Whee Luke's 3!

These last few days have been a whirlwind for us. Luke had his birthday party on Saturday and the kids had a BLAST at Little Gym. Also, Dan and I took a little getaway w/his siblings to Lake Tahoe, we were only there for 3 days but it was beautiful. We had our fill of good food and scenery for sure. The kids are BOTH on Soccer teams now and are loving it.

Florida Trip

I got to see my Great Aunt Annie in Florida. Jamie and Mandi went with me and we had a great time. It was a quick trip--just the weekend but it was better than nothing! My cousins Amy and Johnny were wonderful hosts!

Katie and Diego's visit

We are going through withdrawls. Seriously, we miss our twin neice and nephew so much after their visit from El Paso. The twins are 10 years old and are so much fun to hang around--the boys just LOVED all the playing and attention from the "Big kids". Diego got picked for the Shamu show at Sea World and was the star in front of thousands of people! We did so much, went to the Wildflower Center for Dragonfly Nature Night, rode the Zilker Zephyr, went to a birthday party, went swimming, and generally just had a wonderful time! Diego made friends with the frog that lives in our front yard and he would visit him on occasion when the sun went down. They caught minnows and tadpoles in the pond at the Wildflower Center. Katie got her face painted and we made crafts. Good times!

Finn earning his White Belt

Finn earned his White Belt this week by leading the class in the Star Block Combination. He did such a great job, we are so proud of him. We learned that his white belt is to never touch the ground (but if it accidentally does to just pick it right back up), never wash it, and we need to tie it in this special knot before every class. He is to learn how to tie the knot and do it himself as soon as he can. Also, the top of the knot signifies his teacher and the bottom of the knot is Finn and the bond that ties them together is Karate. I have to say his Karate teacher, Iris Frills is simply outstanding. She is so great with the kids and there is an air of respect in the room. We are lucky to be a part of her class. Also, she is seeing about starting a class for 3 year olds in the fall, if it happens Luke has informed us that he would like to take Karate.

4th of July Weekend

We took the kids to the Dallas Aquarium and they loved it! We stayed at the Belmont Hotel, it's been

renovated and has a swanky vibe http://www.belmontdallas.com/ We had a great time visiting with friends and family over the holiday weekend. The Urbina's were down from Chicago and Alex's sisters have a cute bungalo near the hotel. Our first night Alex's father whipped up some margaritas (see top) and taco's w/some beef he brought in from Mexico, delish!

Tattoo Totin Finn

After the Summer Spongebob Grantapalooza Finn came home with a sleeve de homage to the Squarepants! So, in English that means there was a Spongebob themed summer party at Grant's house and he had a rockin good time! I left the party early to get my nails done and Dad brought the boys home. This is what I came home to. Apparently they got their fill of Wii, too! Tattoo's and Wii, that's a pretty good Saturday mornin.

My First Triathlon!

I did it! I completed my first triathlon in 1:51 minutes. Although I didn't have any set expectations of my time I was happy with the result. My friend Leilani and I got the exact same time and this is her 7th Danskin! My swim took longer than in training, I had been swimming in 19 minutes and the race took 23. The bike was 44 minutes and I had been averaging about 50 minutes in training, yay! The run sucked--it was difficult and I was very fatigued at that point. We had been up since 4:00am, too. The women who I did it with are ROCKSTARS! The women in the picture with me are the Lightfoot Ladies, honoring Ms. Lightfoot who died of Cancer--Alli's mom's friend. This was Alli's 10th YEAR in a row to do the Danskin! This would have been Leilani's 9th year but she couldn't do it the 2 years she was pregnant--so year 7 it was. Barbara didn't know how to swim but got lessons for the Danskin and did it 4 years ago for the first time, she's done it every year since and rocks the house. An average swim takes anywhere from 20-15 minutes and Barb's first year was 55 minutes, now she is around 40 minutes and that girl has GUTS! Barb is inspirational to people she doesn't even know--Leilani told the story of Barb in the dance class she teaches and a person came up to her after class and said she felt like she was speaking to her--that she wants to do a triathlon and Barb's story really hit home! People have asked me if I am going to do it again and the answer is HECK YES! It was challenging but now I feel a since of accomplishment and empowerment. Finn was so proud to see Mommy run across the finish line! I had so many friends and family supporting me, thank you sooooo much!