Memorial Day Part 2 of 2 - Wedding & Anniversary

So it was a very special wedding that brought us to Austin for Memorial Day weekend!  This wedding was very near and dear to my heart.  When I was 11 years old I started babysitting for our next door neighbors and little did I know then what a special bond I would form with their daughter, Alyssa who was about 2 or 3 at the time.  I absolutely loved babysitting for them and it became a weekly date night for their parents. When their second daughter, Carli was born I babysat for them when she was only 2 weeks old and I still remember holding her in my arms all night, just in awe of how beautiful and tiny she was.

I have so many memories with this sweet family!  When Kevin and I were married 12 years ago, Alyssa was our Junior Bridesmaid and her younger sister Carli was one of our flower girls!

Over the years we have moved away and thankfully Facebook kept us connected.  I have always loved seeing Alyssa's updates and am so amazed by what a beautiful, successful, determined and talented woman she has become!  When she announced her engagement  to her long time boyfriend Seth, I was so hopeful we would be invited and have the opportunity to see her walk down the aisle!  My dream came true and we were so excited to be invited to be there for their special day!

We couldn't believe that Alyssa and Seth were getting married in the same chapel that Kevin and I did 12 years ago when she was our flower girl!  What a walk down memory lane for all of us!  She resonated with beauty and her dress was absolutely stunning!  How was this the little girl that I remember curling her hair while I was babysitting her like it was just yesterday!   Time really does fly! 

What a fun wedding, like seriously the best wedding I have ever been to!  From the food, to the dancing, company and entertainment, you could just feel the love of these two all throughout!  It was such an honor to share this day with them!  I am so happy for them!  Their love story is just beautiful and I can tell they have a lifetime of happiness ahead of them!

Not only was it the same church, but it was only a week after from the exact day of our anniversary!   So, I figured that while we were in town for Alyssa and Seth's wedding it would be the perfect opportunity to sneak away for a  much needed and long overdue night away and leave the kids with Lita and Grandpa to celebrate our 12 year anniversary!  Lita & Grandpa were more than happy to have the kids to themselves for a while so Kevin and I slipped away into the hill country and enjoyed some time together!

Our hotel offered lots of activities to choose from and we started off our stay with a little archery!  Who knew this was so much fun!  I really enjoyed it!

Next we decided to try the "swing over the hill country" which was anything but a swing!  It was terrifying!

They strap you up and then put you in a harness and a wench pulls you up 35 feet into the air while you are holding onto a bar, while secured with a hook from your waist harness to the bar.  At this point was I thrilled, thinking it was going to be so fun!  Kevin was was not nearly as excited about it but was going along with it.  It wasn't until this day that I realized how much he really dislikes heights.

As we were going up, I began to get a little nervous and wondered if I was really glad we were doing this or not anymore.  We were supposed to get 35 feet up in the air, and then Kevin would pull a rope that would then set us into a 10 foot free fall, leading us into our "swing" over the hill country.

At about 32 feet high (higher than this picture) the pull line let go on its own and with no warning we suddenly plummeted into our 10 foot free fall and it was absolutely terrifying!!  Apparently that happens fairly often...they told us afterward!  WOW!  We were so freaked out!  We were screaming and holding on so tight for dear life!  So, needless to say, that was the end of our adventure seeking activities! 

We spent the remainder of our 1 night stay doing incredible things like eating amazing food....

laying in hammocks...

enjoying adirondack chairs...

lounging by the pool...

getting a massage at the spa...

walking around the property and finding beautiful hidden gardens like this one...

and enjoying this amazing view from our room that they gave us a free upgrade to!

