March of Dimes Walk

Okay, so today I'm am going to attempt to catch up on all the blog postings I've been meaning to do, so there may be a few.

A few of weeks ago, we participated in the March of Dimes walk here, which was held at Sea World.  Addy and Ethan were both born full term, but I had a few friends who had children born early, and I thought it would be a great way to support them, and all the other moms who have gone through that experience.  

Ethan is such an early bird, that he didn't mind being up and at Sea World by 7:30.  Chris and I weren't quite as awake, and poor Addy just wanted to drink her bottle and pretend she was still sleeping bed.                     

    It was kind of a cloudy, windy day, which I actually didn't mind.  It has already reached the 90's a few days here, so I was glad that the weather was mild and we weren't sweating the whole time.  

We got to see the Longhorns at Sea World for the first time.  Sea World was recently sold by Busch, so they no longer have the Anheuser Busch Clydesdales; they have the "Animal Encounter," with horses and Texas Longhorns.  

At the end of the race, they had some characters from a few of the sponsor companies.  Ethan couldn't wait to jump out of the stroller and take pictures with them.  

Best BBQ Ever

Okay, so one of the best things about living in Texas is the food.  My personal favorite food is Mexican, and BBQ is probably my second favorite food.  Chris' favorite food is BBQ.  So, we were really psyched when we watched "Diners, Drive-in's and Dives" on Food Network and saw them highlight a BBQ place about 30 minutes from here.  We've since been at least 5 times, and it's one of those places that gets better every time we go.  

The last time we went, we got a special treat. There were two people on horses directing the cars where to park and providing "security" for the parking lot.  Now, first let me say, that this BBQ place is out in the middle of no where.  It's at least 4 to 5 miles off of the highway, and you can't see anything except fields and long horns from the place. So I have always felt safe there and never really thought security was needed.  I think it was done more for the fun effect.  Ethan loved the horses.  Addy wasn't scared of them, but wasn't really interested either.  

Snakes Alive...or at least they were....

Since moving to Texas, one of my biggest fears has been that a kiddo or dog would get bitten by a rattlesnake.  It's probably not very common, but I'm ridiculously afraid of that. So, today, after Ethan and I had finished planting all of the veggies and herbs in our new garden, I flipped out when Chris said he saw baby snakes!  He said he was pretty sure they were baby rattle snakes.

He grabbed a shovel to try to kill them.  After hitting one of the snakes several times, the thing kept trying to slither away.  I grabbed a butcher knife  (in hindsight, I realize how ridiculous this sounds!), and attacked the snakes.  I hacked one practically in half, and the resilient little thing kept sticking his tongue out and trying to move.

 

 I snapped a few pics to compare to ones online and make sure they were baby rattlesnakes.  Unfortunately for the snakes, they were only innocent garter snakes, which are actually helpful to gardens.  Now I'm praying that I didn't anger the "garden gods" and this won't be a bad omen for the rest of the season.  In my defense, I really did think they were rattle snakes.  Baby rattle snakes aren't born with the "rattles," so I didn't know how else to distinguish them, and had to make a quick call.  Sorry baby snakes!

As if that weren't bad enough, Chris then used the weed-eater a few minutes later and killed a big frog living under our tree.  It wasn't a good day for wildlife in our backyard!  

Story Time

So we've found 2 libraries here that put on great story time programs for toddlers. In fact, they are called "Toddler Time." At the last one we went to, they had the kiddos go outside and blow bubbles after the stories and songs. It was great, and fortunately, I had my camera.

One of Ethan's good friends who always goes to story time with us.

After another story time, we found this great park! Ethan had so much fun, and he hung from the monkey bars all by himself for the very first time! Yeah Ethan!

I missed the best shot. He was hanging without his feet on the tire, but by the time I got the camera ready, his feet were back on the tire!

Addy's also been growing up so fast! Here are some recent pics of our cute little girl.

This is the first time she actually grasped a toy all by herself. When you pull on the ring, the lion purrs or makes "meowing" sounds. She kept pulling it over and over, although at 2 1/2 months, it was most likely because she couldn't figure out how to let go.

This is the first time she was in the walker. Even though her feet can't reach the ground yet, she's got such great head control that she can sit in it and loves looking at the brightly colored toys. Ethan, who hasn't played with this toy since he learned to walk nearly 2 years ago, decided that he HAD to play with it again. (Later that day I found him actually sitting in it..wish I'd thought to take a picture then!)

The Alamo

Okay, so Chris is gone for about the next 4 months, so I've decided to take the kiddos out and explore around the area as much as possible to keep away the "I miss daddy" blues. I was born in Texas (Austin), and went to elementary school in a town about an hour away (San Marcos). I remember learning all about the Alamo and the heros that fought there as a kid, so I decided to try to instill that love in Ethan. We went down to the Alamo with a friend who has a little boy that Ethan is friends with. He watched a little video about the Alamo and got to see guns shot by Davy Crocket and knives used by James Bowie. I think he had fun.

The Alamo. Many Texans still believe in their hearts that Texas should still be its own independent country. I'm not kidding! I see bumper stickers everywhere showing the Texas flag with the caption "Secede!" I'm not that fanatical, but I do think Texas has a history that is interesting. I mean where else do you find a group of about 200 poorly supplied men who refuse to surrender and instead decided to take a stance against a well armed army of 6000 soldiers from Mexico? While they didn't win, they did at least hold out for 13 days! Pretty impressive, I think!

