Charlotte, NC

Andy had an Accounting conference in NC this year and I was fortunate enough to be able to tag along, ALONE! The boys stayed with Granna and Grandpa for 5 days! It's the longest we have ever left them. I was so worried that they would miss us, but I think they barely thought of us. They had a blast and so did we. We arrived Saturday late afternoon and my friend Dana (who just relocated from Austin to Charlotte 6 days before we arrived!) picked us up from the airport. She took us to this yummy Italian food restaurant. After dinner we went to an Icehouse and the non pregnant ones had some beer and we visited. The next day Dana picked us up for lunch and we did some shopping afterwards. Andy's conference started Monday morning so I hung out in the hotel room drinking Starbucks and reading books. It was the life. When he got out of his conference we would walk around downtown and eat. That was pretty much our routine until we left Wednesday. It was very relaxing and I am thankful we were able to take a trip before our next addition. Charlotte is a beautiful city. We stayed in the Uptown/Downtown part of the city. Dana showed us her office and where she is going to live and it's beautiful. There are huge trees, huge houses, huge lots, it's clean, artsy, and fun. I think she is going to love living there. And she has the coolest job, she is in charge of marketing for a wine importer!!

The conference was held in the Westin, so that's where we stayed. It was NICE!

This was the view from our hotel room. It was even more beautiful at night.

We rode the "blue line" to dinner one night.

The city is very artsy and you will find many pieces of art randomly around downtown. This piece was in "Independence Square".

My view from the bed as I watched meaningless T.V.!

More artwork outside of a building.

There was something in this guy's teeth. I was trying to help him out. This art work was inside of a park called "The Green".

Another piece of art inside of The Green.

The buildings were just beautiful. There were lots of lofts and very nice apartments along with restaurants, coffee shops & bars. Charlotte is headquarters for many banks. The banks like Wells Fargo, Bank of America, etc had HUGE buildings there.

Another view of our hotel.

As we were walking back to the blue line after dinner one night we saw Canadian geese just walking in the parking lot. It was a strange site!

The weather was unusually warm for NC, but it was still a little cooler than Texas. Dana says it actually rains there too. I wish they would send some of that rain this way. Overall, we had a great trip. Now we are on the countdown for the start of school. I can't believe we only have 3 more weeks. I am not ready! I have enjoyed the summer with the boys. We have stayed so busy and the time has flown by.

Tuesday we found out if we are having a son or daughter. I can't wait!

NASCAR Hall of Fame (For Bodie and Stacey!)

Charlotte, NC is home of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. We are not NASCAR fans, but it was interesting to walk through the Hall of Fame and check out all of the exhibits. We even got to participate in a simulation of a race. We concluded we wouldn't be very good race car drivers, especially me! One of the banks that participated in the conference Andy attended hosted a dinner and open exhibit night at the Hall of Fame. The food was some of the best we had while in NC. They even had an open bar, which I sadly could not partake in! All of the exhibits were open for us to try. It was a pretty fun night.

Below is a view of the Hall of Fame from our hotel.

A view from our hotel window.

Outside the Hall of Fame. The front of the Hall of Fame is a model of a race track with real cars on the banked track.

Here is a picture of the track from inside the Hall of Fame.

A view from the second floor of the building looking at the dinner & track.

This contraption is used to determine if a car meets the specifications to qualify as a race car.

Here we were looking down at the simulation we participated in. We got to get into the cars and drive like we were on a real race track. I placed 49th! Way to go me!

They had cases to display memorabilia from race car drivers from the 1930's to present. Here are a few things in Dale Earnhartt's case.

Andy was having a thought provoking conversation with these guys!

Galveston 2011

We got to Galveston Sunday afternoon and went to the beach that night. Alex had fun making sand castles while Mason jumped the waves. The next morning we took the ferry to Crystal beach. That experience wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Waiting in line for 30 minutes in 100 degree weather wasn't all that fun. I told Andy it almost felt like waiting in car line at Krause! The beach was ok but I didn't bring a change of clothes. So we had to sit in our wet bathing suits as we waited in another 30 minute line for the ferry ride back. But one of the things Mason wanted to do was ride on the ferry. Check! Galveston needs to check out Port A's ferry process. They are much more efficient! We went to the pool that afternoon and had a family game of monkey in the middle! Andy took the boys back to the beach that night while I stayed in the hotel and watched "The Bachelorette"! Sad, I know! The next day it rained. So we weren't able to go to the beach until after lunch. We stayed in the hotel and played games and did art projects. We pretty much alternated between beach and pool the entire time...oh, and eating! I think I gained 8 lbs! We left Galveston Wednesday and made another stop in Houston. We saw "Mr. Popper's Penguins" which was really cute and went to the mall. We were pretty tired when we got home last night, but we had a great time.

Here we are on the ferry boat.

We were able to see lots of dolphins swimming as we rode the ferry.

My toothless Alex! He had lots of fun making sand castles!

Andy brought some nets and Mason had a blast trying to see what he could "catch". Usually he ended up with seaweed, shells, and an occasional small fish, which he threw right back. But it was the process that was fun!

