National Cheesecake Day

Yesterday, I was post-call and therefore not at work, Anthony wasn't scheduled to work, and The Cheesecake Factory was offering half-price cheesecake slices, so of course we used that as an excuse to have lunch there. There were a lot of people there, but we decided to sit outside, so we didn't have to wait for a table. The temperature and humidity wasn't bad, especially for a summer day in San Antonio.

Natalie and I were going to share an order of Miso Salmon, my current favorite entree at The Cheesecake Factory, so we sat next to each other. She was very reluctant to have her picture taken, but I'm so glad that she eventually agreed. Can you believe she didn't like her hair in this photo because some hair was sticking out at her ears? Patrick and I have to work extra hard to get this girl to believe that she is beautiful.

Eric was making as laugh in this picture. At first he had a super big and silly smile and squinty eyes, then he decided to have "big" eyes. His eyes got smaller by the time I snapped this picture just because he was laughing so hard. Silly boy.

It was nice to have lunch with Anthony. I'm starting to miss him already. He constantly tells Eric things that aren't true and then Eric hesitates for a second and realizes that whatever it was Anthony said wasn't true. The downside, of course, is that Eric doesn't believe ANYTHING anyone else tells him either, because he has been trained to be skeptical. Anthony insists that he is trying to show Eric that even adults can be wrong sometimes. Thanks, dear. Maybe you couldn't have waited until he was a little older--to give your parents a little more time with a child believes everything we tell him. What's also scary (and admittedly, funny) is that Anthony says he will do the same thing to his kids when he has them.

Alex couldn't come with us yesterday because he was still volunteering at the PE Camp at his high school. Yesterday was his last day, however, so he was free today. I told Patrick yesterday that I would "fall on the sword" and offer to take Alex to The Cheesecake Factory again for lunch today. :)

We would have gotten Alex something yesterday, but he wanted the Fettucini Alfredo, and that dish is better fresh rather than heated up. He also wanted to get the Strawberry Shortcake, which comes with ice cream, so obviously, that was not something we could easily bring home for him. I had to help him with it because, after eating almost all of his food (which was a full dinner portion), he was already pretty full, and this dessert was so HUGE!

Eating there was not a problem for me either, because I had my second favorite favorite entree--Chinese Chicken Salad. It used to be my favorite, until they started offering the Miso Salmon. All the entrees at The Cheesecake Factory are large. This one is so big that even before I eat it, I put half of it in a to-go box so I can put dressing on the part that is left. That way the lettuce can stay half-way crunchy for the next meal. I got the lunch portion and it was still very big. I took off the noodle thingies that they use to decorate the top before putting half of it in the to-go box. Alex decided to try to pick it all up in one piece.

Oh, and I ordered an extra Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake to take home. I don't need to be eating that much cheesecake, but my family loves the Godiva one, so they will be snacking on it tomorrow. A second meal at The Cheesecake Factory was a nice excuse to spend a little time with my second oldest son.

Shop Girl

Alex and Anthony have been asking for new dress clothes. It's nice that they do like to dress up once in a while, and for Anthony at college, we especially like that idea. Since Alex has been volunteering at PE Camp at his school, he is gone during the day. Of course, I have to be at work anyway. Yesterday, he wanted to go shopping. Since we didn't have anything planned for dinner anyway, the whole family went to the mall so we could eat dinner then shop.

The reason why I like to eat at the mall is that the whole family can choose what they want to eat. This is especially nice with our two youngest, who are picky eaters. So, the six of us got food at five different places. Alex and Anthony got food at Chick-Fil-A. Eric got his "usual" spicy chicken nuggets and vanilla Frosty at Wendy's. Natalie got a pizza roll at Luciano's. Patrick got a gyro at Opah Greek Flavor. I ate a Philly cheesesteak sandwich at Charley's Grilled Subs.

Luckily, I finally got to sneak a picture of Natalie's sleeve while we were eating dinner. She and her cousin Emily were playing with my parents' label maker when we were visiting. Natalie got the label with Emily's name plus another label that says "alpaca's are cool" (sic). I had told her that "alpaca's" didn't need an apostrophe, but she didn't care. Emily had Natalie's name on her sleeve, and on the other label, she had "Unitato". I can't remember if I've posted about it here before, but Natalie likes to give every one nicknames that end in "tato". "Unitato" is short for "Unicorn (po)taro". Anthony is "chair tato". Eric is "minion tato". Alex is "fashion tato".

