Let's Go Astros!

After hanging with his Uncle Chris for six weeks, 

Flat Alex will leave Houston a serious Astros fan!

Monday, April 6th: Opening Day & 

DAY 3 of TLCTH

Until a year or so ago, if you had asked me where in Texas I'd most like to live, I would have said Austin.  My brother, sister-in-law and family live there, the weather is a little better and it's...weird.  Lately though and especially after last week, I am happy to be living in Houston.  I won't give you my top ten list right now but I'll mention two things.  First, Houston is known as the biggest small town in America.  It always surprises me to remember that it's the fourth largest city because it is extremely accessible and the downtown area is cozy.  We went in and out of the city four or five times during the week and dealt with very little traffic or navigational headaches.  Downtown is about half an hour from Kingwood so going in to visit the zoo, the aquarium, the museums or the special events we like to go to is very easy.  Second, Houston is home to the Astros.  I don't know when I became a baseball fan but I love the Astros.  I know the players, I like Minute Maid Park and I like playing baseball with the kids in the backyard too. 

Monday was opening day and we all headed to Minute Maid Park for the festivities.  Chris was a little concerned that there wouldn't be much for the kids but it was a lot of fun.  Tara was excited about the free food (I'm sensing a theme here).  There was music, a lot of give-aways and a lot of excited fans.  We saw a group of people wearing puma costumes and another group wearing sombreros and Carlos Lee shirts.

We spent some time at the Marine Corps' pull-up station.  Chris, Brendan and Tara all participated and won prizes.  After that, we headed into the Astros' fan shop.  I bought Brendan a baseball and am hoping he puts it to good use when he gets home.  

"Bigg-i-o!"

Brendan, Alex and Mia with #7 Craig Biggio

We were at his jersey retirement ceremony last summer

They're everywhere!  Mia and Maggie G with a girly Chik-Fil-A cow

We ate free Chik-Fil-A sandwiches for lunch.

"Who loves the Astros?"  "I do!  I do!"

The best part of baseball!

The Lauderdales in front of our favorite Houston landmark

Mr. B did enough pull-ups to get a cool water bottle.  I was impressed.  He had to really kick himself up to make it but he has the moves.  Chris is seeing visions of TBS for his godson!

Tara is prepared in case the Marine gets frisky

Hey-this isn't so bad.

Almost there. The crowd was cheering her on.  

She did a great flexed arm hang and won a water bottle.

Astros cheering section

Inside

A few of the balls hit out of the park by Lance Berkman

Alex liked the train.  It sounds off and moves every time the Astros hit a Home Run.

Back at home, Lawrence made some amazing raspberry martinis (I am looking forward to a repeat at the Outer Banks in July), and Jason Torres, a high school friend of Tara and Lawrence's, came to dinner with his family.  We all had a good time and we took the opportunity to give Lawrence his birthday gift.  Since we hadn't had the fun of celebrating a birthday for at least five days, I pulled out the birthday hat.  Lawrence was a good sport and pretended to like it and the singing hamster card we'd gotten him. (I haven't come across it yet but I'm hoping he accidentally left it behind.) 

Lawrence can't wait until Tara buys him his very own birthday hat!

DAY 2 of The Lauderdales Come To Houston

Man, that's cold!

Ryan does a recovery lap 

What a difference a week makes!  It's Easter Sunday and Houston is enjoying torrential downpours and thunder storms.  Last week, on Day Two of TLCTH, we had sunny, blue skies and perfect weather though a bit cooler than usual for this time of year.  We got a lazy start to the day and enjoyed one of Chris' delicious brunches before heading to 11:00 A.M. Mass.  It was Palm Sunday so Mass was extra long.  I think we finally finished at 12:45.  Chris started out double-fisted with both Sophie and Ella.  Tara took Sophie from him but about a quarter of the way through the reading of the Passion, handed her off to Lawrence.  I tried to get Sophie back from him but she wanted nothing to do with that.  She threw both arms around his neck, snuggled in and won his heart.  They were fast friends for the rest of the visit.  I think she would have been happy to stow away in his suitcase.

