Reunion Day 1: Shiloh

The Warriner family reunion continues! Our first full day, we set off (after a nice workout and breakfast) for Shiloh National Military Park to learn about the Battle of Shiloh during the Civil War. This area of Tennessee is full of history and stories from the Civil War.  I absolutely love history and unfortunately, with a 2 (almost 3) year old, my time in the museum and watching the video was cut short. I basically picked up a bunch of the pamphlets to read in the car and spent time on google learning about where I had just been.

Davis with his cousins, Alex and Asher

Getting ready for the movie. Davis was a little disappointed it wasn't Mickey Mouse. 

We didn't last long inside, the big tree with big ants was more entertaining!

After visiting Shiloh, we headed to Corinth Mississippi. We had lunch at Borroum's Drug Store, where their specialty is a sandwich that came about due to the Great Depression, the Slugburger! There is even a SlugBurger Festival! I had a tuna sandwich. If you ever go, get a coke float! Delicious!

We drove around the town seeing Richard's (my father-in-law) family homes, historical sites, and truly beautiful properties before heading to Waukomis lake to continue day 1 of the reunion...to be continued!

Warriner Family Reunion: The Arrival

Davis's middle name, Warriner, is a family name from my father-in-law's side of the family. We joined this side of the family for a family reunion last weekend and had a blast! The knowledge of their family tree is very impressive and they are dedicated to honoring their family history. Everywhere you looked, there was another family tree! 

The majority of the family is from Mississippi and surrounding areas, dating back to 1849 and starting with Dr. James Alfred Warriner. We were all given a 5 page, single spaced outline descendant report for James and a reunion packet with old pictures of family members. I loved learning the family history and hearing more about the name Warriner. 

The majority of the first day was spent traveling. It was a hectic start. Forrest and I had stayed up till 1am packing the night before, then we both worked half days, then we got an offer on the house, and raced to the airport at noon. 

To say Davis was excited about riding an airplane would be an understatement. We spent forever looking out the window at airplanes. He kept asking me if the planes had his name on it. He also loved, when asked "where are you going?" to yell in response "TO MARS!" Our flight to Nashville (not mars) was a short, direct flight. Nice and easy! Davis was so well behaved (even though it was nap time), he sat in his seat the entire time and loved every minute of it! 

Once in Nashville, we rented a car and drove three hours to Pickwick Lake in Tennessee, to the Warriner Cabin. The drive was beautiful, everything is very green and the trees are massive! Davis was exhausted after the plane ride, our "new" car, and his "new" carseat. I didn't feel the need to explain renting. 

It was dark when we finally arrived at the cabin, but as you can see, we still had fun. Dinner was waiting and so was a huge sandbox where Davis parked himself for a good hour. 

More to come on the Warriner Family Reunion! I couldn't fit three days of reunion fun into one post!

Happy Father's Day Forrest!

We spent Father's Day in Houston. We stayed with Annie and Papa (my grandparents) and woke up to the smell of bacon, sausage, and eggs (I actually woke up to the sound of Davis shouting my name). Davis and I played outside with Annie for a good hour before breakfast. While Annie and I enjoyed a cup of coffee, Davis played baseball, tennis, badminton, golf, blew bubbles, and golfed. I was worn out and needed a hearty breakfast after all that! 

After breakfast we headed to church where we attempted the cry room. Our church in San Antonio is tiny tiny compared to the church my grandparents attend in Houston. Our cry room seats about 8 while theirs seats about 20 (and there are two of them). Here's the crazy thing we realized, our kid is actually pretty good in church. Compared to the other 10ish kids in the room, Davis was really well behaved. But being in the cry room with all the loud kids drove us crazy. So we left the cry room about half way through mass and stood in the back. 

Our next activity for the day was lunch at Jim and Loren's (my aunt and uncle) with more family. We had burgers and hot dogs while we enjoyed the sun and the pool! 

One more stop before leaving Houston, we got a tour of Sara and Mike's (Forrest's sister and brother-in-law) house, who just recently moved to Katy after living in Oklahoma. Davis loves love loves his cousins Kate and Alex. They had a great time playing with trains and footballs!

Happy Father's Day Forrest! Davis loved celebrating with you!

