Texas State Fair

Well, I am recovering from entertaining all last week. We all really enjoyed the 'Holland people' - as the kids affectionately called our family visiting from the Netherlands. We had a houseful - Oma, Opa, Tanta (aunt) Jose', Oom (uncle) Hans, Tanta Toos, Oom Harry, and Jenine. I have some pics from the week and stories, but tonight I want to share what we did on Sunday.

We made a visit to the Texas State Fair. It is said that everything is bigger in Texas, and the State Fair is no exception. We only were there an afternoon, but we could go back a couple more times and we would probably still miss something. We saw Big Tex - the cowboy mascot of the fair. We rode the Skyway - which was pretty cool to see the fair from a bird's eye view. We saw a BMX bike show, a diving pirate show, climbed on tractors, fed some animals, and the kids pretended to be a farmers for a little while. I even got to sample this year's winner for best tasting fried food newcomer - fried frito pie. I wasn't disappointed.

Big Tex.

 Petting zoo.

Ford's interactive robot at the auto show.

 Skyway ride.

The kids got to do a couple of rides, but everything gets expensive after a while. After the BMX show, Ian gave up and decided to use Daddy's shoulder as a pillow. It was then that we decided to go home. We were all pretty tired after being at the fair for 4 hours.

Aloha Balloon Festival!

This weekend was fun for the kids and I. Questcare (Scott's employer) rented out a water park just for their employees and employee-families. Unfortunately Scott was working, but I couldn't pass up this opportunity to take the kids to Hawaiian Falls Waterpark. The kids got to experience a lazy river and a wave pool for the first time. There were also 3 water slides suitable for the kids, but Payton was the only one that did all of them. Ian liked the smallest one. The others were a little intimidating. Payton was very courageous in the wave pool. I had to stick close to her because she would get in over her head after she jumped one too many waves. Ian on the other hand was pretty content just sitting in an inner tube that Mommy held on to while riding the waves. We had complementary snow cones, drinks, ice cream and hot dogs! It was a great afternoon.

This weekend was also the Plano Balloon Festival. I REALLY wanted to go to this, but after Saturday's fun in the sun, I was a little too tired to go to the evening launch. Instead we woke up at 6 am! to get to the 7 am launch. It was well worth the sleepiness this afternoon. At first Payton was a little leery of the fire, but got used to it pretty quick. The balloons were beautiful and the kids really enjoyed watching the launch.

Their favorite balloon was the ladybug.

Orange People

We are in full preparation mode for 7 guests that arrive next Monday - 5 from Holland and Oma and Opa.  We are very excited about it, but have this and that that we want to get ready, especially because we are still getting settled in the new house.

This morning, I was talking to Ian about it and he said, 'Mama, the people from Holland are orange?' I grinned.

During the World Cup, Scott made the kids wear orange when Holland played. So, I asked Ian if he really thought 5 orange people were coming to visit. He smiled and said, 'Naaahh, Maaaammm. That's silly. People aren't orange.'

I love a 3 year olds ability/inability to express themselves sometimes. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of times when I have to remind Ian to 'USE YOUR WORDS!' instead of hitting you sister, or throwing a temper tantrum. But when we are just having a conversation - it can be really cute.

(ps - We don't know these orange people. It was a random pic off the net.)

Labor Day Weekend

We had a very nice holiday weekend. Auntie Melissa was able to come for a visit and it was so nice to hang out with her.

We showed her Russel Creek Park (right across the street from us). We walked around the pond and brought bread to feed the ducks. Of course, Payton wanted some. She didn't care that it was for the ducks or that it was frozen. She ate it on the way over to the park and wouldn't even play on the playground equipment till she was done.

Unfortunately, Scott had to work Saturday, but we enjoyed going to the gym and hanging out with the kids.

Sunday, Scott and Melissa went to their Fantasy Football draft in San Antonio. And then Monday, Melissa and I got to wander around the Shops at the Legacy while the kids played in the pool at home.

Hermine

Well, we had some excitement this afternoon. Hermine has been bringing us rain for the last two days and today it got a little exciting with a tornado warning for Plano. It was about 5:45pm and Ian and I were coming inside from  playing in the rain when we heard the sirens. Scott had never heard them before, but on Wednesdays at noon they test them, so I knew what they meant. So we grab the kids and head to our 1/2 bath in the middle of the house. Scott grabs the computer so we can look at the radar. The kids are a little freaked out. Ian especially. He asked about 10 times 'What's a ortado?' We tried to calm them down while checking the radar. The activity looked like it was a little north of us, but we stayed in for about 15 minutes. Of course, to distract the kids, we perused the Lego website :)

Me, checking out the garden.

Dallas Arboretum

The Dallas Arboretum is having dollar days until the end of August which means that each admission is only 1 dollar! So we took advantage of it this weekend.

The Arboretum is situated right next to White Rock Lake in Dallas. It has many different types of gardens and fountains.

The kids really liked the story village which was four houses constructed with a children's story in mind. There was a synopsis at each house that I read to the kids.

They also like the toad corner fountains.

My favorite was the waterfalls and large lily pad pond. 

I really enjoyed the gardens. We got there right when it opened at 9 am to try to beat the heat. We were there about 2 hours and that was plenty for us all. It was getting pretty warm, but I'd love to go back when it's cooler.

The kids' first week of school

The rest of the week went very well for the kids - and for Mommy too.

On the second day of school, the teachers wanted the kindergartners to walk down the hall by themselves to their classroom. This was a little scary for some. Many a little one got half way down the hall, lost his/her nerve and turned back towards Mommy and Daddy. Not my Payton. She psyched herself up for it and took off. She didn't even say good-bye. There was not looking back. She was off down the hall, put away her backpack and went into her room. This was a little traumatic for me. I got a little teary-eyed as I walked away from the school.

On Wednesday, before Payton could escape, I stopped her and said, 'You know you can give me a hug or at least say good-bye before you walk into school.' Payton sighed and said, 'Ok, Mo..um' You know the kind of way kids say it. It's not just Mom; it's Mau..um - a little drawn out and very sarcastic. She's too young to start this, isn't she?

Then on Friday, Payton decided she wanted to eat lunch at the cafeteria because they were serving pizza. They have a system established at Plano where you can pay online for their meals and according to Payton they have lunch cards that they use. So when she got home Friday, I asked how it went. She said it was good, but that they had a hard time finding her card. I understand this because our last name confuses people and filing systems. Are we under V or P? is the usual question. I asked if she said anything while they were searching for her card. She said no, that they eventually figured it out. Then she wanted to get milk, but didn't know which kind to get. I told her to ask someone which one is the white milk next time. But with all of that, she was rather pleased with herself and her lunch.

Ian's week was pretty uneventful. The teacher was really sweet and bought Star Wars stickers because she knew Ian liked them. Ian's snack on Wednesday was a little healthier - some type of cracker. But on Friday, it sounded like it was someone's birthday, so they had cookies for snack. Snack is a hot topic with Ian.

On Friday, the teacher was a little perplexed. She said Ian had a good day until 11:45 when she told everyone to clean up. All of a sudden Ian lost it and started crying. He continued to cry while cleaning up. He wouldn't tell Ms. Bella what was wrong. When I got him alone in the car, I asked him if he wanted to talk about it and he answered with an emphatic, 'NO.' He was almost asleep by the time we got home :)

On Wednesday, Daddy and I had the whole morning to ourselves :) It was like date night except in the morning.

On Friday, I had the whole morning to myself :) I did some grocery shopping and then went shopping for a swim suit.

It's going to be a good year.