When I was a kid things were a lot different than they are for Lily. It seems like we spent a lot more time outside then we did inside. Walking through the woods exploring seemed to take up hours of our time. This afternoon Lily and Cameron were upstairs playing Barbie for a long time [...]
I am sure that you have heard that the state flower of Texas is the Bluebonnet, right? Well did you know that Texas actually has 5 state flowers? They are 5 different types of Bluebonnets. The two predominant species of bluebonnets are found growing naturally only in Texas and at no other location in the [...]
We see these guys running around the yard, in the trees, etc every single day but I have never seen them doing this. I found these frisky little critters out on the back porch. Hmmm. I went online and this is what I learned about them : Often mistaken for chameleons, the green anole [...]
This morning our plan was to ditch the Coachella Valley and headed East on Interstate 10 to the Joshua Tree National Park. Our first stop was at the Cottonwood Visitors Center. Since we were now at about 3,000 feet it was a little windy and sorta chilly. Marlene bought a sweatshirt in the visitors center [...]
When I was younger (like pre-Lily days) and lived in Washington we use to spend a lot of weekend time in the forest. There is so much lush green forest, tons of trails and endless things to see and do. One of my favorite things was always the Ice Caves. So on Thursday night when we [...]
This morning after James and Suzie left for work me and the kids were ready for our day of adventure together. What is better than a group of cousins hanging out together having fun for the day? They are all pretty close in age (Lily is 8, Stevie is 7 & Tangerine is 5) and they are generally amused [...]
As I was laying in bed thinking about what to do today I decided I wanted to go on an adventure. I grabbed my laptop and went to www.roadsideamerica.com to plan a day trip. I picked four odd roadside attractions in and around San Antonio and mapped them out. Our total trip was to 72 miles round [...]
It has been a few days since I wrote because I have been hanging out in South Haven, MI. I did lots of stuff and saw lots of people but I didn’t take a lot of pictures. In no particular order these are some of the things we did: Lily caught her very first frog [...]
Check out the map below. We put in a solid 8+ hour day today of being a tourist and driving really far! Lily slept for the first couple hours of our trip while we went from St Ignace, MI to Paradise, MI. Right before we drove into Paradise I saw Lake Superior. Sure she was sleeping [...]
We left Vanessa’s house this morning and headed north on Hwy 23/I-75. The town that we had in mind to stop at for the night is less than 3 hours away so we were not really in a big hurry to get there. Our first stop was in Flint, MI. If you know anything about [...]
Today we headed out to Independence Lake which is very near Vanessa’s house here in Whitmore Lake. It’s a pretty nice park that has beach access, a rock climb thing, paddle boat rentals, a concession stand, bathrooms, a splash zone and a playground. Before we left home Vanessa made hamburger patties to bbq for lunch. [...]
Today was day 2 of our beach adventures. Shauna and the babies had too much sun the day before so Lily, Gage, JP and I headed down to the beach without them. Here is the sweetest picture of the day. Lily and Gage are both big talkers either one can talk you ear off about pretty much [...]
One of my favorite things in the entire world to do is hang out at the beach. I don’t mind the fact that sand gets everywhere or that it there is a chance of getting bitten by pretty much anything in the water, I still love it. That was the plan for today… hang out on the [...]
A couple days ago JP asked me to take a picture of the brown patches that are popping up in our lawn and ask someone at the nursery if they knew why it was happening. I decided today was the day to do my research. Here is our front lawn. Do you see the brown patches? [...]
I would guess that about 80% of the people that come to our house at one point will end up in the pool. The math is pretty simple: San Antonio + dessert climate + 90° or more outside + big blue wet pool in the backyard = POOL TIME! So now imagine that when you leave my house you forget your sunglasses. Next time you [...]
I got an email from my sister today that said: I’m sure you have seen everybody from Michigan complaining about this today on facebook. This is why I need to move…SNOW in the middle of April. The girls are outside right now, playing in it. Love you, Vanessa This my friends is a good [...]
