Father's Day

We went to Railhead for BBQ Saturday night with Jav's dad and forgot to take any pictures.  It wasn't a real kid friendly place, and neither of the boys liked their food.  It was ok, but won't be going back.  They didn't even have Shiner Bock on draft for God's sake!  What kind of a Texas restaurant do they think they're running?  We had to settle for Ziegenbock.  But Jav's dad seemed to enjoy everything, so that's what mattered.  

And what do we love about Father's Day, along with getting to honor all the great Dads in our lives?  DONUTS!!!!!!!  The 2nd time this year we get donuts and sausage rolls for breakfast (the 1st being Mother's Day).

Jav, the greatest Dad in the world (alright, tied with my dad), and his boys.  We were supposed to go over to my mom and dad's but they had a carpet issue and asked if I would host at the last minute.  Since I hadn't had the family over since Christmas (!!!!!), I agreed.  Mom and Dad brought the food, so I just had to make sure the house looked halfway decent.

Three of four cousins making silly faces, while the fourth one just looks at them like they're crazy!

Luckily it wasn't too hot to get the hammock out.

My dad and his two babies!

Mamaw and Poppy and their clan.

Staged, true, but funny nonetheless.

We had pizza and salad and birthday cake (it was also my sister-in-law's birthday).  Poor April always has to share her birthday with Father's Day festivities.    But it was a really fun day and I'm glad we got to spend time with everyone.

Choosy kids pick Boogers!

And we are now HUGE Boogers fans.  Let me explain.

The Boogers are a kids rock/punk band.  They mix cool versions of classic kids' songs with originals.  We had never heard of them before we found out they were going to grace the stage of Levitt Pavilion in Arlington, our wonderful FREE outdoor music venue that's 10 minutes from our house.  The summer schedule lasts Memorial Day weekend through Fourth of July weekend.  The concerts are Wednesday through Sunday night, and they cover all types of music.  Wednesdays is kids music.  We had only been to one show two years ago (last summer was just too brutally hot) that showcased dancing dinosaurs.  The show wasn't that great, but Gabriel loved the dinos.

When I looked at this summer's schedule, I saw The Boogers were playing during the week I was already taking off from work.  It was fate!  Plus they were the one band I KNEW Gabriel would get into.  The others were sketchy.  Jav took off early, I packed up a huge picnic dinner, and off we went, despite some pretty threatening looking skies.  We found a good spot, laid out our dinner and got ready to jam.  Ten minutes before the show was supposed to start, the lightening started just to the northeast of the Pavilion.  A few people packed up and headed back to the car.  We put all of our food away, just in case, but decided to stick it out.  It never rained, the weather was wonderfully cool (at least to a Texan in the summertime), and the band was just awesome.

Here are my little rocker boys.  Gabriel begged to go down front where many of the kids were dancing, and finally Jav took him down there.  I was so proud of him for just letting go and having fun like that.  He said before the show that he wasn't sure if he'd dance.  He was afraid people would laugh at him.  I convinced him that it didn't matter - who needs them?  He doesn't even know these people and the important thing is to do what you feel like doing and HAVE FUN.  Boy did he ever!

Our awesome view of the stage.  There's not a bad seat in the house.  What a wonderful venue to have so close.  We should be ashamed of ourselves for not going more often.  It was so neat also to see grandparents, parents and kids all hanging out and having a wonderful time.    Plus have I mentioned The Boogers ROCKED!!!!!!   I just read up on them and discovered the lead singer and band starter, who goes by Krusty Booger, has a PhD in Developmental Psychology.  He finished school and decided to combine his love of punk music with his passion for children's language development.  

This is what the sky looked like about halfway through the show.  I didn't know Jav was going to sneak into the picture and end up looking like Moses.  Ha!

Towards the end of the show, Joel got tired of jumping and started falling down and just laying on the grass for awhile.  Which meant Gabriel could come tickle him.  But make no mistake, he had already out-jumped every single kid there.  If jumping up and down was an Olympic sport, Joel would win the gold medal!

The last number was a cover of Stepping Stone by the Monkees, which is right up my sixties music-loving, hipster-dancing alley.  How can you not absolutely love a band who plays that for their last song?  We had one of the most fun nights of our year so far.  Joel has been refusing to listen to anything but The Boogers in the car since we brought home a CD.  We've already decided to buy him the other one for his birthday.   And we are already ready for the next concert appearance by The Boogers!!!

If you want to listen to their greatness (a clip from Levitt a couple of years ago), click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYRD6-lwN7U

Our trip to Paris

The anniversary card said, "If I can't sweep you off your feet and take you to Paris, France, how would Paris, Texas do instead?" My wonderful romantic husband set it all up. He found the Bed & Breakfast, and he had his Mom and sister set up for taking the boys one night each.  I needed to get away SO much that I felt like I was going to the other Paris.  Plus I didn't care where we were going.  I was just really happy to be able to spend some time with him.

We left Saturday morning of Memorial Day weekend.  Our first stop after dropping off the boys:   Starbucks!

It wasn't a long drive.  THIS was the house.  Isn't it lovely?  I had some mediocre expectations based on past Bed and Breakfast experiences.  They were blown away.  Old Magnolia House is run by two sisters.  Debbie cooks breaksfast and makes wonderful baked goods to snack on anytime you want.   Sherri takes care of guests, decorated the inside and maintains the gardens outside.