After eating, Patrick took the boys to JCPenney where they bought some ties that were buy one get one free. Alex also bought a couple of dress shirts. Natalie had not really been keen to go shopping, but wow, once she got in the shopping mindset, my credit card was smoking. Our first stop was to Journey's. She seemed shy and hesitant to choose a shoe to try on, but the salesman pointed us to the sale rack, and I saw the turquoise shoe in the photo. After he brought out that one, he brought out the red one with white polka dots--since she had said she liked the color red. That was on sale too. She also wanted a T-shirt that had a picture of a dinosaur with a cell phone taking a selfie. In the background is a meteor falling and the label "#selfie". I had to admit that shirt was funny. So, we spent about $80 there.

We then went next door to the Journey's Kids store. I had hoped to get Eric another pair of sneakers, but he didn't like any of the ones they had there. Natalie saw some Toms and she was automatically interested. Her red pair are quite worn (see photo). She ended up buying a black pair for about $40.

Then, we were on our way back to meet the others when we stopped at Aeropostale. She ended up buying a top that showed a bit more cleavage than I thought she was comfortable with, but she also got a pullover sweater/hoodie to wear over it and a pair of leggings. The total haul for my daughter including the previous purchases--about $180. On the plus side, she can wear any type of closed shoe to school, and she still fits into her uniform shirts and pants from last year. My wallet was happy when she wasn't as into clothes and shoes, but I'm glad she's paying a little more attention to what she's wearing. She credits Alex for getting her "into shoes". I sent him a text thanking him (with a sarcastic wink) when we bought the first two pairs. He, of course, replied, "You're very welcome".

Lucy

I have a couple of photos left to share from our Houston trip. My sister Cynthia's family got a dog a couple of months ago, and they named her Lucy. We got to meet Lucy for the first time this past weekend. My sisters and I never grew up around animals, so it's a new concept for us, Lucy seems to be a good dog. She gets excited, but she doesn't bark a lot, and she seems to be very loving. Eric loved petting her, and Lucy often hung out next to him when he sat on the floor. I tried to get some photos of Eric with Lucy, but Lucy wouldn't sit still for photos--sort of like my kids, except for Eric. Lucy also woke up Anthony each morning by licking his toes and/or face. Anthony slept on the floor in the game room, putting him at the right level for Lucy to reach.

Speaking of kids not wanting me to take pictures, I asked Natalie and Aly if I could get a picture of the two of them, after all, Emily let me take a photo of her with Natalie the day before. They both asked if they could shoot each other with water guns in the picture. I wanted cooperative subjects, so I say "yes". I also thought that it would make for a great picture. I love this!

While we're on the topic of "Lucy", I took Natalie to see her first rated "R" movie yesterday. Anthony was working, so Patrick stayed home with Eric, and I took Alex and Natalie to see the movie. I found it interesting that they adult and kids' movie tickets for rated "R" movies are the same price--$7 apiece at the theatre we went to. Honestly, she's seen worse in other movies and TV shows, so I didn't have a lot to discuss with her afterwards.

Tomorrow I'll post about my dear Natalie's recent shopping trips.

Visit to Lolo and Lola's House

We visited my Mom and Dad's house on Friday. I would have gotten food from a local restaurant to bring, but Mom already took care of ordering food from a "new place". She doesn't do as much cooking as she used to, but she has a lot of great places to order from. When we got there, Anthony said, "And you thought there wouldn't be enough food?" Well, I should have known she would have ordered enough for us plus my sisters and their families if they had come too. Mom ordered a full styrofoam take-out container of a barbecued pork dish and another similar container of chicken. She had another container filled with a noodle dish. She also made one of the kids' favorite--arroz caldo or "rice soup" as the kids call it. On top of that, she made one of my favorite dishes (and one that I always ask her for when I visit)--hot and sour soup. For dessert, she had brownies and flan.

