Family Invasion

We own a townhome as many of you know-and I think it is just perfect. I have never thought of it as too big or too small-until my family came! It is amazing how 4 and a half extra bodies can eat up space! Be we were resourceful and thanks to a few air mattresses we had places for everyone to sleep!


My mom, and sisters Michelle, Amy and Leslie came to visit for a long weekend, along with my niece Kaylee. I was so excited for them to come, we love to have visitors-especially family. And my little sisters were most excited about the pool in our complex. They would have tried to sleep there if we would have let them I think!


We did all kinds of fun things while they were here. Friday we played in the park and had a bar-b-que picnic...by lamplight since we didn't get started until late. :)


Saturday we went to the zoo in Fort Worth

and to The Fort Worth Stockyards to see the rodeo and have some "real" Texas food.





Kaylee did not like the rodeo too much as the loud noice scared her but I not sure who enjoyed the rodeo the most, Leslie because she won the calf chase and received a PINK cowgirl hat, or my mom as she watched the barrel racers and relived her days riding her horse Fender.

Sunday I cooked a lasagna-with turkey meat (shhh don't tell my sisters) and invited my nana and a friend from work over for dinner. I love having dinner with friends and family. Alan and I eat too much alone, we love having company for dinner!


Monday the girls and Alan made breakfast for everyone while I was at work then we all went to the Rec Center near our house. They have an indoor and outdoor pool area but due to the stormy weather we spent most of our time inside. My mom and I introduced going under water to Kaylee...she likes the water at lot. We helped Leslie and Amy perfect their dives. Leslie is fearless...the poor thing had hot pink legs and torso by the time she was done, there were a few dives that turned into "belly flops" that make you hurt just watching. They were both showing signs of improvement by the time we left.



You know, I always forget until I am around family-how crazy life can be! There is never a dull moment in my family-it made our house seem very empty and quite once they left. I can't wait to see them for Sarah's wedding!

Becoming actively engaged

Hey everyone. This is Alan. I know, surprised that it is ME that is writing on this thing, huh. My wife decided that I needed to get with the 21st century and learn how to post on our blog. So here I am writing a message (with her right beside me ensuring that I do so) so that everyone will officially know that I will now be an active participant in our blog site (sigh). They say wives are good for keeping you in line.......I guess its true. but honestly, I couldn't survive without her and I'm glad to take a greater part in this thing. So get ready to hear more from me!!

Cali Vacation

After working ourselves to tears, we decided we maybe needed a vacation! So I rounded up some of my travel points and we headed to California! I was so excited to go back with Alan and show him all of the places and things I loved when I lived there, it feels so much like home there for me! So I thought I would show you my favorite picture or two from each day.

Day 1-Santa Cruz

So we stopped on our way to Monterey in Santa Cruz to walk along the boardwalk and low and behold we found the biggest sand dollar I have ever seen as we walked under the pier! (You may be happy to know that it made it home in one piece.)

We then headed to Monterey, CA and hit up the wonderful aquarium there. Oh course stopping along hte way and the roadside fruit stands for some oh so tasty local produce. YUMM! My favorite exhibit at the aquarium is the jelly fish. I think it is just beautiful, and my pictures do not do it justice! But you get the idea.

We then had dinner at one of the local resturants and walked along the fisherman's warf. Nothing like the smell of fish, salt and kelp to finish off the evening! :)

Day 2- Monterey and Carmel

We suited up in our oh so sleek kayak gear and braved the waves, well, more like the wind, and spent the morning crusing around the bay. Those kayaks are pretty big and heavy on land, but it is amazing how small and insignificant you feell once you get on the water! Dodging sea lions and boats is quite exciting! I even saw a jelly fish as we were paddeling, and I was glad I was in my kayak.

We went into this cove and saw some seals with their pups, I thought they were so cute! Although not most agile creatures on land. This one moma seal totally kept giving us the eye, so we decided to move on.

We spent the rest of the day driving through Carmel and down the coast to Big Sur. I wanted to stop a take a picture like every 2 minutes, but the wind really picked up and made it quite hard to hold my camera still, not to mention freeze my fingers to it!

Day 3-Fresno

We slept in and then headed for Fresno to visit Alan's cousin Dawn and her family. Being the Type A planner that I am, I of course had already printed up Mapquest directions to all of the stops that I was not familiar with, but in this instance it was not very helpful! I swear we were driving in circles, and then one of the roads we were supposed to take was under construction and totally shut down...a few u-turns and a bit of "discussion" and we finally made it!

I realized after we left that I did not get any pictures taken, but I am totally going to blame that on Alan! :) We had dinner with the family and it was great to get to know them and to visit. Expecially the big screen tv that we watched American Idol on...I can't believe Brooke didn't get voted off!

Day 4/5-Back to SF area-No visit to San Francisco is complete without a visit to:

Golden Gate Bridge

Lombard St-People actually live on this street!

Fisherman's Wharf-Alan had fresh crab, what a time consuming meal!
The trolleys

Chinatown-After a stop at Sam Wu's for dinner ( a little dissappoing meal, but defintely part of the asian experience) and some site seeing, we ended up with a cool set of chop sticks.

North Beach-We hit the gelatto shops twice I think and tried almost every flavor that they had! So Good! We had dinner there one night to celebrate Alan's birthday with my friend Melissa! We ate atFigaro's and had dinner real Italian style with like 4 courses of food. It was a good thing we spent all day walking! My plan worked, in that Alan kept being reminded of Italy...and saying he wanted to go back and visit! :) I keep telling him to just say when and I am there! :)

We had such a good trip, and amazingly enough we were not totally exhausted by the time we got home. We were able to see many friends and family and to relax and ejoy time without phones or emails. I think the last time we were actually about to spend that much time together was our wedding, so for us this was a great week!

San Antonio Part II

Ok, so we did alot in one day....after Sea World we went to downtown and had dinner and took one of the tours along the RiverWalk, Undeniably the coolest thing in Texas I have seen so far!

River Walk Facts:

1. In some places the water is only 2 feet deep while in others it is over 20 feet deep.

2. The River gets drained yearly and the contents include strollers, wheelchairs and garbage, of course.

3. At least one cell phone is lost in the depths of the river everyday.

4. After 11 pm there is strong correlation between the amount of alcohol people consume and the number of people who fall into the river.

On Saturday we went for round Two at Sea World...which of course created the telltale markings of sunburn on each of us..especially seeing as we are all white as can be after a winter of no sun!

When then went to visit the ALAMO...I am sure I will get shot for this, but really the Alamo is not as big as you think it is going to be...and the history behind it is super sad, everyone dies!

But, as you can see, there are always lots of things for boys to play with at an old Fort!

We were also very lucky to catch the St Patrick's Day Parade, and I thought of my brother when I saw these guys. I can't wait to see him in his kilt! There is just something enchanting about bagpipes.