We splurged and went to La King's for dessert one day. This place is amazing! They have every kind of chocolate, fudge, candy, ice cream, coffee, smoothies, etc. you can imagine! Andy got fudge for us all to share. The boys got ice cream and I bought a peach mango smoothie. It was so good!! Even Andy liked it!

Arts and crafts while in rained!

The view from our balcony. We usually get an ocean front unit but they were old sold out this time. So Mason was very concerned he wouldn't be able to see the beach from our unit. His concerns were quickly put to rest once he stepped out on the balcony. Thank goodness! ;)

Alex was cracking me up watching him lift his shorts so the waves wouldn't get him. He wasn't in a bathing suit this time.

Drawing hearts in the sand.

I'd say it was a pretty successful vacation. It was just nice to have Andy home and spend time as a family. Saturday Andy and I leave for NC without the boys. I am so nervous. I have never left them for this long before (5 days). I worry about everything!! Will they be able to sleep, will they be safe, will we be safe, will they fight and drive Granna and Grandpa nuts (usually they just save that for me!), etc. I know they are old enough now to take care of themselves and let others know what they need, but I still worry! I know they will have fun and it will be a good break for Andy and me. I am thankful for the opportunity to be able to go with Andy. It may be my last vacation without kids for a LONG time! One thing is for sure. I will definitely miss those guys. I love them so much!

Circus

We just got back from our family vacation. We took our annual trip to Galveston beach. We left Sunday morning and made a stop in Houston for the circus. Mason has been to the Shriner's circus in Austin before but he fell asleep on me right when it started and slept through the entire thing. Alex has never been. The boys loved it! They both said their favorite part was when 7 motorcycles raced inside the ball. That was definitely scary! We had great seats so we could see everything really well. Here are a few pictures of the show.

Toothless

In about a week Alex will be missing all four front teeth (two bottom and two top). You may remember that he lost his bottom two teeth at the beginning of June. Well, tonight at the country club he had a little run in with a wroth iron chair. He was watching something behind him as he walked. When he turned around his teeth met the chair. I won't go into all the details, but there was A LOT of blood. After I was able to assess the situation my friend Erin and I realized we probably needed to take him to the emergency room. One of his top front teeth was lodged all the way inside of his gums and the other one was hanging way lower than it should be. And did I mention there was blood everywhere?! Erin quickly packed our things, got Alex ice and called her husband to be ready to watch Mason and Lilly. As we got to the parking lot I realized I should call my friend Lil who is a dentist and her husband is our family dentist. She calmly told us to come to her house and she would take a look. Only a dentist could look at this site and not be entirely grossed out. She said it looked like it would take care of itself. She said both teeth would fall out on their own and we didn't need to do anything else. When her husband got home he looked and said the same thing. What a relief!! His mouth looks so scary and I know it had to hurt more than I can imagine. But since he is 5 and they were his baby teeth anyway, it's a situation that will remedy itself....along with motrin and tylenol every few hours! Alex was excited that we allowed him to eat ice cream for dinner! And one blessing that will hopefully come out of all of this....he may stop sucking his fingers! He hasn't been able to put them in his mouth since the accident. He was even able to fall asleep without sucking on them. That is a huge accomplishment! Hopefully he will be feeling better before Galveston this weekend! Thank goodness for wonderful friends and a tough little boy!

Pville trip

Last week the boys and I went to Pflugerville to visit friends and family. We got to see one of my oldest, I mean dearest friends, Teresa (we've been friends since 6th grade). We went swimming at her house Thursday. We all had a blast playing monkey in the middle and visiting! Below is Teresa's daughter "dressed" in 4 different tubes/floats. She was cracking me up watching her walk. Maybe I am easily entertained, but it was funny!

Friday, Teresa and I decided to take the kids to the Austin Children's museum. We wanted something indoors that would take up several hours. We quickly found out that our kids had way outgrown the children's museum. Wish we would have known before we paid to park and get in! It seems the museum is geared toward kids 4 and under now. Even our 5 year olds were bored. We lasted about an hour before we headed to "The Yogurt Spot" for yummy yogurt with unhealthy toppings! Friday night we ate dinner at Casey and Heather's and had an early birthday celebration for Casey. We won't see him on his actual birthday this year.

Saturday Cindy and Abby came over to play. I told Cindy the boys didn't bring many toys so she decided to bring the slip and slide. It was a great idea. The kids had so much fun! They have always played so well together!

A trip to Pflugerville wouldn't be complete without going to the park. Mason loves to wade in the creek and try to catch minnows. He caught a ton this time with his net. He put them inside a water bottle, but the poor things didn't make it all the way back to Brenham. Something about needing oxygen to survive!

Andy and I were able to leave the kids with my mom Saturday night to attend Dana's going away party. She is moving to NC to take a job with a wine importer! How fun is that going to be?! It was nice to have adult time! Her party was at a wine bar downtown. I enjoyed water while smelling everyone else's wine around me. I was only a little envious! Then we ate dinner with Heather and Casey at Hyde Park. I had been craving their homemade french fries and fry sauce. They definitely delivered! It was GOOD! Overall, we had a great visit and I enjoyed catching up with friends and family! These next two weeks will be filled with vacations. I am so excited! I will do better about picture taking on the vacations! Where are you going on vacation this summer? Or where have you been?