July Adventures

I took the boys for a short lived nature walk behind our house. 

On our way to visit college friends we stopped at Town Lake in Austin.

The boys enjoyed throwing rocks into the water.

Days later, on our way back home, we went to the Arboretum in Austin and played on the life sized cow statues. Yes they are wearing the same clothes but I had under-packed for the long weekend and they were freshly washed. I promise. 

They were all sugared up on their first taste of cheesecake so they had lots of sillies to work out before we got back in the car.

While I ran up to the restroom Matt attempted a quick photo shoot with the boys. I may be partial but I think these are just the cutest stinkin boys ever!

San Antonio Whirlwind Weekend

This past weekend we took a trip to San Antonio. We crammed a lot into three days! We saw grandparents, great grandparents, aunts & uncles, friends from college and friends from Cove! Thursday we started with a visit to Mimi & Papa's house and dinner with Grandma Julie (no pictures, sorry.) This is the only picture I did snap that day: My stubborn toddler who refused to swallow his last bite of lunch. He was so tired he fell asleep in the car with a mouth full of slobbery cheeseburger. Bleh!

Friday we got up early and met our friends from Cove who were in town on their own. We played at Hemisfair Park and went to lunch at EZ's. Hemisfair was so fun until hoards of school children descended upon us. Poor Colin was wearing a cute blue polo shirt but as the playground filled up he became impossible to spot because all of them had on matching t-shirts that were the same shade of blue. For her sanity and his safety, Laura took his polo off and had him run around in his under shirt. (If you can't tell from the pictures Connor just adores Ryan who is 5. He loves to play with Colin who is just a bit older but he adores Ryan.)

No Dad, I don't want to stop playing to take a nap.

And on Saturday my sweet friend Hannah got married! It was a beautiful spring wedding.

Check out those adorable little yellow ballet flats!

Hannah, Elizabeth & I were roommates in college and when I moved out, Bonnie moved in. I had a great time reconnecting with old friends & learning all about life as moms now.

By the way, Cameron did go on this trip. I am a terrible mother who somehow only photographed one child. Ugh, guilt.

For more pictures from the playground check out Laura's blog.

The Straps Are Important

Today was a family fun day in Austin! We enjoyed the beautiful weather in one of our favorite cities and we dined at one of our favorite restaurants; Chuy's on Barton Springs. We were seated, got our drinks and I began feeding Cameron some Cheerios and baby food.

He was a little squirmy but was happy so I didn't worry. He had been in his car seat or stroller all morning so I figured he just had some extra energy. As our queso (yummmm!) arrived I noticed he was turned around facing the table behind him and was chewing on the back of the highchair. Again, he was happy so I ignored my instinct to turn him back around. I did however, ask Matt why he didn't strap Cam in. He told me the buckle was broken, so I went on enjoying my creamy jalapeño dip.

Before I knew it Cameron seemed lower than he should be. Things went from amusing and laughable to very stuck and panicky in no time flat. He was pretty stuck. His left knee was wedged (it's a little chunky) under the right rail and his right leg was still hanging down as it should be. The more he wriggled around the more his torso began to slide under the front bar. Because of the the angle he was at, when he would relax he would slam his face into the back of the highchair. At first when Matt was trying to get him out, Cameron was laughing and thought this was a real fun game. But like I said, the lower he got the more it hurt and the more scared he became. I snapped this picture on my phone before things spiraled out of control.

Matt is clearly still laughing and so was I. Cameron was laughing at first but by the time I got the picture, he was upset. A waitress asked me if we needed help and I told her it seemed like we were going to need to cut him out (at that point I was questioning whether or not we would have to cut the between the leg strap or saw him out of the chair!) As she went to get scissors we were swarmed with about 7 or 8 other wait staff and managers all trying to figure out how to get our sobbing baby out of this thing!

It was sort of an out-of-body experience for me. I don't really remember talking much except that I kept saying, "wait...wait." I remember feeling like I needed a minute to evaluate the best way to get him out. Matt on the other hand was just pulling and pushing, doing all that he could to get his baby free. I thought Cameron would be pulled up through the top but Matt was working him down more and more. So when he said, "No, he's got to go down." and the waitress agreed I stopped being so hesitant and just held the strap for her to cut it. Once the strap was out of the way Cameron was much more easily manipulated and squeezed down through the seat and under the lap bar to freedom. I actually thought at one point, I bet this is more traumatic that being born - but not that far off!

When he was finally free I took him away to nurse him and calm him down. For the rest of the meal we had people stopping by to see if he was okay. Within about 90 seconds of being free, he was over it. He ate happily and played at the table for the rest of the meal. Chuy's lost a highchair because of us but we were completely pleased with their immediate and caring response. What a day!

AND! I have been anticipating this day coming but not for a while...we were complimented on our precious TWINS today! Hahaha!

Zoo Fun with Grandmas!

Pictures from our trip to the San Antonio Zoo on Friday. Always good fun!