Birthday Round 2

I woke up Saturday morning, feeling extremely unrested, couch sleeping is not comfortable.. We also woke up with an air of uncertainty; we knew that we wanted to do fun things with Carolina all weekend for her birthday, but we hadn’t decided what those fun things would be.

Earlier in the week I had created, if I do say so myself, a wonderfully detailed list of things going on around town that would be fun. Museums, movies, water parks and fun restaurants were all represented on this list along with pros and cons of each option. I had expected Isaac to go over the list and cull out a few of the things and then we’d present the final list to Carolina for her to pick what activities she wanted to do. However, he’d had a busy week at work and was not been able to look over the list until we pulled it out Saturday morning; all this to say that is how we ended up having Sunday dedicated to the Volente Beach water park. More on that later though! The big item Carolina picked for Saturday was a viewing of Tangled at popular Austin pool, Deep Eddy. This was not until the evening, however, so we had several hours before then to fill. Carolina decided she wanted to visit the State Capital, go miniature golfing and then go to the pool.

We knew this would present some challenges due to the intense heat we have been sitting in for about 3 months now. It’s been over 100 degrees for over 60 days now and it shows no sign of letting up. The capital wouldn’t be horrible, the building is air conditioned, but it would require a walk from parking to the building. The pool wouldn’t be awful either due to the fact that well…it’s a swimming pool, but miniature golf was going to be the test. Peter Pan Putt Putt is an Austin institution, but it sits in an urban area and that place gets HOT. I’m sure there’s some scientific reason as to why it always feels 10x warmer there than everywhere else in town, but it is a place best visited in the evening after the sun goes down. We would be there about 4 in the afternoon, the most hellish part of an Austin summer afternoon. We accepted the challenge though and donned our lightest clothing and an assortment of sun screens and set off on our adventure.

We hit the Capital first, and we had been surprised when Carolina asked to go here, it wasn’t on our list and we had gone back in June. That day though, we had gone later in the day when many of the rooms had been closed for the day and Carolina had been very disappointed so we had promised to come back again when rooms were open and we could poke around more. I just didn’t think she’d take us up on that so soon. We parked in our awesome downtown parking lot where we always find a spot and walked across the street to the Capital. Normally when you visit the capital you walk slowly across the grounds taking in the statues, fountains and beautiful lawn. On this 104 degree day we barely looked twice at the lawn and set our sights on the entrance and the AC. It was a busy afternoon, but we headed straight for the rooms we’d missed out on before, the Texas Senate and Texas House chambers.

We’ll stop here for a brief civics lesson: the Texas state legislature mirrors the US government in that it is a bi cameral legislature split into the House and the Senate. The state Legislature meets every other year unless the Governor calls a special session, which only he can do. The State Capital building looks very similar to US Capital but its 7 inches taller. And they say size doesn’t matter… ;)

After viewing the Senate chamber we stepped out and saw someone exit a room I had never noticed before. We decided to be nosy and see what this new room was all about and found ourselves in a senate conference room complete with a podium and microphone. Isaac was the first one to pounce on the microphone which, thank god, was turned off, but he none the less had fun “playing” West Wing and so of course Carolina had to play as well. I finally drug them out of there and we continued our tour. Carolina had wanted to go back to her favorite part of the building which is the newer annex that happens to be located all underground. It’s nice and modern, but there’s not much to see besides a center atrium that lead back to ground level and was used in a Spy Kids movie. Other than that it’s just long hallways and office. (And a gift shop, but we’ve made sure that Carolina hasn’t found out about that yet, I can just imagine what they would charge for a stuffed armadillo that says Texas.).

It was getting late and we need to move on so we said a sad good bye to the AC and headed back to the car. Along the way I insisted that we stop to see one of the Art Cows that is across the street from the Capital. The Art Cow installation is project where different cows were decorated and then placed around downtown to remain there until October when they will then be auctioned off and the proceeds will go to the Children’s Hospital in town. I had heard about but had not seen for myself the cows and I was excited to see a Lifesaver (the candy not the… item) cow across the street from the Capital and made us take photo stop before hopping in the car and heading a little further south to the Peter Pan Putt Putt.

