What we've been up to...

...is more of the same stuff. More or less, anyway. We had a lovely picnic at Zilker, on the new and vastly improved grass. We lucked out and had a cool breeze and no crowd, despite being a Saturday night.

We did, however, attract some new friends.

And the very strange owner basically demanded our camera to take a picture. He suggested we tell everyone that this wolf is our new dog. Um, okay? And can you tell how comfortable and relaxed we are in this picture??

Reese also ran around barefoot like a total maniac. All around the park, even down the big hill. All that was missing was the Star Wars theme song....

David has formed a meet-up group for stand up paddlers here in Austin. The group has over 30 members and is steadily growing. Their first meet-up was over the weekend and 16 paddlers showed up!

It was a big success and the feedback was outstanding. People from the hike and bike trail stopped to watch, and a few even kicked off their shoes and hopped on a board to try it out! Can't wait to try this sport out next spring!

We went to David's grad school orientation. It was really informative, and I left so impressed with what SEU has to offer their students. And no, we can't take a normal picture together. There were several taken and they were all varying levels of fugly.

And finally, Reese is back for her second full week of school! There has been a little bit more resistance in the morning--basically she has woken up twice saying she didn't want to go, but by the time we are heading out the door, she's fine. Mainly, she's still pretty excited.

As you can tell!

And we love dropping her off and picking her up. She's napping there almost daily and buying her lunch in the cafeteria some days. What a big girl!

And amazingly, we've been able to convince her to wear pants every day! It's no small feat to convince the pink dress queen to change her ways, but I guess playing on three different playgrounds throughout the day is good incentive. You've got to be able to slide!

Dare I say?

I certainly don't want to jinx anything, but....
I think the new school situation is a HUGE SUCCESS!!!!!
Pick-up yesterday went great. MOF, R didn't want to leave because they were about to have popcorn for a snack. So, we had to micro some kernels at home, just so she didn't feel like she was completely missing out. The teacher said they had a fantastic day, and R even napped for a little while.
This morning, she eagerly got ready. Once we were on our way, she starts yelling "Hip-hip-hooray" out of the blue! Then, as I was getting all her things situated (my, there is a lot of stuff that preschoolers need), she went off to play with the other kids and would barely even take a moment to say 'bye to me--she was so engrossed. I'd say she loves her new school! Yippee!!!

New school is cool!

Just dropped off R at her new school! She certainly understood the implications of school this year: that I would be dropping her, she'd be staying there, and then I'd come back to pick her up after a myriad of other activities. So, she was clued in about the first day this time, unlike last year. We talked about it a lot, she was very excited this morning, and helped me load all of her stuff in the car.
Here's the pupil, ready to learn!


We waltzed right into the classroom, and R was the second one from her class there. They are combining two classes this week, so there was one older girl already there too. This worked out GREAT, because this little girl had already had R's teachers and knew all the activities; she took her hand and started showing her all the fun stuff to play with and I had to go track R down to say goodbye to her. As I was leaving, one of the little girls we met on Friday was coming in, so R already had a little friend there. So, after a quick goodbye and reassurance that I'd be back after nap time, I was on my way (with 6 glorious, luxurious hours to myself ahead of me! Okay, I have lots of work to do, but still...). And I am proud to report there was nary a tear in sight--not from Reese, nor from mommy.
Going into the classroom.


The crazy thing: R's preschool class is in the same quad-pod where my kindergarten class was located! So, it's kind of coming full circle! And makes me realize: she's such a big girl these days!
I'll update after the first day is complete. Until then, send her happy prayers and good thoughts today. It's an adjustment and a new chapter, but it's going to be great, I can already tell.

Blogging, sans visuals

David went off this weekend with my digital camera, so I am limited to words without images with this entry. Although I need to figure out something before tomorrow--R's first day at her new preschool. That will require documentation.
We've been having a lovely time. D is off enjoying VT and upstate NY with a good friend. I'm getting great updates and it sounds like a blast--so much so, that I think we'll plan a family trip to VT sometime late next summer.
We had a wonderful anatomy scan last week--I am officially 20+ weeks pregnant--past the halfway mark! The baby looked great, all the measurements and organs looked right on target and he weighs approximately 13 oz., which is exactly where he should be and then some. We'll have to monitor his growth and make sure he continues to grow as he should--one drawback of the PAPP-A numbers we got back at 12 weeks, but so far, so good.
I'm not sure I've blogged about this yet--D got accepted in to the Project Management graduate program at St. Ed's! He starts in a couple of weeks! We are so excited--the program really sounds like a perfect fit for him. He's also started a SUP meet-up group here in town and has about 25 members. They are planning their first outing next week. He's been really into SUP'ing and can now boast SUP experiences in CA, TX, and VT. I can't wait until next summer, when I can try it out--it seems like a blast.
Friday, R and I went to her preschool open house and stayed the entire time! We were literally the first ones there and next to last to leave. And she wanted to go back immediately--even talking about it as she was drifting off to sleep that night! The classroom is wonderful--loads of fun lessons and toy centers to play with, the teachers have tremendous amounts of experience and are as kind as you would expect seasoned preschool teachers to be (they read books to R at the OH, and one even told her she'd make her some crowns over the weekend!), and the other students seem sweet (mainly). We'll see how drop-off/first day/enforced nap goes tomorrow, but I have high hopes. I am crazy about the program and just know that R is going to benefit from it tremendously. I won't forget Bunny this time, either.
Yesterday, Erin and I went to an alum luncheon at the ADPi house. It was part of their rush week festivities, and we had fun seeing all the changes to the house (looks a lot better!), chatting with some really cute and friendly girls, and catching up w/ our favorite sitter, Krista. K emailed me to tell me we were the "cutest alums there," but we were really the only ones under the age of 75, so I'm taking that with a grain of salt. It was kind of random (appetizers billed as lunch, which does NOT fly w/ the pg lady, a few shopping booths set up, and a slide show of rush from last week), but we enjoyed spending time there and also getting a chance to hang out together. Afterwards, R played with Kellen and Quinn and had a lovely time.
We're new members of our community library and have been loving our trips there. We checked out the Lady & the Tramp book last week. R was so taken with it, we went back yesterday and checked out the DVD. Last night,we watched L&T and ate spaghetti, fittingly enough. R was so funny slurping it up just like the dogs do!
Today, we've had a lazy morning, eating a big brekkie and getting ready to head over to Tatum's 3rd b-day party. I'm going to spend some time making sure we have everything completely together for school tomorrow, then we'll probably watch another movie and have a relaxed evening.
It should be noted that this morning, R told me, "You're the Queen of Monaco." That's quite an improvement, since I usually spend a good chunk of my day as either Prince Philip or Maleficent. I'll take the promotion.
Please send Reese prayers and good thoughts tomorrow as she begins the new school program. It will be a transition, surely, but will hopefully go as smoothly as possible.
Grace Kelly, signing off....

