Random Fun Memories-Part Two

So "Random Fun Memories" Part Two is all about the Danskin Triathalon that I did in June of 2004. I have to take you back about 6 years on this one.

First of all, I LOVED IT!! I thought it was the best thing!! There were at least 3000 women that did it that year. A LOT! :) Although I was completely starving and exhausted afterward, I had a ball. :) A few of my fun friends did it too-Anna and Melissa, and then a few other folks from Dell. It was just awesome! :) I wish I had the energy to train for something like that now...but pretty much I just chase a one year old around instead! LOL! :)

We swam in Decker Lake first (all while getting kicked in the head by multiple other women), then we biked up and down many many hills (ouch!!), and then we ran at the end (my least favorite part). Talk about getting yourself into shape fast by training for one of those! :)

Here are a couple of pics from the event. I must warn you that these pics must have been taken with a disposable camera or something b.c they are NOT the best! :) But nevertheless they are a good representation of the 5 am arrival, and the smiles when it was over. :)

Have to get my bike in the perfect spot so it is ready when I come out of the water! :) Anna and I..... Melissa and I...EARLY morning!! And why is the picture crooked? LOL! :)
Hanging out by the end of the swim finish waiting for my turn to start swimming. :)Mel by the port o potties. :) Have to have a lot of those for all of the women. :)
Not sure what the random dude is doing...
(Was this before good photo editing as well?) :)
Mel hanging out by the swim finish in the early morning hours. Just waiting for our wave to start. You can probably barely make this one out....but it is where we came out of the water after the swim...and we ran up to our bikes to get moving. :) Starting to get light out. :)What a good time!! WHOOP for the Danskin!! Good times and I would love to do it again one day. Not sure how soon that one day will come though! LOL! :)

Don't Leave Me!!!!

Well little B is going through a little bit of spearation anxiety at his age. WOW!! You know I really did not expect that too much since he has been going to a little school since he was 4 months old. But lo and behold around Month 11 something just changed. Our calm and happy baby began to raise the roof when we dropped him off places and left. One of those places being the church nursery!! Oh yes. It is just not fun being "those people". :)

Who wants to be THAT mom that brings her kid to the church nursery and he flips out in front of everyone? Yep, that was us around mid Aug. Good times!! All of a sudden he decided one day that he DID NOT want to be left alone...PERIOD! So we dealt with that for a couple of weeks in the nursery, and I think one Sunday he might have even cried through the entire service. What in the world. You know it is bad when you come back, and the ladies that are keeping him look totally frazzled. :( Oh...and he has been on a "stroller" ride for most of the service! That translates into "get that kid outta here!!" :)

So around Month 11 1/2 we had our first exposure to what separation/stranger anxiety is like, and I am not going to lie.......I was not a huge fan! :)

We still have bouts of it here and there when we go to new places...or when he just does not want either of us to leave him. Sometimes he does it around the house just to be a little bit of a pill I think. :) He will come up to us and just cling to our legs for dear life...and we are not going anywhere (just cooking dinner or something). :) Pure joy.

I know that it will all go away at some point..but the toddler years have already proven to be QUITE interesting in these last few weeks. Braden is definitely coming into a mind of his own...and there is no doubt about the fact that he WILL let you know what he thinks! :) Here's to more good times in the toddler years! :) I am sure this is only the beginning of my blog posts about this subject. :)

Fun With The Fish......

While Braden was in Lake Charles over Labor Day weekend with my parents, we had some fun one year pics taken of him. One of my mom's friends does a great job with kids, and one of her signature photo sessions is with a fish when they turn one. So of course we had to do it! :)

Mom and Dad said Braden did awesome at the photo shoot and was a real trooper. He gave lots of smiles and hammed it up of course. :)

Hundreds of pics were taken..but here are just a few for a preview. :)

Braden LOVED that fish Dorothy!! They said he kept trying to grab the fish and get a good hold on it. He is not scared of much these days....so I can only imagine how he must have been torturing her!! Oh Braden. :)

Man I love this fish! :) I am pretty sure Dorothy likes me too! :) Ready or not....here I come. :)And I bet no one even knew that I could make the fish face....but I can! :)

And just one quick shot of me with one of my other favorite things-BUBBLES! :)

Looking forward to the next fun photo shoot for sure! :) Thank you LouAnn! :)

North Carolina...And A Little R&R On The Lake!

