Port Aransas beach trip- Day 2

This morning we woke up at about 7am to Lyla singing, "Hello Pa-pa, gladtoseeyou!" We all got up and around and TJ made breakfast tacos for everyone. After we lounged around and drank some much needed coffee we packed our cooler and slapped on some sunscreen. TJ went to get our beach parking permits and then we were off. Lyla loved the beach! She went straight for the water. At first she wanted someone to hold her and then as soon as her little toesies hit the cool gulf she was hooked! She played in the surf and sand, helped Aunt Lyndsey and Daddy build sandcastles and drank her juice. Papa set up the canopy and we lounged in the shade and played in the sun for the morning. Around noon we headed back to the house, had lunch and put Lyla down for a nap. We spent the afternoon lounging around the pool, reading our books and relaxing in the water. After Lyla woke up 3 1/2 hours later we took her swimming! She is a fish! I bought her a swimsuit with floaties in it and she loves to jump off the step and swim to get things she's thrown into the water. She is learning that if she kicks her feet she can get where she wants to go. For dinner Brandon and TJ grilled Kabobs and we toasted a good vacation with some great wine! After dinner we all got dressed and headed to the beach for sunset beach pictures which hopefully will turn out great, we'll find out for sure when I upload them. We returned home to put our little stinky to bed and enjoy some ice cream. We are now all lounging around getting ready for a long siesta!!

Port Aransas beach trip- Day 1

On Tuesday morning we left bright and early for Port Aransas/Corpus Christi! We got up, finished packing, got dressed and shipped the dogs off to the Rays! (p.s. Thanks Kristin, Brian and Nolan for putting up with them!) We stopped at our customary breakfast taco joint, Taco Shack on Metric and Parmer, before heading down I-35. We stopped once in Kyle for a quick potty break.
Our road trip was pretty uneventful. Lyla slept for about an hour, along with mommy, and we listened to some good music and sang songs with Lyla! We decided to spend our time before we could check into our cottage at the Texas State Aquarium. Lyla loved watching the fish in their "pools". She kept wanting to jump into the tanks with them and swim. We went around to all of the exhibits and then went to see the dolphins. After that we took a lunch break and played on the toddler playground for a little while. Of course, by now, it was about 85 billion degrees outside with about 400% humidity, so we didn't stay outside for long. We decided to take in the dolphin training show before heading out. We also made a last minute stop in the gift shop and got Lyla her very own dolphin, he is stuffed!!
We headed out to Port Aransas about 3:30pm thinking we were making great time but that feeling soon left us when we got to the ferry line...45 minute wait!! AHHH! Lyla was taking a snooze so Teej and I settled in and I read funny parts of a book to him as we waited. We were unlocking the door to the Key Lime Cottage at about 4:45pm! We savored a delicious dinner of hot wings followed up by a brownie sundae for dessert! Brandon, TJ and I took a trip to the local grocery store to get some things we forgot and adult beverages where we encountered some funny locals, yes there's a funny story to that one too! Now we are ready for the beach in the morning! Pictures will follow when we return home!

Dancin' in the Kitchen!

What a Monday morning. Lyla woke up bright and early ready to party. She's been singing some of her songs from her music class. One sounds kinda like, "Bum, Bum, Bum, Bum". So I grabbed the camera to try to get her singing and dancing!

Swimming at Momo and Popo's...

On Saturday TJ and I went floating with some of his family members. We had a great time and Lyla enjoyed spending the day with her Momo and Popo. They did a lot of fun things including taking a little dip in a creative swimming pool!!

Happy Fourth!

Yesterday we had a pretty laid back day. We stayed around the house and did some necessary chores then went to Academy to get Mommy ready for her first day of Boot Camp on Tuesday. I'm nervous! After our outing we headed home to make our side dishes to take to the neighbors house. They grilled Ribeyes and we had a fantastic meal! Because we all have small children and it was like 4,000 degrees outside we made the executive decision to stay home and not brave the crowds at the Freedom Fest. After the kids, Lyla and the neighbor's little girl, were asleep we headed to another neighbor's house, monitor in hand, to play Rock Band. This was my first experience and it was a lot of fun. Needless to say we stayed up far too late, and over-stayed our welcome by at least 5 songs. Anyway, I took pictures of Lyla in her 4th outfit with TJ. Here are some photos of our Independence Day!

Juan in a - PBJ!

A couple of months ago TJ and I were watching the travel channel and a show called Man Vs. Food came on. They were featuring places in Austin! One of the places was a little restaurant downtown called Juan in a Million. They have a breakfast taco called the "Don Juan" el Grande Taco. It's made with eggs, bacon, potato and cheese! So the guy on the show decided to try to eat 8 of these tacos. It takes no less than 3 tortillas to eat one plate of the Don Juan taco. Needless to say, food won. He only ate 5! This morning I had one and it was super filling!! Delicious!! Since it had cheese on it Teej had Barbacoa tacos...yuck!! Lyla even tried some and I'm pretty sure she said yuck too! Here are some pictures from our breakfast.

Today Lyla had one of her first peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! She loved it! By the end she had jelly on her arms and all over her face!!

La Musica

When you ask Lyla about "musica" she says "moo-kee-sa". She loves music. She loves to dance. She especially loves it when someone sings to her. Even though we are not musically gifted in the singing department, TJ and I both play instruments. We love to sing for fun at home and of course in the car. Last summer we went to a birthday party and they had a wonderful young lady come in and share "music together" with us. At 10 months old Lyla loved it! So, this summer we signed up for the summer session at Heartsong Music. Today was our second class and Lyla was even more interactive today than our first week. She's even trying to sing the tonal patterns! We danced with ribbon sticks today and shook the egg shakers! Here are a few pictures of Lyla enjoying her music class!