We had planned to stop at the horse playground before going home but almost all of the Lauderdale kids fell asleep in the car and they decided to head back.  We stopped for a brief visit with the horses and then joined them back at CD.

The afternoon was spent playing games and getting wet in the backyard.  We were appalled to discover that Tara and Lawrence have been neglecting their kids' baseball education but they all got the idea quickly and, Ryan especially, seemed to really like it.  Chris had mown a baseball diamond into the yard for Mia's party a couple weeks ago so the kids had a "real" field to play on.  I think their favorite part was chasing the balls they hit over the fence into our neighbor's driveway.

Tara, Mia, Flat Alex, Grace, Lauren and I headed to Religious Ed classes at 4:00 P.M.  Grace's class learned about the parable of the yeast and the Last Supper.  Lauren seemed to like the classroom with all of the hands-on activities.

After doing the kid hand-off, Tara and I went out for a Girls' Night.  I wish we'd taken a picture.  I don't think we got one of the two of us all week!  We had a great time.  We did one of my favorite things--went for some wine and a quiet dinner.  I was so grateful for the one-on-one time with Tara.  She's a terrific friend.  And I forgave her long ago for being able to kick my butt in swimming, running, soccer.....

Jasmine?  The girls keep re-naming the horses

Ryan braves the water straight from the hose

I'm so cold, I'm so cold, Gotta' run.

Every time Ryan went down the slide he did a recovery lap around the yard.

It cracked us up.

Okay--maybe I can try it again.

Heels over head!  Lauren takes a turn on the water slide

Not sure she liked that (she did it again though!)

Grace and buddy Paige (Flat Alex is learning about the Last Supper too)

Important News Bulletin

There's no stopping her now!

Time out from the regularly scheduled program of vacation news to let you know about the historic event that happened tonight at C.D.  Our dear Ella, at 15 months and 16 days old, took her first steps!  We had just finished dying Easter Eggs when Chris called me over.  Ella was standing on her own and I barely prompted her when she took three or four steps into my arms (the video below is of attempt number three).  We were so proud of her.  After having cousin Sean here for a week toddling around on his own, I was ready to see Ella take off too.  I'm sure by next week, I'll be pushing her back down and wishing she were on all fours again but for now, I'm just a happy Mama! 

The Lauderdales Come to Houston

Mia and friend

I got up early this morning to put Tara and Lawrence and family on a plane back to Virginia.  I was sad to see them go but felt very good about two things--first, I was definitely left wanting more.  They were great guests and I'd be happy to host them longer (or to keep their kids forever).  Second, we will be seeing them again in just two months when we'll be in Virginia for a very extended vacation.

Since I've been too busy playing tour guide to blog about what we've been doing, I'll be spending the next week doing a day-by-day summary of the visit.  I took about six hundred photos and all of the posts will be very picture heavy.  So, if you don't enjoy seeing photos of other people's vacations, you may want to stay away from frodo seven for the next week!

DAY ONE of 

THE LAUDERDALES COME TO HOUSTON

Saturday April 4

We all got up at 5:30 A.M. to head downtown to Bellaire for their annual Trolley Run.  This was the Lauderdales' second day in a row getting up at the crack of dawn so the kids were a little bleary-eyed.  Brendan started the morning off with a bang, placing fourth in the mile.  Chris, Tara and I ran the 5K.  Chris beat his goal time by about 15 seconds and Tara placed second in her age group.  All I'll say about my run is that I ran behind the Chik-Fil-A cow for the first half mile with her "clop, clop, clop" sounding in my ears.  

I learned something new about my little sis'.  Her favorite thing about races is the free food afterward.  Chris and I rushed her through that part (sorry, T), getting us all showered and ready to drop Madeleine off at Rice for her track meet.

The Chik-Fil-A cow.  

Little did I know she'd be my running mate less than 30 minutes later.

Mr. B is in the center.  The boy to his right came in first.

No competition!

Why are we up so early Mama?

