Kindergarten grad

After 5 wonderful years at the JSC Childcare Center, it was finally time for Anna to say 'goodbye' and get ready for her new adventures in kindergarten.  We started the evening with a great dinner with her classmates at Fuddruckers, and then continued on to the Gilruth Center for the graduation itself.  Unbelievable to think that this is last time that she'll go to school with her BFF, Ava, and her future husband, Owen.  Sniff.

(May 2011)

"Last Day" of preschool

Anna's preschool teachers make a point to make their official "last day" with the kiddos one to remember--visit to the fire station, snowcones, partying in the classroom, and a pinata!  Definitely a day Anna (and we!) will never forget!  Such huge thank yous to Ms. Ricki and Ms. Tess for an amazing last year of preschool for Anna...

(May 2011)

San Antonio - The Riverwalk

And, one last post of our San Antonio adventure (maybe this is why the blog is not staying updated?  Maybe 4 posts for a short vacation is excessive?? :-))

We had a wonderful time walking along the riverwalk, taking the river cruise, and having some fab Tex-Mex on the river...

A little more San Antonio...

So, yes, I am now posting pictures from over a year ago.  Some would probably advise me to just give up on the last year of postings and start fresh, but such a big part of why I am committed to maintaining this blog is as a "digital scrapbook" of sorts for my girls for when they're older, so I just can't leave a whole year out!  So, I'm picking up from where I left off.  A warning that posts may be shorter, more condensed, etc. but we're going to get there!

We had a wonderful time at Wild Oak Ranch, roasting marshmallows and making smores.  We ended our trip with breakfast at our favorite San Antonio brunch spot--Gunther House--followed by "Pinkalicious" at a local children's theatre.  All in all--a wonderful trip!

If you're reading this...

...you haven't given up on me yet! 

"As God is my witness, as God is my witness they're not going to lick me. I'm going to live blog through this and when it's all over, I'll never be hungry this far behind on the blog again." -Scarlett O'Hara Susan

The rest of 2012 is committed to catching up...here we go...

San Antonio, Take 2

And, of course, we couldn't be in San Antonio without taking the girls to SeaWorld!  Kate and Daddy at our first show...

Me and Anna ready for the show to start...

 Anna's first roller coaster ride!  A very cool (and surprisingly fast!) Shamu roller coaster in the little kid part of SeaWorld.

Kate's favorite was certainly the Sesame Street carousel.  Just ask Daddy who rode it with her again.  And, again.  And, again.

On a lark, I asked Anna if she wanted to ride this roller coaster (for whatever reason, it had very low height requirements).  I sort of said it jokingly, but she said yes!  It took a bit of convincing once it got time to actually go, but she LOVED it!  My adventurous girl...I have the feeling we're going to be skydiving together before I know it...

 My girl coming down!  This is the point where Mommy started to panic...

 On the ground safely!

 Anna with Cookie Monster and Zoe.  Kate is the heat of her "terrified of live characters" phase, so she was having nothing to do with having her picture made with these guys...

 Sorry for all the sideways pictures...I have to figure out how to fix this...

 SHAMU!

 My poor attempt for a pic of the girls with Shamu in the background.  No one is looking at hte camera, and Shamu jumped back in the water.  Fantastic.

 Dippin dots!  A requirements in what turned into a kind of warm May day....

 Anna and Kate both had a blast on this GIANT climbing structure at SeaWorld.  Made Mommy remember her new-found post-baby slight fear of heights....

 More fun rides at SeaWorld.  They had just opened their new Sesame Street section for the kiddos, and the girls LOVED it!

 Doing a little splashing at the splash pad...

 Anna feeding a dolphin.  Definitely the highlight of the SeaWorld trip, at least for me!

 Anna decided to try the big roller coaster one more time.  This is the "before" picture...

...and, after!  :-)  Happy, adventurous girl!

San Antonio, Take 1

 Ok, let me start this post with a warning--there are a LOT of pictures!  I just couldn't down-select anymore, so bear with me (or skip this post--you certainly won't offend me! :-)). 

We had a fabulous family vacation this spring to the Wild Oak Ranch in San Antonio.  The reality of Anna starting kindergarten in the fall and us having to vacation with the "rest of the world" was hitting us, so we decided to take a mid-May vacation while we still could!

The hotel was just fabulous...tons of walking trails, hammocks, and much more (see following pics :-))...

 Having our own condo with its own patio was a real draw for us for this hotel...it was like our little "home away from home" for a few days.  The girls thought having our own patio was too fun...

 Mommy joined in the silliness at dinner...they're only little once, right?

Me and my sweet girl, Anna at dinner at the hotel...

 The whole fam at dinner...beautiful weather and surroundings for an outdoor dinner.

The girls thought camping out on this pullout couch bed and watching TV and eating breakfast was just the best!  Kate wasn't quite big enough to sleep in this bed yet (she's still Pack N Play'in' it), but she ran here as quick as she could each morning!

 The hotel had a lazy river with a beach--hours of fun!

 Both the girls had so much fun playing in the sand...

 ...and, floating along the lazy river...

 Even Kate joined in the fun at the lazy river.

 Hanging out in the rocking chairs at the hotel...

 They also had a little "Camp Armadillo" where the kids could go play and do crafts.

 Silly ladies!

 The game room was awfully exciting for them too!  Most of the games were a little too big for them, but they were able to have some serious fun with the air hockey table.

 More lazy river fun...

 Kate is such the beach bunny--she'd play in the sand all day every day if we let her...

Mama joined in the laziness!

Dinner on the patio...such an incredibly relaxing vacation, even with little ones!