Besides the heat, my biggest concern about the mini golf plan had been the crowds. I’ve had to wait up to 30 minutes to begin playing before and it’s a pretty popular place in South Austin. Apparently not when it’s 104 out, the place was deserted. We had our choice of parking spots in the shade and were one of about 3 group’s total. We practically had the place to ourselves! I warded off heat related whining by immediately getting Carolina a cherry sno cone and heck for the $1 it cost I should have gotten myself one as well!

None of us excel at the game of miniature golf, but we managed to move swiftly enough through the 18 hole course and I believe much of this was heat related. We wanted this game over as soon as possible. I for one there were a couple holes where my ball mysteriously moved a little closer to hole than where it had originally landed. By the time we finished we were drained and ready for some food. Isaac had requested we get dinner from P. Terry’s a burger place that only uses meat from you know…organically fed cows and what not. They’re supposed to be healthier and they taste pretty good but best of all they are right across the road from the putt putt place. It’s a drive through only place so we relaxed in the car while we waited to get our food. I, of course was desperate for a Coke and when Isaac handed me my drink I had the best surprise of the day waiting for me; it was the best Coke I had had in quite awhile.

What makes a good Coke you might ask? A good coke has almost too much carbonation and not too much syrup. It’s sweet, but has a bite. This Coke had all of that and I made sure we all had some and could experience this rare find. The Coke alone totally made my day!

Once we got our food we drove over to Deep Eddy park to eat lakeside before hitting the pool. The burgers were fabulous and devoured quickly and then we were more than ready to hit the water. Deep Eddy is a spring fed pool so it maintains a constant temperature of about 69 degrees year round and it’s not chlorinated. The pool sits in a mass of old oak tress that provides large areas of shade over the grassy hillside next to it. The main pool is pretty shallow never getting deeper than about 4 feet, but there is also a large lap pool next to it that Isaac was eager to take advantage of that evening. This evening there was also a large inflatable movie screen set up on the side of the pool across from the grassy hill and we were able to snag seats high enough on the hill to give us a great view of the screen for later. Then we dove in, well Isaac and Carolina dove in, I inched my way in as I am not a huge fan of the cold water and generally sit out when the water is colder than my liking, but on this long hot afternoon even I couldn’t resist. We splashed around for awhile and then Isaac went to swim some laps. During one of the 5 minute rest periods as Carolina and I perched on the edge of the pool she noticed a couple school friends and ran over to say hi and ended up jumping in with them. I was fine with this, I had almost had my fill with the pool and was happy to lounge on my towel for awhile in shade and enjoy the evening and Carolina loved splashing around the pool with her friends. The movie didn’t start until 9pm exactly but the sponsors of the event, Carinos, handed out fans and bug spray as well as raffle tickets and very soon the place was packed!

I really enjoy the movie Tangled, the Easter Bunny brought Carolina the movie in her Easter basket and we’ve watched it several times. It’s a very fun, fast moving story that has some great songs, which is something you don’t see much anymore in animated movies. I admittedly tear up during the “Now I see the Light” song and at the end when **Spoiler Alert” Rapunzel reunites with her parents. Carolina’s friend Gabby joined us for part of the movie and Carolina went back and forth between the pool and her towel and a great time was had by all!! We got home after 11 and put an already sleeping Carolina straight to bed. Isaac and I were up another hour preparing for the next day and unwinding and dreading the water park the next day. We were to be surprised though…

Birthday Weekend Madness

We are going through birthday hangover right now! Carolina's 8th birthday was last Friday, August 5th and partied hard all weekend. I have a feeling my 30^th second 29^th birthday in a couple months will not be celebrated as hard as this one was. We started out slow though, a dinner at home with my mom, stepdad, niece Faith who was staying with them for a few days and my sister Vicki. Kristina also stopped by later in the evening, but Avery had prior grandparent obligations that couldn't be moved.
Carolina had asked the prior weekend that I make a tortellini dish that we generally reserve for Father's Day, but I was more than happy to pull out my recipie for her birthday, plus she loves to help make it so it's even more fun.
Yummy Tortellini dish care of Kristina via the Food Network!