SoCal and Pacific NW recap

Just a few (ha!) more pics from our trip to Coronado and then Seattle!
Lots of beach time in CA....Reese adored it.







She loved making "sand angels" and getting as dirty as possible!


On our last day in Cali, we met up with the M's and spent a day at the pool and beach. Here's sweet Cassidy taking in the sights. Love her hat!

Reese is exactly halfway between Caitlin and Cassidy, age-wise, which was so much fun for her.



Our hotel was right next to a huge naval base, so...

you know....

um, lots of eye candy! And SWAT training on the beach in front of our hotel at night.

Cass and David share a moment.


Next stop: Seattle! Kelly, I was having trouble responding to your comment using my phone. I'm kind of a technological dinosaur, I hate to admit. We had a blast and squeezed everything we wanted to see downtown into less than 24 hours. Pike's Place, Seattle Art Museum, Monorail, Space Needle, Experience Music/SciFi Museum....in less than one day. We weren't wild about staying downtown (or our hotel, for that matter), so we made the switch to Bellevue after the first night. Much more our speed!
R, taking in the Needle. Notice that we were wearing sweaters there!!! Sigh.

At the top of the Needle!

Experience Music/SciFi--very cool spot!


They had MJ's sequin jacket and glove...

In Bellevue, we ate at Blue C Sushi--they load up all the sushi onto a conveyor belt and you just grab whichever dishes you want. We thought this was so very cool! This place would do gang-busters in ATX.

Reese enjoyed some of the "slushi," but obviously not all of it.

On our last day in Washington, we visited Snoqualmie Falls. Reese was extremely excited that it was not one waterfall, but two waterfalls!



And decided to strike a few poses for me outside the Falls....



It was a wonderful trip and a welcome escape from the heat, but we were happy to be back home with Greta. And now, I am scrambling to get ready for R's first week of school--starts next Monday! Who knew preschool preparations could be so harried??

California bloggin'

Greetings from beautiful Coronado, California! We are having such a blast here on our vacation. The weather has been great--foggy and cool until about 10 a.m. and then beautiful, warm and sunny. We have done loads of stuff so far--beginning with a thorough investigation of hotel furniture:


On Friday, we visited the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park, about an hour east of Coronado. 1800 acres of amazing enclosures for animals to roam freely. Here we are in front of part of the African enclosure. Any and all animals you might spot will be far off in the distance.

We got to see lots of animals, but rather than post endless pics of animals in the distance, I'll show you one of the highlights (because there are more shots from Saturday coming...): behind the scenes at the elephant enclosure. We were in the back with the keepers, who were working with these two beauties, a mother and son. The cutest! They were having a blast taking big gulps of water and then spraying all over themselves (and the keepers, as you can sort of see here)--really funny creatures!

Great pic of David and Reese on the merry-go-round.

Yesterday, we went on another behind the scenes tour, this time at San Diego Zoo (similar to the tour we went on about a year ago). Once again, we fed the Okapi (check out the tongue on this gal)...

They are such cool animals.

We saw this panda baby--she turns two this week! She was enjoying a long lunch of bamboo and was really fun to watch.

Toward the end, we fed the giraffes. Here we are, with Silver, the 16-foot, 2500 pound male. He was a GIANT!


Sweet Abby is a 25-year-old giraffe (quite elderly in giraffe years) who has to be sequestered because the arthritis in her hips is so bad. Poor baby. We went around the side and got to feed her.

Abby's really tame and let us pet her, so not only did Reese get to feed a giraffe, she got to pet one as well. I didn't get any pictures because I wasn't about to pass up that opportunity!

David has been very excited about coming to Cali and doing his SUP (stand up paddleboarding). He sought out a specialty shop yesterday, got a new paddle, and rented a board. This morning, he hit the surf!



He caught some waves--apparently, it's quite different to SUP in the ocean surf versus the TX lakes....


And, we spent some QT at the beach by our hotel today. Reese is like a crazed animal when we get down to the beach. Despite her normal uber-cleanly ways, she immediately drops down into the sand and rolls when we get out there. She is literally coated in sand particles from her hair and face down to between her toes after we've been on the beach. Crazy girl!


And, she always wants to bury her daddy....and he obliges....

Our friends happen to be visiting the area at the same time, so we're getting together with the M fam on Tuesday. Reese is super psyched to play with Caitlin and Cassidy! I'll update either later from CA or when we get up to Seattle....