Addy wasn't too impressed, but she's still got time!

Ethan and his friend, Austin

In front of the Alamo.

While we were there, we looked across the street and saw the Menger Hotel. It doesn't look like much, but it's got quite a history. Teddy Roosevelt recruited his "Rough Riders" here and Babe Ruth and other famous people have stayed here. It's also supposedly home to the ghost of a rancher who owned The King Ranch, which was about 250 million acres. He died here and (for some reason I don't understand) they still have that bed in the room for guests to stay in! (I don't believe in ghosts, obviously, but it was fun to see a place that had been on TV!)

Japanese Tea Gardens

Right across from Brackenridge Park is this awesome little Japanese Tea Garden. Ethan loved seeing all the koi fish in the pond, climbing up the stairs, crossing bridges, and getting sprayed by the waterfall. I'll admit... the waterfall sounded really impressive--60 feet tall--but no waterfalls here can compare to the ones we saw in Hawaii! The gardens were pretty though, and we had a lot of fun! The only confusing part is that when you enter the garden, the entry way says it is the "Chinese Tea Garden," but everywhere inside, it calls itself the Japanese Tea Gardens! Hmm...

Brackenridge Park

So, in my quest to find all of the fun places to take kiddos in San Antonio, we stumbled upon Brackenridge Park. It's actually right behind the little miniature train that Ethan got to ride last week. It's HUGE! You can do everything there: hiking, biking, fishing... and of course... picnicking and playing at the playground (a personal favorite of Ethan and mine). They have this huge pavilion that is designed in the same style as the Spanish missions here that is great for having a quick lunch. Then Ethan got to check out the playground!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!

Okay, so we didn't actually see any lions, tigers, or bears, but we did visit an African Wildlife Safari (done in true Texas style!) here a few days ago. You get a bag of food as you enter, and you can drive through the preserve and feed the animals from your car. We got to see and feed zebras, bison, ostriches, gazelle, wildebeests, springbok, kudu, bongo, watusi, and all sorts of other animals I'd never even heard of. We also got to see giraffes, a rhinoceros, and camels, but didn't get to feed them. Ethan had an absolute blast! He got to "help" Daddy drive through the preserve (meaning he completely took over), and climb back and forth between my seat and Chris', depending on which side of the car the animals came to.

At this point in the safari drive, Ethan had decided he was a proficient driver and told Daddy "Hands off, I drive by myself." He was pretty insistent too...until we almost drove into a tree

This American Bison decided he was hungry...but not for the food we had for him.

San Jose Mission

Since we were able to find a house in such a relatively short period of time, we were able to do some sight seeing with Chris before he had to start work. I really wanted to check out the missions here--the Alamo and the other 5 missions. The day we went to see the Alamo didn't work out too well. It was about 103 degrees that day, and after walking around the River Walk, we decided to come back to the Alamo another day.

The other day we did make it to the San Jose mission. It was fun to get out and enjoy our time together. Ethan loved not having to be in a car seat driving around to check out houses!

The San Jose Mission

Ethan decided that he was big enough to push the stroller all by himself.

This little lizard was the highlight of Ethan's day!

This is one of the wells there. By the end of the day, the heat and running around had drained Ethan, so he actually asked to be pushed in his stroller. I think this was a first!

We've finally arrived!

Okay, so it's been over a month since I've last gotten on here! It's been super busy here in for the Baldwin family. We finally made it to Texas and finished our house hunting adventure. It actually went pretty quickly. We found a house in about 4 days, and are super excited about moving into it. The only catch is..it's not quite done yet. They've said it will definitely be done by October 9th, but there's a possibility it will be done by the end of September. We're all praying for September.

The novelty of staying in a hotel has definitely worn off for Ethan. When we're out driving now, he'll first ask if he can go to Ethan's "new house." When I explain that they're still building it, he will then tell me it's time to go to Nana's house (grandma's house where we were for most of the summer). I then explain that we will go there as soon as our house is finished (to pick up Inca). Usually, this then leads to a melt down unless I can find a fire engine, bus, truck, or tractor to distract him. He's definitely having a hard time understanding this move. But, we've already found a new story time program at the library, made it to our new church, and try to find something super fun to do every day.

Our backyard! Thankfully, they are going to put sod down when the construction is finished. The realtor said it's very unusual to have this many trees in a backyard here where we live. I know we're all going to enjoy the shade they will provide!

The front of our house.

Daddy and Ethan walking down the hall....I think.

The family room going into the kitchen.

Ethan looking out of his future bedroom window.

The great thing about picking out a house that isn't built yet is that we got to make some changes in the interior decor. We got to check out wall paint color, faucets, and all that other good stuff. My highlight was being able to pick out the flooring throughout the house. Since we've got Inca, I was pretty excited about this--no carpet! Well, we'll still have carpets in the bedrooms, but not in the living areas, dining area, hallways, and study. I picked out a tile flooring that I really liked for those areas. (Inca is just not going to be in the bedrooms.) We also got to pick out the appliances, which Chris was excited about. He got to get his gas stove, and I got a microwave that mounts above the stove, to save counter space. It's been a lot of fun!