We spent the day at the Brownsville zoo, and it was great fun, and simply a joy to be outside in the sunshine. :-) Below are Nessa and Max -- first in the baby animal area and then stopping for a moment to pose for us.
~Tami
Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Christmas Day 2008: Brownsville Zoo
So have we told you all where we were on Christmas? ;-) Now that I'm finally getting my pictures uploaded from the various cameras to my computer and various websites (check Flickr for more pics), I thought I should remind you that Christmas Day for us was gloriously sunny, and yes the girls were able to wear shorts on Christmas.
We spent the day at the Brownsville zoo, and it was great fun, and simply a joy to be outside in the sunshine. :-) Below are Nessa and Max -- first in the baby animal area and then stopping for a moment to pose for us.
~Tami
We spent the day at the Brownsville zoo, and it was great fun, and simply a joy to be outside in the sunshine. :-) Below are Nessa and Max -- first in the baby animal area and then stopping for a moment to pose for us.
~Tami
Friday, January 02, 2009
A Few Christmas Eve Pictures
Here is Megan right before going to bed on Christmas Eve. She put out a plate of Gluten Free Cookies, a glass of fresh Texas Orange Juice, and a glass of rice milk. Nessa insisted on the rice milk. I think Santa really appreciated the refreshing fresh orange juice.
Megan took this one when I wasn't paying attention:
The following pictures are from right after we returned home from church on Christmas Eve. We found a wonderful Methodist Church in Brownsville to attend while we were there, and we enjoyed the service that night with all of the singing.
As you can see we took our stockings with us to Texas and even managed to hang them above the fireplace at the timeshare. :-)
Megan took this one when I wasn't paying attention:
The following pictures are from right after we returned home from church on Christmas Eve. We found a wonderful Methodist Church in Brownsville to attend while we were there, and we enjoyed the service that night with all of the singing.
As you can see we took our stockings with us to Texas and even managed to hang them above the fireplace at the timeshare. :-)
Home Sweet Home
OK, so I'm a little late on this. I guess I'm used to keeping everyone up-to-date via text messages and facebook/twitter updates! So, for those of you not yet joining us on those pages, please do. :-)
For everyone else, and for the record -- we arrived home on Tuesday afternoon about 3 p.m. and were able to get in the house about 3:30 after Shawn cleared the driveway a bit! We got a little snow while we were gone (sorry, no photo of that this year). The weather this morning said we're way ahead of snow fall for the season so far and had the 4th snowiest December on record. This makes me especially glad to have missed some of it!
I have to tell you that I miss the warm weather of Texas. I don't know what other warm-weather spots are like this time of year, but even with their "unseasonably cool" weather, I could get used to Texas weather in the winter and now totally get why there are over a million Winter Texans "in the valley." :-)
By the numbers:
14 days,
3454.2 miles, and
67 hours 32 minutes driving (includes all miles/driving time in Brownsville area)
See all those little tracking numbers in the mini-van are good for something!
I have to admit that we were all getting a bit stir crazy by the time we arrived home. We learned a lot about traveling during the trip, and in general I really enjoyed it and think it went well. One of the biggest things I learned about myself is that I will NOT get the zillion things done that I take with me when I have girls to interrupt me with requests every few minutes ... besides someone had to read the AAA books we took with us.
Now, it's on to posting pics and more from the trip!
For everyone else, and for the record -- we arrived home on Tuesday afternoon about 3 p.m. and were able to get in the house about 3:30 after Shawn cleared the driveway a bit! We got a little snow while we were gone (sorry, no photo of that this year). The weather this morning said we're way ahead of snow fall for the season so far and had the 4th snowiest December on record. This makes me especially glad to have missed some of it!
I have to tell you that I miss the warm weather of Texas. I don't know what other warm-weather spots are like this time of year, but even with their "unseasonably cool" weather, I could get used to Texas weather in the winter and now totally get why there are over a million Winter Texans "in the valley." :-)
By the numbers:
14 days,
3454.2 miles, and
67 hours 32 minutes driving (includes all miles/driving time in Brownsville area)
See all those little tracking numbers in the mini-van are good for something!
I have to admit that we were all getting a bit stir crazy by the time we arrived home. We learned a lot about traveling during the trip, and in general I really enjoyed it and think it went well. One of the biggest things I learned about myself is that I will NOT get the zillion things done that I take with me when I have girls to interrupt me with requests every few minutes ... besides someone had to read the AAA books we took with us.
