Kemah

At the Aquarium restaurant:

Waiting for the Kemah train to round the corner:

Getting bored riding the train:

Getting really bored riding the train:

Finally! He gets on a different ride!

It was fun, but super hot and super expensive. Guess that's what vacation is all about though!

Monsters on the beach

Yay for new computers! We took G & G's trailer and went back to the beach last week. We went to Kemah Monday and then spent most of the next 3 days at the beach. We had a blast...again. I'll spread the pictures out over a few posts, it's easier that way.

I thought this series of pictures was hilarious.

What happens when a "monster" chases you down the beach?

You run so fast that you trip over your own feet, but at least you manage to take the monster down with you....AND get up laughing.

Blog break

I'm taking a blog break, not because I want to but because our computer has officially wigged out and I think it's time for a new one. The monitor blinks on and off and you can only run windows on "safe mode" - whatever that means. We're also leaving tommorrow for the beach and we'll be gone most of next week. I do have some pictures of the boys and their new critters to share, so hopefully I can do that when we get back. Speaking of critters, Jacob's white bird that he got Wednesday, as in 3 days ago, died today. WTF?! He was horribly upset because the bird was so friendly, it would hop up into your hand as soon as you'd open the cage door. The lady at the pet store said that that wasn't normal and it meant something was wrong with it. That might have been nice to know Wednesday. Anyway, I called and asked if they had some sort of pet replacement policy (as tacky as that is) and she said to come in and they'd replace the bird. So we did, he now has a blue one and the original green spaz that he got on his birthday. Jeez.

"See" ya in a week!

The Smith Family

This is our picture that was taken for the church directory. I thought it came out alright!

How to throw a fit on the beach...

...and look good doing it.

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This post brought to you by Cawub. An expert in the art of 2 year old tantrums.

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1) Make sure you cry enough to have tears rolling down your cheeks. Even if you're not really all that upset, put everything into it. Tears make things much more dramatic and you're more likely to get your way when you cry.

2) Don't hold back. Being out in public is no excuse to "tone it down." Make sure everybody around can hear you too.

3) When you see the adults start to look around to make sure nobody is watching, really turn it up. This means that it's working.

4) Really get hacked off when people start laughing at you. Scream at them so that they know that the situation is not the least bit funny and that you are still very much in control.

5) Make sure that everybody knows that you're the boss.

Follow the above instructions and you're well on your way to getting everything you want. When, for example, somebody takes your sandals off against your will, even though they're rubbing blisters on your feet, you let them know who's boss and that you want the sandals promptly given back to you. Then you proceed to squeal and shout "(insert your name here) DO IT!" even though you have not the foggiest idea how to actually work Velcro. Scream and cry as if your life depends on it. I guarantee you'll have your sandals back pronto. It's up to you how long you want to sit and try to work them before you get bored and ask somebody else for help. It's not because you can't do it, mind, just that you want to move onto other things.

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I hope this was of some help to other 2 year olds out there. Next tutorial: How to take a bath with everybody in the house when they don't want you in there. Follow my instructions and you could be bathing 5 times per night too! I don't know what they fuss about honestly, it's not like you can't wash it right of for crying out loud. Why should I get out and get on the potty? It's cold!

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Until next time,

King of my castle - Cawub

Annie

We'll miss you.

Annie Fannie

1995 - 2010

Jacob and Jonah's 9th birthday

I'm so lame. I didn't even get a "happy birthday" post up this year. To be honest, it just sort of slipped my mind and then Friday was SO busy that I didn't have time. Better late than never, right?!

Opening Wii games that they REALLY wanted:

Basil and I made these notes for our gifts. Jacob's said "this coupon good for a trip to the pet store to pick out the parakeet of your choice." Jonah's said the same except that leopard gecko or bearded dragon was substituted for parakeet. That's right people, I've lost my mind. If you happen to run across it, please put it in the mail asap.

Jonah went for the bearded dragon, thank GOD because those leopard geckos are UH-GLY!

Jacob had a very specific parakeet in mind. I felt sorry for the poor Petco guy who had to chase it around the cage when they all pretty much look the same. Jacob never took his eye off of the one he wanted though.

Note to self: Get the boy a haircut. For real.

Meet Spike the bearded dragon...

...and King Koopa the parakeet. Poor Koopa, he should drop dead of fright any second now.

After we got the new critters all set up, we headed to Chuck E Cheese's.

Everybody loves Chuck E Cheese's.

I don't know who had more fun, Caleb or Basil.

So that's it. It was a really nice and busy day. I thought maybe there might be problems when Thursday night before bed Caleb started talking about birthdays, balloons and cake. The conversation went something like this:

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Caleb: burtday puh-cakes (he calls cupcakes "puh-cakes")

Me: Yes, we'll have birthday cake tomorrow for Jacob and Jonah's birthday.

Caleb: No, Cawub's burtday.

Me: No, it's Jacob and Jonah's birthday. Are you going to sing to them?

Caleb: No it's Cawubs. I wake up I be so happy.

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Then Friday morning he went on about "Cawub's presents" when he saw everything. It ended up being fine though, he sang, ate cake and helped Jacob and Jonah open their things. Whew. There's really no way to explain it to a two year old, I'm glad I didn't have to try!