of theories of what was at the end of the rainbow including a treasure of gold, birds, toys, and a robot tree.

 We still aren't sure what a "Robot Tree" is, but it was amusing trying to decipher their theories!

Watch them go!

The highlight of every week is Tuesday's swim classes.  The girls don't seem to listen to a thing I say, but they will do just about anything their teachers ask of them.  It is so fun to watch them make their teachers (and mama) proud.

Check out the following video, which will be used by Olympic commentators in 2024, when they will be a part of Team USA!

You Can Lead a Horse to Water...

I've mentioned it a time or two before, but I'll say it again.  My youngest, Haley, is a bit headstrong.  Tenacious, stubborn, determined, and strong willed don't quite describe her some days...

Take, for instance, last night.  Bryon made a lovely dinner of grilled chicken, Spanish rice, and acorn squash since I had worked all day.  (Sorry, ladies, he is all mine!)  As we were enjoying our lovely dinner, we were both encouraging Haley to take some bits of her squash with the usual tricks.  "It will make your hair grow."  "It will give you energy to swim later."  "It tastes AWESOME!" None of it was working.

Finally, Haley proved us wrong and crammed a whole spoonful in her mouth.  But, it didn't last long. Her eyes started watering, and she started with the gulping.  Then, her whole dinner came up, all over my plate.  Fun times!  That little stinker showed us after all that she was NOT eating her squash.

Crazy girl will eat broccoli with a smile but will barf with squash

Yes, it's true.  You can lead Haley to dinner, but you can not make her eat...