Cynthia and her family had a dog-training session with their new dog Lucy. Melissa was at work and actually, her daughter Emily went to lunch with her dad and he dropped her off pretty much around the time we got there, so Emily and Natalie got to pal around all afternoon. One of the things they did was that they drew pictures with their eyes closed, then they would ask us to identify what they had drawn. They had a lot of laughs about that one. Eric then decided he would get in on the action, except he just wanted to draw. One of his drawings looked like a long-necked dinosaur with a long tail. Of course we all thought it was a brachiosaurus. Eric said, "NO! It's a Shunosaurus! Can't you tell by the club-tail?" Wow, okay--uh no, I couldn't tell by the club tail. I don't remember reading about a dinosaur called Shunosaurus. He was really taking the drawing seriously. Look at that face above!

Anthony came with us on this trip specifically because he will be going back to Boston soon, a couple of weeks before school starts. This will be the last time he says his Lolo and Lola until Christmas. One of the things I really wanted to do while we were there was to get a picture of him with his grandparents. My sisters agreed that this was probably the best photo of Dad, even though he looks mad in the picture. This is pretty much his expression nowadays. I don't see him as often as my sisters do, and it's still a bit of a shock every time I see his physical and mental decline. At least now, Mom has someone come to help her few times a week, but I wish she would get more help.

I finally got the girls to somewhat willingly get in the picture. It's too bad Alex couldn't make the trip with us, and I wish Nick and Aly were there too, but it was nice to get a photo of Lolo and Lola with their grandkids during our short visit to Houston.

The Boys

Here we are near the entrance of the Museum of Natural Science in Houston. We were waiting for one of my sisters to arrive. I had not taken my big camera out of the bag since the end of June, so I used that as an excuse to the boys to pose for a picture.

My nephew Nick is on the far left. He has had a growth spurt recently, so he is now taller than me. He is eight days older than Alex who is the same height as Anthony. We think Eric is following Nick's height trajectory.

Eric and Anthony spent a lot of time in the dinosaur exhibit--most of the time we were at the museum, actually. Anthony willingly spent the time with Eric. They will both miss each other when Anthony goes back to school.

The other activity that we did at the museum was see a "Mysteries of the Unseen" 3D movie. The boys (Nick, Anthony, and Eric) saw it with Cynthia, John, and me.

It's hard to get these boys to pose for a photo. My sister Cynthia got this quick snapshot while they were in the gift shop. The boys consented to let her take one photo. They looked at it after she took it and they said, "It's blurry. Oh well" That means that they weren't going to stand still for another one. I was happy to get any photo, blurry or not.

We actually spent a bit of time in the gift shop. Museum gift shops have cool stuff that you can't find anywhere else. Cynthia got Anthony some early birthday presents since he will be back at school then. One of them is a shirt with a pirate but with the label substituting the symbol "pi" instead of the letters "p" and "i". He also got a flask with the chemical structure of ethanol--"alcohol". Technically he can't legally use that yet, but he thought it was cool. Yes, my son is a geek.

I know this is a picture of Natalie, but my photo of Anthony wasn't as good. This was a "ride" that basically spins in different directions. Natalie is here about to ride it with Aly. Anthony rode it with Nick. I took videos of both.

Eric wanted to ride it too, but this ride was restricted to individuals five feet and taller. Technically, Natalie is just under five feet tall, but they didn't measure that closely. She was 100 pounds and 58 1/2 inches tall at her doctor's appointment last Friday. Emily didn't ride it, she's like her mother and gets motion sickness very easily.

Tomorrow I'll share some photos I took of when we visited my Mom and Dad.

The Girls

This will be a photo-heavy post. I had to share all of the photos of Natalie with her cousins Emily and Aly. Ever since my sisters and I were pregnant with girls at about the same time, I had hoped that our daughters would be close. Natalie sometimes feels sad that she can't be with her cousins much, since we live in another city, but when they get together, they pick up where they left off and they are best buds.

I'm not sure why they wanted to do this pose, but they did it last year when they were all at the museum, and they wanted to do this again. I just love that they are doing it together. By the way, you can't tell from this picture because of the angle that I took it, but Emily (middle) is the tallest, followed by Aly (left) then Natalie (right), which is pretty much their age order.

Here they are again with this pose that they also always do when they're together, with the two fingers spread.

One thing you can't see here is that there was another girl with us. Melissa has been dating a man named Michael, and he has a daughter named Mason, who is 13-years old. We met Mason for the first time during this trip to the museum. She is beautiful girl and did well especially considering that she didn't know anyone else.