Now, it's on to posting pics and more from the trip!
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Tidbits from the road
Tami here.
I'm online at our hotel in Blackwell, OK doing a bit of research to plan out our trip tomorrow, and thought I would quickly share a few tidbits ... mostly Nessa humor.
Nessa about 10 minutes ago: "I'm going to work at a coffee place when I get bigger."
Me: "Nessa, do you like coffee?"
Nessa: " Well no, but when I'm older I will. And I want to work at a coffee place because it will be fun."
All of us: "Oh, OK."
This morning Nessa informed me that her name is "Fernando." She has continued to use this name, although luckily for us no longer corrected us by this afternoon when we slipped and called her "Nessa." I just asked her if she is still Fernando, and she said, "I'm going to be Fernando every day." When I asked her why she wants to be Fernando, she said "Because I want my friends to say Fernando." Shawn promptly said "because if I was only Fernando every other day, it would be too hard for my friends to remember." :-) After we laughed Nessa explained that when we were in Mexico and she was with Grandma and Max, she watched Lost in the Woods. Well, now we know where it came from. :-)
As many of you may have noticed, especially those of you on facebook or twitter*, Shawn and i have been taking advantage of our smart phones to post status updates, text message, and use GPS (some kudos to NavTel GPS for helping us find places along our route, and taking us to some awesome gluten free restaurants). So this has not gone unnoticed by Nessa (or Megan who is text messaging a lot herself these days, but does think we can become a bit addicted to facebook ... I think it's a vacation thing because it's an easy way to stay connected while away). So just now Shawn was reading a text message and after asking him about it, Nessa proclaimed, "When I'm older I want to get a text message from Aunt Jo." :-)
Other things Nessa did:
Megan, has been great as well. She has been having her own movie marathon -- Princess Diaries and Cinderella Story. Megan was not feeling well when we left TX, and I was afraid we were going to have to find a clinic to do a strep test or something, but thankfully she is MUCH better now, and just sounds a bit stuffed up!!! Thank you God. :-)
Shawn has been doing an AWESOME job driving. It allows me to cater to the girls' needs as well as do just a bit of reading, looking out the window, talking to Shawn, and yes, text messaging or otherwise playing on my phone, so I really appreciate it. Thank you Shawn and Thank you God. :-)
So far no adventures or misadventures on the way home, and that is a great thing. :-)
Today we woke up to chilly weather and realized we really did have to go back to jeans and sweatshirts and put away the shorts. But the Sun did come out to play during our lunch and play time -- Shawn found us a great little park in West, TX (as Shawn pointed out it is in Central Texas). We had a great time enjoying our last picnic until summer arrives in WI, and playing on the great playground.
Unfortunately our hotel tonight doesn't have a pool. Or, rather it has a pool, but it's broken. So our plan it to get to sleep a bit earlier than we have been, get up earlish, and hit the road so we can stop along the way at some type of play spot such as a playground, zoo or library. We'll let you know what we find. :-)
Before I forget I also want to do a quick shout out to the Little Aussie Bakery and Cafe (http://www.thelittleaussiebakery.com/) in San Antonio. It's 100% Gluten Free!!!! And it made a GREAT early supper spot for us on Saturday as we started heading back North. They also had some awesome sandwich buns and cookies that we purchased to take with us on our way. The buns have been great for our barbecue pork sandwiches (or rather everyone else's sandwiches as I've been sticking to salad and fruit to keep going and healthy). And who doesn't love cookies for snack time. :-) While we were at the Little Aussie Cafe we all enjoyed yummy food too -- Nessa had GF pizza (sans cheese too but still yummy), Shawn and Megan had great sandwiches and side salad, and I had an awesome spring green salad with the BEST citrus dressing. I HIGHLY recommend the place. And the owner was great to talk to as well. :-)
OK, time to get myself ready for the challenge of getting Nessa to sleep in a hotel room.
~Tami
I'm online at our hotel in Blackwell, OK doing a bit of research to plan out our trip tomorrow, and thought I would quickly share a few tidbits ... mostly Nessa humor.
Nessa about 10 minutes ago: "I'm going to work at a coffee place when I get bigger."
Me: "Nessa, do you like coffee?"
Nessa: " Well no, but when I'm older I will. And I want to work at a coffee place because it will be fun."
All of us: "Oh, OK."
