The past couple of weekends have had us traveling around so it has been busy but so fun. First, we went to Austin to spend time with family and celebrate my little brother's birthday. While there we made a trip to Zilker park with all the grandkids and took Cole and Cannon to the Austin Children's Museum. The entire time we lived in Austin neither Rick nor I went to Zilker park so of course we visited as "tourists". And as for the museum, I had no idea it would be such a haven for Cole. I really expected most of it to be too old for him to enjoy but I was so wrong. He could have spent the entire day there had we not had little Lyla and his naps to be concerned with. Unfortunately my camera was caput the entire weekend so the pics are borrowed from Jefra.

The Zilker Zephyr Train - VERY HOT but Cole and Lyla loved it while it was going!

Cole and Cannon at the museum (more pics and video on Jefra's blog)

Last weekend Rick had a CCMA Conference (Country Club Managers Association) to attend in San Antonio at the new Marriott TPC. It was so beautiful and so nice to be surrounded by such beauty...and a big waterpark included with your stay. These are nice mini-vacations primarily paid for by Rick's employer since they cover the hotel room. (Thanks Miramont!) The conferences are always family friendly with spouses and children invited to each meal if you would like and this time they had a photographer there to take family pictures Sunday evening.

The rooms are huge so we had enough space for 2 Pack-N-Plays for the babies. Cole doesn't really do well sleeping in unfamiliar places so he slept with us the first night (ugh!) and then we put his crib in the bathroom (yes, big enough with space to spare) the second night. Still, even with that he was super overtired by the end of each day. Lyla is easier and pretty much went right to sleep except when we forced her to stay awake and go to dinner with us. :-) So here are some pics ...

The hotel room

The resort. This was taken before it was finished as they added a large kiddie park with three slides and sprinklers as well as two adult tube slides. Guess they wouldn't look so peaceful in a picture! The lazy river wraps around the adult pool. Even Lyla loved the river, she just laid back and enjoyed!

Cole going down the kiddie waterslide all by himself. He sputtered in the water afterwards but he managed!

Dad and Cole had such a good time in the water.

Unfortunately, I also injured my back while at the water park. I wasn't doing anything except bending over to pick up sunblock. I knew it was bad as soon as I did it. So instead of enjoying the water and the resort on Monday I spend the morning pushing the kids in a stroller as that was easier than picking them up in the room while Rick was in meetings. We were going to stay that afternoon when his meetings were over at noon but instead my mom drove us home while my dad and Rick golfed. I went to the doctor in Austin and found I slipped a disk. The walking in the stroller actually did a lot of good in the end and probably pushed it back into place. I still have muscle soreness and am really careful doing anything. This is the second time in five years that my back has done this which is too bad I guess. I've had little episodes before but only twice where I feel like I really can't do anything and the pain is so bad I can't help but cry. I feel for anyone who deals with chronic back injuries. I've got the knee problems too but the back is 10x's worse. But we enjoyed our stay in Austin for another day while it gave me time to recover with help around.

Now for the KIDS UPDATE:

Lyla is now rolling over both ways on her own and enjoys the exersaucer. She can barely stand up in it but if she leans over can lay one foot flat. Otherwise she just tip-toes around in it. But as you can see, she loves it.

Lyla is also teething and/or has a cold. She has a constant runny nose and is wanting to bite things constantly.

Cole is now in love with Toy Story and Rick gave in and bought him a Woody and a Buzz doll this past weekend. He loves these guys and all he wants to do is watch Buzz jump off the bed in Toy Story over and over and over and over and over and . . . (you get the picture). But he also loves to play in Lyla's crib. . .


He likes to try on mom's flip flops (though these are Aunt Jefra's) and yes, that is a dirty diaper in his hands. You know I have no idea why he was holding it or where it went after that? SCARY!

Lay next to her, on her, over her, as well as make her laugh, point to her ears, pinch her nose and give her great big bear hugs (which sometimes she doesn't like too much). They are so much fun to see together. It had been a while since I had taken some decent photos of them so we had a little photo shoot this morning. Cole was totally uncooperative but did give me some cute shots of them together.


But Lyla is VERY cooperative for the camera. As I said before, she's our little model. It makes it so fun to take her picture.

She has also discovered her feet and aren't they cute?!

She looks so much like her cousin Ally in this picture, if I cropped it before the ear you would really have to do a double take!

She is always so alert and reaches for everything. She keeps reaching for Cole's sippy cups too...hey maybe she'll drink from one early!

My happy little girl! She is so precious, I just squeeze her all the time!

Oh, and if you've never heard her, she sounds just like a cat when she squeals. Our own little kitty.