Last week, Melissa asked Cynthia and me (via text) whether or not it was a good idea to bring Mason. Emily had expressed some reservations because the cousins know each other so well, and none of them knew Mason. Aly expressed similar reservations. I didn't even ask Natalie. She can talk to anyone--we see it all the time at swim meets. She'll start chatting up a storm with the girls in her lane, even though she's only just met them. I just told her to include Mason in whatever she's doing. I'm not sure that worked out entirely, but maybe the next time they meet, it'll be easier to include her. Hey, Mason loves photography, so she's already tops in MY book. :)

I can't resist taking a photo of these three from the back. Here you can really see their height differences.  They all have such long pretty hair, too.

There were a lot of great exhibits at the museum. We spent a little time in their new Magna Carta exhibit as well as the ongoing butterfly exhibit (which included the area about insects). My brother-in-law John was focused on the fact that the Magna Carta was supposedly signed on his birthday, June 15th, except in the year 1215. :)

I wanted to include one more photo of the three of them being goofy in front of a screen where they were showing the shadows of a bunch of bugs in motion. It's just as well that Anthony didn't see the bug exhibit. Alex still likes to talk about the time when Anthony saw a cockroach that he thought was alive and he, according to Alex, "screamed like a girl". That's not to insult any girls, but to describe how high-pitched Anthony's scream was.

I definitely had to include this photo because of the expression on Natalie's face. That face is so "Natalie" and how expressive her face is. They were all taking a little quiz on insects. She must have been either stumped by the question or surprised at the answer. Emily is on the far left, and my sister Cynthia is in the middle. Nick and Aly were seated right in front of me when I took this picture. None of them did very well. I guess we don't know a lot about insects.

Tomorrow, I'll share some photos of the boys.

Still a Dinosaur Boy

I'm in Houston with three of the kids for a couple of days. I have enough photos already that I'm going to have to break up my photos from just today and post a few at a time in the next few days. My sister's company has a yearly party at the Museum of Natural Science in Houston, and she usually invites us all. I've never gotten to go before, because they always have it on a weekday and by the time we find out the date, my work schedule is already set. This time it worked out that I could leave work early today to drive to Houston with the kids. Patrick would have gone too, but Alex didn't want to miss PE Camp. He is volunteering at the PE Camp for his school this month.

We got to my sister Cynthia's house before 3:30pm. We hung around the house for less than two hours before we had to leave again to go to the museum. I definitely do not miss the traffic in the Houston area.

Of course, the first thing Eric sees is the dinosaur in the museum gift shop, and he has to stop and stare at it for a bit. This is a Hesperosaurus, which is apparently a type of Stegosaurus but the plates on its back were not as tall.

After that, Eric spent probably a good hour or so at the dinosaur exhibit. I never made it over to the dinosaur exhibit. He had gone there separately with Anthony when the rest of us were sitting down, having some snacks, and socializing. They served hot dogs with the fixings to include chili and cheese, tortilla chips, salsa, and queso. Cynthia fed us ahead of time, so we didn't worry too much about eating. My family hasn't been able to eat hot dogs since watching the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest on the Fourth of July.

For some reason, Eric didn't want to go on the dinosaur ride they had there for kids, at least not at first. We were about to leave when he decided to get on the "Bronco-Saurus". Luckily by then, there wasn't much of a line any more.

We also had to exit through the gift shop where we had come in. He saw all of the dinosaur toys and we lost him for a bit. He enjoyed just looking at all of the figures, picking each one up and examining them. He wanted to get one of the T-Rex toys, but I convinced him that we didn't have to get it there. I might have to place an order at Amazon for that T-Rex soon.

Hippopotamus Rex

I just wanted to write a short little post today. I was in my bedroom upstairs when Eric rushed in with this napkin. He was so excited about showing me the "Hippopotamus Rex" that Alex had drawn on the napkin for him. The picture below shows the "Hippopotamus Rex" better.

I love Alex, but I was a little surprised that he was the one that drew this. Anthony has traditionally been the one who has shown a talent (and desire) for drawing. Alex had Art this past year and he complained about how he wasn't any good at drawing and that his teacher didn't like his work. Naturally, I took note of that and didn't think too much about it.

When I saw this, however, I was very impressed. I was equally impressed with how happy and excited Eric was about this drawing. Alex said that he didn't realize Eric would get so excited. Alex had just looked at a picture of a hippo to make the head, and a picture of a T-rex to make the body. Nice!