This morning Nessa informed me that her name is "Fernando." She has continued to use this name, although luckily for us no longer corrected us by this afternoon when we slipped and called her "Nessa." I just asked her if she is still Fernando, and she said, "I'm going to be Fernando every day." When I asked her why she wants to be Fernando, she said "Because I want my friends to say Fernando." Shawn promptly said "because if I was only Fernando every other day, it would be too hard for my friends to remember." :-) After we laughed Nessa explained that when we were in Mexico and she was with Grandma and Max, she watched Lost in the Woods. Well, now we know where it came from. :-)
As many of you may have noticed, especially those of you on facebook or twitter*, Shawn and i have been taking advantage of our smart phones to post status updates, text message, and use GPS (some kudos to NavTel GPS for helping us find places along our route, and taking us to some awesome gluten free restaurants). So this has not gone unnoticed by Nessa (or Megan who is text messaging a lot herself these days, but does think we can become a bit addicted to facebook ... I think it's a vacation thing because it's an easy way to stay connected while away). So just now Shawn was reading a text message and after asking him about it, Nessa proclaimed, "When I'm older I want to get a text message from Aunt Jo." :-)
Other things Nessa did:
- Removed all the threads from a sombrero hat pin one at a time --
"because I'm hungry" (she didn't actually eat them. - She sang "rock star larry boy" very loudly for awhile, and we let her because she was happy and not screaming like yesterday! (In fact I think this is the first day she fell asleep in the car without screaming! It was a good day indeed!)
- She watched Monsters Inc about 3.5 times as the road had already lulled us into a parental stupor that influenced us to just say "sure" when she asked to watch it again and again ... besides we already have a floor full of "pretty pictures" colored by Nessa -- if you're family, there is probably more than one that Nessa designed just for you -- I hope you all don't mind if they "get lost in the mail" as I'm sure your fridge can live without a piece of paper with one sticker on it and about 4 squiggly lines and one very nicely written "N."
Megan, has been great as well. She has been having her own movie marathon -- Princess Diaries and Cinderella Story. Megan was not feeling well when we left TX, and I was afraid we were going to have to find a clinic to do a strep test or something, but thankfully she is MUCH better now, and just sounds a bit stuffed up!!! Thank you God. :-)
Shawn has been doing an AWESOME job driving. It allows me to cater to the girls' needs as well as do just a bit of reading, looking out the window, talking to Shawn, and yes, text messaging or otherwise playing on my phone, so I really appreciate it. Thank you Shawn and Thank you God. :-)
So far no adventures or misadventures on the way home, and that is a great thing. :-)
Today we woke up to chilly weather and realized we really did have to go back to jeans and sweatshirts and put away the shorts. But the Sun did come out to play during our lunch and play time -- Shawn found us a great little park in West, TX (as Shawn pointed out it is in Central Texas). We had a great time enjoying our last picnic until summer arrives in WI, and playing on the great playground.
Unfortunately our hotel tonight doesn't have a pool. Or, rather it has a pool, but it's broken. So our plan it to get to sleep a bit earlier than we have been, get up earlish, and hit the road so we can stop along the way at some type of play spot such as a playground, zoo or library. We'll let you know what we find. :-)
Before I forget I also want to do a quick shout out to the Little Aussie Bakery and Cafe (http://www.thelittleaussiebakery.com/) in San Antonio. It's 100% Gluten Free!!!! And it made a GREAT early supper spot for us on Saturday as we started heading back North. They also had some awesome sandwich buns and cookies that we purchased to take with us on our way. The buns have been great for our barbecue pork sandwiches (or rather everyone else's sandwiches as I've been sticking to salad and fruit to keep going and healthy). And who doesn't love cookies for snack time. :-) While we were at the Little Aussie Cafe we all enjoyed yummy food too -- Nessa had GF pizza (sans cheese too but still yummy), Shawn and Megan had great sandwiches and side salad, and I had an awesome spring green salad with the BEST citrus dressing. I HIGHLY recommend the place. And the owner was great to talk to as well. :-)
OK, time to get myself ready for the challenge of getting Nessa to sleep in a hotel room.
~Tami
Monday, September 01, 2008
Home Sweet Home
It's past my bedtime again, but I needed to quickly log on and share that while we had a wonderful weekend visiting not one but both sets of grandparents, it is again so good to be home. Just walking in the door renewed my energy and spirits after a long car ride home today. And I'm so grateful that I feel that way (it wasn't always true in my life).