$8,000

Holy cow! We raised $8,000 for the Mark Felice Childhood Cancer Fund this year. I want to say the biggest thank you from the bottom of my heart. Whether you wrote a check, wore a t-shirt, cheered us on at the race, called to say "good-luck" or even just took the time to read Mark's story...you helped us and it truly made an impact. And will make an impact to the many many families in need of a little help. 

The Cap Tex Triathlon is always on Memorial Day in Austin. This triathlon honors brave men and women of the armed forces and ensures the significance of Memorial Day. We race to recognize those serving our country.

We woke up before the sun and made it to our transition area in time to see the beautiful sunrise over Lady Bird Lake (I still call it Town Lake). Ann Marie and I wanted to get there early because my mom's race started an entire hour before us. She kicked it up a notch this year and did the Olympic distance (twice the distance of our Sprint). I guess when you are racing longer, they let you start earlier. Nice perk. 

Davis had fun cheering us on this year. My mom gave him a very loud cow bell! 

Race Recap

Swim: I enjoyed the swim this year. I have finally figured out that I simply cannot start my swim with a sprint. In years past I try to get out ahead of the crowd, but sprinting at the beginning of a swim just panics me and leaves me breathless. This usually leads me to doing a little backstroke and sidestroke to help me catch my breath. I'm much faster if I get my swim groove going first, then about halfway through the half mile swim, I pick it up. I finished the swim in 17 minutes. 

Bike: It's difficult to gage my bike time each year because wind really plays a role in how fast I can go. And every year I've done the Cap Tex, I feel like it's always super windy. The bike course is so much fun, weaving our way through downtown. For the Sprint distance, we take 2 laps. For the Olympic, it's 4 laps. Lapping makes it fun because we get to see each other along the course...I saw Renee, my mom, Ann Marie, and Jaki. The 12 mile bike took me 45 minutes. 

Run: This year the run was really tough on me. I was cramping. I think it was because I tried a new GU. I learned my lesson, only use the GUs I've used in practice. My biggest goal for these races is first, to always finish. And second, never walk. Every once in a while I could see Ann Marie just a little bit ahead of me. I really wanted to catch up with her, but I couldn't. Would have been fun to cross the finish line together. The torturous 3 mile run took me 28 minutes. 

Results: I finished 10th out of 41 in my age group. I think I'm liking my age group. I don't have to compete with the super fast Jaki, Renee, and Ann Marie! My mom did awesome for her first Olympic distance. She crossed the finish line after 3 hours and 24 minutes with a smile and said, "well that was fun!" Walk in the park, ha! 

Before Race

Our Fans

My #1 Fan with a Rainbow

Action Shot

Done!

And Done!

What's next? We like to wait out the intense summer heat, so our sights are set on the Kerrville Triathlon in September. We had a blast last year, and are recruiting more people to join this year. We also plan to make a weekend out of it in Kerrville!

Thanks again for helping us raise $8,000! We exceeded our goal of $5,000 and the Felice's are going to match it...do the math people...we are giving $16,000 to the Mark Felice Childhood Cancer Fund. Awesome!

Sunny SeaWorld

Back in May, on an rare weekend in town, we decided to use our SeaWorld pass. Here's what's great about having the pass...you can go and see one or two shows and not feel like it's a waste of money missing the other six. You can get there at 10am and leave around 1pm if needed. You don't feel like you have to stay ALL day and see EVERY attraction and EVERY show. Because we can come back! 

We started out at Clyde and Seamore, which is our favorite show! The picture makes it look like SeaWorld was empty that day, deceiving picture. It was packed! We didn't sit in the splash zone, but it would have been nice to get a little splash, it was hot! 

Then we went to the Bay of Play, which is the Sesame Street part of SeaWorld with rides and slides and tons of fun for the little ones. We rode Big Bird's ferris wheel, Davis' first real ride! I have a fear of heights, I was freaking out (which is why my photo skills are lacking, I was distracted with thoughts of falling out of the bird egg). Davis had a blast, not noticing my fear at all!

Our last stop before leaving the park was to see Shamu. The last time we saw Shamu, he splashed us. Splashed us big-time. Davis has not forgotten his first encounter with Shamu and made sure, by choosing a seat in the very last row, it would not happen again!