I made Madeleine official photographer for the 5K and ended up with about twenty photos of dogs at the race (along with some very good ones of the runners). 

 

T, Chris wants to know what's so funny and why you weren't pushing yourself a little harder :)

A strong finish

Chris ran in with me.  My cool shirt was a gift from Tara and Lawrence.

Another race dog

We went to Memorial Hermann Park for a picnic lunch.  It took us half an hour to find a parking space because Chevron was having their company family day at the zoo and all of the zoo parking was full.

It was a beautiful day and the kids wanted to play in all of the sprinklers and fountains at the park.  We managed to keep them mostly dry though--except for Grace who took an extended run through the fountain.

Sweet sisters

They're hard to see but they're there.  

Lauderdales and Doyles under a big Houston palm tree.

They've got the whole world in their hands.  

(Tara could've played with this all day)

After feeding the ducks, we made it to the zoo.  I love the Houston Zoo.  I've heard great things about some other zoos like the San Diego Zoo but the only zoo I've been to that I've liked as well as the Houston Zoo is the zoo in Madrid, Spain.  The one drawback to the Houston Zoo is that it is huge and we've never seen everything in one day.  Chris and Lawrence would have liked to have seen the big cats but after about two and a half hours, the kids were falling apart, the runners were tired and it was time to go.  Chris and I bought a zoo membership and I already have a return visit scheduled for May.

Brendan wanted to check out the aquarium.  

Here are Brendan, Mia and Grace with the jelly fish.

Watching the sea lions.

Ella checks out the sea lions.  I'm not sure what Chris is doing.

Tres monos

Tres monos again

and again

We love the Merry Go Round 

The perfect place for a nap

Prairie Dog

Who's looking at who?

Three Kreitzer cousins round out the day with a souvenir penny

We finished up the day back at home with a nice dinner, baths and early bedtimes for all.

¡Feliz cumpleaños a mi cuñadita!

Martina, estrella del cine,  se escapa del papparazzi

Tini, espero que hoy, el nueve de abril, sea un día muy divertido para ti, un día de vino y pastel, y que mi hermanito te dé algo precioso, incluyendo un abrazo fuerte de mi parte.

Eres una de mis mejores amigas.  Me gusta ir de compras contigo y creo que ir de compras es uno de tus talentos mas impresionantes :)  (El otro es tu talento por escoger un esposo.)

Te debo un blogpost más completo.  Será una sorpresa para un día cuando no lo esperes.....

April Fools!

Got ya!

Wow- it's been quite a few days since I've updated you on the happenings at Casa Doyle.  Tonight, I was planning on telling you about the amazing party we threw for Mia last weekend but that will have to wait as I have something a little more timely to say.

I spent the morning doing something I really hate to do--I got my hair done--highlighted, cut etc.  I guess I'm not a girly girl because I can think of about a hundred ways I'd rather spend a morning.  I'm vain enough to do what needs to be done though so there I was.  My mother-in-law came over to watch the kids.  She even organized a homeschool lesson about muscles and bones (I'm pretty sure it was over the kids' heads but she's passionate about science so it's great that she's sharing that with them).  

When I got home, Chris and Barbara told me they had some news for me.  I thought "Uh oh" and asked what it was.  Barbara said that she and the kids had been in the backyard and she'd had Ella standing in the grass.  She said she'd let go and Ella had stayed standing and when she'd said, "Come on, Ella", Ella had taken three steps.  

So-- Ella is my baby and although I'm a pretty easy-going mom, I did hope to be there for her first steps, video camera in hand.  I was pretty disappointed.  I told Chris, "well, obviously Ella is not going to be our last".  At that point, Barbara looked quickly at her watch and said, "is it--can it really be-- April first?"  

Yes, Chris got me again!  He gets me every single year and every year I say--not this year--I'll be on guard but, no, he manages to sneak one in there.  And Barbara played her role like a champ.  When Chris told her what they were going to do, she rehearsed what she would say and she nailed it.  All I can say is, "Be ye on your guard!"  There's always next year.