Our long weekend began Thursday when we headed up to Cumberland to visit my parents and spend some time on the lake. We were also blessed to be able to see Rebbecca, Charlotte, Ahnika, Cully, and Ellen. As usual I have lots of pics and Flip video to process ... maybe next weekend. I do have just a few tubing pics that Grandpa Don took that we managed to upload to Picasa Web albums before we left Cumberland so I could access them from home.
We also spent time swimming... (Tami with Nessa and Rebbecca)
While scanning the web album, Shawn saw this nice picture of us on the tube, but when looking closely I realized this was NOT from this weekend (earlier this summer or last year?). These are the errors that happen when the camera doesn't have an accurate digital date. :-)
It was a gorgeous weekend though!!!
Friday evening we left for Walker, and we barely made it there before Saturday morning appeared! We did spend awhile in Duluth as we stopped at their food co-op and enjoyed shopping there a bit too much apparently because we were there quite awhile. Some day we have to arrive in Walker at a normal time again. :-)
Saturday Megan and I explored downtown Walker, and Sunday Shawn, Megan and I managed to sneak off to a movie while Nessa napped at Grandma and Grandpas. Of course there was also much relaxing, and Megan did manage to finish her book before the weekend ended and school started.
In other news -- the drive was uneventful other than Nessa's screams when she wanted a neck pillow like mom's (thank you Jan -- it worked wonderfully), and when the portable DVD player broke ... we did get Nessa a similar pillow at a Wal mart along the way, but the DVD player may still be broken. We did miss our van several times along the way (we were in the rental; a Camry), and we appreciated all of Megan's help with Nessa in the back seat!!!! We are so thankful that this was the extent of our challenges on the way home.
We're trying to get geared up for the fall/school year schedule this week. I'm not really ready and unlike many moms I really wasn't ready for school to start, but it is so we adjust. Megan starts 5th grade tomorrow! Nessa starts preschool Sunday school this Sunday, and it will be our only year with both Megan and Nessa in Sunday school.
I have a week scheduled full of physical therapy, chiropractic, and massage appointments to help with my neck injury. I'm also off of yoga for at least another week. :-( And I have way more than a lot of work to do, so I'll have to find other ways to de-stress ... like prayer and looking around at the wonderful family I'm blessed with!
Happy Fall and blessings to all --
Our long weekend began Thursday when we headed up to Cumberland to visit my parents and spend some time on the lake. We were also blessed to be able to see Rebbecca, Charlotte, Ahnika, Cully, and Ellen. As usual I have lots of pics and Flip video to process ... maybe next weekend. I do have just a few tubing pics that Grandpa Don took that we managed to upload to Picasa Web albums before we left Cumberland so I could access them from home.
We also spent time swimming... (Tami with Nessa and Rebbecca)
While scanning the web album, Shawn saw this nice picture of us on the tube, but when looking closely I realized this was NOT from this weekend (earlier this summer or last year?). These are the errors that happen when the camera doesn't have an accurate digital date. :-)
It was a gorgeous weekend though!!!
Friday evening we left for Walker, and we barely made it there before Saturday morning appeared! We did spend awhile in Duluth as we stopped at their food co-op and enjoyed shopping there a bit too much apparently because we were there quite awhile. Some day we have to arrive in Walker at a normal time again. :-)
Saturday Megan and I explored downtown Walker, and Sunday Shawn, Megan and I managed to sneak off to a movie while Nessa napped at Grandma and Grandpas. Of course there was also much relaxing, and Megan did manage to finish her book before the weekend ended and school started.
In other news -- the drive was uneventful other than Nessa's screams when she wanted a neck pillow like mom's (thank you Jan -- it worked wonderfully), and when the portable DVD player broke ... we did get Nessa a similar pillow at a Wal mart along the way, but the DVD player may still be broken. We did miss our van several times along the way (we were in the rental; a Camry), and we appreciated all of Megan's help with Nessa in the back seat!!!! We are so thankful that this was the extent of our challenges on the way home.
We're trying to get geared up for the fall/school year schedule this week. I'm not really ready and unlike many moms I really wasn't ready for school to start, but it is so we adjust. Megan starts 5th grade tomorrow! Nessa starts preschool Sunday school this Sunday, and it will be our only year with both Megan and Nessa in Sunday school.
I have a week scheduled full of physical therapy, chiropractic, and massage appointments to help with my neck injury. I'm also off of yoga for at least another week. :-( And I have way more than a lot of work to do, so I'll have to find other ways to de-stress ... like prayer and looking around at the wonderful family I'm blessed with!
Happy Fall and blessings to all --
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