NEW FROM PAMPERED CHEF

One of the greatest perks of being a Pampered Chef consultant is getting FREE products. They don't pay much, but if you like to cook...you kitchen is always well stocked with the greatest cooking tools. There are several new things. Some of which are pictured and some are discontinued. Contact me for a new catalog:)

Mary, Mary, Quite contrary how does your....

GARDEN GROW WILD? Left for two weeks and look what we came back to...the jungle! There were once basil and cilantro and cucumbers planted, before the tomatoes over grew it all!

Green peppers gone wild.

Tomatoes gone CRAZY!

new format

what do you think of the new blog format? I am gearing up for school and not having much time to change it in the future. This blog format will help remind me of all the fun times we had this summer
Rhi

Pictures added

Hanging in the car on the way home(with the DVD!). Red box is a great invention. Rent in one city and return in another! Kenner the colorer!

Gander Mountain is a great stop on the way. It has things to run around, see, and buy for mom and dad to get their camping "fix."

The boys LOVED the elevator!!!! Kenner and Patton would travel by themselves up and down, while Casey and I took the stairs. Kenner pushed the bell once and came out of the elevator completely freaked out. It was funny for us, but not for him. He told me, "I freaked out Mommy."

The boys' sleeping quarters.

Look at the air under Kenner...yes Jenna he has learned to jump in and get UNDER the water. Bub and his CRAZY hair at the pool

Kenner licking the honey off his plate at Los Barrios.

Silly Bubbi got a hold of his daddy's hat.

Chick Fil A kids night. The boys both gave him a high five!

I added pictures of our trip, but you will have to go to the previous post to view them (I didn't want to type the same thing over again.

Rhi

Week 2 San Antonio

Getting our new camp stove. Look at Daddy's two helpers.

Our new camping gear put to work.

SEA WORLD

Sunday we got splashed by Shamu, saw sharks, sting rays, dolphins, and many more at Sea World. The boys LOVED it! I would highly suggest Sea World over Disneyland for little ones. It was much more hands on and they weren't too interested in the rides, which there weren't many so we weren't missing out. Thanks to their Heros program...we got in free! WooHoo!

Sharks Dolphins

SHAMU

Water park built within the park....very refreshing! Calling Grandma Carlece...look at the smile on his face after having a GREAt day at Sea World.

it was HOT!

YUCK!

The coolets part of this zoo was the beach.

Our future farmer didn't want to leave the petting zoo...we were there for more than 30 minutes...HE LOVED IT! The Zoo was somewhat old fashioned with their exhibits. The limestone cage was really neat. I believe that was a hyena. All the animals were too hot...including the ones not in cages and walking around.

A swimming hippo.

This last week has been full of....about nothing. We played at the playground, pool, and just hung out here. We were able to go to Los Barrios, which is being featured on Food Network with Bobby Flay. It was okay...we are spoiled with Cristina's so close. One thing that did top Cristina's was their homemade tortilla's....YUM!!

I am busily packing. We no longer "have" a room, so I have to take things out to the truck without the boys following me, which then locks us out of our room. The boys LOVE the elevator! They have been going on it by themselves and in fact I am forbidden to go in it with them. It is quite funny.

The last two weeks have probably been the longest two weeks, which is a great thing. We have had a great time as a family and experienced life as a family without any projects (which isn't something we have experienced since Kenner was born...yes it has been that long that we have been remodeling our house).

I believe this was a huge realization that we will be going camping more (which we are all geared up!) to get away. If you don't GET away...family time doesn't not happen like it should. We eat meals together, read books at night, play outside together...but somehow getting away from it all is when the best times occur. I suggest taking a trip to your local lake or camp or hotel (for those of you not into camping) away from everyone else to enjoy some real family time.

Signing out of San Antonio.
PS. We are headed to Houston to stay with Jeff and Julie Kripal (Kenner's girlfriend and my great Aunt Idonna's son's) house for tonight. To Dallas to see Casey's friend then we hit the road and back on Sunday night.

Day 5 and 6- San Antonio

We were very busy yesterday (Day 6/Saturday), so I didn't get a chance to blog about our Friday Day 5.

We were able to go to the San Antonio Children's Museum. I was planning our trips around San Antonio when I found out that Dora would be there on Friday morning...so we decided to go then. There were a million (exaggeration) kids there, so we sat down, waited for Dora, said Hi and then went to play. The Museum was much more exciting than Dora. The boys were satisfied though...they saw Dora. They didn't need to get a picture or get her map...which I was thrilled to not have to stand in line. The Museum was AWESOME. I highly recommend that anyone traveling down to San Antonio visit it. They had an enormous grocery store with WORKING cash registers! Kenner had fun checking other kids out with their groceries. Patton was the bagger:)

There was a mini Alamo, kid powered elevator, real airplane, bag checking station, log cabin that you could build, tree house, Trolley, aquarium, BALL AREA with vaccuums that shoot them everywhere, dentist office, and much anticipated front loader that you could actually move and dump gravel. Patton was in HEAVEN!!!

It was a lot of fun. We also went down to the River Walk. That was a bit harry with Patton walking as close as he could to the river...for those of you that have not been down there...there isn't a wall, just a drop off into the river! Yea, not fun for Mommy!

