In which we show a little too much skin

We are in the throes of potty training around here.  I have found that if Jack is completely naked, he is 100% potty-trained.  However, throw a pair of pull-ups or even underwear on the kid and all bets are off.  I am pretty sure taking him out in public completely nude would be frowned upon so we seem to be at an impasse.

Speaking of improper attire, I had to pump gas in my swimsuit the other day.  I was on my way out to my brother's house to do laps in his olympic-sized pool when my gas light went on.  I hadn't bothered with a cover-up because I was just planning on going straight to his house and back, which is why I ended up at the biggest gas station around (Buccees) pumping gas in my swimsuit.  Horrifying.

In which we force Ellie into organized sports

Ellie attended her first soccer camp this week.  She has done gymnastics for quite some time, but Tom was convinced we were failing her as parents because we hadn't enrolled her in organized sports.  Seriously.  So, I rolled my eyes and enrolled her in a week of soccer to see if she liked it.  I think she was more excited about her new soccer gear than actually playing.

I think Ellie enjoyed it. A few of her cousins and friends from church were enrolled as well so that always makes things more fun.  But it was long and hot and Ellie was more into socializing than playing.  Tom went to watch her the last day and was really bothered by her lack of competitiveness.  I am predicting that it might be a little difficult for Ellie to have a coach as a father in the near future. Or she may just turn out to be an amazing athlete. Who knows.

Ellie isn't too sure she wants to continue with soccer, but I am putting her in another camp in July.  I am determined to not fail her as a parent (and also to get my money's worth out of that soccer gear).

In which I didn't lose Ellie once!

We just got back from two days at SeaWorld and we didn't lose Ellie once!  This is something Ellie kept bringing up periodically, like hey, I haven't gotten lost yet!  To her credit, she did stick to me like glue.  But on the way home she asked me what she got for not getting lost and I was all, you get to live with us instead of tied up in some stranger's basement.  I'm kidding. I didn't say that.  Besides, no one in Texas has basements.

I have quit taking my camera places because I want to be more present instead of behind a lens.  Which basically means I resort to taking crappy cell phone pictures of really important things like the tattoo on this guy's arm who sat in front of us at the dolphin show.  No pictures of the dolphins or the kids watching dolphins, but I do have this guy's tattoo for the vacation album.

I also took this picture of the kids on the riverboat. 

This is deceptive because it looks like they were really enjoying the ride.  That was captured in the 5 seconds that Jack remained seated before trying to climb all over everybody.  He also chose this time to create the stinkiest diaper known to man.  The lady next to us kept complaining about him in Spanish to her friend.  I guess she just assumed we didn't understand the language.  Whatever, her friend ended up getting sick and in her haste to lean over the side of the boat, she vomited all over another random passenger.  So, I felt like they couldn't be too angry about my son's dirty diaper when they caused the boat to smell like vomit.  Good times.

This next picture is also deceptive because it makes it look like Tom and Jack aren't enjoying the sea lion show when in fact they were both riveted.  I love my two grumpy-faced boys!

And, of course, no trip to San Antonio is complete without a trip to the Alamo.  I moved to Texas in 8th grade, thus missing Texas History and so when I first visited the Alamo, I was very dismayed to learn we lost.  Talk about depressing.  So, I left it up to Tom to explain to Ellie the meaning behind the Alamo.  He actually took Texas History.

All in all, it was a fun trip, but as I remarked to Tom on the way home when Jack kept hitting Ellie to keep her awake, it wasn't as fun as our trip to New Orleans sans kids.

Muffalettas, beignets, and True Blood

Our little New Orleans trip was so much fun!  I love taking road trips with Tom. Since we weren’t bringing the kids and didn’t have much luggage, we were able to take Tom’s Jeep which made him happy.  And I can’t drive his Jeep (stick shift) which made me even happier.  The best part about New Orleans is the food. Oh man, the food. So good.  For our actually anniversary, we ate at K-Pauls.  The food was amazing and I wish I hadn’t been too full for dessert.  I also had fried tomatoes at Daisy Dukes, a muffaletta at Pat O’s, pizza at Reginellis, and, of course, beignets at Café du Monde.

I really don’t like Bourbon Street in New Orleans. I am a total people watcher, but I just find Bourbon Street depressing. However, this time Bourbon Street provided the most excitement.  They were filming a scene of True Blood right in front of us.  I have only watched a few episodes of the show, but I did read the entire Sookie Stockhouse series it is based on.  Anyway, they wanted to use the crowd as extras, but everyone was taking pictures with their phones.  The director kept asking everyone to put their phones away. Finally, they had the star stand on a car and ask everyone to put away their phones just for the filming and as soon as they yelled “cut” we could take pictures.  The Eric character then lifted Bill on his back and we all were told to cross the street with them.  Then they yelled “cut” and told us to get out of the production area.  It was all very exciting.

It was the perfect anniversary. Now I am really looking forward to July when we go to Vegas for a week to continue celebrating it!

Dead fish and wedded bliss

So, we ended up telling Ellie that her fish died.  Big mistake. Huge. The drama was through the roof.  At one point she was in her room sobbing loudly, “My fish is gone. He’s gone. GOOOONE!”  Of course, the fact that I kept laughing when trying to break the bad news to her didn’t help the matter any.  I don’t know what is wrong with me, but I always laugh at inappropriate moments (like my grandma’s funeral or during my friend’s wedding vows).  Anyway, I told her we could get a new fish once we got back from New Orleans.  That’s right, we are going to New Orleans this weekend. Something I am beyond excited about.  Tom and I are dropping the kids off with my parents tonight and then it is a weekend of fun for us!  Tomorrow is our 10 year anniversary.  Hard to believe it has already been ten years. Although I have loved him since I was 15.  I feel really lucky to have a guy like Tom by my side.  Not only is he my favorite person to hang out with, but he can still make me laugh like no other.