Up to the highest height

Yee-haw for the Austin Kite Festival! And for all of our fun friends who were able to make what will surely become an annual event: parking and breakfast at our house and a walk down to the park for the festival.
Hold on to your seats--I have a lot of pictures in this post! I don't have one of every single person but it seems like we tried!
Reese, Tatum, and Ainsley pausing for a brief moment.

Quinn reflecting upon Greta.

Beckham trying to make his escape.

Neal and Nico smiling for the camera.

Kellen enjoying kolaches.

Janna, Melissa and Simone all bundled up. It was chilly! And a short two days ago, we hit a record 91 degrees. Sigh.

Herding cats. No, really, everyone got out and packed up in an impressively quick amount of time.

And the stroller brigade is off!

Here we come, Zilker! (thanks Monique for this pic!)

A, R, T and Q all lined up, from behind.

And from the side.

Daddy and Reese, and the maiden voyage of the $4 Cinderella kite.

Jax, with his awesome hat. Cute little man.

Kellen takes an unconventional approach to kite flying.

Cord, rocking the Elmo kite.

Melissa and Simone and their super cute hats. Where did all these kids find their adorable togs??

Kites in the air. I took a lot of pics like this, but you know, I think just posting one will suffice.

One of the "big guys."

Reese watching the big guys.

We got home and Reese decided to do some core work after all those donuts and kolaches.



Good idea, Reese. I am off to yoga to repent for my morning indulgences. ;) Thanks to everyone for turning out and making it such a fun outing. And save the date for 2010, y'all.

Two for the road

Daddy got a new bike and with that new toy came a seat attached for Reese. I have fond childhood memories of riding behind my mom's bike, all over Tarrytown, but especially to Deep Eddy. This contraption isn't all that different, really. And R seemed equally excited about it.

She was fascinated by the handle bar to hold.



And once we got her situated, we put on the new princess helmet--already being put to good use!

I am "steadying" the bike but also not wanting to let go! It seemed like the new seat was throwing the bike way off balance, but D assured me it was just fine.

There they go...and I start holding my breath!....


...and here they come! Whew, I finally exhaled!


Fun times ahead!

Pigtails and helmets

Big milestone today...piggies! Reese's hair in pigtails for school! Clearly, she's been able to have pigtails for awhile but we just haven't been able to wear them (read: keep the child still enough to put them in and convince her not to rip them out immediately afterward). Last night, I laid the groundwork and we both put our hair in piggies today. Obviosuly, someone was delighted with the result!



I'm soooo good with hair. Poor Reese.




We caved and got R a full set of princess safety gear. The helmet, the elbow and knee pads. This, ahem, might have something to do with a gift she'll be receiving in the near future. Act surprised in July, 'kay? ;) That is, unless we change our minds.

The safety gear does look best when modeled with pull-ups, yes?


In motion....

...and no longer in motion.

And we live in a freaking shoe, folks

Normally, Reese comes home with something cutesy and fun and artsy-craftsy each time she goes to preschool. I wouldn't be surprised if we get get another snowman or heart to add to our collection before the end of winter. However, here is today's craft:

In case you can't read it, the title is "Happy Endings" (problematic from the get-go), and then it goes on to say:

Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard
To fetch her poor dog a bone;
But when she came there..
the cupboard was not bare... (exciting twist!)
she found a potato
and ice cream.

Hunh?
If you look closely, you can see the sad little potato and ice cream stickers. Sheesh, the teachers are probably worried about little R's sustenance at home. Or at least wary of what we feed her. And now I feel like I need to take these in as proof that we do in fact have food--lots of it, and healthy stuff to boot:


Nary a potato nor an ice cream in sight, may I add.

In other news, we went to San Francisco for the most whirlwind two day trip ever! We seemed to be going at break-neck speed the entire time, which may (??) explain why I only took these amazing shots.
Reese and Daddy, sitting there watching TV in the room. Okay, not break-neck the entire time. You can definitely tell these two are related.

We went to a couple of aquariums. Here's the one at Fisherman's Wharf--Reese was back and forth on wanting to touch the shark. She's say she wanted to, then someone would come over to help her reach it and it was immediate denial.

Luckily, Daddy didn't waver.

And that concludes the San Francisco photographs. I'm serious. Those are the only ones I took. Score: F on that one. But to be fair, we really were running all over town to cram in as much as possible because that is what makes a truly enjoyable, quality vacation, right? Also, it was mainly pouring buckets and buckets of freezing cold rain. Have I mentioned that I'm ready for spring yet??

Sunny day

Double posting day! Woot!
We went to see the Sesame Street Live "Elmo's Green Thumb" performance today. We didn't tell R what we were up to until we were on our way. She was really curious as to why on Earth Elmo's thumb would be green, since he is in fact red.
We got there as hundreds of kids and their families were streaming in. I thought R would be one of the youngest, but not at all. We got all ready for the show--popcorn, cotton candy, the works. And wouldn't you know it--a friend from HS and college sat directly next to me. Austin is still a somewhat small town...
So anyway, R watched the beginning of the show, completely enthralled. By the second act, we couldn't keep her in her seat--she was ready to boogie!
On our way, we posed next to one of the 3500 merch stands. There was even next to the stage! Sheesh.

The headliners....

Munching away...

But totally concentrating...

Jamming out on Daddy's shoulders as we exit.


You don't really need to see, do you, Daddy?

The show was about planting a sunflower, without giving away too much of the plot. Wouldn't want to spoil it for some of you out there. And as we were on our way home, R says, "But Elmo's thumbs weren't really green!!!" So I guess that explanation was buried a little too deep in the dialogue for our girl. Oh well, it was a cute show and so fun to see her enjoy herself!