Tonight, Patrick was with Natalie at swim practice. She had physical therapy again today, and she felt good enough to swim at least the warmup. She still had to stop even during that short workout, but she was happy that she could at least swim (and go to practice to see her friends). They applied more tape to her back today, so we'll see how it goes.

While they were at swim practice, the boys and I went to Pei Wei for dinner. I was going to sit next to Eric because the seats were more comfortable on that side of the table (sort of a half-booth). Anthony insisted on sitting there because he wanted to sit next to Eric. He said, "I have two weeks left" implying that he wanted to spend some time with his little brother in the time he had left before going back to school. What a sweet boy.

Tonight, after I sang Eric's bedtime songs to him, we talked about how he needed to give Anthony a lot of hugs while he was still here with us. Eric said that Anthony is "funny" and that he is "a good big brother". Later he said that both of his brothers were "good big brothers". I told him that Natalie was a good big sister, too. He said, "Well, sometimes she's a good big sister." The kids don't always get along, but they do love each other and that makes me happy.

Setback

On Saturday, July 5th, Natalie went to the birthday party of one of her swim friends, Aspen. Aspen and her brothers are triplets, and they had a pool party to celebrate their 11th birthday. Natalie participated in the games and everything. Patrick had already warned her to be careful. It's easy to turn your back a funny way when you're playing pool games. Natalie and I also did a lot of walking while shopping at La Cantera Mall on that day.

Well, on Monday, July 7th, Natalie's back was sore, but she went to swim practice, hoping to "work it out". She didn't even swim 100 meters before she had to get out because her back was hurting.

Fast forward to last weekend. Natalie went to the Lifetime Fitness pool with us and with her swim friend Ally B. She went on the water slide there, but she didn't seem to be goofing around too much in the pool. Ally spent the night here that Saturday, July 12th. The following week, Natalie's back was hurting again, so much so that she didn't go to swim practice all of last week. She had her usual physical therapy appointments on Tuesday and Thursday. During her Thursday, July 17th appointment, they also taped her back.

Natalie said that the tape helped because even though her back was still a little sore, the tape made it feel better. We're not sure exactly what she did to aggravate her back again, but we keep getting reminded that her recovery will be a long drawn-out process. My poor baby girl! She is very disappointed that it's taking so long, but she is being a trooper and doing her back exercises regularly along with going to physical therapy twice a week.

Along with the "setback" theme, Eric's piano teacher (Justin) was involved in a bicycle accident in June, right after school ended. He broke his elbow and did not teach lessons for the rest of June. I was a little worried about how Eric's desire for taking piano lessons would be affected. He was already starting to complain about practicing piano and expressing a lot of hesitance in going to piano lessons. His teacher had suggested that his students still practice piano or even just play around on the piano during his absence. We didn't push Eric to practice daily during that time.

Well, Justin recovered and started teaching again starting after the 4th of July holiday. Surprisingly, Eric didn't complain about practicing piano or going to piano lessons again. In fact, practicing piano has become part of a routine for him. Basically, he knows that he can't play on the iPad until he practices piano, so he practices even without being asked. Natalie was NEVER that good.

I had to take this picture of him practicing because of the earphones in his ears. One of his assignments was to figure out how to play a simple tune after hearing it--an ear training exercise. The tune was "Sing Hosannah" and Justin told him to use the black keys on the piano and where to put his fingers before playing the song. The sound wasn't coming through very loudly on my iPhone without the earphones, so I put my bluetooth earphones in Eric's ears and let him listen that way. The pieces that go in the ears were way too big, but they managed to stay in his ears. He also managed to pick out the right notes for the song.

We'll see how Natalie and Eric both do in the coming weeks. I can't believe that the summer break is almost over already.

Shopping with Natalie

I was post-call yesterday, and I had a pretty good night, which meant that I got some sleep and therefore I had enough energy to do something on my post-call day besides sleep. I got an email saying that Ann Taylor Loft was having a 50% off sale for one day only. The last time I was at Ann Taylor Loft, I was with Natalie. Natalie saw a dress she liked there, but at $69.50, I told her that we would come back when it was on sale. She was disappointed, but I'm so glad that I made her wait. When I told her about the sale and that I would buy her that dress she wanted, she was excited and wanted to go.

