Last Day of School!

In May, I had an incredibly busy work month culminating in a 2-day trip to New York, which was a major project milestone and a huge relief to get out of the way. The following weekend we celebrated with a great visit from our friends Duane and Sarah -- which I unfortunately didn't capture on film -- and James's rugby crawfish boil. It was GOOOOD! Three of the guys on the team were from New Orleans and really knew what they were doing -- we couldn't peel them fast enough for the kids, who also enjoyed sucking the meat out of the heads. Truly James's children.

 

Unbelievably, the last day of school was last Friday! Compare to first day of school pictures here. Rosemary had her first sleepover after her dance recital on Friday -- which I managed SOLO as James was out of town. Actually the girls (Esme and Rosemary) were very good and I even heard Rosemary lecturing to Esme: "Shhh... no more talking!!!" (She's good at lecturing these days... when we were camping she told Flora, "FLORA! Two wrongs don't make a right!!!")

 

Rosemary's recital was cute-as-ever, though you may notice she is not quite as beaming/satisfied with herself for being in the recital. She actually (shh, don't tell) looked pretty bored through the whole thing... or is it smug? My guess is that ballet/dance is not her calling -- I'm thinking of signing her up for karate later this summer. Anyway, I'll post the cute part only, which is pretty cute. And, equally cute/hilarious, was Miles and Louis playing in the background during the recital (until they got in trouble and one of the teachers took them outside).

Sigh. Now we just have to manage sassy Rosemary and increasingly stubborn Louis over the next few months. The agony (these are all quotes from the last two days): "Mom, this isn't fresh squeezed? Really?!?!" "Mom, are you listening? Are you even smart?!?" (That one was exceptionally bad, but I'm still recording it here -- no use in hiding the truth!). Louis doesn't say too many sassy things, but he did learn to take the child-lock off the inside of his door (which we have there so he can't escape and eschew nap time) and *hide* it so Kyle couldn't find it. Fortunately he hid it in the same place, twice. And the ecstasy: "Mom, how else can I help you?" (said in all sincerity!) "Mom, why did they have to appetize Esme?" (baptize). And Louis still gives "bi-haos" (big hugs).

Camping Trip, Final Happy Hikers, Mother's Day

We went to Dallas for Mother's Day to see my parents, and to go to my mother's TVA art show (where she won second place out of the whole show! Though she deserved "Best in Show"). Other than the pleasure of going to mom's art show, and a delicious Indian dinner by dad, it was a bit of an ill-fated weekend (such is sadly the case all too often with the little kids) -- Louis had an asthma attack on Friday, I got sick, and we got Mamo sick. Oh well, better luck next time!

My mom's award-winning painting, "Submerged." (I am the model!) See Louis's head peeping out in the lower right corner.

Rosemary's first art show.

My mother and her proud mother.

One of our last Happy Hikers trips of the year... the two year old set getting naked and frolicking at McKinney Falls. I love this picture -- these are the kids that used to have to be carried in Ergos a short nine months ago, and now they are prolific hikers and nature lovers! Plus, we have WATER this spring and everything is glorious and beautiful!

We braved our second camping trip, this time with the Barkers and the Chambers. This one was pretty darn fun, despite some setbacks... Amity slipping on the rocks a few times, a water snake (probably was harmless but could have been a moccasin!), a surprise storm at midnight, a giant tree branch falling on poor Amity's head, Louis, Rosemary and James throwing up, our tent falling down several times... and a four AM drive home :-) Still, I would actually dare to say the kids enjoyed every moment of it. Louis and Miles all of a sudden started acknowledging each other and became friends! It only took over a year, but its pretty amazingly cute. Louis took Miles's truck with us in the car, and I feared the struggle that would ensure when Miles say the truck. Instead, Louis walked up to Miles and said, "HI Mo Mo!!!" and cheerfully handed him the truck! Well I never...

 Rosemary performing her version of Aaron's song, "Esme, Flora, and Rosemary." Too bad we didn't get Esme singing, which she does later, but you can see the boys relating to one another a little in the foreground. This is post-S'mores and pre-storm.

 

On our final Happy Hiker outing of the year, we went to Alicia's friends' ranch out near San Marcos. We saw longhorns, a dung beetle rolling a ball of dung, and lots of giant walking sticks. It was so beautiful -- the Blanco river was full, the wildflowers were still  in full bloom, and we had a blast. Below you can see Professor Rosemary lecturing her brother and his new friend Miles, and Miles and Louis enjoying their newfound friendship.

More hilarious pictures of Louis, revealing his true nature. A sweet tooth...

... and a creative type (he is actually playing this original musical creation consisting of two kazoos and a length of PVC)... sounds kind of like you'd expect!

Two bulldozers!