"This is Cute!"

They say kids say the darndest things, well Bill Cosby always said that. And they do. I try to file away in my memory all those little conversations Davis and I have...I never want to forget...

When 7am rolls around, I hear, "Mom! Mom! Mom!"
From my bed I yell back, "Yes Davis?"
Davis: "The sun is up. It's wake up time!"

Me: "Capeesh?"
Davis: "I want to go to the beach!"

Me: "2 more minutes Davis, then it's time to go home."
Davis: "How about 4 more minutes?" as he holds up 5 fingers.

Anytime we are leaving the house, Davis will say, "I have an idea. I know. How about we take Duke with us!" They are the best of friends.

I recently bought a new pair of neon pink running shoes.
Me: "Davis, do you know what color my shoes are?"
Davis: "Pink!"
Me: "Yes, these are HOT pink."
Davis runs over to feel my shoe. "These are not hot."

And my favorite. Forrest says I have created a monster. When we go shopping, Davis will grab something - anything - and say "This is cute, this is cute for you Mama, this is cute for you Dada." Apparently I say the same thing when I shop. I hadn't noticed.

Out of Towners

I don't want crazy people to come break into our house, so I won't say exactly when we are out of town, but lately we have been gone most weekends. Most weekends except this past weekend. Forrest and I are addicted to leaving town and making plans. Plus, our house is on the market so it's easier to leave the house nice and clean and let strangers walk through it, go through our cabinets, and leave dirt trails.

Have I mentioned our house is on the market? It's insane. The week after we put the sign in the yard, 4 other neighbors on our street (our street is only two blocks) decided to also put their houses up for sale. For those of you not doing the math, that is 5 houses for sale on our street. 4 of them, very similar in size and price. If you're in the market for a 2-1 in a charming neighborhood with a beautiful shaded backyard, leave me a message! So for the past couple of months I've been windexing little hand prints off my windows, moping the floors, vacuuming the carpets, and putting away toys DAILY. On average, we have about 5 showings a week. And this is how it goes down:

-My phone is always by my side because it's just a courtesy call, they aren't asking to show the house, just telling me when they will be there.
-Sometimes I have to be out of there in 20 minutes, so I've become very good at throwing junk in the trunk of my car.
-Duke and I spend a lot of time at Starbucks because it's the only place I can sit outside with a dog and get wifi so I can keep working. It's getting a little hot to do this.

And in particular, this past weekend...we had 2 showings on Friday, 2 on Saturday, an open house Sunday, and as of right now...I'm sitting at Starbucks while we have 3 showings today!

Bottom line, we should have left town and I'm SO ready to sell this house.

Quacking Ducks: Part 2 of Texans in Boston

After a late night stuffing our faces with pasta and gelato, we slept in the next morning, till 10am! Amazing. I never sleep in. I just can't. Even sleeping till 8am is considered "sleeping in" to me.

We quickly realized we needed to get a move-on. Katelyn whipped up a fabulous breakfast of fresh fruit, granola, yogurt, and english muffins. Coffee in hand, we headed to the Museum of Science to catch the Duck Boat Tour. Quack-tastic! Great way to see the city in just a couple short hours. The accident back in 2010 (that Kelly enlightened us with as we were buying our tickets) has not hurt business. If I had seen these images before stepping aboard the duck, I might have opted to stay and tour the Museum of Science with all the kiddos.

Some of my favorite things about Boston are in this post. For being such a huge city, it actually feels small to me, in a quaint charming way. My Boston favorites include: the many many parks and trees, shopping on Newbury, oysters and lobsters, and all the red, white, & blue (hello history)!

After getting a quick overview of the city by Duck Boat, we started walking on Charles Street, making our way eventually to Newbury to have lunch and shop! We made a quick detour through Cheers (everyone did not know my name) and stopped at the park for a photo op!

Somehow we managed to sleep in, tour the city, and shop with enough time to spare for a little nap and a shower for all before making our way to dinner at Legal Harborside. Best. meal. ever.

Our last day was a quick one because we had a plane to catch. Kel wanted to be at the airport about 5 hours before take-off, but Katelyn guaranteed us we only needed an hour and a half at the airport. So we enjoyed our morning breakfast (except for the masshole waitress, who we decided was maybe under some kind of influence, so maybe not a masshole, just on drugs) and headed over to Harvard where we wanted to surround ourselves with smart people. I almost walked into admissions and asked for an application.

