Big 3 oh!

Happy Birthday to the newest 30 year old in our family (I am still in my 20's but not for long)!

Let It Begin. . .

Our family has kind of put all our eggs in one basket. The eggs are birthdays and the basket is the second week of April. April 14, 16, 17, 18, and 22 to be exact. The last two are brother-in-law birthdays which are easily remembered with cards. As for Fernando and the girls, each year has been a trick on making everyone feel special and not ending up with a boat load of cake (not that I mind having cake, but it kind of nullifies all my gym attendance).

Yesterday happened to be the most beautiful day weather wise and so after the gym we decided to head up to Canyon Lake for a little boating experience. It should be said that we have never been to this lake or driven a boat though I am a certified boat driver in the state of Florida. It sounded fun so why not.

In a little over an hour we were cruising across a huge lake.
Everyone, including Talia, got a chance to drive.

Tiago loved driving the most and Talia was digging the rush of wind and spray of water.
Mia was doing all sorts of imagining in between her turns driving.


The hour excursion was just the right amount of time since driving the boat was the only thing the kids could do. (Next time we'll bring some water toys) After paying the $39 for our outing, we headed to the beach to play. I had grabbed all sorts of just in case gear like change of clothes and towels, but no swim suits. I remember when I was younger, the time my family stayed at a hotel with a pool when we had no swim suits. With that feeling in mind, I wasn't too strict about getting wet.



Mia kept bring what she termed as "plop" for Fernando and I to eat.

Tiago was the exception to that rule since he still is trying to heal from endo off a razer over a week ago. The scabs are huge and keep getting ripped off or soaked to obliteration. Being the man child he is, he enjoyed finding all sorts of rocks and using them as instruments in creating all sorts of things.



By 5 we were on the road again and with the hour to go home, Fernando suggested eating out. So when we came across a Red Robin's, I couldn't resist. We stopped by an obliging officemax to print out some Birthday Free Dinner Coupons for Fernando and Mia and then enjoyed some endless fries. Talia was diggin' the ranch dressing that came with my salad (I should say side salad that some how fit next to my hankin' huge Bleu Ribbon Burger).





Our waitress was phenomenal and the food was delicious. They sang birthday songs Red Robin style and gave us 3 ice cream sundae's to share. I hope that the next week can live up to the pre-birthday fun we had Saturday.

Positive Results

One can never be 100% positive about anything. Lucky for us, science has figured out away to get tests results sooner.

See those two glowing lines? That solidified my inklings that I woke up with this morning. Sure enough, I have strep! After a ridiculous attempt to get seen in my actual clinic, I was referred to a civilian urgent care facility. I was slightly annoyed since this is #2 time I have tried to get an appointment (oddly enough the first time was for strep a year ago) and have never gotten in. I wish people realized that crammed health facilities and poor care is what awaits us. But I digress, I had my fears about going to a civilian urgent care with visions of long waits and sub-prime conditions in the office. A sweet friend offered to watch the kiddos and I bravely found the DMV looking building. Luckily, both the long wait and the condition inside proved false.

After the necessary paperwork and weight/measurements to do, the nurse lead me to my room and swabbed my throat right then and there. Literally 20 seconds later, I had my positive test results and a few minutes later I was talking to a doctor about treatment options. I went for the quick and easy one shot option with an added shot to reduce swelling and make my throat more comfortable. Doctor leaves and a few minutes later a male nurse came in with needles. Poor guy. The shots were in the "upper thigh" which really meant "upper butt". Sorry for the visual, now you know how that poor nurse felt. I am glad to have got it sooner than later. Last go around I felt like I would never live through the ordeal. Now I just have to wait my 24 hours and then revisit the outside world.


UPDATE:
Since last typing this, I have had the chance to see the outside world, but not in best way. Tiago woke up with this on his pinkie finger:

After freaking out and googling spider bites, the ER seemed to be the best place to handle his brown recluse bite. From 11:45 pm until 5:45 am, we giggled and read books and prayed for other crying babies that came and went before a doctor decided to cut off the top of the blister and squeeze the puss out. He got some x-rays and hydrogen peroxide and no sleep. With crazy potent antibiotics,we rushed home in time to get Fernando off to work and crashed the 45 minutes before we had to be back at the hospital for Mia's appointment.

