Scooter! Compliments of the BINKY FAIRY!

At age 4.5, Kendall has finally given up her binky!  This was, in part, necessitated by the fact that her last binky wound up with a huge tear in it the other night.  I wound up cutting most of it off to avoid the accidental inhalation of a large chunk of plastic.  She went to bed with the "nub" of a binky and about an hour later, decided to break out the letter to the Binky Fairy (written well over a month ago and requesting a pink scooter as a trade in for her binky).  Thankfully, the Binky Fairy just happened to have a brand new pink scooter on hand that evening!  So far, there has been little to no drama over the absent binky.  Kendall is also now sleeping without a pullup at night.  Big steps for this little girl!  So proud of her.  

Family Pictures - Spring 2013

Sunset at White Rock Lake

We had a short and sweet (and seriously the most laid back relaxing family photo shoot ever!) at the lake on Saturday night.  Kendall was on her best "take pictures of me looking like this, now like this, now pouting like a princess, etc, etc." behavior so we took her to Monster Yogurt where she proceeded to fill herself with as much sugar as possible, and we prayed that the sugar crash would come quickly.  On the way home, she continued to ask about watching the "sun sinking into the lake" and since it was only about 10 minutes til that time, we obliged.  It was pretty cool family time.  The sweetest thing was when she individually, and very graciously thanked both of us for taking her to see the sun set.  It really was important to her and we really do need to say yes to her more often.  

Homegrown Pepper!!

We actually thought we got a red pepper plant, and this pepper was picked too early, but still pretty cool!!  

1st Day of Camp - the Aftermath!

The fact that the first day of camp resulted in an actual NAP is enough of a thumbs-up for me ... but she said she had a great time too!  

1st Day of Lamplighter Summer Fun Camp!

As usual, my "helicopter mom" fears about the carpool proved to be a waste of my energy.  I had no information to give Kendall about her new camp - except that she will "definitely have fun."  (please let the child have fun so I'm not a liar)  No info about who her teacher is or who might be in her class .... and I was supposed to just drive her up to a new school and kick her out of my car??  Yep.  She handled it like a little pro.  A really sweet teacher opened the door, saw her name tag, said very enthusiastically (a tad too enthusiastically for my taste at that ungodly hour of the morning), "HI KENDALL!!  Are you ready to have fun at camp?"  And Kendall equally enthusiastically yelled, "YES!!!," hopped out of the car and closed the door.  No "Bye Mommy."  Not even a wave.  I frantically rolled down the passenger side window and spat out the words, "byemonkeyiloveyouhavefun!!" as I was ushered through the carpool line.  I'm pretty sure they were unheard or ignored by my kid (also pretty sure the teachers were trying hard not to roll their eyes at me).



The time it took to get from our garage to the carpool drop off point was 55 minutes.  We had to leave the house at 7:15AM, which  meant I got up at 5:45 to get myself ready for work and then got Kendall up at 6:30.  These are ugly hours to me, but getting to work from her school only took 10 minutes and I am here SO early I have time to update the blog!  :)  I do see another cup of coffee being added to my morning routine (perhaps in the car), but I suppose I'm ready to join the ranks of regular school mornings and carpool lines.  I also suppose I don't have a choice in the matter. 

San Antonio/Sea World Trip - May 2013

Despite a really bumpy flight to San Antonio, torrential downpours (almost completely unpredicted), record flooding in San Antonio, and a sick Saza, Kendall, Nana, Saza and I managed to survive and have some fun too!

Dinner and walk (up and down and up and down stairs!) at the Riverwalk Thursday night.  Note to self:  next time, no stroller.

This is "Sally," our uninvited guest at dinner, of whom Kendall was deathly afraid, and over whom Kendall staged a great public disturbance.  Until she named her.  Then she became a friend.  Kendall AND Sally would've been in my lap had I acquiesced.  

Sea World - Day 1!

We managed to sneak in the cute sea lion show before deluge #1!

Deluge #1

Deluge #1 landed us in a gift shop for about an hour while it rained sideways where Kendall collected a Shamu stuffed animal, a necklace, and inexplicably, a ruler.  I'm sure the Sea World folks love it when it does that because of the amount of crap stuff they sell while everyone is trapped in the stores!  The rain did manage to let up and cleared out the park quite nicely.  The dolphin feeding was really cool - although Kendall wanted nothing to do with the dolphins, or the "nasty, smelly fish" they were being fed.  

Love me some Count!  Kendall did not.

Also got to ride a few rides with minimal lines!

The highlight was definitely the Shamu show!  SO glad we went to see this the first day.  We had tickets for the show and picnic on the second day, but were afraid we'd be rained out so we made sure to catch it the first day.  We did see it both days, but for whatever reason, it was significantly better on Friday than on Saturday!

Purchase # ???? for Kendall, a bubble gun.  Apparently posing with a gun is innate in Texan-born children.

Sea World - Day 2.  This trip was sans sick Saza, who stayed at the hotel.  It was also after a late start due to deluge #2 that managed to close down the city for the morning.  The thunder started at about 4AM and it stayed so dark that we all, including Kendall, slept until 9:00!  Then we looked out and saw nothing but water.  No cars, no people.  Just water.  Turned on the news and apparently San Antonio had gotten almost a foot of water in a few short hours!  It really was crazy.  After hanging out at the hotel as long as Kendall could tolerate, we braved the roads and headed to Sea World in the rain.  We did drive through a few highways turned into rivers, but it was pretty good timing.   Got there just in time for the Shamu show!

Rode the Shamu kiddie coaster a few times this day too!

Caught a cool show called "Azul" that was a mix of a Cirque de Soleil, dolphin, and beluga whale show.

A highlight of the trip was a reunion with the Taylors, some Dallas friends who have moved to San Antonio!  Kendall and Shea were together in Gymboree class when they were 4 months old but hadn't seen each other since they were both a bit over two years old.  They greeted each other like life-long friends and had a blast!  

Zoe was the ONE Sesame Street character Kendall would greet.  The others were "for babies!"  

Day 3:  Riverwalk cruise which was nicely timed just after deluge #3 and before deluge #4.

My favorite pic of the weekend!

... except for these pics from the plane ride home!