Vegas!!

The first week of summer = girls’ trip to Vegas!!!  I had never been to Vegas before, and I loved it!!  I flew in and met Mom, my sister, and my eldest niece there.  They had all been there before, so they made it their mission to show me through all the major hotels and attractions in my short 3-day trip.  My favorite hotel was the Bellagio, closely followed by Caesar's Palace.  All of the hotels and attractions were beautiful.

Required photo op.After church Sunday, first stop: Hoover Dam.  This picture is taken from the Hoover Dam Bypass bridge.  The white line over the lake is where water used to be.  Water levels are about 40 feet low.  Walking the Bypass. View of the Bypass from the Hoover Dam.  TALL!!!  I loved walking that bridge, but it was so windy and I was sunburned by the time we got back to the car. In the hotels and casinos…Caesar’s Palace: lush, opulent, beautiful! These flavored oxygen bars were everywhere. So funny to me. (The Venetian)Living statue.  Amazing, but I always feel bad for the people that do this as a job.  Maybe it’s just me, but standing so still like that for 45-minute stretches seems horrible.Ahhhh… Nathan!  I missed my boys!  (Forgive the red eye… no time to fix it.) MGM GrandCaesar’s Palace, again… I think.  Just beautiful!   Fancy store… one of many.

I expected everything to be big and bright, and I wasn’t disappointed.  We saw the Cirque du Soleil “O” show at Bellagio.  Oh. My. Goodness!  AMAZING show! 

We stayed in a lovely timeshare resort and spent some time swimming and floating in the lazy river.  I’m very cold-natured and it was not hot the week we were there, so I was too cold to enjoy the pool.  I preferred just sunning or hanging in the spa. 

We had a fantastic couple of days.  I look forward to going back again!!! :-)  Thanks, Mom for including me on the trip – I’ll never forget the fun time we had or the dancing in the bathroom at The Cheesecake Factory. Ha!

Nikki’s Vacation

My dear friend, Nikki, visited last week.  I lucked out because her husband had some work that brought them out of Tennessee and to Houston for about a week!  We had such a fantastic time just hanging out!  Nikki has 2 little girls that stayed with their grandma back near their home, so she wasn’t at all fazed by my busy toddler twins.  I can tell she is a fun, interactive, sweet mommy.  She even spoiled my boys with books, cars, and lovies!  But, she won them over with her fun ways, sweet tone, and especially by reading to them. 

Nathan likes Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so he thought Nikki is pronounced “Mikki”.  He called her Mikki or Mikki Mouse all week.  So cute!

Todd was very kind to keep the boys several times so Nikki and I could hang out, just us girls.  And, Mamaw even kept them so we could go to a movie – a rare treat! :-)

I wish I had taken more pictures… 

Nikki, Thank you for coming to visit us!!  We love you!

DeMontrond Volkswagen Show

We went to the DeMontrond VW show today and had a really great time!  It’s always neat to see all of the VW hobbyists showing their cars, and talking about the ins-and-outs of the machines that bring them together.
 
We didn’t have a lot of time to browse the cars outside, but we were very impressed with the array of VWs that were presented.  Todd was drawn to the “Things”, especially the neon green one in the background… Something about an 8-way oil cooler bypass that caught his fancy.  Mom and I couldn’t help but compare many of the VWs we saw to those that are in Dad’s collection.
We headed in for the awards ceremony and got to cool down a little while I drooled over the new VWs.  You know, the ones with a/c!

Nathan and his usual: “Up, Up, please, hold you, up…”

He won.

This show was special to us, since DeMontrond and the North Houston VW Club established and presented the annual Tim Drachenberg award for the first time today.  Mom did a fantastic job sharing a few sentiments and presenting the award.
   