Once again, Anthony was at work and Alex was at PE Camp, so it was just the four of us. We wanted to take the chance to have lunch together, so all four of us went to La Cantera Mall. Eric is really not much of a shopper. Patrick dropped us off so Natalie would not have to walk far. Her back has been bothering her this week (more on that another time). Eric was with us for a few minutes until Patrick came to get him to take him to the Apple Store. Eric found a place to rest in the dressing room.

The size 2 and extra small sizes at Ann Taylor Loft worked out the best for Natalie. Natalie not only got that dress, but she got another one in a different print. Both dresses have spaghetti straps, so she also got a dressy sweater to wear over them, plus another short-sleeved sweater. I also bought a couple of things, so Natalie and I spent a lot of money at Ann Taylor Loft--but it was a SALE!

After that, we went to The Cheesecake Factory to eat lunch. Natalie got a mango strawberry smoothie. I had to taste it myself, of course, since Mango is my favorite fruit, and it definitely had a strong mango flavor. Eric was a little disappointed that Natalie didn't share more of it with him, but at least he got to choose root beer for his drink. Natalie and I shared the Miso Salmon, and Eric had his usual Mac and Cheese. Patrick had his usual Spicy Chipotle Chicken Pasta. We got our dessert to go. I texted Anthony while we were there, and he requested his favorite--Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake.

(Note: That purple patch on Natalie's face is some sort of reflection. I did not want to have to mess with Photoshop to erase it.)

After lunch, Natalie and I made one more stop. A new H&M store just opened recently at La Cantera Mall. I was surprised, but Natalie picked out this dress to try on. Sorry for the bad fitting room photo, but I was trying to be quick--she doesn't usually like photos of herself, and I had to take this one before she changed her mind!

She tried the size 2 on first, and I had to struggle for a bit to zip it up. Even when I did get the zipper up, the skin between her shoulder blades was folding in a little. She said it wasn't uncomfortable--in fact, she liked the way it fit snugly so she didn't really need to wear a bra. We did try the size 4 and I could zip up the zipper much easier, so she decided to get that one. The dress only cost $7.50 and it's lined and everything!

I showed this picture to Anthony and he gave me a sad face that he gives me when I talk about Natalie growing up. I told my sisters a couple of weeks ago that I bought Natalie a couple of bras in size 34B. She also now wears the same size shoes as I do--size 5 1/2 to 6. My baby girl is growing up to be a beautiful young lady! She's getting more expensive to clothe, but at least she seems to have good taste in clothing.

Breakfast with Eric

I prefer selfies like this one where Eric is in most of the picture and only part of my face is showing. :) I'm on call tonight, so since I was off this morning, I took that opportunity to take my favorite 7-year-old to breakfast. I would have taken Natalie, but she did not want to get dressed. She was awake, of course, but she was on her Kindle and very comfortable in her bed.

I decided to go to the Magnolia Pancake Haus. Eric would have been fine with IHOP, but I like the coffee at the Magnolia Pancake Haus. I don't really drink coffee, but I love their coffee (with a lot of cream and sugar). He had the kids' pancake (with three small buttermilk pancakes) with sausage. I had the Bananas Foster French Toast with their Corned Beef Hash--yum!

Eric finished his food pretty quickly. His plate was already clean and I had not even eaten half of my french toast yet. Granted, I usually only finish half of my french toast when I go there (and save the rest for another yummy breakfast on another day), but he even finished his cup of chocolate milk AND his orange slice. He wanted me to take this picture to include a view of his empty plate next to my almost full plate. He also said that he was using the orange slice "for a smile". Eric really does make me smile. He is such a ray of sunshine for everyone in the family.

They gave him a "placemat" to keep him busy, along with some crayons. The printed front included an activity where they told you to circle the food items that you DON'T eat for breakfast. Well, pizza was one of the food items. I think everyone in my family has had pizza for breakfast at one time or another, so that was a confusing activity for Eric. I told him to go ahead and circle the items that he WOULD eat for breakfast. He included the pizza, of course!

He then did the maze on the front then proceeded to turn the placemat over to draw a picture on the back. He started out with some tall buildings. The "bad guy" was on top of the third building from the left (notice that he labeled him "bad guy" on the picture). Eric with his "ninja" skills started out on top of the left-hand most building and then flipped over in the air until he reached the building where the "bad guy" was so he could fight him. He included three of his school friends on the picture and labeled them so I would know who was who. Marques is suspended in the air in between the two middle buildings and for some reason has some lines extending to and from his stick-figure body. Josh looks like he's climbing on the outside of the third building from the left, and Hayden looks like he is helping Eric fight the "bad guy" from the right-hand most building. Eric has such an active imagination that's really fun to see sometimes.

