Lots of change

So, we're all moved out of our house. We will be here in San Antonio for another week. We head out on the road to California next Thursday. A lot had changed in the past few days. Lots of pics have been taken, but I'm waiting to upload them to our desktop (which is on the moving truck right now). Who knows when I'll get to post them, as we haven't chosen a home in California yet. Could be a month before we see our things again.
I just wanted to make note in our little family journal of some of the happenings of this big week of change. Monday and Tuesday the packers came and boxed everything up (not very well - there were a few cupboards they didn't even open!! Didn't find that out until after all was said and done. Plus they broke one of my crystal serving dishes before it even got to a box - smashed to a million pieces.)
While all this is happening, we're crashing with some great friends of ours, the Neilsons. Becca N and I took Maya and her best friend Emi (Becca's girl) to get their ears pierced on Tuesday. They were so excited to do this together. I have a whole picture montage: The excited before, the crying shock after the first ear was done, followed by don't make me get the other one done, I don't want my other ear pierced, followed by Emi saying "No way am I getting that done". After a little break and Maya walking around and calming down, Emi got hers done, followed by Maya getting her other ear done (mainly because the lady said it would hurt more to remove the freshly pierced one than it would to pierce the other ear.) After lots more tears, the girls were on a high and so glad they did it!
Wednesday, the loaders came and put everything on the truck. It was an all day process. Luckily another friend of mine took the kids for the afternoon. Such a big help. I was sad to walk through my empty house at the end of the day. We've had such an amazing time living in this house for the past 3 years.
Today we said goodbye to the Neilson family. They're headed on vacation. Luke said goodbye to his friends Jaike and Tyler and is just fine (I don't think he realizes that this was it.) Maya and Emi had lots of tears and broken hearts. Maya just needed to sit and cry for a while after they left.
We spent this evening cleaning our house and getting it ready for our tenants who will move in this weekend. Matt leaves tomorrow to Maryland to paint out townhouse out there and hopefully we'll have some renters in it soon. Lots of stuff happening. Not wishing our last days here in Texas away, but ready for all the craziness to be done.
Once we're settled in Cali, I'll post a big old picture montage of our adventures.
Over and out. . .for now.

My First Triathlon

On May 22nd I competed in my very first triathlon. It was a sprint triathlon: 400 yd swim, 13.5 mile bike ride and a 3.3 mile run. I had such a great time! I've wanted to do one for the past couple of years but between pregnancy and recovering from pregnancy it's taken until this summer for me to be ready. A friend of mine here in San Antonio did a couple of them last summer and she recommended the Rockin R triathlon up in Gruene (pronounced "green") near New Braunfels. I wasn't worried at all about the swim or the run. I don't own a bike and haven't ridden one for more than a block or two since college. I borrowed my friend's husband's road bike for the race, having only ridden it around the block twice the night before to get used to the old school gears. Aside from a very sore backside after all was said and done (those bike seats are killer even with a gel pad) I had a blast. Here's my experience told with pictures.

Here are Becca and I at the start of the race. There were 350 participants this year. We're getting our caps and goggles on and psyching ourselves up to jump into that river.

The river this year was 65 degrees and had a strong current. (It's been a cooler wetter spring this year.) It was cold enough to be wetsuit legal - I'm a newbie. I do not have a wetsuit. So I'm just telling myself I'll swim even faster cuz I'll want to get out of the freezing water as fast as I can. Because of the strong current in the river, they also shortened the swim to 275 yd. Each age group had their own color swim cap. I'm in the blue cap below. You probably need to click on the pic to enlarge it to be able to see me. All those bright orangey/red caps were the younger age group that started ahead of me. They had us start by twos. It felt so good to fly by half of them no problem. You'll notice in the pic a lot of orange behind me. Yeah baby! I hadn't been in the pool to swim laps since last summer. Not too shabby, huh? In the picture below, I'm breaststroking to try and see where in the river I am and to make sure I didn't swim into anyone. Everyone was trying to swim as close to the bank as possible to avoid swimming straight into the current.

Luckily someone warned me before the race that I would probably be dizzy upon getting out of the river. They were right. I guess the combination of cold water and swimming fast/breathing hard can lead to hyperventilation. Luckily they had people helping all the competitors out of the water. I was pretty dizzy for a few seconds. I chose to leave the picture of me getting out of the river off this post. It's not a pretty sight. I am proud to say that in my age group my swim time placed me 4th - less than 1 second out of second. If I would've known. . .

Below: Here I am coming back from my 13.5 mile bike ride, running my bike back to it's place in the transition area.

Here I am coming out of the transition area after the bike portion. My quads are jello and do not want to move, but this is a spectator area of the race, so I make myself jog out of there so I don't look like a pansy. Once out of the spectator area, the first stretch of the run is uphill - ouch! So my friend becca and I walk for a little while till we can breath again and move our legs.

Here I am coming into the finish. I actually felt really great for the last part of the run. I was feeling pretty proud of myself for completing my very first triathlon. (The little black thing around my ankle is the timing chip.)

Matt had me flex for a few shots - you know, show off my buffness. . .HA!

I was definitely on a high after the race. I had so much fun. Here are Becca and I goofing off a little and celebrating.

