Ready to Make a Change?

I am... I am ready to get back to the me that I saw in the mirror when we found out that Ashley was on her way. I was running daily, doing yoga, eating well and feeling (and looking) so much better. I am so ready for that again.
Thankfully, I have found a wonderful website that I think will help. It works a lot like Weight Watchers, but better. And, here's the biggie... it's FREE!! I still can't believe it, so much information and services and it's completely free. If you want to check it out, it's at the left of this page called "Spark People".
Even if you don't want to track calories and all that, there is still a wealth of information and resources on this site.

Bathing Beauties

Wednesdays this summer, Ashley has been having playdates with her girls, Anna and Emily. This week, they decided to go swimming. It was Emily's first time, but since Anna and Ashley were so experienced in the water, they knew she would have fun! The picture above is before we went swimming. Never fear, each girl was coated in sunscreen, wearing a swim diaper and shaded by a big sunhat. We were ready!

They had sooooo much fun!!!!

Although Anna had to take off her hat, which left her with a bad case of hat hair...

And Emily was so hungry after the fun swim that she had to eat the strap...

Ashley, of course, was ready for MORE!!! :)

Seriously, though, this is the stuff great memories are made of...

Good Ol' Fashioned Fun

I have to wonder how many generations have enjoyed their first ride on a carousel? It is a timeless ride and I am so glad my friend Kellie called me up and invited Ashley and I to go ride the horses up and down with her for the first time! Ashley had a ball!! She thought it was too cool and I definitely think this will not be her last ride!!

She Speaks!

Ashley has said her first word!!


and her second
and her third, and her fourth!!!!
She started with "Dada" (guess who beams every time she says that one!?!) moved on to "Dog" and "Duck" and ended the week with "Cat" (guess who feels he got the shaft...)
I am waiting for Mama personally, but I have a feeling "fish" or "cow" may come next and beat me out...
I'm tellin' ya', when this girl gets it in her mind to do something, she DOES it!!

The Best of Padre

Ashley's favorite twin nephews

Gettin ready for a night on the town
The big catch!



Sand in the hand is better than sand in the mouth!


Who knew that Freddy Fender was from San Benito....

Old Dog, New Tricks

** Disclaimer: The term "old dog" does not refer to any person, real or ficticious, it merely references the destination. Also, no animals were hurt in the making of this blog. Well, maybe some crabs, shrimp and a few bugs... **

The world travelers have returned! This time around we went to South Padre Island with Lauren's family. Now, you have to understand, we have been going to SPI every summer for nearly 27 years. This was not our first rodeo...
So we thought.
If you have not had the joy of experiencing your own children, let me be the first to tell you that nothing, and I mean nothing will ever be the same after their arrival. All those things you think you've got down pat. All those "little ways" of yours. Well, just throw them out the window when your first little one comes along. It's not a bad thing, not in any way. I'm just sayin'...
I have been to SPI with my family many, many times. I KNOW the island. I have done EVERYthing there is to do there. I have eaten at all the restaraunts many times. So how on earth is it that this time it was like a whole new place?!?!

To begin with we stayed in a beautiful house on the beach instead of the usual condo at the Sunchase IV. Thank you sooooo much Bates family for recommending it- it was really wonderful! This house was awesome! It was huge and very nicely furnished. It had 4 bedrooms so everyone could spread out and have their own space (even Ashley... she slept in the laundry room!!! hehe). It had a wonderful back deck that overlooked the ocean and the beach was just over the first small dune. It doesn't get much better than that! Plus, since we weren't on the condo end of the island, the beach was much less crowded which gave us plenty of room to spread out and lots of sand for my nephews and my sister to build their sandcastles. (If you haven't seen one of these, they are not your average sandcastles. They truly are works of art!

Speaking of the beach and the sand, it was great! I have grown up on these beaches and while I really don't like the ocean much, there is something very comforting about being down there. Ashley loved it too! She loved crawling all over the place and chasing A & Z around. She even saw a dog one day that was down there and spent about 15 minutes following the dog around! Of course, if you were wondering, yes, she did eat the sand... lots of it! Although, by the end of the week she had realized that it didn't taste too good, so she had pretty much stopped thank goodness. She also loved being in the water. She would giggle nervously as the waves crashed into her legs and would laugh as Marc or I helped her to "jump" the big ones. I think that she is definitely a little water baby and will only love it more as she grows.