The plaque presented with the award says:                 
The Tim Drachenberg Award was established by the North Houston Volkswagen Club in memory of long-time member Tim Drachenberg, who passed away in early 2011. Tim was a member of the club for a number of years and always was open with enthusiasm and advice concerning vintage Volkswagens.
Tim's impressive Volkswagen collection included a variety of cars and busses, but he was particularly fond of vintage, totally stock VW's from the 50's through the 70's. He drove his classic cars on a daily basis and enjoyed doing so with an unbridled passion.
Tim was a retired tennis coach, and was passionate about the sport, but his Volkswagen cars, and especially, his friends in the Volkswagen community were his true love. Whether it was discussing an obscure part, or advice on something as simple as adjusting the points, Tim was glad to share his experience and knowledge with other VW friends.
The Tim Drachenberg Award is presented yearly to an individual displaying a Volkswagen of a variety that the North Houston Volkswagen Club feels typifies a car that would be of most interest to Tim. It should be mostly bare-bones stock, with an eye to the unrestored but still handsome. Board members of the club will make the decision on the award based on the idea that the car would be the favorite of Tim's at the award event.
Though gone, the spirit of Tim's appreciation of all things Volkswagen will live on through this annual award presented by the North Houston Volkswagen Club.

The winner and his beautiful car.

North Houston VW Club Honors Tim Drachenberg

Show Time and Location
DeMontrond VW
14101 North Freeway
Houston, Texas

Registration - 9:00 am - 11:00 am
Awards at 2:00 pm.

This is a free show for all VW's.
Free Lunch at Noon provided by
DeMontrond

On June 18, 2011, DeMontrond will host a NHVW show at their location in North Houston on I-45 N. Ruthie Smith now representing DeMontrond has approved the show this year and will provide trophies similar to those in the past, as well as providing the hot dog, hamburger lunch for all in attendance.

Awards Include:

People's Choice

DeMontrond's Choice

* Tim Drachenberg Memorial

Best of including decades,

Beetle, New Beetle, Bus, Ghia,

Daily Driver, Display, and other VW's

* Denotes new award this year in memory of Mr. Tim Drachenberg, a long time member of the North Houston VW Club and clubs throughout Texas and the U.S. Tim passed away early this year and his array of classic VW's represented the very best of the Volkswagen community. His attention to original stock items and detail always made us all marvel at his reproduction and skill when it came to rebuilding a VW. The winner of this award will show a VW that Tim would be proud to own.

Conversation with a Mom of Twins

Believe it or not, most of this is spot-on!  But, they left out "your hands are full"!!

The Zoo

The boys got to go to the zoo today!  This is the third trip to the zoo that Aunt Pat and I have planned, and the first one to have actually work out!  This time, we went for a weekday (Pat even took a day off work!) and we were actually able to find parking!  The boys are really into identifying animals and their sounds, so I was excited to see their reactions to the actual animals today.  We’ve talked for days about going to the “zoo, zoo, zoo” and about the animals we would get to see.
The day was overcast and a nice, comfortable temperature.  It worked out to be a fantastic day to spend outside. 
We got to see so many exciting animals: elephants, lots of birds, fish, monkeys, lions, bears, giraffes, etc.  I loved watching the boys take it all in.  
We took a little break to eat lunch.  I knew our time would be slim after lunch, since they would be due for a nap. 
We headed out to find the Children’s Zoo with the petting zoo.  The petting zoo (goats) ended up being the BEST exhibit for the twins.  Nathan was ecstatic to run around and pet/brush goats.  It was a perfect replay of the Livestock Show for him.  

SO EXCITED!

I’ll help you clean up…      

Logan was very hesitant, again.  He cried and resisted being put down for a while, but I was convinced he would warm up to it.  I was right!  When he discovered that he could hold a brush and use it to touch the goats, he was fine… and funny!  He has a group a ladies stop watching their own kids to watch him… and laugh at his ways. 

Not happy about this!

A brush makes thing better.

2 brushes makes things GREAT!

I’ll help clean, too.