A little love for Matt and the camera. Like I said - I was on a high and feeling pretty goofy.

I had such a great time and can't wait to do another!

Corpus Christi

Matt had to do a pediatric anesthesia rotation (which he loved) in Corpus Christi from mid-Feb to mid-March. So the kids and I took the opportunity to go check out Corpus Christi and we loved it. We had such a fun time and packed a whole lot into one Saturday.

First things first, when we woke up Saturday morning, before going to breakfast, we (the kids) just had to get out to the beach (which we could see from Matt's apartment window) and find some seashells. It was a pretty windy/chilly morning, so we didn't have to wait too long before the kids were ready to eat.

(Luke was very excited to see the ocean)

After breakfast we headed to the aquarium. Below is a picture of the USS Lexington which is right next to th eaquarium.

We had so much fun at the aquarium. There were lots of hands on things for the kids to see and do.
They got to hold sea urchins.

And we all got to pet some sting rays. They're pretty slimy little things but lots of fun.

(Matt and the kids at the aquarium)

They also had a dolphin exhibit. Up above the seats to see the dolphins were pretty crowded. So we went to the underwater viewing area which was pretty much empty, but I think the view of the dolphins was way better.
(Maya and Seth watching the dolphins)

The also had an eagle/hawk show, but we missed it. We did take the chance to stop and compare our "wingspan" to all the different birds.

(Luke doing his impression of a bird)

(Like father like son, right?)

Some family pictures before we left the aquarium. Luke is in the picture. It's like "I spy". You gotta find him.

After the aquarium, we went and saw "Percy Jackson" at the movies. It was a fun movie - deviated from the book of course, but still fun. Maybe a bit much for the kids. After that, we headed out to Padre Island and played on the beach. It had warmed up quite a bit from that morning so we were able to last a little longer. Here are some pics of us goofing off on the beach.

(Seth was at a stage where he thought his tongue was lots of fun)

(We all had to get our silly faces in there)

All in all it was a great time. Luke wants to move to Corpus. Instead we're heading to the west coast and a whole new ocean and set of beaches.

I HEART THE POOL

I love summertime and swimming. Growing up we lived in our swimsuits during the summer. We'd go inside for lunch and bathroom breaks, otherwise we were in the water. Here in Texas we have a great community pool that is rarely busy (which is shocking considering it hit 100 degrees everyday). We hit the pool almost everyday Monday through Friday this summer. Maya mastered the freestyle thanks to a frien of mine who came and taught lessons at the pool. Luke learned to swim this summer (as long as he has goggles on). He even got to the point where he'll jump in and swim to us. I'm so glad my kids love the pool as much as I do!

Who doesn't love being silly with dad?

Maya and Emi practically lived together this summer (above)

Luke and Jaike are great buds! (below)

Seth after a good swim/nap in the water

Silly jumping

Daddy "hearts" Maya

Trip to Houston

Matt's been out of town for almost 4 weeks now. He's been able to come home on weekends which has been great. I decided to save him a roadtrip and the kids and I drove to Houston to see him over Memorial Day weekend. Matt's apartment is a few minutes walk to the hospital he's been working at. It's kind of interesting to me that there are about 12 hospitals all across the street from each other in this one section of Houston. Right next to these hospitals is a great park with the Houston Zoo and gardens, and a natural science museum, etc. So we spread out the fun over the weekend with Matt's sister and her family who live in Houston just a few minutes away.

Saturday morning we hit the zoo.

I think the lion drinking fountain is a staple at all zoos.

Matt's sister got the kids tickets to ride the carousel. Luke chose the panda.

Maya chose a dolphin.

It was a lot of fun. We headed back to the apt around noon, which was nice because we avoided the major afternoon crowds at the zoo.

Here's Matt and Seth hanging out in the apt.

Matt's sister watched the kids and sent Matt and I on a date. It was really nice to be kid free for a couple of hours. Maya and Luke had a blast playing with their cousins.

On Monday morning we headed back to the park to check out the science museum and see a shark movie. While we waited for the movie, we checked out the exhibits.

Maya striking a pose next to the triceratops skeleton.

The T-Rex skeleton. Maya heard scared face and Luke heard scary face. Love it!

In front of the shark next to the IMAX entrance. It was a 3D Imax movie about all different kinds of sharks. Really cool. Felt like I was really next to the sharks, minus the cold ocean water and fear. Once again, Maya being scared and the boys being scary.

Luke was waiting all week to see the "Bruce" movie.

In the museum, they had a fun chemistry demonstration. I even learned a thing or too and a bunch of fun "experiments" we can do at home in our kitchen. In these pictures, the kids are learning how things expand and contract with temperature. They are holding a little glass tube that had colored water in the bottom. Their warm hands made the air trapped on the bottom expand and push the water to the top of the crazy straw type tube.





After the museum, we decided to walk to some playgrounds on the otherside of the park. At the halfway point was this great splash area near a pond with paddle boats and ducks. Luke had fun getting his feet wet in the heat.

It was a fun trip. Seth even slept through the night! Maya and Luke loved playing with cousins and getting to see Dad. The 3 hour car ride wasn't even that bad. Any longer and it might have been. It was a fun Memorial day weekend.

1 more night and this whole ordeal will be over. Matt will be home to stay! YAY!