Today is the first day in a long time that I was able to come home and not really do anything. JP works in Austin on Wednesdays so me and Lily are always on our own. I am usually so busy doing stuff that I don’t really get any me time. I found some today! [...]
I was looking for a picture on my phone when I saw this one. I know that I posted it on my facebook last month when I took the picture but I don’t think I ever posted it on here. We found a bunch of these guys on the beach in the Gulf of Mexico. It [...]
Lily’s school is closed today for a snow day/ice day. Last night when I went to bed this was the forecast. When my alarm went off at 5:30am I saw white outside so I immediately went to wake up Lily. This is the weirdest snow we have ever seen. If you touch it it disappears [...]
If you love to shop then next time you are in San Antonio make sure to ask me to take you to The Shops at La Cantera. It is an outdoor shopping mall with pretty much every store you can think of inside of it. When I go there I usually park at Macys but today I had [...]
You know the old saying about the grass being greener on the other side? Well that is not the case behind our house. If you go to the back fence on the right side of our yard there is a gate that opens up into the green belt. When my brother James came to visit [...]
This morning on my drive to work it was wet and cloudy. Since I don’t smoke anymore (234 days and counting) I don’t really have a reason to go outside during the course of my day. So about 8.5 hours later I walked outside and it was sunny and 73º! I was so excited! I drove straight to [...]
When I was a kid going to get a Christmas tree was a big deal. We would have to dress warm, trudge through snow, search, and finally find the perfect tree. Once we found it my Dad would get down on the ground and use a saw on it until it hit the ground. Then he would drag it [...]
For the first time in either of our lives me and JP got a suntan in our own backyard on Halloween Day! The water is too cold to swim in but that didn’t stop Lily from floating around. The kids love skimming the pool for leaves!
On Saturday’s Lily usually wakes me up around 8am to tell me she is hungry. This morning was no exception. Just last night she was telling me about how disapointed she was that the pumpkins went moldy in just one week. After I fed her breakfast I decided we could have a little bit of fun. I poked my head [...]
There are no pumpkin fields in or very near San Antonio, TX. They dont grow them around here. When you go to buy them you find out they are all imported. Since I have lived in the North most of my life I think its crazy! I went online and found a farm that sells [...]
Half-Nutz did it again! We won our game today 12-3! The picture is a little blurry but here is Half-Nutz and Lily Pad saying cheese. Earlier today before softball JP, James, Lily, J9 and I all went for a walk on the green belt behind our house. We learned a few thing. #1- Lily is [...]
Today we woke up around 9am. JP and James started the smoker and then we headed to the river. We were in the water by 11am! Here is me and Lily chillin in our rafts! This dragonfly landed on Lily’s foot. Afterward we turned in our stuff and headed back to the truck. Me and [...]
The first load of stuff made it over to the new house today. Big thanks to Amanda, J9 and Lily who spent all day packing stuff up! At the new house Lily was outside in the backyard when we heard her start crying. She said she stepped on a wasp! No one actually saw said [...]
Last week we decided that we are going to try to visit a different town in Texas every Sunday for the entire summer. This weeks choice was Luckenbach, TX. I am sure that everyone has heard the song… ♪♫…let’s go to Luckenbach Texas with Waylon and Willie and the boys… ♪♫ Last year for his birthday [...]
Tonight JP and me were driving down Bitters Road and I asked him to turn down a road we never turn down. I showed him a magical place that I recently discovered called Hill Country Village. This is a neighborhood that I would love to live in! As we drove around we saw lots and [...]
As of this moment I am officially the bravest person that I know of today! It all started a couple days ago I saw a wasp that kept flying in between some bricks on the outside of our house. We don’t have wasp spray but we do have bug spray so I sprayed the brick [...]
Back in April I did a posting about our pet goldfish. Since then I have learned that the reason algae grows in water fountains is because of the direct sunlight. Today it was time to clean the fountain… here is a before picture. Can you believe there are fish living in that water! That is [...]