Chris and I had a fun Labor Day weekend in the Piney Woods of North Carolina! :) Nice! :) Beautiful weather, gorgeous scenery, and lots of R&R...of course you cannot beat that! :)

We headed out on Friday to meet up with my parents in Houston for dinner at Lupe Tortilla. We also did the "Braden exchange" that evening as well. :) He was going for another fun weekend of getting spoiled in Lake Charles. :) The funniest part is that he was not even phased by the fact that we were leaving him with his grandparents. We put him in his PJ's, gave him his milk and blanket, and put him in the car with a little DVD on. And he was pretty much content and just said "Bye". :) Well how do you like that? LOL! :)

I know that something is going on here guys!! But it is ok b.c staying with Mimi and Pappy is MEGA fun! :) Have a good trip Mom and Dad! :) Chris and I checked into the Sheraton for the night in Houston..and then flew out early Saturday morning for Raleigh. :) WHOOP! :) Once we got to Raleigh and got our rental car...we made the hour and a 1/2 trek up to Lake Gaston (which is on the border of NC and Virginia). :) Simply beautiful up there! :)

We spent the weekend with some good friends that Chris went to grad school with at The Bush School. There were 4 couples and we stayed at our good friend Jayme's parents lakehouse. Now this is no ordinary cabin on the lake..this is a mega retreat!! With 6 bedrooms and 5 baths...there is MORE than enough room for everyone to get very cozy. :) We love it out there! :)

And we have arrrived!! HOORAY! :)Other pretty homes on the lake around us. Love those trees! :) Jayme's maiden name is "Head"...so how cute that they have "HEADquarters" signs around the house and dock. :)More lake beauty... Hammock time! :)Arturo decided he was going to catch some fish!! :)When that did not work out too well, he and Justin decided to try the other dock....There was LOTS of laughing. My sides hurt! :) And lots of lounging..... :)There were good stories told around the bonfire at night.... :) (In the 60 degree weather!)
And even more great stories told on the boat at sunset... :)

Jayme was a great driver..even at 7 months pregnant with her baby girl! :) She really took care of us all weekend. :)

And there were numerous amazing pictures taken by our famous resident photographer Kii. :) Seriously, his pics are brillant!! He is a super photographer for the Associated Press...and I could not be more jealous of his job and all that he gets to see! :) I have to ask him 20 questions about his dream job every time I see him! :)

Moque was checking out the gorgeous sunset....

Justin and Jamie cuddling up on the boat. They win the parents of the year award as they have 3 year old triplet girls!! :)

I think Chris might have smiled the entire weekend. :)

And a sunset cruise would not be complete without crackers, dips, and of course some wine!! :)

Since most of the weekend was about eating awesome food...we had to head down to the marina to grub up on the best "4 Napkin Cheeseburgers" in town! :) What a fun weekend!! Even though we could not wait to see Braden on Monday night, Chris and I were very glad we were able to go and enjoy the fun times at Lake Gaston again this year! :) What a good time it was! :)

God bless the USA!! God bless Lake Gaston!! And God bless our fun friends that we got to spend a great weekend with!! :) Looking forward to seeing you all again soon! :)

Talking With A Toddler....

So I am driving in the car with Braden late last week, and we are heading downtown to pick up Chris. Based on the fact that we are driving semi close to rush hour traffic, it takes us about 20-30 minutes to get there. Now that Braden is turned around in his carseat and facing forward, we can have much more intimate conversations in the car. Ha! :)

Well I decide that I am going to tell Braden a story about all of the fun things that he is going to get to do over the Labor Day weekend while he is staying with Mimi and Pappy. :) I am talking and talking....and telling him all about the fun. I probably talked to him for about 5 minutes, and he was so cute b.c he was listening so intently. :) As soon as I finish talking, he just looks at me and goes "Huh?" I was seriously dying laughing!! He tricked me b.c he was paying attention for so long like he understood. :) He is just the cutest! :)

Talking to toddlers is too much fun! :) I love you B! :)

Three Little Blondies...

So we have two super cute little twins that are our next door neighbors and they are three years old. :) They came over tonight b.c they wanted to give Braden a birthday present...and some cute cards that they had drawn for him. They are so sweet to him, and they like to love on him and give him hugs. It really is too cute. They always say to one another "I am touching him, I am touching him!" So funny! :) Kids crack me up.

We had them pose for a pic before they left..b.c we think they could seriously pass for siblings!! :) Look at that blonde hair! :) The funniest thing is that they are even kind of dressed alike..LOL! :)

Cate & Izzy-thanks so much for the present and the cards!! Braden cannot wait to run around the yard with you later this fall! :)

Random Fun Memories-Part One

I think I am going to do some fun posts about some favorite memories over the past years. They will be sporadic and will just come when I think about a fun memory. :)

Here we go with the first one....The Blimp!! :)
Have you ever wanted to go up in a blimp? They are so cool just floating up there...and I always wondered what it would be like. :) I never thought I would get the chance...but I did!! SO COOL! :) Back in 2005/2006 (somewhere around there), Fuji was a sponsor for some stuff at Dell...and they were flying the blimp over Austin as PR...and some of us got a chance to go. :) My BFF Jenn headed out on the adventure with me.

Here are a few pics of the good time that we had on the ground and in the air. :)
Bringing the blimp down so we could get on. :) Frolicking around in my excitment! HA! :) This is so freakin cool! :) Ahhh...I like it up here! :)Who wants to fly this thing? I DO! :)
So does Jenn!
Hanging out with the pilot.... We got some great views of Austin while we were up there. :)
Downtown.... My favorite one of the Capitol! :)Towne Lake.....UT campus........
Longhorn football.....

And the Tower on campus....What a fun time! So glad I went. :)