First thing that had to be done was decorating, though. Carolina has a Liberachi sense of decor. More is more and more is better. Thus the living room was covered in Happy Birthday, Feliz Compleanos and mylar balloons from birthdays past. I had done much of the decorating the day before knowing that we would be short on time and that Carolina will keep going until there is not any wall left to cover, but she did make sure all the mylars got put on the wall.

Some of the birthday Decor
Documenting her handiwork!

Once everyone arrived the girls played for a little bit while the food finished up and then we let Carolina open a few of her presents before dinner. She made out quite well this year! Isaac and I had gotten her some art supplies, I got her a Selena Gomez t shirt and the movie Hairspray and Isaac got her several of his favorite 80's movies and some Tin Tin comics. She also got Barbie clothes from my mom and a kids cook book from my sister. Coolest of all, I think were the Barbie clothes Isaac's mom made her. They looked very cool!



laughing at my sisters card which instructed her to drive Isaac and I crazy!

After we ate was cookie cake courtesy of my mom, thank you mom!!


Then the girls played outside with the slip and slide.

The real fun came after everyone else left, because Avery wasn't able to spend the night Isaac had the "brillent" idea that we sleep downstairs with Carolina and have a family sleepover. Carolina of course loved the idea so we hauled out her Tinkerbell sleeping bag and all the blankets and pillows we could find and settled ourselves around the living room. I took the couch and no, I didn't feel that bad about it! :) Carolina asked to watch Hairspray so we got cozy and started singing along! Isaac passed out pretty quickly and I expected Carolina to as well, I knew she was tired, but the she was also high on birthday and made it all the way through Hairspray even though it wasn't over until well after midnight. I let her pick a second movie knowing that she couldn't last much longer so Ratatouille went in and Carolina passed out about 5 minutes in. I was so happy to turn the lights out, but I was then faced with falling asleep on the couch.

It's easy to take your bed for granted, I never will again. The last time I spent the night on the couch, I was actually spending most of the night vomiting violently every 45 minutes or so. I was so miserable I didn't know where I was when I wasn't on my knees over the toilet. Friday night, however, I knew right where I was and it was not my nice, big, cozy bed. It was a fun evening, but the weekend was just beginning!

Art Morning!

One of the hardest things in the summer is finding things to do with Carolina when it's over 100 degrees out for the vast majority of the day and you're trying to save money for a honeymoon. Isaac and I are fine sitting at home, but it's not as easy with the kiddo. Boredom tends to become whining (both her and I) which leads to crabby afternoons that drag on and on. It's a cruel weather trick; it looks beautiful outside and thus it's hard to justify a movie afternoon like you can on a cloudy winter day. However, it's literally hot enough out to fry an egg (various local newscasters have proved this) and not suitable for more than about 15 minutes at a time.

This past weekend we had solved the problem on Saturday by heading to my dads for some pool time. God bless my father for having a pool in his backyard; you forget how awesome it is to float around the pool without random kids splashing you. Blessings go to my father for also having a nice patio set with large umbrella and always having plenty of snacks and sodas on hand. Sadly we only make it down there a couple times a summer; he’s a good 40 minute drive away and with gas at its current price it makes it a bit impractical to trek down there too often.

Sunday was a different story, however. We were tossing around the idea of hitting up the dollar movies, at some point during the day but none of us were set on that so it was pretty much playing it by ear, which I have never found yields very good results.