All in all, I think I concluded that as much as I loved our adventurous experiences, the relaxing ones are much more my style!  Our life seems pretty full of adventure, thrill and excitement as parents of little ones in this season of marriage.  The quiet time together was the most appreciated and meaningful time of our trip!  As lovely as it all was I actually got sick with a fever and body aches/chills around 6pm and barely made it through our second day only thanks to Advil keeping the body aches at bay!  Finally a night away and I get sick...wouldn't you know it!  It was still a wonderful time and I am so thankful to Lita and Grandpa for watching our babies so we could spend this time together.  12 years into marriage I am realizing how important and difficult it is to carve out time for each other and to keep "dating" each other and to keep falling in love with each other every day.  Life is busy, kids are crazy, and work never ends...but this love is what created this family and it deserves to be nurtured and kept sacred through all of life's to do's and day-to-day schedules!  So thankful we had the opportunity to spend one night here just to be in each other's company, have complete conversations and eat hot meals!  It's the little things!!!  It was amazing! I wish I could do it all again...even the swing if it meant getting to experience all the relaxing parts again too! :)

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First Swim in the Neighborhood Pool

The kids had a blast today for their first swim in the neighborhood pool!  It was definitely a lot more crowded this year.  We have been spoiled the past two years, but as the neighborhood grows, so do the number of swimmers!  

Here they are!  Welcome summer time!!!  Clark insisted on swimming in his shirt and water shoes...I chose not to fight that battle!  Eventually he decided it was okay for the shoes to come off.

Clark doing what he loves most...jumping in!

And thanks to my waterproof camera...here he is underwater right after his jump! His puddle jumpers bring him right back up!  I am so thankful for those things!  LOVE them!

Claire enjoying some relaxing time on her float...oh this girl is sooo my daughter! I could float in a pool for hours---if I wasn't constantly racing after my kids to make sure they stay alive of course while we are anywhere near a pool! ;)

Clark decided to give it a try.  It lasted about as long as it took for me to snap this picture, then he was off and running around and swimming again.

I love these shots below of our two kids.  It totally shows their personalities.  Claire is taking some time to assess the situation and plan out her jump...meanwhile Clark is just going for it, no time for thinking about things before they happen!  Love them both so very much!

It's an exciting year for me!  This is the first year that they have both been so good in the water!  Clark is doing a great job of keeping his puddle jumpers on and Claire is doing really well swimming on her own!  While I am still super cautious and never take my eyes off them, I don't feel quite as terrified as I have the past two summers when I took them to the pool alone!  This should be a really fun summer!  I am looking forward to many days at the pool!

Memorial Day {Part 1 of 2} Swimming

This year we spent Memorial Day in Austin so we could attend a very special wedding-more on that in Part 2 of this post!

We arrived at Lita & Grandpa's house Saturday afternoon and the kids could hardly wait to jump in the pool and swim!  I am so glad we had just finished our week of swim lessons because the kids were both very confident in the water and eager to practice all their new skills!

The pool water was freezing since we have had so many rain storms, lower than average temps and lots of cloudy days!  The kids got in for about 20 minutes, but that was all they could handle!  The next day Grandpa heated the pool for us which made it much more enjoyable and everyone jumped in!  Clark was having the time of his life with the water guns!

Claire loved her pool ring!  This was her first year without wearing a puddle jumper or having floaties in her way and she had a blast jumping in the water with this ring and swimming around the pool with it!

I was so happy we caught a break in the rain and clouds to have some fun in the sun!  This is all the kids have been wanting to do and their wish came true!

Clark, the always daring and brave son of ours found his joy in jumping off the edge and into the deep end!  He is great at it and loved jumping in, going under and then lifting back up thanks to his puddle jumper!

Big splash!  These kids had a blast and could literally live at the pool all summer long!  We love Lita and Grandpa's pool!  With all the beautiful landscaping and hill country around us we feel like we are at a resort!  Thank you Lita and Grandpa for such a fun time!

Coming up in Part 2- the wedding and our anniversary time together!!! 

Swimming in the Rain

Today the kids completed their week of swim lessons!    Of course, as luck would have it the rain was pouring down on the one day we get to come and watch them, but they swam anyway and loved it! Their swim teacher heated the pool this week since we have had so much rain and lower than average temps so they kids LOVED swimming in the warm water and jumped right in!

Clark did excellent in swim lessons and his teacher said she even had to push him further and challenge him more because he was doing so well...she also said that he was "very BRAVE!"  I know exactly what she meant by that...he is fearless and therefore dangerous!  He has no hesitation and while he mastered everything in his intro class like jumping off the edge, blowing bubbles and a few other basics, he is definitely not an independent swimmer after only 5 30-min classes!  

