I’ve heard the stories from parents with boys that indoor activities can be quite interesting. Good thing with our little girls, the indoor time consists of nothing more than sitting quietly and reading…sort of. I never knew that reading was a full contact sport. Mix in the bookworm and a little MK WWF action – there you have it.
[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.466855&w=425&h=350&fv=] from s45.photobucket.com posted with vodpod
Democrats and Republicans. Oil and Water…see a pattern. Even more so than all the above, two things that DO NOT mix. Havens’ hair and pig tails.
Apparently, MK is not as amused with all this as we are.
Disclaimer: No electricity was used in the making of this updo.
On a more serious note, I don’t know what we’re going to do with this girl. I know that no two kids are the same, but CB and MK could not be more polar opposites. Older sister is the sweet, studious, very contemplative child. MK is MK. That girl is always ready to go.
This past weekend Al was shopping and I took the girls into a Barnes and Noble with me. We hit the children’s section and read through most of their offerings and then headed to the obligatory Brio train set that every B&N has. There was only one boy, probably around CB’s age, that had all 27 of the trains in a long tunnel.
CB wanders over, finds one broken train and is quietly playing in the opposite corner as this Thomas the train nut. The kid’s dad sees that the kid is hogging the whole set, but of course says nothing. Typical for most I’ve met around here. This is all well and good until MK rolls up. She walks over to the kid with the trains and sees the big engine coming out of the tunnel. She looks the kid in the eye and grabs the engine. The kid freaks out and grabs it back from her. CB is watching the whole scene horrified.
MK never hesitates. She rips the engine from the kids’ hand and then grabs 3 or 4 more from him for good measure. Now the kid starts crying and MK’s shoving him out of the way so she can get through the tunnel. Finally, Thomas’ dad jumps in and tells him not to hog all the trains. A little slow on the uptick there pops?
I start laughing and tell him not to worry about it. I almost want to apologize at this point for his little engineer wailing like a girl, but nah, it’s a good experience for the little dork. You don’t want to mess with those 18 month old girls – they can be a real terror.
December 31st was one of those days that makes you proud to be in Texas. Sunny, warm, perfect. So, we decided to pack up the girls and head into Austin for the big show. First stop… Zilker Botanical Gardens.
My lovely ladies.
I thought this next picture of CB was great. Something about it looks almost fake, but I really dug it, so there you go.
From there it was on to the famous Zilker train. CB had been harping about the train ride for the last year, and I had been promising we would go. Don’t say I didn’t keep my word, even if we did take us until the 31st to get there.
Protecting MK from the paparazzi on the train. I won’t go into any detail about the middle aged lesbian couple in front of us on the train. Let’s just say that the poor mother with three kids who let her son sit in the train car with the lovely ladies because all of the other seats were full. Well, let’s just say that’s what you call an education, Travis County style.
After the train, we were off to Chuy’s for an early dinner. Nothing says New Years like a “Big as Your Face” Burrito. I’ll spare you any pictures. Our next stop was downtown Austin for the celebration.
CB’s favorite part – the fireworks.
Genetics run hard in this family. You’ll likely never see another pair of mouth breathers like that again.
MK was a little more dignified in her enjoyment of the fireworks.
The train ride, Chuy’s, a countdown to fireworks. This is where I should say good night and just wrap everything up…but I can’t. I believe in full disclosure. And with full disclosure comes the part about port a potty’s and orange shorts.
Let me back up. It was cold that night, and we were wandering across the First Street Bridge with both girls in the double stroller. We walk for what seems like an hour through the turkey legs on a stick makeshift food court and Al starts complaining that she has to go to the bathroom. Knowing a female can never do this alone, CB chimes in as well. I nodded toward the line of port a potty’s surrounded by some of Austin’s finest locals and I get a look of utter horror from both. At this point I tell them that there only option is the portable route or the Hooter’s across the street – the only place that was open and happened to be right across the street. Easy answer.
A few minutes later, I’m doing donuts in the parking lot trying to keep MK happy while Al and CB have invaded the land of nude hose in search of a restroom. They come out shortly, and Al asks, “How much longer until the fireworks?” I tell her about an hour, and she says, “You know it’s freezing out here. It was really warm inside Hooter’s” I start to answer her about Hooter’s and temperature, but then quickly think better and just nod my head and say “Yeah?”
Let me present my evidence for our Parents of the Year Award for 2007
Hard at work. I never knew that Hooter’s had such wonderful coloring books, or highchairs for that matter. Not to mention that CB now asks for Hooter’s curly fries anytime the subject of restaurants comes up.
“It’s flowing like mud around here. Hooh-rah somebody bring me a drink!”
So there you have it. Confession is good for the soul. And that’s what the New Year is all about. Starting over and trying to keep your toddlers out of Hooter’s. 2008 is looking up.
This blog amazes me. I never know what to expect. After my last rambling post about the recent hiatus I was complaining about finding a muse. And sure enough one showed up. Sally. I’m not going into any detail because I don’t want to single anyone out, but her comment made me laugh harder than anything I’ve ever put on the blog.
It’s good to know someone out there actually enjoys this stuff. I might just keep at it for a while longer. But be forewarned, the next post is looong…
It’s at times like these that I often think back to the words of the great REK. When he was struggling to make it in the music business, and by struggling, meaning his wife was about to kill him because he was getting absolutely no work – he got a break. A local hangout wanted him to play weekly sets. Legend has it that he turned it down. The reason…he didn’t want to be overexposed.
That’s the way I’ve been feeling about the blog lately. I think the failure of many blogs is that people feel like they have to put up something, anything on a daily or weekly basis, regardless of whether it’s interesting or not. I don’t want to fall into that trap, and I’m not big on schedules anyway. So, there’s my reason for the hiatus. I’ll be back, as soon as I find my muse.
On a side note, I’ve always found it interesting that I’ll put a new entry and over a couple of days I’ll get 600+ hits on the site and never a single comment. I always wondered who these people were that cared about my ramblings. Now that the blog’s been dormant for some time, I’m getting anonymous comments complaining that there have been no updates. That’s classic.
More to come…