It's too bad that Natalie didn't come with us, but in the end, it was nice to spend a little time with my youngest child who is growing up way too fast.

Natalie Selfies

Natalie has been missing her swim friends lately. Her back trouble is still up and down. She misses more practices than she goes to. Also, because she is still on the mend, she is taking it easy during practice, so when she does go to swim practice, she is in one of the slower lanes. Her friends, of course, are in the faster lanes.

Yesterday, Patrick and I planned on taking Eric to our gym for their "free pool party". At first, Natalie asked her friend Margot to go with her (because of course she didn't want to go with just her family), but Margot was going to the beach, so she asked her friend Ally B. instead. Ally was on her way home from Saturday morning practice, so she and her mom were here within a few minutes of the phone call.

We took them to the gym, along with Eric and Alex. Anthony had to work again. Alex was not interested in going to the pool, but because of his restrictions, we didn't want to leave him home alone, so he came along and just hung out in the lobby area with the free Wifi. I had hoped he would go exercise or something, but he didn't want to do that either.

I didn't take any pictures of Natalie and her friend at the pool, but I did take a few pictures of Eric that I might share later. While there, Natalie and Ally approached me (Ally calls me "Natalie's mom") and asked if Ally could spend the night over at our house. I had expected this because Ally lives way across town and so she rarely comes to visit. Ally's mom was fine with the idea as well.

Saturday evening, Natalie said that she wanted to take some selfies, and she asked for Patrick's phone. He refused. I, of course, agreed, hoping for some interesting photos of my baby girl with her friend. These three are but a small selection of the photos they took. She came downstairs after a few minutes and gave me my phone back, without a word of explanation or anything else that could be considered conversation.

I looked at my phone and saw large amount of blurry photos all taken in Natalie's room. Based on the time stamp on the photos, they took 109 photos in the span of five minutes. Wow.

I picked three of the photos that were at least a little bit in focus with Natalie in most of the frame. They took some photos of each other and a few didn't have either of them in the frame. It really looked like they were holding the phone and taking random photos--and they weren't trying to hold the phone still at all. They were probably giggling the whole time. Fun. It was nice to see Natalie having fun and smiling again. If she asks again to take more "selfies" with my phone, I'm going to let her.

Waterpark with Eric

I was reminded by my dear niece Emily that I haven't been posting on my blog lately, so here is a little something to tide her over until I can figure out what else to post about. :) By the way, Emily tried out for a club volleyball team and she made the team. Congratulations, Emily!Woohoo!

Patrick, Eric, and I made our first trip of the summer to our local Six Flags Fiesta Texas watermark on Thursday, July 11th. We've been too busy swimming in our neighborhood summer swim league (in June) and at our local gym to make the trek out to the water park, but I was off from work and it was a weekday and therefore less likely to be crowded, so we went.

Natalie did not come with us because she didn't want to go without taking a friend. Alex was volunteering at his school for the summer PE camp, so he was gone all day. Anthony had to work, so it was just Patrick, Eric, and me.

Eric wanted to stay in the kids' area, and he was having lots of fun, so we were fine with that. In the first picture above, he and Patrick are taking turns pushing down on their side of the water spout to make the water come out. Eric, of course, looks like he is really putting some effort into it. Besides playing with the water features, he played briefly in the climbing structure with lots of different water spouts spraying and dropping water everywhere. Mostly, he was content to play like he was engaging in Pokemon battles. I took a video of him doing the "waterwheel", which consisted of several consecutive sommersaults in the water.

Before we left, we went on the lazy river (not sure what they actually call it). Eric and I rode in a two-person inner tube (second picture above). I guided his end of the inner tube under each waterfall as we passed by them. He loved that. Patrick rode by himself.

This is the first time I've actually used my waterproof iPhone case the way it was meant to be used. I feel more confident with the case on my phone when I'm at swim meets and standing next to the swimming pool, but this is the first time I've actually taken it with me INTO the pool. It was tough to see the screen in the bright daylight, but it was worth it.