So far this summer

This is our first swim for the year..March 25th 2012.  This is how I expected to spend my summer - in the backyard. Last year and earlier this year the boys would slide down and into the pool for hours.

Our very first swim lesson of 2012 with our neighbor Ms. Sue.  The boys have come a long way from their first lesson with Ms. Sue and her son Matt.  The boys are confident in the water as long as they have their floaties on. Ian and Logan are my best swimmers.  Travis still freaks out a bit - but we are working on that.

Last weekend we went to the pool with Dad.  Here is Ian with no fear jumping to Dad.  All the boys were jumping to Dad, it got a little overwhelming at one point.

Tomorrow is a big day; it's the boys 4th birthday party.  This year it's going to be at a park so I can keep my house as messy as I want this weekend ;-)

Look out for a birthday post in the next few days!  I sometimes can't believe that they are going to be 4 years old next week!!
4 YEARS OLD!

First summer outing of 2012

The first full week of summer is here. I was sick with what I would describe as the flu about 2 weeks ago and missed some end of year concerts for Lauren, but Dad was able to go in my place!  I'm back to normal and ready to get my summer on.

Today we went to the Dallas Aquarium at Fair Park.  It's a smaller aquarium that the one that is down town, but it's half the price too.

Here's Travis checking out the seahorses as we arrive.

 Logan, Travis, and Ian

 Here the kids are able to touch and pet the stingrays.  They were so friendly.  I went to the other side to take this picture and I looked down (because I was getting wet) and I saw a stingray flapping the water wanting to be petted - yeah I kindly declined and snapped this pic.

 There was an octopus in the nearby tank - although I couldn't find it.

This turtle has been in captivity since it was a youngen.  He apparently was found caught in a net and his right flipper had some damage to it as well his right "foot".  Lauren was sad - but I had to remind her that he was well taken care of here.  If you look closely there is a fish underneath him.  Every time he moved, the fish would move right along with him..it was like the fish was helping him steer.

Look at this...a blog post on the same day as an outing!! 

Maui Vacation - without the kids

Yes, it happened.  First time in 12 years that we went on vacation without the kids!  After Lauren was born she traveled with us all over Europe and then when we moved back to the States we would travel to see the family in Michigan at least once a year!

Back in January I got a text from Mike saying we had a problem.  I responded "what?  I'm walking outside with the boys"  and he responded "We are going to Maui!" I knew what "going to Maui" meant.  Mike had earned a spot with his company's President's Club based on his performance in 2011.  Lots of thoughts came to my mind like who was going to watch the kids, could we take the kids with us (I know I was delusional), how long is the trip, and most importantly WHEN is the trip. You know after the holidays and all there were a few things I had to lose!
The information slowly came in advising us that the trip would be in May and no kids were allowed until after the week long activities planned for the winners and the their spouses.  I talked to Brenda and she graciously offered to spend the week with the kids.
I had a binder all ready for Brenda when she arrived.  It gave her directions to where the boys needed to go on certain days, where the parks were, who was giving Lauren rides to school and other extra curricular activities, etc.
I was a little stressed about leaving.  I wasn't sure how the boys would react when we got in that taxi and drove away.  There were no tears (from the boys!) so it was without drama.

This is when we got off the plane in Kahului, Maui.

 This is the view from our suite.

 The view overlooking the pool

We arrived on Monday and then we had to rush to check in, pick out a boutique item from one of the shops (oh the horror) and get our itinerary for the week and get to the welcome dinner by 6:30. No pictures from that night as we were trying to figure out what was going on.

Tuesday morning we woke up and went to the Welcome breakfast. We arrived on time and were first in line to pick out a pair of Maui Jim sunglasses. How cool is that?!?! Mike was scheduled to play golf and I scheduled myself a spa day. I was scheduled for a massage at noon so after Mike left I walked the beach before my appt. After my appt I went back to the beach and found a place to lounge. It was so windy that I had sand everywhere...I think I might still be digging it out of my ear! Tuesday evening we had a company wide dinner with the theme of "Surf City". Mike wore his Hawaiian shirt that we bought on our last trip or perhaps when we lived there...anywho...it's been in our closet for awhile! The shindig was supposed to be outside but because it was so windy (shocker) it was moved inside!!