We came home and took a great nap and hung out with Daddy for the rest of the night. Overall a great day.

SATURDAY DAY 6 - FUN AT THE SAN ANTONIO ZOO with the rest of San Antonio. Saturdays are always probably busy...but we got to go to the Zoo with Mommy AND Daddy. So off we went. It was a very nice zoo...but we have it GREAT in Omaha. We saw Zebras, Elephants, and much more. It was only 102 degrees...so many of the animals were lying in the shade. I wanted to lay down with them. The coolest part of this zoo was the Totland. It had a ground hog hole place to play in and also THE BEACH. I knew of this so we planned ahead and brought our swim suits. It was very fun and an awesome way to burn some energy while staying cool.

We came home and took a very long nap, meanwhile Daddy was researching more camping gear (yes Kendra we are fully equipped now). After our nap we decided to travel to Austin (like going to Omaha) to visit Cabella's. We had employee pricing this weekend and nothing else to do...so we went. It was a nice trip. We stopped at Rudy's BBQ, which was an experience and very good!

We found the camp table we were looking for, so we bought it at Cabella's. It was a nice touch to our homemade breakfast this morning (Sunday morning).

A nice night out with the family. I am discovering that being away means more time together...no projects at home which leaves only one parent with the kids. It has been refreshing to spend time with both my husband AND my children!
Have a great Sunday! We are off to Sea World!

Day Four - San Antonio

I didn't report on this and when I saw this picture...I about fell out of my chair laughing. This is a picture documenting that Kenner can put things on his sandwich without looking! Doesn't he look like Uncle Caleb here? It was very funny and something you will have to ask him to do for you!

Thursday in San Antonio was....hot, but we had fun FOR FREE!

We went to Kenner's "my size" park, had lunch in the playground, and came back to our room for a nap. I needed to find something to buy my time as the boys play. They love to play and can play for hours...but I make them go because I am bored. Then I get frustrated "caged" in a hotel room. Solution: Puzzle book. I sat and did many puzzles while the boys played. It was my time away from them...somewhat:) I decided to also catch some rays, so I sat in the sun doing the puzzles. Meanwhile, Kenner and Patton took off their shoes (note: Kenner hurt his big toe the night before and we didn't have a bandaid). Kenner started to scream bloody murder about his foot, "I broke my foot." (Repeated x 87 at a scream). I casually get up and get very light headed. I felt as if I was going to pass out. I was attempting to play it cool with Kenner, instructing Patton to get Kenner's shoes, and trying not to pass out. I finally had to put my head in my hands and take deep breaths for 2 minutes (while Kenner is screaming and Patton is crying, because he doesn't want to get the shoes and many other parents looking on). I finally felt better and then decided it was time for bandaids at the Commisarry. I don't feel that the Commissary is any better of a deal than other places...again it all depends on the sale prices:)

I intended on going swimming and to the Drafthouse Movie theater for Ice Age....but found out that it would cost us 16.00 a piece for a movie, pizza, and pop...thought 50+ dollars was too much to spend on a movie that we can rent for less than a dollar in a few months.

Nap time took too long (Darn:)) so we ended up staying in our hotel until Daddy came home. Daddy treated us (or me) a night out to the Cheesecake Factory. YUM!

Day Three - San Antonio

We went to an AWESOME funland inside yesterday. They had hand pedaled trains, basketball hoop and balls, pirate ship with slide, castle with slide, super huge playground with tunnels, indoor theater, bounce house, and snack shop.

I was completely excited when I saw two sweaty boys jump for almost 45 minutes non stop in the bounce house....thinking what a great nap they will have.

NO LUCK! It must have been the very nutritious lunch we had of nachos and Diet Dr. Pepper (I know Mom of the Year!)

We got back home to find them cleaning our room, so we procrastinated a little more (did I note that we left EXTRA early so they could clean our room...looks like they were late today!). So I wrestled with the boys until Daddy got home.

We made tacos out of the microwave and had Warm Delights for dessert. Yum! We did eat green beans...so there was some nutrition in the day.

The entire family enjoyed watching America's Got Talent. It is weird for me to say the entire family...because we hardly ever do anything as a family (which watching TV as a family is an extreme rarity).

I have discovered if you take: laundry, cleaning, dishes, sewing, Pampered Chef, couponing, making beds, running errands away the desires of reading and exercising pop up...strange! This must be a reality check that maybe I need to do more a schedule at home, so I can enjoy the cravings of reading and exercising.

Well we are going to play at the park this am and then to the pool this afternoon. I hope we get to go see Ice Age 3D (which would be another first...movie as a family) tonight at the Drafthouse, which features dinner and movie. You sit at a table and eat while you watch...fun don't you think?

Wish me luck...I don't believe I have spent this much time with my children in such a confined place. The train table in the basement is something I have taken for granted. To have some peace and quiet by myself for 10 minutes is something I REALLY miss. Casey granted me time last night to go by myself...but I didn't realize how much I should have taken him up on it!!!! I am going to cure this by going to get something to read at the BX while the boys play on the playground and swim in the baby pool.

A major shout out to those of you that stay at home with your children and don't run the life we do...I don't think I could do it!!