Voice Recordings

For Christmas, our boys received a book from their Aunt Karen and Uncle Daniel.  To accompany the book, Karen and Daniel recorded themselves reading the book on a CD.  Tonight, Oliver wasn't feeling well, so he was listening to the book in his room while the rest of us were eating dinner.  Aiden kept wanting to go into the bedroom to see.  We explained that it is just a CD with Aunt Karen's voice.  He said he wanted to see Aunt Karen.  We explained again.  Then I said, "Let's go brush your teeth."  Aiden repied, "Aunt Karen is going to brush my teeth."  One day, Aiden will understand voice recording, but for now, he'll humor us with his quotes!

Houston Road Trip

This weekend was the annual "1209 Guys" Reunion.

The little boys and I decided to go along to Houston and visit my friend, Julie.  Boy what a treat it was for us!

On Sat, we got to see part of a state high school drill team competition. Julie's mother-in-law heads up a drill team east of Houston and was in Houston for the competition.

Wow, those girls are serious and talented.  And the captains have to be loud and strong.  Mark's sister was a drill team captain in high school.  I don't think of her as a loud person, so it was fun to picture her shouting instructions in that setting.

After naps, Julie so graciously arranged a flight(!) for me with her dad (a retired military and commercial pilot).

Very excited!

He lives among several neighbors who share a small airstrip.  He built a two-seater plane himself, an RV-7.  Julie designed the paint scheme and helped paint it.

What a beauty!

When I told Oliver that "Mommy was going flying," he said he didn't want me to go away.  I had to explain that I was just going on a ride.  I'd be right back.  He smiled at that point and was glued to the plane, fascinated.  Julie said the kids were shouting a countdown and cheering us on as we took off.

The cheering squad

Oliver cheering

Aiden:  "Look!"

Fly-by / Low pass

 The plane is considered aerobatic, so we had quite the time!

Meanwhile, Mark had a great time with the guys across town.

Updated Family Photo

We took a new family photo while we were in Houston.  We're proud of it, and we thought you guys would like it.

Happy Groundhog Day!

Looks like if you live in PA, you'll be having six more weeks of winter weather.  On the other hand, if you live on Staten Island, you'll be seeing spring sooner.  AND...if you live in Austin, well, happy spring this week/weekend!

To celebrate, we had a semi-date (with boys) at one of our favorite burger places. It was a last minute decision and to our very pleasant surprise, there was no line (RARE!). We did a cheers and then

dug into this deliciousness:

Mark has a special gift at ordering the most delectable item(s) on the menu.  In this case: the Magic Shroom burger (angus beef, texas goat cheese, field mushrooms, mayo & basil pesto), cooked medium rare.

A shortened nap for Aiden meant an early bedtime for him, and special Daddy/Mommy time with Oliver.  We have had SO MUCH FUN building train tracks.  He build the long, impressive bridge on this one.  Meanwhile, Daddy brought the helicopter in "to help people."  Oliver set up the helipad, and then Daddy flew the helicopter while Oliver and I drove the trains.

Scary

Is this what we look like?