Funny thing though, we didn't get to go down to the beach too much though. After 27 years, our luck finally ran out. It rained on us about 4 out of the 7 days we were there! In all the years that we had been coming, we could only remember about two days it had ever rained before! Oh well, it was still very very relaxing! So what do you do when it rains at the beach? You do puzzles (two of them! A first for our family), read books (The Undomestic Goddess- hilarious!), play cards (Gin and Phase 10) and eat!! :)

Rest assured, we ate very well. That is not to say that we don't when we are down there. We have our favorite rest. and we go out each night and stuff ourselves. Well, we changed it up a little this time. With Ashley with us, going out to dinner and staying out late was out of the question every night. So we ordered in half the time which was great. We also tried two new rest. (to me) that were really yummy! Marcello's Italian and I think the other one's called Fat Al's. If you ever go down there I reccommend them highly! Also, and this was a real treat for my family, we happened to have the best breakfast chef this side of the Mississippi in the family. That's right, Marc cooks the best darn breakfast I have ever had! He made his famous pancake breakfast one morning and we had breakfast burritos another morning. Yum!! He also introduced my dad to Ro-tel queso dip. Dad was in heaven! Good eatin, I tell ya'! (and that would be why there are no pictures of me in a swimsuit!)

We didn't just go to the beach and eat though. That was the OLD Padre- this is the NEW and improved Padre! Thanks to my sister and nephews for winning 6 passes at a sandcastle building contest last fall (yes, you read that right!), we were able to go to something that has been on the island for probably the last 10 years, but we had never even thought to visit. There is a Schlitterbahn water park there. (like the one in New Braunsfels) We had never been because, honestly, who wants to pay to go to a water park when you are at the beach?!?! But, you know what, it was really fun! They have a giant lazy river (not so lazy considering it has rapids and waterfalls!) that all of the rides shoot off of and flow back into. So, you never have to leave the river to get on a ride. It is the greatest idea for water parks!

Everyone but mom and I were also able to go deep sea fishing one day. They all had a great time and just about everyone caught something. We were even able to take the fish to a rest. that night and have them cook it up for the fam. (not me though, I do NOT do seafood! It was a week of chicken for me. :) )

All in all it was a great week at the beach. The car ride there and back was a whole other story, but I know that will improve as Ashley gets older. (and can watch movies in the car! ;) ) The cherry on top of the whole trip though was being able to stop in Corpus Christie on the way home to have lunch with our old neighbor, and dear friend Monica! We LOVED seeing her and her parents and getting to meet her wonderful boyfriend Kevin. While we miss her like crazy here, Marc and I are so glad that she is living a wonderful life in CC. Hugs MoMo! :)

We can't wait to drive that way again next summer!

And they're off!!!

OK, I have to confess, this video is horrible... so beware! I tried to catch one of the funnier things I have seen out on our back porch the other day. (and believe me, some weird things have happened out there!)
Anyway, there were these two bunnies, a smaller one and a larger one. The larger one was chasing the other one all around the porch and side yard! They kept going around and around the grill and it was hilarious! I am not sure if they were playing a friendly game of tag, or if I was watching some bunny lovin' in action... I personally am sticking with the game idea. ;) Unfortunately, I caught them at the tail end of their game (haha...) so they don't go round and round too much, but these stinkers were running around for about 30 minutes on and off! Too funny!

Walkin' on Sunshine

11 Months Old

It is absolutely mind-boggling to think that Ashley is in the last month of her first year! She turned 11 months on Sunday and she looked so cute in her Patriotic dress that we had to have a little photo shoot. On that note, isn't that dress adorable! I can't believe that Ashley's Aunt Mimi made it! Wow! (This was P's 1st birthday dress. I am so thankful that she is able to pass sweet P's clothes on to Ashley... and I am even more thankful that she always had the cutest clothes for her!)
As for milestones for the month, Ashley is growing into a "big girl" every day. She is so ready to walk. She loves using her walker toys and uses just about anything she can to push around to walk. She is getting steadier on her feet and can even stand alone for a couple of seconds. She jabbers up a storm and cracks herself up, but still doesn't want to say anything. (Who needs to talk when everyone knows what you want already!) She also knows where her ears, feet and hair are; likes to talk on the phone (puts the toy phone up to her ear); tries to wear everything as a hat; likes to play peekaboo by herself; and knows how to put things "in". It is so amazing how much they learn in such a short time! I can't wait to see what she shows us next!!

Happy 4th of July!

Ashley had a fun 4th playing with friends and family. We spent the morning at Hawaiian Falls celebrating Ashley's favorite girl cousin's birthday. We got spooked by the rain and left early but we were able to be there for the presents and cake. We'll have to go back and play another day...
That afternoon we had dinner with some of our good friends from church. Ashley had a great time playing with her friends! By the end of the day we were all tuckered out. I think it might be the first 4th that we were all asleep before the fireworks even began! We'll catch 'em next year!