Friday, July 18, 2014

Texas, part 2

Sunday
Sunday was a full day!
David and Rachel treated us to some Daylight Donuts before heading to church.
Nolan was like, "I'll take one of those and one of those and one of those and one of those..."

Attempting to get a pic of the Perez family. Poor Anna wasn't feeling it.
Home for lunch (this scene happened a lot)...
... and a little bull riding.  (I feel like this is the classic dad/uncle activity!)


The hair twins!
Okay, this is random, but this squirrel on one of my mom's bird feeders was cracking me up!
After the kids' naps, Nikye and DJ headed out on a very fancy date...
...while the rest of us played in the sprinkler!




Nolan went around and mooched off of everyone's drinks...

Then Rachel found a roley-poley!  Eliza was less interested, but Nolan was totally intrigued!
Rachel is a brave science teacher and an awesome mom and aunt, and she does things like hold bugs for her nephew to inspect for gazillion minutes.  I'm not as cool as she.

I don't remember for sure why Nolan ended up nekkidy at this point.  I can only say it is becoming his typical, outdoor, water-play modus operandi.  That's an AZ kid for you.
*****
Monday
Today David, Jonathan and Anna headed to Houston, so we had to soak up as many hugs and cuddles as possible before saying "see you later".
I love this picture
Precious blue eyed girl!
I am a blessed mom and aunt :)
Snagged a picture with DJ and Eliza for fun :)
Sometimes I can't believe my little brother is a dad.  And has been a dad longer than I've been a mom!  So proud of him for many reasons -- his role as a great dad and husband, his hard work in school, his fitness pursuits, his dedication to multiple jobs.  He's an awesome guy all around.  I admire you, David!
It was such a fun week watching these two be buds.
Nolan's little hand on Jonathan's arm kills me!
Jonathan, you are a great role model and pal for Nolan.  Thank you!
This group shot is laughable -- it is so incomplete!  But it was who was home/available at the given moment.  Oh well!  *Almost* got all of the greats, grandparents and grandkids -- just needed Eliza, but I don't think she was home!
4 generations on one side
and 4 generations on the other
After the Houston crew pulled out and Nolan and Eliza went down for naps, Rachel, Nikye and I got to sneak away for pedicures.
That afternoon was a real treat: The new children's museum in Austin (called The Thinkery) recently opened, and Nikye and Eliza treated Nolan and me to a visit.  Nikye even had a little Thinkery shirt for Nolan.  So kind!
This massive LiteBrite was a hit.


... But I think the painting wall was the overall favorite.  (I feel so sorry for whoever is responsible for cleaning up this area at the end of every day.)

Lefty all the way.  Sorry, Grandma.

Her smile says it all!
On to the chicken coop and the farmers' market...

Of course, Nolan got a whole basket of bananas.

The chef at work!


oops!
And finally, the little kid room --
Nolan's favorites were these floor vaults, each of which which held a different bug/animal/scene and were activated by a nearby button





SO fun!  The Thinkery did its job and wore the kids out.  Nolan was in bed by 6:15!  Which was good because we were up bright and early the next morning, heading home to Phoenix.
*****
Can't wait for next time!

Texas, part 1

I feel like the last 6 weeks just evaporated.  After our time in Orlando and my weekend at the resort with MOPS, we had several fun things happen back to back -- Nolan and I zipped to Texas May 29-June 3, my sister Rachel returned to Phoenix with us, less than a week later we welcomed Debby and Lizzie for a week-long visit, and just last weekend we took a family 4-day-weekend trip to San Diego.  WE LOVED IT ALL!!  Now to get the blog up to speed........

As usual, our visit to Texas was lovely!  Rachel, David, Jonathan and Anna were stateside for a few weeks, and I am so thankful to Mikel for letting Nolan and me go to see them.  I miss them already!!
*****
Thursday
We arrived to quite the airport welcoming committee!!
Nana with a lapful - just like she likes it.

When did she get so grown up??
And him, too?!?  (....me too, while we're at it...)
Of course, we had to make an ASAP visit to Rabb park.

Jonathan has always loved little kids, and he is an awesome helper to Nolan.  
Jonathan, he is going to idolize you soon!


I have the prettiest nieces.

... and the most handsome nephew!
... AND the prettiest big sister!  I am so lucky.
It was hot and we were all getting sweaty.
Note the red cheeks!
Sweaty, sticky, sandy kids meant group bathtime was in order.  These two are so cute together.
*****
Friday
We OF COURSE couldn't make a visit to Georgetown without seeing David, Kara and Izzy!  They recently moved into a new, beautiful house, and I was dying to see it.  Funny enough, they live in the very neighborhood where I grew up.  Small world!

Kara is a genius and has this area quarantined off and stocked for baby play.  Nolan put it to good use.
Kona is also a genius and does exactly what our wiener dogs do: head for higher ground when there's a toddler afoot!
Izzy gifted Nolan with a couple of cayuuute pairs of PJs for no reason at all.  Too sweet!
It was warm but beautiful in Texas the weekend we were there, and we all enjoyed lunch al fresco.
Only a couple of Kara's marigolds suffered their demise at Nolan's hand.....
Precious girl!

We love these darling friends.  So happy for the opportunities to see them!!

We headed back to Nana and Papa's house for nap time... but nap time ended up happening in the car, despite my best efforts.
Oh well.  Off to explore!
Aunt Rachel came along, too, for the front yard adventure.
We closed out the night with a visit to Cherry Berry, which made a couple of somebodies very happy!
*****
Saturday
Another beautiful day, so we headed to San Gabriel park to throw bread at some already-overly-full ducks.


Jonathan and I used to play on these exact same rocks and playground equipment when he was Nolan's age!

See??  Old and blurry, but sooooo cute!!


Back at home, Nolan had a lunch and painting date set with Eliza.
That afternoon, Rachel's BFF from high school Vicke and her little family came to visit.  I have no idea how long it had been since I had seen her -- 10 years?  more?  It was fun to catch up and meet her little sweetie, River!

Playing with Uncle DJ before he has to head to work.

After Nolan went to bed, Anna sat super still and let me braid her hair.  That child has quadruple the hair that I do.  It's amazing.
In return she also fixed mine.  And snapped the photo.  HA!