Meanwhile, back on the home planet...

Dalton is loving on Nana and Pa.  Being spoiled and apparently spending all his time swimming.

Road Trip - Part 1

Well we started out about an hour later than planned - pretty good for us.  A stop for gas and some breakfast at Micky D's and we were off. Darby was a ROCK STAR traveler.  She watched her Kindle, she listened to books, she practiced her letters, she sang, she even looked out the window.  Couldn't have been more proud of her. 

Lunch at Koppe Bridge

Not indicative of her mood - just a cool pic

 We got to College Station, met up with Miss Lilly and went to Koppe Bridge for lunch.  A College Station institution for great burgers in a real Texas atmosphere.  Highly recommended. After a good nap we hit the Bookstores for some awesome Aggie swag.
Darby wanted to know when we would see some books.

The house I lived in in College Station

Then we saw Miss Lilly's new house and had some dinner.  A solid day one to our trip.

This is Oink - Darby's suitcase.

Aggie Pride

Lovin' on Miss Lilly

Day 2 saw us off - again an hour late - to Miss Rachel's house in Montgomery.  We had a fabulous breakfast and played with her kids.  It was great catching up after quite some time.

Then we were off to our third and final stop - Miss Anabel and Mr. Dan's.  We had a few pit stops on the way for honey and sparklers, but got there - you guessed it - about an hour late. We had a nice lunch and a lazy day and now we're waiting on some good dinner.

Fun with Miss Rachel

So sweet :-)

The truth always wins out

Loving on Gabrielle's room

Tommorrow: Children's Museum and Eddie Izzard!

The Glory of Dalton

As I'm about to embark on my Road Trip with Darby, it seems appropriate that at least the pictures in this last post before we leave be dedicated to the amazing little creature that is Dalton.

We had a fun night tonight playing hide and seek -  "Mommy I'm going to count and you go to your room and hide beside the bed..." We also for some reason ran around in our diaper and played with purses (not me).

I also saw behavior that I feel I will see a lot more of in the future:
Dalton - I see you!
Darby - Get out!
Dalton - I see you!
Darby - I know you see me, but get out!
Dalton - I see you
Darby - Get out! (push)
Dalton - Owwww! (cry)
...and scene.

Lovin' the Tub

I don't know what it is with my kids. They love a bathtub. They love a bathtub with water, a bathtub without water, a pool, a kiddie pool with water, a kiddie pool without water, even a playhouse castle that they turn over on its side and pretend it's a bathtub...

 So last night they crawled in the bathtub with their clothes on, dumped in all the bathtub toys and went to town.  Not really any reason to stop them, so we ran with it.

These Boots Were Made for Scootin'

So D&D discovered the joys of Mommy's closet yesterday. After bringing half the books from Daddy's shelf in there, and hiding in there with the light off and the door closed, Darby started reading the books as if they were "Goodnight Moon".  Although the only parts she could remember were "Goodnight Moon", "Hush" and "Mush", so she just kept repeating those over and over.




Eventually that got old (hard to imagine) so they started investigating Mommy's shoes.  Darby set her sights on Mommy's boots, and Dalton found a nice lime green walking shoe that tickled his fancy. Darby did a nice job as big sister.

We also finally played with Dalton's new Superhero Cape. And forget the Batmobile or the Invisible Jet - Super Dalton's means of transportation is by far the most impressive.

Squirrel!

So this clip encapsulates 2 of his most current obsessions: Rain, Rain Go Away and his need to point out Jeeps on the road.

When he started with Rain Rain Go Away he would just chant it randomly.  Then he moved on to just shouting "Go Away!" - because that was more fun.  Now he's moved on to singing - at least the first line, we don't do the second line yet - and he is actually doing it at an appropriate moment.  The unfortunate thing is that he does it our entire 15 minute ride to school.

The Jeep thing is pretty amazing.  Darby started pointing them out about a year ago and now he has taken it up too.  They fight about it.  It's like their own version of punchbuggy - minus the punching, so far at least. It amazes me how they know some of them are Jeeps.  I've looked before and said "No, buddy, that's not a Jeep - oh wait, yes it is - you're right!"

Oh Dear God - He's Up.

What strikes fear in my heart at 6am? - "Mommmmm-eee...Mommmm-ee..." coming from Dalton's room.

Immediately following the incident.

Yup - little man got up early this morning and it upset the apple cart all over the expressway.  Luckily Nana was coming over anyway to take Darby to swimming lessons, but until she got there there was nothin' getting done in the realm of getting ready for work.  We did however get Darby up, snuggle on Darby's bed, snuggle on Mommy's bed, watch Dora in Mommy's room, watch "Colors" in the playroom, get some juice, get Darby some juice, get in a fight with Darby, cry...etc.

Kissing the boo-boo.

Once Nana arrived though, we settled into another episode of Dora and some blueberry, chocolate chip, rainbow star sprinkle pancakes and all was well.

All You Can Eat Tacos! - w/ Nana & Pa

 




So apparently it was All You Can Eat Taco Night at OTB.

I met Nana, Pa, D&D there and we loaded up on chips, guac, queso, tacos, etc. Neither of them ate much, although somehow we all ended up covered in food.  Dalton ate mostly chips and rice.  That boy loves him some carbs. The kids were actually really good.

 

Darby has been party planning again - she was telling me how Jordan and Kennedy are coming over.  She didn't specify when.  Best to just be constantly prepared I guess.

The kids have really ramped up the Jeep hunt.  Nana was saying how they were fighting over their Jeep spotting on the way to the restaurant.  Dalton lost his mind when he saw one this morning.

After dinner we went home, and Darby watched an episode of Dora, while Dalton dumped puzzles on the floor.  I was able to stop him before he hit the ones with lots of pieces. After Dora we all sat down to put them back together and I was really impressed when Dalton put together the turtle and elephant ones - 4 pieces each - no picture underneath.

Bedtime went smoothly for him.  The extended version of Wheels on the Bus and he went straight down. She, however, threw everything she had at it. It wasn't pretty, but Mommy eventually triumphed.

All in all - Night #2 - uneventful.

7 Weeks - clock starts now...

So Tim left yesterday for 7 weeks of Debate Camp. The kids were hell on wheels all day yesterday (as usual), so I think there was a little sigh of relief when he left us at the airport.

Darby was very unhappy that he was leaving, but bounced back fairly well.  Dalton will just randomly start calling and crying for him. When I explain Daddy is at work he accepts it and moves on with his day until it occurs to him again - which may or may not coincide with when Mommy's being "mean" to him.

I'm sure the fact that Tim is gone so much all year long helps in these situations, but the true test will be to see how they react when he's been gone more than 4 or 5 days. The adventure begins...