Sunday began way to early for me when I heard Carolina push our bedroom door open about 7:30am looking for someone to turn on the TV. Not being a morning person I bit back a torrent of choice words for both the child and the child's maker still snoozing soundly next to me, shoved my glasses on my face and stumbled out of bed. After getting Carolina and Lamby settled on the couch with Disney channel I found myself on the couch in the front room cuddled with a pillow, willing myself back to sleep with no avail so I got up and tried to start making coffee. Generally within about 15 minutes I feel much more awake and will start being some what productive, sometimes even going for a run, but not that Sunday. I felt drained even after Isaac got up and I had a large cup of coffee and a breakfast taco.

By 10 we were still watching whatever came next on the Disney Channel and I was feeling guilty for having such a un stimulating morning and the amount of TV we were watching but I was too tired to do much about it. About 10:15 Isaac got up to start getting ready to go to the gym and Carolina asked if I’d play Clue with her, I convinced her that Clue was too difficult with just two people and seeing the disappointment on her face, offered a game of Chutes and Ladders in exchange figuring that it was one of the faster moving less mentally straining games on our shelf. Instead she returned with a 100 piece Tinker Bell puzzle we’d gotten her a couple years ago. She had opened it once, taken 2 frustrating days to complete it and had not looked at it since. Hence, I was surprised at her eagerness, but quickly agreed; heck I like puzzles.

We sat down and Carolina started working on putting the fairy faces together while I did the edges, but we had that sucker done in about 15 minutes which was a vast improvement over the previous 2 day record. After admiring our work Carolina set off to find another puzzle. Now I will continue to swear that some where in our house is a Hello Kitty puzzle, I can not remember the reason that we bought the puzzle, but darn it, it exists and I will find that puzzle. Needless to say, it was not located Sunday morning, so we settled for two 12 piece puzzles that Carolina dug out of her room. After completing the final puzzle Carolina commented that they looked like art work. “We should set these out so daddy can see them!” I agreed that he would enjoy that, when her eyes fell on a box of square card stock on the table."We can make our own art” she exclaimed and seeing a good hour or so of activity I agreed and sat to start doodling on a piece of paper while Carolina ran upstairs to gather an assortment of markers and crayons.

Now, I am not an artist. Stick people are generally my peak, but Carolina is pretty good and she loves to create so I’ve tried to get in touch with my artistic side a little more in the last couple years. I've managed to organize homemade Christmas cards, painted wooden frames for Mothers Day and Father's day gift coupons; however, I still can not draw to save my soul. Carolina comes by her talent honestly, Isaac is a great artist and many of art in the house are things he or his grandfather have done, so she obviously picked up artist gene!

Once we had our tools we busily settled to work drawing pictures and chatting. It's fun now that Carolina is getting older in that you can have an actual conversation. Carolina asked me why I always say that I'm not good at art so I told her about probably the one teacher I didn't like at my elementary school; the art teacher. Thanks to this particular teacher I've always been fairly certain that I am not an artist. Carolina was appalled and assured me that I was a great artist. "You make pretty hearts and pretty flowers" she explained, your a great artist! So sweet, I need to keep her in my purse for when I'm down, it's hard to feel bad about yourself with Carolina assuring you that you are the BEST (fill in the blank).

We continued our pictures until we had 3 or 4 when Carolina had her big idea;

"We can put our pictures out on the table and have an art show for Daddy when he comes home! He'll love it!" I wasn't so sure how Isaac would feel with his table covered in paper, but I figured what the heck, he likes her art, it's all easily cleaned up, lets do this!

Carolina began to organize the pictures on the table and we made additional ones our masterpieces are below. Yes, one of those is a bottle of wine, that was me. Enough said.

Finished product, complete with photos of Lamby!

When Isaac got home, Carolina had him close his eyes and go straight to the TV room where he was given the task of one final drawing that would be posted on the easel. Isaac made us both look bad by doing an intricate drawing of Tron. I have a picture, but blogger isn't working with me, I'll try to come add it later. He was guided to the art show through signs and he loved his art show! I think we're going to move most of the pictures to Carolina's wall.

A morning that started so slow ended up being a lot of fun and we have some great new art to show for it!