End of the day at New Braunfels

I snapped this sweet photo when Kate and Gage were sitting on the porch at Schlitterbahn, waiting for everyone to gather. It was late afternoon, after a full day of sliding, swimming, splashing, etc. I have one from the front, too...but I like this one best.

Chad and Robin handled our supper of grilled hamburgers with all the fixings on Monday night. What can be better than grilled hamburgers after a busy, fun day? We had cheese dip & chips to start and watermelon to finish out the meal.

Our two units each have a small screened-in porch which open to a shared concrete patio with two picnic tables. It's shady there in the late afternoon and we can watch people float by on two tube chutes that run past the units.

All around the town

Carolyn and I (and Kate and Carlee), made what was supposed to be a quick trip to the grocery store to buy food for the Schlitterbahn trip. Naturally, it didn't turn out to be so quick, but considering all we accomplished, I'm pretty happy.

Carolyn's new suburban has all the bells and whistles, including a drop down screen for viewing DVD's. The girls were watching "Happy Feet" when I took this photo. Kate was screeching just like Mumble does when he's trying to sing "his song." Carlee is clearly enjoying the movie.
So, we get to town and Carolyn drops me off at Merle Norman so I can run in and buy a wedding gift. While I was occupied with that task, she and the girls drove the few blocks to the post office to mail things for me and for her. Then she zipped back a few blocks the other way to take some recycling to the collection area. Just a few blocks back to where I was waiting for her and a couple more blocks and we were at the grocery store. It's great to live in a small town!

We unloaded the girls into the carts, and headed inside, each of us with the full list. I gave Kate the list and a pencil. She would ask what we needed and when I would tell her she would "write" it on the list. She was quite a big help. Somehow Carolyn and I managed to shop different areas and get most of what was on the list. Then we checked out, loaded up the groceries and the girls, headed across town to get ICEE's and then drove home, getting there about the time Jax was ready to eat. I think we were only gone for about 2 hours, but it felt like it was longer.

I had to call the grocery store when I got home to comment about something that happened at checkout. I have "green" bags which I take into the store with me when I shop. I always put them on the conveyor belt first so the sacker doesn't start getting out the plastic. I'm pretty organized (duh...with my Excel lists, etc.) and put things on the conveyor in groups: cold things, produce, canned goods, etc. Among the green bags is a "blue" bag which is lined with material designed to help keep cold things cold. Today, when I got out to the car I noticed that the brisket and 6 lbs. of hamburger meat were in a regular bag. I saw pepperoni and cheese in other regular bags, so I wondered what the heck was in the blue bag. I opened it to check and there was one 1/2 gallon of milk and 100 foam plates! Meat in a regular bag and foam plates in the cooler bag! So that's why I called the grocery store. I was pleasant...really...but I suggested that the sackers might need some instruction about the blue bags. I wish I could say that was only the 2nd or 3rd time this has happened. Heck, I wish I could say it only happened half the time. The person I spoke to said she would be sure and tell the manager when she got there.

I've made other suggestions which haven't been acted upon, such as having hand sanitizers located around the store, so I'm not really expecting much change. The thing is, I can't get my basket unloaded quickly and watch what the sacker is doing at the same time. I shouldn't have to, though, should I?

New look

Yes, it looks different. I've noticed how much cuter other blogs are and have been wanting to work on mine. This afternoon I asked Christy how she got her pretty template and she said just to go to thecutestblogontheblock.com and follow the directions to cut and paste the code into the layout. It really was easy. The hardest part was the trial and error part...where I had to copy the code from the other website, "add a gadget" in my blog, paste the code and then view it to see whether I liked it or not. If I didn't like it, I had to go to that gadget, remove the code (which then removed the gadget), go back to the other website to browse through some more backgrounds. Then, select a new background, copy the code...blah, blah, blah.

Then I did the same thing for The Garner blog. I think they both look pretty spiffy! Maybe I'll work on Free Form next time.

I spent several hours doing this when I should have been getting things ready to go to New Braunfels. I still have to update the grocery list because Carolyn and I are going to whiz through the store at breakneck speed tomorrow morning. And don't think I've been idle. I've got an Excel spreadsheet with 5 tabs on it detailing meals, rooms & rates for this year and for next year, the grocery list...color coded so everyone knows what they are responsible for, and a sheet of things to bring from home. I'm crazy for Excel! Ask anybody.

Photos of Jax

I sat with Jax while Carolyn took Kate to a swimming lesson this afternoon. First, I propped him on the bed and took a bunch of pictures with my digital cameras. He didn't seem to like that very much. I haven't really gotten good pictures of him when he is propped that way. The pictures I've liked best are the ones I've taken with my iphone. The tricky part is I have to do it while I'm holding him in one arm and trying to snap the picture with the other hand. You have to hold the phone in one hand, leaving the index finger free to touch the little camera icon on the screen...without being able to actually see whether you're touching the icon or if he's in the frame. So, it's kind of hit and miss. I ended up with more pictures than I meant to take, because I had set it to silent and since I wasn't hearing the "click", I thought I was missing the icon. He was a good little fellow, though and seemed to enjoy those pictures the best, since he was being held. He even gave me a goofy smile or two.

He stayed in his papasan swing for almost an hour and then started getting a little restless, so I held him and then eventually put him on his tummy in the cradle. The first time I put him down, it took him just a few seconds to flip to his back. So, I turned him to his tummy again and he did it again. I got the digital camera to take a video...(don't worry...I'm not going to post it) but he wasn't able to do it again. He kept lifting his head and eventually got turned crosswise in the cradle before I put the camera down and got him settled with the pacifier.

He is 6 weeks old today!

The long and short of sliding

I forgot to post this video from Robin's birthday. Brent was using the slip and slide to teach Gage how to slide into a base. What a fun way to learn to do that!




As you can tell in the other video posted here, Zane has his own way of doing things.

Photos

Robin brought some new pajamas for Kate and Carlee. Kate tried them on over her clothes and then proceeded to ham it up. I'm not sure if she was actually posing, or if I just happened to catch her in action.

I mentioned somewhere that Carlee really likes to eat. In these photos, she's licking the plate clean. She truly enjoyed the cake with chocolate frosting!