Wednesday morning we are dressed and ready for team building. After breakfast we scooted over to where it was being held. We knew it was Minute to Win it games and there would be cool prizes...but that was about all we knew! One and a half hours later it was over. Our team won the "best team spirit award"..Yeah you got it..we sucked at the games but man did we have a good attitude about it! That night we attended a dinner with the sales team. We had about 22 people at that dinner at Ruths Chris Steakhouse!

 Mike and I on the bus going to dinner!

Thursday was another day that we chose to do some excursions. We signed up for these excursions back in February. Mike has always wanted to try Paddle boarding. I offered to do that with him and he was shocked (yes...I'm not a water person). Once we got to the beach and to the storefront, he changed his mind; he was going to go surfing! I was not overly happy at that moment. I went with the paddle boarders and he went with the surfers and I will say that I had a great time. I saw a shark right under my board (he was small, but a shark nonetheless). After I was calming myself down from that I saw three huge sea turtles. It was amazing. No pictures of course...the instructors gave me grief for keeping my sunglasses on and paddle boarding is kind of hard with only one hand! I'm happy to report that I didn't fall off my board. I did fall down on my board, but not off. Big difference! Thursday evening we went to dinner with Mike's boss's boss's boss. He invited us earlier in the week. How can you turn that down! It was a smaller crowd than the previous night and we got to know the crowd a little bit more.

 We caught this sunset as we were headed to dinner!

Friday was a free day until that evening.  I was trying to get one of my friends in Honolulu to fly over to see us, but she notified me earlier in the week that she just couldn't make it work. We rented a Jeep and decided to drive up to Haleakala. I've been up there a couple of times, but on our honeymoon we tried to see it and after driving up the winding road for over 2 hours it was so cloudy you couldn't see the crater. Mike was still bitter about it up until Friday. We drove up there again hoping it was clear. As we watched the temperature drop the clouds got heavier. We got to the top (FINALLY) and it was still a little cloudy but as we got to the visitor center the clouds blew away and we were able to see all the wonderful colors of the crater! It was 46 degrees and winds of about 40 mph. It was chilly. I'm ok with chilly but with 40 mph winds it was somewhat unbearable at times.

These pictures really don't do it justice!  It's beautiful.  You can also hike and camp in the crater!

We are inside another observatory (hence the reflection).  If you look closely you can see the two volcanoes on the Big Island in the distance above the clouds.

So after trekking up to the crater, we drove down and visited a couple smaller towns, Makawao and Paia. We then headed back to Lahaina and ate another (we ate there on Thursday) plate lunch at Aloha Mixed Plate!  Highly recommend this place (obviously).

This is the Hawaiian Plate (Kalua Pig & Cabbage, Lomi Lomi Salmon, Poi; Haupia) and
yes...I ate it ALL.  We also had the Gala dinner this night and I'm sure you guessed it, I wasn't hungry that evening, but did I eat the gourmet meal??  Yes I did!


Friday night was the Awards and Gala dinner. All the winners of President's Club were recognized and given pretty cool awards!  The food was wonderful.  There was plenty to drink and of course dancing was included.

The gala ended at 10:00 p.m. due to noise restrictions, so most of us moved it inside to the hotel bar.

Before we checked out of the hotel on Saturday, we went down to the beach and walked Kapalua trail.  It was quiet awesome, although I wouldn't recommend walking on the old lava flow with flip flops on.  I had a piece of lava that went straight thru my shoe.

 That's Molokai in the distance

This was my last drink at the Ritz Carlton Kapalua...I know it's sad!

Other pictures - not in any particular order!

Mike and his buddy borrowed boogie boards and had some fun in the water!  I hung out on the beach and got more sand in my ears.

 Spam Musubi

(We ate our usual breakfast and then went to the local store to grab these delicious things!)

Just a portion of the landscape at the hotel

As you can probably guess, we had a blast.  We were able to relax knowing that Aunt Brenda had the household under control.  After coming back it was learned that the schedule went out the door at the Scott household and two concussions were had by the boys.  When we walked in the door at 6 a.m. Sunday morning Aunt Brenda had the coffee going, the house was spotless (although she said it was only spot cleaned - is there any other kind??) and we shared stories until the kids woke up about an hour later!