I will be keeping a very close eye on him at the pool again this year, but at least he has had some instruction of being safe and finding the edge if he does fall in!

He said that the "monkey crawl" was his favorite thing and he was really fast at it!

Still working on floating, but making good progress!  Overall I am just so proud of him for being such a great listener in class and doing so well in his first group lessons every of any sort!

Claire had a strong finish for her Level 1 (2nd year) class!  

She can now swim without a puddle jumper or floaties...which totally makes me nervous, but her swim coach says she can do it, so we will give it a try!  

While Claire was showing us everything she learned, Clark was supposed to be standing under the umbrella with me, but if there is rain falling from the sky and a puddle anywhere in sight, it is quite impossible to keep him away from it.  Between juggling my umbrella, massive camera, camera bag/purse, kids towels and cover ups all while being attentive and responsive to Claire I pretty much just had to give in after many verbal attempts to ask him to stay by me.  After her 15 min show, he was covered in water and mud up to his chin.  I had to choose to either chase after him and try to wrangle him while missing her moment, or just let him be him and deal with it later.

Oh man, what can I say.  This kid just loves life!  It's been a great lesson for me as a mom...I will never judge another mom again.  I've learned to just let go and roll with it.  It's just water, right?

He was so wet he had to ride in the car wearing only his diaper and wet shirt.  Wouldn't you know we had to stop at Costco on the way home, so there I was loading a toddler into a wet Costco cart and he was half naked with no shoes...remember what I said about not judging other moms, LOL!

We went right to the pajamas since he needs those anyway and I tore those darn tags off and dressed that kid right there on the display table.  One of my finest moments! LOL  We kept the tag and of course paid for them on our way out!  Thank you Costco for allowing me to bring in a half naked and wet toddler without asking any questions, dress him on your tables and leave with out any dirty looks!

Swim Lessons & Whoopie Pies

Well, I'm making an attempt to get back to this blogging thing because I'm just coming off of Claire's preschool graduation and trying to soak up every moment with the kiddos and I recently went back and read a bunch of my old posts and I was soooo glad they were there!  So, without further ado, or any attempts to catch up on the past 2-3 years of absence on the blog (because the thought of trying to do that makes my head spin) we'll start with today!!!

The kids started swim lessons!  This was Clark's FIRST time to be in any sort of lessons and I had a lot of concern that he was going to scream and cry and not want to be away from me...but this sweet boy totally surprised and was such a CHAMP!  Due to huge morning storms I wasn't able to get any good pics of him.  I honestly thought lessons would be cancelled, but the skies cleared just in time to leave!  I snapped these pics when his class ended!  Claire and I were secretly watching him through the gate and he was doing SOOOOO good!  I can't tell you how happy I was to see him listening and following directions and staying where he was supposed to!  It totally surprised me and made me realize how much he is growing up! He LOVED it!

During his lessons I snapped a few pics of Claire!  Her class was right after his and she was so excited to swim with Ms. E again!  She came last year and has been eager to come again!

and then one without the cover up showing off her new Ariel swim suit form the Disney Store that we scored for 50% off (woo hoo!)

During her swim lessons Clark had a blast hanging out with me in the car and discovering all the joys of the buttons and dials!  He was so funny...full of laughter.  He was truly shocked when he discovered he could control the volume of the music!  I love his joy and laughter!

Then it was time to get Claire and she was happy as could be!  I am so happy our first day of swim lessons went well!  Whew!  Let's hope that continues the rest of the week!

On a side note...Claire's LOVE for baking continues to grow and we are doing our own Summer Baking Series which is sure to be amazing for us...and a huge challenge for my "healthy eating"!! This week she chose Whoopie Pies!  Oh my gosh...seriously I am so thankful this recipe made such a small amount because if there were any more we would be in serious trouble!  They were incredible!!!

Looking forward to what looks like a very "sweet" summer and making lots and lots of memories with my babies!!!!