This video was taken about a month and a half ago when we drove up to Dallas for James's final rugby game of the season. Incredible to me, since it was taken just as Louis was starting to actually try to say things -- and most of it, at least on the ride back from Dallas, was about bulldozers (it started with hammers and ladders, and has gone from there. One kind of has to wonder if he was first obsessed with hammers and ladders and so learned to say those words, or the other way around...). Now he says lots of things pretty clearly like, "I want milk!" or, today, "I hurt my head!"

So much fun... springtime

We had an incredibly fun filled week with a visit from our Scottish friends Murray and Becky, and Kathleen and John. I'm kind of slow on the blog posts so I'll just post our suggested agenda and tell you we did most of it and then some. It was really so great to have them here, I can't even talk about it.

Pick up Becky & Murray from airport, enjoy dinner of James's brisket and red cabbage

Monday:
Morning -- Kids go to school, James goes to work, Mina takes Becky & Murray on a walk through the greenbelt and wading across Barton Creek to breakfast tacos. Mina leaves at 11:45 to boot camp, Kyle picks up kids from school at 12:30, then Becky & Murray can have the car all afternoon to do (CHOICES):
- Shopping/browsing on South Congress Street or 2nd Street downtown
- Drive out to gorgeous Hamilton Pool: http://www.austinexplorer.com/Locations/ShowLocation.aspx?LocationID=1361
- Go to UT campus and check out the Bob Bullock museum of Texas History (I know it sounds crazy, but its really pretty interesting): http://www.thestoryoftexas.com/
-Walk Town Lake/Zilker Park or swim in Barton Springs: http://www.edwardsaquifer.net/barton.html
-Free play or nap
- James & Mina back from work around 5, we can have dinner at home & relax

Tuesday:Morning -- Kids not in school, James has to go to UT to teach, we go to Wildflower Center or McKinney Falls (see below) to check out spring flowers (since you guys are now gardeners) http://www.wildflower.org/
Noon -- Mina works, our babysitter Kyle comes, Becky and Murray can have the car to do any of the Monday activities they did not accomplish. Free play or nap is always an option.
Evening - Dinner at Rudy's (gas station bbq) or Sazon (delicious Mexican), James goes to rugby. Mina studies for her test in evening, and Becky & Murray go to hear the LoveLeighs at the Gypsy Lounge: http://www.theloveleighs.com/ (local band you will love)

Wednesday:
James and Mina work, kids go to school, Becky and Murray take car for day excursion to Lockhardt for BBQ and interest: http://www.lockhart-tx.org/web98/
Early evening -- James's friend Tim is in town, will come over for drinks. We'll grill chicken or something for dinner. He'll probably go out with him for drinks, anyone else is welcome to join.
Later : Pick up Kathleen and John from airport!

Thursday:
Mina has a 30 minute call at 9:30, at 10AM we'll go canoeing all together w/ kids on Town Lake! Swimming afterwards in Barton Springs is optional
We can have a nice lunch somewhere, and then afterwards the afternoon is free play
Babysitter comes at 5:15 -- we'll go to the amazing Broken Spoke to hear the incredible Cindy Cashdollar (Best steel guitarist ever) from 6-8, and then get dinner somewhere cool (possibly out of a food truck, or maybe somewhere nicer)
http://www.brokenspokeaustintx.com/
http://www.cindycashdollar.com/

FridayBabysitter comes around 9 (annoyingly kids don't have school for Easter break), Becky, Kathleen & Mina go boot shopping and for nice lunch somewhere, Murray, James, and John go shooting. We don't feel right if you don't visit a shooting range during your visit. In the afternoon, more free play. In the early evening, we'll eat something easy at home ,and then go see the bats! They're back from Mexico!
http://www.capitalcruises.com/

SaturdayMaybe a hike in the morning and in the afternoon, my parents arrive. Kathleen and John off on their fake camping adventure, we'll dye Easter eggs and chill out!

We had a fun family trip to Pioneer Farms -- home of the wonderful Biscuit Brothers -- for their children's music festival, complete with a musical hay ride, a blacksmith demo, and a great time petting donkeys.

We went to Wimberly two weekends in a row in April and early May -- its probably my new favorite place in Texas -- and maybe the country! I was pretty stressed about my job around that time and it was just what the doctor ordered -- as you even drive to Wimberly through the wildflower studded countryside it feels like you're escaping the mundane world and entering another, magical place. The place is filled with crystal clear blue swimming holes (one, Jacob's Well, is something like 1,000 feet deep!) lined with giant cypress trees. The kids spent quite some time hanging and swinging on vines in the forest on one trip.

 

 The last weekend of April we hosted "Wine and Friends" fundraiser at our house to raise money for scholarships to St. Marks. We had a lot of fun -- the yard looked pretty with twinkle lights strung (which are still hanging), Rosemary did an awesome job helping by unfolding all the folding chairs and sweeping the deck, and we raised $2K!