It all started at 6:45 am. Lily loves to wake early, even when we are on vacation! We were up so early that the restaurant in the hotel was not even open yet so we went for a walk on the beach. I told Lily that normal people are still asleep right now, she didn’t [...]
I am sure that by now everyone knows about the oil that is shooting into the Gulf of Mexico. I told Lily about the oil spill today and we wanted to find pictures of the animals that are being affected. Sadly here is a pretty good example of what BP is doing to the gulf coast. [...]
Although we have seen them lots of times we still get excited when they show up. This is the first thing JP and I noticed when we pulled up at home today. Here is a picture of me and said lizard while I was on the phone with Bob. Sorry Bob but this posting should explain [...]
After work today I went to get my hair cut at Salon Desires on Blanco Rd. I will totally admit that I have been pulling gray hairs out for a couple years now. JP always gives me a hard time about it telling me leave them alone. Today my stylist mentioned them and I asked her [...]
When we pulled up to the house today I noticed these flowers growing on a tree in the front yard. I have no idea what they are but they are beautiful! They are growing upside down on the tree like that. While me and Amanda were admiring the flowers Lily found a snail. And another And [...]
This is just way to cute not to share. This morning I gave Lily money so that she could buy some books at the book fair at her school. After I picked her up from school we were in the truck and I asked her what books she bought. She pulled her books out and the [...]
Amanda spotted a rainbow in our backyard tonight! I have prepared myself to stop smoking for awhile now. Being so sick earlier this week I realized on Tuesday that I had not smoked in two days. I hear that the first few days are the hardest. I only had one breakdown today and when it was [...]
I told Stephanie that someone told me that the golden fruit growing on the trees in the backyard was edible. She immediately grabbed one and took a bite. Cathy told us what it is called and we can’t remember what she said but we think it was “Gyabba”?. She said that was the spanish word for [...]
Back on March 29th (The Sad Palm Tree) I wrote about the palm tree that we thought was dying in our backyard. If you look back at the old posting and then look to the bottom left of the first picture you will see the dead baby palm tree in the planter that I didn’t mention. [...]
We have these beautiful flowers growing on the side of the house all over the fence. I didn’t notice them until the other day but I love them! There are tons of them! Does anyone know what they are called?
…sun! I don’t think I have ever seen this before today! We are suppose to hit 90° today so maybe that has something to do with it? Acording to the internet: Cause The ring is caused by sunlight or moonlight being diffracted as it passes through cirrostratus clouds that are usually at altitudes above 20,000 [...]
Here is my little brother Pauly and his new rose hair tarantula Harley! Yikes!
For a couple weeks we have been talking about getting fish for the fountain in the backyard! Today was the day. We are the proud new owners of 17 new fish and a bunch of bling for the fountain. Here they are waiting to come out of the bag. We finally released them! Lily has [...]
JP gets full credit for todays pictures. I thought it was cool that I saw a Road Runner in the parking lot today until he told me what he saw. Check out these three birds hanging out in the neighborhood eating a squirel. I looked them up and found out they are American Black Vultures. [...]
There are some things here in Texas that are way different than anywhere else I have lived. One of the strangest things we have encountered are the trees. They call them oak, but they are not the same oak as the trees up north. The keep their leaves all winter and then in March the leaves finally [...]
We like nachos. No actually we ♥ nachos. When I think of nachos I think of a plate with chips piled high, meat, tomatoes, black olives, and tons of greasy cheese melted on top. We have learned that is not the norm around San Antonio. It all started over a year ago when we were at Fatso’s. [...]
Yesterday we celebrated Easter with Rickey and his family. Lots of delicious bbq, cascarones, a pinata and even an easter egg hunt. We even went for rides on the 4-wheeler. Here is a picture of Lily and Rickey on one of the 4-wheelers. Not to long after this picture was taken I jumped on and JP and me followed Rickey [...]
