August

Hi again. I know I've been remiss with this thing...but you take what you can get when you have 2 children under the age of 3. Speaking of which...I am typing under a palpable cloud of exhaustion that has set in after Dillon has decided, for the past 4 or 5 nights in a row, that 3:00 AM is a terrific time to party. He wakes for a couple hours and then goes back to sleep, and I'm getting a wee bit tired of it. He's getting about 3 teeth at once...I think that accounts for some of it. Good times.

Enough with the whining. Here's what's been going on:

--We went to San Antonio on the 4th of August through the 7th. We drove there & back, takes about 7 hrs each way. Boys were surprisingly good in the car...there was one time when one of them started to scream and cry, but I just told him, "Jeff, if you keep that up we're going home" and he stopped. Oh, but seriously...

We stayed in the Sheraton Guntor which is this really beautiful old hotel that Sheraton bought & rennovated. I had TERRIFIC sleep while there (I should say the baby had terrific sleep and therefore I did), may have had to do with the dark curtains & the fact that we kept the room near freezing. So that was a real bonus. (It occurs to me that some of my 'kin' and I spend quite a lot of time talking about our sleep, or lack of it, when we should know that nobody really gives a flying truck. It's only important to the person who's losing the sleep. So I will endeavor in the future to ensure that I don't do this anymore. Yeah, right.)

We went to Sea World on the 1st day...the San An. Sea World is big on roller coasters and short on actual Sea stuff. That's because San Antonio is probably about 500 miles from the nearest ocean. So that was kind of so-so. We got rained out by the tropical storm coming into Galveston, and Noah & Dillon were kind of grumpy. I think they're a little young for that park yet. But I rode the Sea Eel ride of Doom, which was fun. Had to do it alone, while Jeff watched the kids. Thanks honey.

A highlight of the trip was going to the Riverwalk. Whoever designed the thing did a good job...seems like all these old trees are still there, a couple stories high some of them, all along the river. And these businesses are all operating along the waterfront on either side, mostly restaurants. We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe there, to get a Hurricane glass; I drank the hurricane, Jeff collects the glasses. Everyone goes home happy. (He's got the glasses from all over the States). Anyway, it's a beautiful thing, the Riverwalk. You should go if you can. San Antonio is a really pretty place, from what we saw of it.

We also 'did' the Alamo & the zoo. We met up an old friend of mine, Richard, with whom I used to live at the School. His wife & two kids were there & we had a blast. Thanks for meeting us, guys, it was good seeing you.

So all in all a good trip. Our first, as a family, with no one else along.

--We had a new kitchen floor put in, more wood laminate. Like the sleep, this is the sort of thing that is riveting to the person involved and not so much to everyone else. But it rocked my world for about 3 days.

--Dillon has learned to crawl & pull himself up hanging onto things & will even walk a few side shuffle steps while holding on. He's the proud owner of two bottom teeth & so has ushered in the super-fun era of "the Biting of the Boob". His two top teeth and at least one other bottom one are all coming in at once right now, so he's a real barrel of laughs. I am trying to potty train Noah for, like, the 12th time, and he is duly made to ride the potty train, kicking and screaming all the way, for as many times a day as I can remember. If anyone has a tip for me, let me know. He won't be bribed & I don't want to threaten, so anything besides those two.



And that's all, folks. Pics to follow. Hope you've been healthy, happy & prosperous.