This was the staircase leading up to the bedrooms.  There are three bedrooms, each one with its own bathroom.  We could never hear any of our neighbors.  The house was built in 1871, and was the only house from that era not destroyed in the big fire that Paris had in 1916. When Debbie and Sherri decided to buy it and renovate it to a B&B, it had been vacant for over 10 years.

Here is one of two stained glass window panels that just took my breath away.  This one was in the parlor over one of the front windows.  I have seen Victorian way overdone.  But this house was so understated.  Every corner of every room is arranged just perfectly.  Sherri mixed old paintings with actual old photographs, which resulted in making the house seem authentic.

Here is our dining room.  See the fireplace in the corner?  Nice.  This was the room where we came for our two fantastic and unique "Southern gourmet" breakfasts.  The first morning we started with a homemade cinnamon roll and one piece of perfectly cooked bacon.  The main course was scrambled egg cooked in a pepper half with melted cheese on top, with an avocado and tomato relish and more bacon.  The second morning our opener was custard with sauteed cherries, blueberries and raspberries on top.  The main dish was homemade croutons with fried eggs on top, a potato pancake and more fruit with cream.  I was stuffed like a tick when I walked out of that room each morning, but very, very happy.

The 2nd stained glass panel, which is over a side window in the dining room.  The pictures don't do them justice.

Here's a view looking down one side of the house.

I loved this and want to find one like it.  It's a tower herb garden.

There are two tourist attractions in Paris.  The first is this statue adorning an eccentric Paris resident's grave.  Some say it is Jesus, but it looks more like a female to me.  Whoever it is, he or she is wearing cowboy boots.  The Evergreen cemetery in Paris is the biggest one I've ever seen.  It holds 40,000 people and that number will grow for at least 15 more years.  It took us awhile to find this, even though we'd been given some shady directions.  I could have spent all morning just wandering around looking at gravestones and listening to the birds sing.

We spent our second morning browsing books and CD's at Hastings.   Ahhhhh.  Time.  A precious resource we don't have much of back home.

It was a little strange to see this beautiful Italian fountain in the middle of the Paris town square.  There are antique shops and restaurants around it, but nothing but boarded up windows and dilapidated buildings in the next blocks.  Really sad.

We didn't think about the fact that everything in small towns closes up for Sundays and holidays.  It was a little tricky to find open restaurants.  But we succeeded in finding a Mexican restaurant called "TaMolly's"  Food was not that great, but at least we didn't have to eat dinner at the DQ.  

Here's the second tourist attraction in Paris.  Pretty self-explanatory.

Since it was Memorial Day weekend, it was nice to stumble upon this in-progress monument to service members, past and present, alive and deceased.  It was really pretty and nice and quiet next to an open field.  But I'm not sure it I would have placed it so close to the Eiffel Tower monstrosity.

Here we are saying goodbye to our relaxing weekend, and to two of the best breakfasts I've ever eaten.  Thanks honey.  I couldn't have had a better time in France.

Last Day of Preschool!!

Gabriel's last day of preschool was a couple of weeks ago.  I was sad, but didn't get as upset as I thought I was going to.  Probably only because Joel will be returning for at least one more year there next year.  

We have loved every second of Gabriel's preschool experience.  Class sizes have been small, and he has been with many of the same kids all the way through.  The teachers know each kid inside and out.  He has grown SO much each year between his first and last day it's been amazing to see.  Of course, this year he really seemed to mature.  I was a little shocked to find out that around half of his classmates will be there next year.  I've been told that holding your kid back is the newest trend.  But we are forging bravely on ahead with kindergarten.  I feel that he's ready.  Right now he seems excited, but my mom told me he mentioned to her that he was worried about making new friends.  I think that fear will go away pretty quickly once he's there a few weeks.    

Joel and one of his teachers, Ms. Kelly.  His other main teacher, (and the one he immediately bonded with), was Ms. Monica.  She left to have a baby in April and missed the last six weeks.  She returned here and there to sub, but wasn't around for a picture the last day.  :(  

Even though he didn't start until mid-year, Joel loved every minute of school too and was getting along with all of his classmates really well.  I'm excited about his next year, because one of Joel's teachers will be the mom of the triplets that have been in Gabriel's classes since his first year, Ms. Lyndsey.  

In the meantime, we have a fun summer already in full swing.  We've been going to the park every Tuesday morning, something we've never done consistently before.  Both boys started their swim lessons Monday.  They are taking separate classes but at the same end of the pool at the same time.  I wasn't sure how it would work, since I can only watch each boy some of the time.  But the only time it was a problem was at the end of class when the teachers want to tell the parents what needs to be worked on, what they did well, etc..  Hopefully they'll be understanding and know I can't be two places at once!  I was nervous about a Waterbaby class for Joel without me in the water, but he did really well, even though his other classmate SCREAMED the entire 30 minutes of class.  In fact, Joel was so laid back in the water that he doesn't feel he needs to exert the extra energy to kick.  He was content to just let the instructor carry him around the whole time.  We'll be working on that.  

Gabriel's in the middle of his first t-ball season, and seems to be enjoying it more than he did soccer.  We've even been getting him to practice 2 or 3 times a week.  We have great coaches, who both have boys on the team.  The pic below was taken of his first swing in his very first ever game.  And we're about to come up on our year anniversary of weekly drum lessons.  The boy is getting pretty good.  (At least his very biased mother thinks so.)  AND we've signed him up for two camps this summer:  Zoo camp starts next week, and Music and Art Camp at his old school will be in July.

These two are going to have such a fun summer!