OCEAN FUN

Look we're at the ocean.

Addilyn likes the beach.

Wavy Day

So pretty

Dolphin fun

As many of you know, my (Erin) mother has come to visit us this week. It's been pretty fun to show her all the sites, especially since this was her first time seeing a palm tree (outside of a mall courtyard). She's only been here since Tuesday but we've already been able to take her to Memorial Park (the uber-large park in downtown Houston), the Galleria (the uber-large and swanky mall in downtown Houston), IKEA (the uber-large discount everything store in downtown Houston), and the boardwalk at Kemah. Today we are going to the Space Center to tour the site and see the educational center designed by Disney. It should be fun and since this is my first time to get to go on site, I'm really excited to see what all Tyler has been talking about for the last month.

Last night was our trip to the boardwalk with my mother and while Tyler, Addilyn and I have gone there almost every Thursday since our move, this trip was especially exciting. We ate at a very good, but over priced restaurant right on the boardwalk and were able to eat our meal with a beautiful view of the bay. I think we had just finished our salads when someone walking by starting pointing and exclaimed, "Look, dolphins." Sure enough, when we looked closely we could see a couple of dolphins swimming sometimes as close as fifty feet from where we were seated. It was really, really, really cool. We spent the rest of our very good meal enjoying a beautiful breeze and watching for the dolphins to pop up from time to time. Tyler tried to get a picture of our lovely dinner guests, but didn't have much luck with his cell phone. Since we were unable to capture the wonder of the evenings events, Tyler has so graciously recreated it for you.



On an unrelated note, here are a few pictures for all you Addilyn-ophiles out there. Here she is enjoying a favorite game of "chase the ball around the house." It's simple yet surprisingly entertaining for everyone.


And finally, I'll leave you with another lovely video in the "Addilyn Eating Things" series. In this one she finds the container of goldfish after someone careless leaves it out after lunch.

Happy Birthday, Jordy Nelson!

I don't know how you were planning on celebrating Jordy Nelson's 23rd birthday, but Addilyn thinks you should just go crazy. Here she is demonstrating the concept. Be inspired.

Mmm...Bacon

San Antonio = a whole lot of pictures!

For Memorial Day weekend, Tyler, Addilyn and I made the 3-hour trip to San Antonio to visit the good family Leshan.
Here is your play-by-play of our fun-filled weekend (with lots and lots of pictures).

Here we are in the Leshan van on our way to Sea World. Sonja sat on the floor so everyone could fit in one vehicle. Look how excited and unsweaty we were.

After arriving at Sea World on what had to be one of it's busier days of the year, we went straight to a water ride to find some relief from the 98-degree heat. After everyone was duly soaked we headed over to the Shamu show to see the famous whale do his thing.
Look, Shamu (or one of his friends, I'm not really sure)!
Addilyn enjoyed the show (although her favorite part might have been wandering up and down our row and talking to the kids sitting in front of us).
Hot, sweaty sleep. After the show she slept for almost an hour in her stroller while the rest of the group (except for Sonja who was gracious enough to sit with Addilyn) rode rollercoasters and water rides. She never sleeps in her stroller so this made her parents very happy and a little nauseated (wait, that might have been the rollercoasters).
On Sunday we went to church and then (after a nap) headed to downtown San Antonio for the Riverwalk and the Alamo. The Riverwalk is an area of shops and restaurants along the river that goes through downtown San Antonio. It's very pretty and, much like Sea World, is very busy on Memorial Day weekend.

Here comes one of the boat tours that go up and down the river.

The group enjoys some ice cream to escape the heat. It was 101 degrees according to the Leshan van.

Addilyn is looking to her Daddy to give her one more bite of his ice cream. She looks so hopeful (or desperate).

The Alamo! We arrived at the Alamo 5 minutes before it closed for the day so we had the chance to dart through and take this lovely family shot.

Later that night, the Leshan clan watched Addilyn so Tyler and I could go on a date. We went to the new Indiana Jones movie which we enjoyed thoroughly. On Monday, we went swimming at the neighborhood pool.

Addilyn had a great time splashing (or at least watching Avery, Ethan & Alecia splashing and playing) but got super-pruney.

So that's our weekend in a nut shell. We had lots of fun playing with Ethan, pretending with Alecia, riding (rollercoasters) with Avery, and chatting with Sonia and Michael. If you have any questions, give us a call. I'm sure Addilyn would love to fill you in on the details.

Swimming!!!

On Tuesday night we tried out our pool for the first time. Here's some pictures from the excursion.

Here is Addilyn modelling her new swimsuit (and also apparently encouraging Mommy to use those exercise DVDs Daddy bought for her).

I don't know what this face is supposed to mean but it's cute! Here she is standing by herself on the little ledge on the edge of the pool. She looks so big!
And experimenting with splashing.
A ride on Daddy's shoulders is always nice.
Again, I'm not sure what she's thinking here but she looks cute anyway.We had lots of fun and will definitely be using this pool to cool us down throughout the summer.

Tonight we are headed off to the Leshan's for a weekend of San Antonio fun. We'll make sure to give you a complete update/rundown on Tuesday.

Enjoy your holiday weekend!!

Update on All Things Addilyn

In a move to save readership, we have decided that it is time to have an update on Addilyn (since, let's face it, she's the only reason most of you read). It is long overdue so we have lots of pictures and things to share. Let's get started.

Here is a lovely picture of Addilyn looking very pretty and happy. (The rest may not be quite so flattering.)
Here is Addilyn as she scrounges for food in our dining room pantry. This morning she found rice. Amazingly enough, she seemed quite content to nibble on it uncooked, grain by grain. It appears that we can no longer store both rice and raisins in this pantry for this reason. But on the bright side, I did get to officially test out my new vaccuum (which picked up this mess with ease!).


Addilyn explores the world of tissues. Luckily she found only clean tissues to rip to shreds. I'm especially fond of her "uh oh, I'm caught" look in this picture.
Much like the first picture, this one is just cute!
We're not sure but it looks like Addilyn may have picked the biggest (and heaviest) blanket ever as a security blanket. I often find her curled up with this blanket on the living room floor sucking her thumb (that's generally when I know it's time for a nap).
And finally we have this lovely picture. Addilyn has become quite the finicky eater as of late. She seems to know precisely what she likes and dislikes and goes to great lengths to portray these opinions to us. So that is what is going on with Addilyn right now (or at least what we have caught in pictures). I hope you enjoy them (and keep reading for more in the future).