Turns out that strep is contagious ;) and Mia decided to join in on the fun. No one knows why they think kids will like medicine that smells and must taste like rancid fruit, but we have what seems to be gallons of the stuff to take. Tiago and Mia act as if the medicine will destroy them each dosing. It's going to be a long 10 days.

Lizard Friends and People Friends

San Antonio has finished its standard 3 weeks of Spring and is running head long into summertime. This means we are outside in frequently enjoying the last remnants of that milder weather. We often bust out sprinkler fun and invite whomever is standing around in the near vicinity my heat exhaustion. During one such friendly outing, a little lizard was discovered in the grass somehow. Tiago quickly snatched it up and had a hard time sharing his new found friend with the other humans present. He has caught several other lizards that usually drop their tail in defense. Convinced that all lizards must do this, Tiago almost attempted to pull the tail off for him. Lucky for the lizard, Tiago decided to explain the tail removal before preforming the operation. I think the lizard stayed with him for almost an hour when I finally had Tiago imagine being held against your will in a giant lizards claws. So much for wild encounters. He was given a home in an easily accessable weed home created by the child geniuses viewed here:

Washing Hands?

Talia loves LOVES LOVES!!! water. She will often be found at the sink claiming to be innocently washing her hands. One day, while browsing blogs and searching for the next family adventure, I hear the water running. Without looking I command "Talia, turn the water off, NOW!" In which she gives her standard reply "Ok, mommy" which really never means the water is turned off. Distracted with google and its hypnotic ways, I waited too long to really enforce that command. This is what I found:



Water was everywhere! I guess it serves me right in the sense that internet never trumps parenting.

School Family Night

At Mia's school, they try to make the learning experience a family one. They will have family nights that involve the school opening it's doors for family's to come play school basically. Last family night was thrown by the specialists. The 4 areas of play were: PE, art, music, and computers. Without Fernando who was trapped at BAMC for night float, I braved the 2 hour long event with kids who were past their bedtime.

Things were flying smoothly at first for the PE section. Talia ran around while Mia and Tiago attempted to jump rope. Each family was then given a large jump rope to take home and we then switched to art. Luckily, Talia needed a diaper change so the other two could try making a necklace without the "help" from Talia's little hands. Then in the music portion, sticks were passed around to learn a rhythm sequence. Tiago and Mia concentrated on following the tapping whereas Talia did her own groove thing. Unfortunately, the computer portion was about as stimulating as an intro to Econ lecture even though they were presenting a really fun activity as seen below: (or done by yourself at blabberize.com)


After the subtle and not so subtle hints from the teacher, I realized that our family needed to leave which lead to more than one person yelling including me. Am I sad we went? No. I just think a time limit should have been set before we went into the school's wonderland.

Ms Bumble Buzz Bee

For those of you with kids, you should try looking at the gocitykids.com website and find out random fun things that are going on in your neighborhoods. We often take a peak to find fun free outings. The site has the cost, maps, times, contact numbers, and age suggestions for the activities and so much more! I confess that some states (ie Maryland and Utah) have more exciting adventures, but we have hit a few gems here in Texas. Like the other day, we went to The Garden Center (some local garden store) for a outside storytime where we got to play with a cat,

listen to Ms Bumble Buzz Bee read stories with a fake British accent including a soon to be published wonderful story she wrote about a storm cloud,

plant flowers (which required rocks as a base for the water not to drain to quickly from the soil)

eat graham crackers and lemonade,

and find a skid steer in the middle of a menagerie of beautiful plants

See what you have going on around you!

For fellow SA friends, this weekend is loaded with some Easter Fun. Some that looked good to me were:
Hip Hop Underwater Easter Egg Hunt, Hippity Hop, Little Nut Brown Hare Easter Storytime and Activity Event,, Easter Activities at the Bass Pro Shop including a free picture with the Easter Bunny, crafts, and an egg hunt (plus this store is amazingly fun to take kids to), and Government Canyon Fourth Saturday Family Fun.