Hail Storm

It was a less than intelligent move to pack up my kids, leave the windows at home open, and go shopping during a tornado watch. I was sure the storm had already passed the area we were going to, but I was wrong. Luckily I moved the car under a tree when the hail started, because the damage would've been a lot worse. As it is, we have a busted tail light, and little dents on the top, side, back, and hood of our car. Of course, an hour after the storm hit, it was bright and sunny. Texas weather in the spring is very unpredictable. I've started paying more attention to the weather after our little hail storm adventure. Every time Josh sees the weather map on TV, he talks about the hail coming. "Oh my goodness...hail and storm." For days after the storm, Josh was asking what happened to our car. At first the hail started out pea size, but it quickly graduated to golf ball size. These are our pictures more than an hour after the storm had passed. My mom had friends at work that got tennis ball sized hail. Yikes.

Seedlings

On Jarod's day off this past week, we spent a good part of the day planting several different kinds of seeds in the ground, and in pots. Everything from watermelon, squash, carrots, cucumber, peas, beans, radishes, sun flowers, corn, the list goes on. Carly just loved helping Jarod, and Josh loved playing while they were working.

This is one of my California Poppies I planted from seed.

We are anxiously waiting to see what sprouts.

Now I Almost Know My ABCs

Josh loves, loves, loves, to sing the ABC song. I finally decided to record him singing it, and this is what I got...I promise he usually sings it correctly. It's funny to hear him bust it out by himself while he's playing.

Weekend Bliss

Jarod's parents very generously used some of their time share points to give us a great weekend getaway on the River walk in San Antonio. The hotel was great, and literally right on the river. The view from our balcony at night was really enjoyable.The river had been dyed green to celebrate St. Patrick's Day

When we got to town Saturday night, the Luminaries Festival was wrapping up, and while we were walking up and down the River walk, we enjoyed some fireworks displays. That's the end of the fireworks show, behind me.

The next day we went to Six Flags Fiesta Texas. It was such a fun day, and all I can say is BUY THE SPEED PASS. It is totally worth it. We learned our lesson standing in line for an hour and a half for the first ride, just to have it shut down right before we were going to get on. After that, speed pass all the way, baby.

This is us at the end of the day. Notice the sunburns?

That night we ate some Mexican food on the River walk, and enjoyed the ambiance of the scenery. On Monday we went to the famous San Antonio Mercado, and saw lots of overpriced merchandise. We had lunch at a great restaurant in the Mercado, and were entertained by mariachis singing "la cucaracha" while we were eating...nice. Before heading home we had time to visit one of the missions on the mission tour. The Mission San Jose was really neat, and did you know that it had the first mill in Texas? NOW YOU KNOW!! (said like Bill Nye the Science Guy...please don't let me be the only person who knows who that is.) The church at the mission is still operating. On our way home we stopped at Automaniacs to drool over some really old, really expensive cars. I don't think I've ever seen so many GTOs.

A big shout out to my folks for watching the kids all weekend. We had a hard time getting the kids to leave Mama and Papa's house. They had a really great time.

!!Lucha Libre!!

The kids were getting all dressed up while I packed to go on our weekend excursion. Josh wanted to wear his goggles, of course, and then he found his luchador mask. Then he wanted to put the two together. That kid cracks me up.

Jungle Gym

This last week I was feeling pretty guilty for my lack of mothering. I've been so sick with the flu, and there were days were I could barely lift my head off the couch. Towards the end of the week I was feeling well enough to stand up, so I decided to let the kids go out and play. Jack really took to the slide. It was fun to watch him climb up the ladder, go down the slide, and start it all over again.

Skinner Cousins

Okay, so time has really gotten away from me. We've all been sick with the flu, and I think it's taken me the longest to get over it. Now that we're all well, and the laundry is finally done, I can post the pictures we took when Reed and Rachel came to visit. It was such a fun time. Carly and Josh just love to get together with their cousins. There's nothing better than built in friends. We just wish we lived nearer to our cousins.

The Skinners were in town for 4 days, and we were able to pack in a lot of fun. Sunday was a relaxing day of church and hanging out. Of course we played Mexican Train that night, and I just have to toot my own horn because I WON!!! That's right, me, not Jarod. Jarod always boasts, and rightly so, that he always wins. It felt good to de-thrown the Mexican Train king.

On Monday we went to Inner Space Caverns, which is a cavern not far up the road from our house. I haven't been since an elementary school field trip, and I thought it was pretty cool. From left to right we have Carly, Me, Josh, and Jack, Rachel and Quinn, Reed, Parker, Emma, Spencer, and Conner. Everyone is feeling the one rock in the cavern that you can touch without breaking the law. The cavern is alive, and as soon as you touch the rocks, the oils from your skin essentially kill the rock so that it no longer grows. This is one of the bats that live in the cave. The cave was found while they were building the interstate highway that runs through Austin. Before they opened the cave, there weren't any bats living there, but now there is a colony. We only saw a handful of bats, but the kids thought it was pretty cool. They have several prehistoric animal fossils that were found during the excavation.

After the cavern expedition, we went to the Valdivieso Villa for a picnic, and then on to the county park for some attempts at kite flying. Mama Skinner got some rad kites at Costco, and after it all, we decided that plain traditional 50 cent kites might be easier. After kite flying we trekked it on over to the outlet mall by our house. Yea for $2.99 Disney shirts!!

On Tuesday we headed on out to San Antonio. There is a drive-thru African Safari, and it was a lot of fun. We observed all kinds of exotic animals, and fed a few others from our hands. One long horn cow stuck it's huge tongue in the car, and everyone got a good gross out. From left to right we have Quinn, Parker, Josh, Spencer, Conner, Carly, Emma, and Jack. Can you see "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil"? I think the Zebras and the Ostriches were the highlight of the day. Then there was another picnic before we went to the Alamo. The Skinner kids are really into Davey Crockett, and to show their enthusiasm, they wore Davey Crockett garb to the Alamo. It was a lot of fun to hear all the passersby ask the boys if they were Davey Crockett.

Wednesday we took it easy, which was nice. We did some more shopping, and took a trip up to Papa's school to see some neat science demonstrations. The kids always love to see his flying pig.

We're so glad the Skinners came for a visit, and we hope they'll make their way out to see us again so we can fit in all the fun that we didn't have time for this last visit.