We quickly found the most important man on campus, John Harvard. You are supposed to rub his foot for good luck. I rubbed his foot many many many years ago while on my college tours through Boston my Junior year in High School. Lotta luck it did me. I'm pretty sure I didn't hear back from Harvard. After googling the importance of his foot, Ady, you need to go back...only his left foot is supposed to be lucky!

While there, graduation prep was going on. I can only imagine what a gorgeous ceremony they had...

A lovely weekend was wrapped up as we all headed to the airport. Back to the husbands, back to the kids, back to work, and back to the heat. Thanks Katelyn and Pat for hosting us and showing us your favorite places in Boston. We will be back!!!! 

Boston Part 1

Texans in Boston: Part 1

About a year ago, my sweet friend Katelyn moved to Boston. A girls trip was finally on the calendar and we made the trip to beautiful Boston back in May. The weather couldn't have been better, a refreshing high of 75 and clear skies! The company was even more delightful...Kelly and Ady (two of my high school friends) made the trip with me. We also got the chance to get to know Pat, Katelyn's boyfriend, a little better...well, much better. That is inevitable when sharing a one bedroom, one bath apartment together for three days. What a sweet guy to put up with 4 girls in the bathroom getting ready for a night out! 

Our first stop after a day of flying, Bunker Hill! 

Here's how it went: 

Katelyn: "And here's Bunker Hill! I can't really park. Want to get out and see it?"

Ady: "Nah, this is good."

Me: "Um, YES!" 

Me: "What's the history behind this?"

Katelyn: "Not sure."

Kel: "Let's just snap some photos and go!"

Being the history buff that I am (hmm) I found the plaque below the monument. "Don't shoot till you see the whites of their eyes." And then I remembered the story! Ok, so I'm not a history buff (but I did enjoy history classes the most during school), but when I take the time to fly to a different city, I try to take the time to explore. You never know if you will be back (but I hope to, just love me some Boston!!!)

The most precious part about this hill were all the families picnicking and enjoying a glass of wine while watching their kids play with their friends. That is MY kind of playdate!

Katelyn and Pat live right outside the city, near the Museum of Science (where we started our Duck Boat Tour, more on that to come). They are on the top floor and have a gorgeous view of the city, the bridges, and the river. After catching up over some wine and cheese, we freshened up and headed to our next Boston site, the top of the Prudential Tower. 

Dinner following our view of the city was in the North End at Carmelina's! Delish! For those new to the city, the North End is a little piece of home for me, it's the "Little Italy" of Boston. I wish San Antonio had a couple streets dedicated to the Italians. In fact, shouldn't all cities have this?  

Loved the cobblestone streets on our way to one of the oldest bars in Boston. 

After feeling patriotic drinking Sam Adam's beer and dancing the night away, we walked outside to find a cab. On our way, we saw the New England Holocaust Memorial...no words needed:

And to cap off our first night in Boston, we met a masshole. I was unfamiliar to this term until our cab incident. Kelly and I had legally, rightfully, proudly, and politely hailed a cab (after waiting a LONG time) and out of the blue two other girls just jump in...as we were leaning in the window to tell the driver where we wanted to go. And that is when we learned the new word: masshole.

To be fair: Not all Bostonites are massholes, just those two girls who stole our cab. We had a lovely time the rest of our trip...and to find out...stay tuned for Boston Part 2!

Spider with 6 Legs and a Balloon Hat

Bowling

Davis' first time bowling was a HUGE hit! Before going to the bowling alley, we watched a little video of Bernard bowling. 

Cousin Eva came with us. Good thing none of us were taking the game too seriously because Davis wanted to bowl for each of us. He didn't like waiting for his turn, but he got the hang of it after a while. I was thankful we were sharing a lane because I loved having the bumpers! 

He would watch the ball roll s-l-o-w-l-y down the lane with such focus. When it hit the pins, his two hands would shoot up into the air with excitement! "I did it!" 

We will be bowling a lot from here on out, big fan. Huge fan. 

Arcade Games