Oh I can't wait for our next vacation!!

another set of "multiples"

Earlier this month we noticed that a mama duck made her nest next to the house and a small bush right outside our door.  I imagined the work it would take to keep the boys from going out to the front yard to play.  After about a week we ventured out front and played in the yard but tried to keep it quiet as we went in and out of the door so not to disturb the mama. After another week it was even harder to keep us and the neighbor kids quiet, but mama duck just kept to her corner and I made sure no one made any motions to go towards her and her 12!!!! eggs.

So after doing some research on the web about ducks I learned that they hatch around day 28...which would have been when Mike and I are in Hawaii.  I was a little bummed but perhaps they would hatch after we got back.  Perhaps I had miscalculated ;-)

Every morning I would go to the front window to see where "mama duck" was.  Sometimes she was there and sometimes she was out doing what ducks do.  I would check again around 10:00 to make sure she was back and doing her mama duties.  I'd check on her throughout the day.  It became a habit for the past 4 weeks.

This morning Mike said "I see two baby ducks."  After I scrambled to the window we decided we could see 3, maybe 4.  I took a few pictures which didn't turn out because they were so dark.  While trying to get 3 kids feed and getting dressed for the day (Lauren was still asleep) we kept checking on our new arrivals.
I was in the back of the house when I heard "Jill, come quick."  I made it just in time to see Mama duck in the front yard with her 9 ducklings!  I was snapping pictures with my digital camera and wasn't getting the pictures that I wanted, so I rushed back to get my DSLR and by that time she was close to the road.  I open the door and go out to the yard to snap some more pictures and realize she is going to take them across the street.  I live in a subdivision and the road that I live on is a thoroughfare for the area and it was time to take kids to school, so it gets a little too busy and fast in my opinion.  I'm still in my pj's..which consisted of cotton shorts and a tank top.  I don't care...I'm going to make sure they get across safely.  About the time she is in the middle of the street and I'm just stepping into the street, I can hear a car coming around the corner....whew....it was a policeman.  He saw exactly what was happening and stopped to let mama duck and her babies cross the street.  He waited until she was across and all ducklings made it up on the sidewalk.

After all the babies scaled the curb, they all waddled down the fence line and were on their way to the water!

 

Bye mama duck!

 

I find myself checking her nest to see if she is still there.  Someone pointed out that I now have empty nest syndrome.  I'm sure it will get better over time, especially since I have a trip to Maui in a few days ;-)

Bluebonnet Pictures

Bluebonnets are the state flower here in Texas and they are beautiful when they bloom in the spring. Due to all the rain we've had this year they bloomed early, making the photographers scramble to open some mini sessions. I was undecided if we were going to do them this year with a favorite photographer and thought we would just go out to a field with our DSLR - well that didn't happen. One of the photographers that I've used in the past was having a mini session and was going to be donating the proceeds to her summer mission trip. The field she chose to take pictures at was about 5 minutes away, and it was on a Friday that we didn't have any planned...so it was a win/win/win for me!

Easter 2012

The boys had 4 egg hunts this year. Perhaps next year I need to tone it down. Two of the functions required that each kid bring 12 filled eggs...which really isn't that bad when you have one kid ;-)

This is the bunch of kids from our Early Childhood PTA group.  The wooden structure behind the kids was being torn down the following day.

The boys Mothers Day Out program had an egg hunt.  No picture of that - as I was the one playing the role of the Easter Bunny and had to hide after my job was done. 

The boys are in line for yet another egg hunt. This one was sponsored by the city.  We've gone every year since Lauren was 4

Waiting for the bullhorn...

And here are the kids coloring Easter eggs.  I didn't buy any dyeing kits this year.  I tried using water and kool-aid and that worked great.  I also used vinegar, water, and food coloring - worked like a charm too!

Here's the shorties from our Easter Brunch.
Logan, Travis, Lauren, Ian, Harper, Ava (cousin) and Maddie

This one just cracks me up.  Nana and Lauren listen very well!

The boys first Home Depot Kids Workshop

Last month we took the boys to their very first Home Depot workshop. We started taking Lauren when she was a little over 2 and she has dozens of pins from all the things she built. We even still have some of the things she built. Now it's the boys turn to continue the tradition. Lauren is old enough to where she can help one of the boys build so we have one on one coverage!

Logan and Travis showing off their race cars (team Mom and Ian are a little behind)

Ian making in time for another picture!

HD will be having another workshop this Saturday...not sure if we will take them to that one since they have a blastball game that morning.  We will have to wait and see how attitudes are that morning!