The Birthday Continues

This weekend began with a trip to Edible Arrangements. My sister Rebecca and brother-in-law, Gary had sent me an arrangement last Saturday, but could not be delivered because we were still in San Antonio. So they made me a fresh one and I went and picked it up. It certainly was beautiful and very tasty, especially the chocolate covered strawberries and pineapples. Thank you very much guys.
Than we went to Owens Elementary for the 1 mile Fun Run and Carnival. Denise, Brianna and Dennis braved the windy 45 degree weather and finished their 1 mile quickly. I went inside the cafeteria to check out all the items for the silent auction. I went ahead and signed up for the after school parties for the kids, a couple of baskets full of stuff and dinner for 4 at Mission Burrito with 4 movie tickets. From there we rushed to the morning soccer games for both girls. Then back again to the school carnival for the cake walk, auction, food and blow up slides. We made out with some good stuff from the auction, Denise had to bid on the Dynamo jersey autographed by all the soccer team and she won it. All in all it was $300 worth of things. After the carnival it was back to another soccer game for Denise. When they finished that game, we went home and packed for a short weekend trip to grandma and grandpa's house. My mom's birthday is next weekend and we will not be able to make it which is why we decided to go this weekend. We left Maxie with Dennis and made it to Port Arthur by sundown. On Sunday we slept in late and we went over to see the new mixed Chihuahua puppies next door.

They were so cute and their eyes were still closed. After lunch my mom surprised me with a cake she made that had both our ages on top. It was fun to visit with the folks and my brother Leonard before we headed back home.

Happy Belated Birthday To Myself During Spring Break!

We have been very busy this spring break. We first started last Monday with a trip to the Houston Rodeo. This is something we go to every year and really enjoy it. The kids are getting better at the carnival games and won some of their own stuffed animals instead of relying on mom to win them. We drove to San Antonio on Tuesday, March 17th, St. Patrick's Day. On the way here we stopped at the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch. The kids love this place and were excited about seeing the animals again.It's one of those places where you drive your car through it and look at the wild animals that run loose. There weren't as many zebras or gnus as before but the kids saw plenty and there was a lot of spring break traffic. From here we went to check into our hotel, the Marriott Riverwalk and were very hungry so we walked down the riverwalk to the Lone Star Cafe for some good Irish food! Everyone was at Pat O'Briens and Dirty Nellie's for the St. Patty green beer. The next two days we hit all the attractions around the Alamo, such as Ripley's Believe It or Not, Guinness Book of Records, Haunted House, Tomb Rider and the Wax Museum. We met Greg and Michelle after walking out of the Haunted House. Brianna enjoyed the haunting but Denise never opened her eyes through the whole thing and was shaking from being so scared. She of course calmed down when she got her hug and kisses from her Aunt! Greg, Michelle, John, Gail and Samantha were all staying at the Holiday Inn on the Riverwalk and were coming in to celebrate my birthday. We all went to Rio Rio Cantina on the riverwalk to have a nice dinner to celebrate my 50th. My Uncle Junior and Tia Julia showed up as well as my cousins, Albert and Marco with his lovely family. We had a really good time and ate some really good Mexican food.After dinner and birthday cookie my family went home and the rest of us went on a ride on the river boat. It was such a beautiful night and the riverwalk was all lit up. I didn't understand the guide on the boat but I enjoyed the sights anyhow. On Friday, we had intended to go to Fiesta Texas but changed our plans because we heard the spring break crowds were too much. Instead we went to the Tower of Americas and rode the elevator up to the top. The view is so pretty up there on a beautiful day. We then made our way to the Market by trolley. It was really busy in San Antonio so the ride was slow. Dennis walked it with the kids and was there way before we were. There were all these Mexican bands playing and booths set up selling food so the Market was more busy than usual. We made our way to Mi Tierra to get pastries and ended up getting a table and eating dinner there. I had their nachos which were the best I've ever had! I have probably gained about 5 lbs. on this trip so I will need to work out more next week to work it off. When we got back to the hotel we said goodbye to everyone. Greg and Michelle were going to Austin to spend a night at John and Gail's house. It was a lot of fun having them here to celebrate my 50th. Saturday, we got up, checked out and went to tour the Natural Bridge Caverns in New Braunfels on our way back home. The kids enjoyed the beauty of the underground caverns, but their favorite was the wall climb and the zip line. We left there and made the mistake of driving through Austin to get to Houston. I35 was full of spring break traffic. Greg and Michelle joined us later to spend a night on their way back to Baton Rouge. The whole week was so much fun and I'd like to thank everyone for coming to San Antonio to celebrate with me and thank you also for the wonderful birthday gifts. I hope you enjoy the pictures. Click here to see all the other photos.

Shaffers and Baugnons


Shaffers and Lacayos


Hemisfair Park


Natural Bridge Caverns


Zip line at Natural Bridge Caverns

It's Rodeo Time!

Yee-Haw! The kids had their Western Day at school today. They got to dress up in their rodeo wear and do some western dancing for all the parents and friends. They had scheduled times all day for the different grade levels. Denise was first at 11:20 am and Brianna went at 1:55 pm. They actually did very well with their dances, which was about 5 dances each. All the girls were leading of course and were much taller than the boys! It was such a gloomy day so it was nice to be doing something inside. Hopefully the weather will clear up before Monday when we will go to the Houston Rodeo. After their dances we left school early to start off spring break. Later we went to the new Studio Movie Grill in Town Centre to see Race to Witch Mountain which turned out to be a very good movie. I like anything with "The Rock" in it!

C-Ya!
Lucy

I Did It, I Stimulated!

Well I finally went out and got a new car. It's a 2009 Buick Enclave, fully loaded. It's hard to tell from the picture but it is a gold mist color with cashmere interior leather. I love the GPS and Onstar car phone. My kids love the DVD and they have their own sunroof! It was hard to give up my van, but I am starting to get used to my new car. I get attached to my cars and so do my kids, they even had named the van Kerby. Brianna named it the same as Herby the Love Bug but when she was three she would say Kerby instead of Herby and the nickname stuck. She refused to shed a tear when we gave up the van claiming that Kerby was only getting a new body. They have both in two days forgotten all about the van!

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

We went to see the Broadway musical production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang here in Houston on Saturday for a matinee show. I decided to take the kids because they really wanted to see it and I didn't think it would be that good but it turned out to be very entertaining. It had a lot of humor and the show was done so well. The stage actor was no where near as good a dancer as Dick Van Dyke was in the original movie but he did a great job. The stage settings were done well and they pulled off a flying car pretty good. We met my sister Gina and her house mate Kelly there and went to the Hard Rock at Bayou Place afterwards. The food was good and the kids had a great time.
Denise, Kelly and Brianna having fun with oranges at Hard Rock!