When we left the zoo, we headed straight to Mamaw’s house.  Naps didn’t really happen in the car as I had hoped.  They maybe got about 15 minutes of sleep.  Anyway, we usually meet up with Mamaw and some other friends on Wednesday nights to eat before church.  (More on that in a future post)  We had a little time to kill when we arrived at Mamaw’s, so we spent some time in her garden.  Mamaw let the boys pick a squash, some black-eyed peas, and some tomatoes. 

There’s 1 beautiful yellow squash in that basket.

Pick a pea?  Huh?  

We didn’t make it to church tonight.  Supper took too long, and the boys were losing control after such a long day and practically no nap.  We came home and rushed to the bath.  Some of us rushed a little faster than others.  In fact, one of us couldn’t wait to get his clothes off before he leaped in.  Luckily, I got his shoes off before his feet slid in behind him. :-)  Oh, Logan, you are so silly!

There are no words for how much fun the boys are at this age.  They are learning so much and are just intrigued with the smallest things.  I am in awe of them and their silly ways!  What a great, full, exhausting day!!

Blogligation

Any holiday is essential to blog about if you’re a blogger.  Even if you’re like me, and some holidays are not always played-up, it still seems necessary to document that you did, in fact, exist during that moment in history.  Notable events, the things the twins do, and everyday happenings are all things I want to remember, which makes them my blogligation.  So, when the twins are older and look back on this blog (which I plan to print into books), they will not criticize me for missing a beat… Like they’ll really notice, or even care.  Or look at the blog books, ever.  Anyway, the point is, some blogs are blogligations… and I’m sure they’ll find something to criticize me about! Ha!.  But, I happen to love blogging, so the term “blogligation” is used in the most positive way.

Easter (Way too many pictures ahead.  Proceed with caution.)

We had a lot of things going on Easter weekend that required us to stay close to home.  Most of my family was out of town. We went ahead with our regular Sunday routine to get to church.  I taught Cradle Roll that morning and we went out to eat.  As soon as we got home, the boys went down for their nap.  Aunt Pat came to spend the afternoon with us and arrived just as the boys woke up.  We let the boys dig in their Easter baskets that I filled mostly with little trinkets to play with at church. 

We dyed their Easter eggs together, which was fun.  FYI, a little rinse of OxiClean and water makes for easy dye removal from hands.

They had a little snack while we waited for the eggs to dry and for Todd to scatter them in the yard.

   

We had an egg hunt a church a week before.  They were all plastic eggs filled with treats/candy.  So, when they hunted their eggs this time, they opened the plastic ones in hopes of finding more treats.  I think they were a little disappointed to find them empty.  They both tried to open the real eggs… Nathan ripped 2 of them up.  We did all of this pretty quick, so the eggs were great for their breakfast for the following few days.

We didn’t get a family picture this Easter.  We were in rush mode all morning and weren’t dawning new Easter attire, anyway.  All of these pictures were taken after nap and in our round-the-house clothes.  And, I just need to say, it’s nearly impossible to get any decent pictures of them at all, let alone together or with their baskets.  These boys are on the move.  And fast.

Mother’s Day

My brother was in town, so he and Mom joined us for church, then we all went to lunch at Zio’s, as Steven’s treat!  YUM!  We had a nice time together.  The boys have gotten pretty good at eating out, which makes times like this quite pleasant.  The rest of the day was good and normal.  Nice naps were had, moods were good, and we all just had a nice day together and got some work done, too.  Todd ordered me some good ceramic knives I have been wanting and I’m anxious for them to arrive.  They will be this year’s Mother’s Day present.  Anyone have an extra Mother’s Day card laying around that the boys can give me?  Fuzzy…sorry.

The thing about Mother’s Day,  to me, is that being the mother to the cutest, most precious, funny twins on the planet is my absolute pleasure.  I am so blessed by them every day.  They are my joy.  To be celebrated for doing the job of mothering is wonderful and appreciated.  But, on this Mother’s day, it was really my celebration and awe over the gift of having them as my children.  It was This Mother’s day to celebrate.