Another Long Weekend

After Seattle, Labor Day, and ACL weekend, it feels a little indulgent to have taken another day off... but Friday was my birthday, so clearly another long weekend was in order! This trip was designed as much for Aurora as it was for me, but I got some great deals and we all enjoyed ourselves.

On Friday we drove down to San Antonio and checked in to a hotel right along the Riverwalk.

The El Tropicano has a resident toucan, and judging from how close he came to us, I'd say he liked Aurora just about as much as she liked him!

We had a lot more animal encounters during our day at SeaWorld.

And yes, we sat in the splash zone!

Aurora also rode on her first roller coaster! Not surprisingly, it was very tame and shamu-themed. She was just barely tall enough to ride, and apparently it was one of her favorite parts of the trip.

One of her least favorite moments came when we were getting her to pose for a picture the Rain Forest Cafe. We were telling her how scared she was of the tiger the last time we were there, so she was already shaking when he suddenly came to life and RAWRed at her! I honestly have never seen a human so terrified - she screamed at the top of her lungs and shouted "MOMMY, RUN!!!" while we (and everyone within ear shot) just about fell over laughing. I wish I'd gotten video.

Afterwards she told us "that tiger hurt my feelings and broke my heart," which I'm pretty sure translates to "scared the living daylights out of me." Ahhh well. It was a fun weekend, and I'm 35 now.

Hakuna Matata

Disney's Lion King was first released in 1994, when I was in High School. I remember seeing it in the theater with friends, and in 1997 going to Disneyland for the first time and buying a hat that said "Hakuna Matata." After so many years, I forgot how good that movie was and love that they just re-released it into the theater. Over the weekend we saw it (again) with Aurora, and she's been singing "Hakuna Matata" ever since! Afterwards, we took a quick trip to the zoo to see some lions and monkeys in person. It was a little too hot and dusty, but I think she appreciated it.

We don't get out to the movies very often these days, so I'm glad for any animated films we can take Aurora to see. What movies have you seen in the theater lately?

Austin Kiddie Limits

After a seemingly endless summer, today the weather finally cooled off and it actually rained! This didn't surprise me one bit, considering that I just washed my car and it's ACL weekend. We were lucky enough to get free passes again, which was a pretty good excuse to head out and just waste the afternoon at the Austin Kiddie Limits stage. 

We listened to music, played in the sandbox, and of course, left way before the headliners played! If we didn't get free tickets, it really wouldn't be worth going - but it was a fun way to spend the day.

Grandparent's Day

Today Aurora's school celebrated Grandparent's Day with muffins and a very special art project. I'm not sure how accurate this is, but apparently it's our Family Tree:

I wanted to send a special shout out to Aurora's Grandparents - Mom and Dad, Nancy and Steve, and her Grandpa Chuck. I sure am missing my Grandpa Sandler - but sending all our love to Grandma Bernice. I also wanted to share another piece of art that Aurora brought home from school today:

Also not totally accurate, but so sweet. I sure do love my little artist and everybody on our Family Tree.

Haircuts

It's hard to believe, but this week marked 15 years since Chuck graduated from Marine Corp boot camp. That's just crazy... 15 years ago we were only 19 years old, living together and getting engaged, thinking he'd probably become a pilot. It was about that time when he came home with his first set of clippers and showed me how to give him a fade. If he had his way, I'd still be buzzing it that short today! Regardless, 15 years later I am still giving him haircuts.

Chuck was a Marine Corp Reserve for many years. On this day 10 years ago he was pretty certain he'd be called to active duty. We were living in Glendale, California and Chuck was just finishing his last year at Art Center. Not long after, he was diagnosed with cancer. Those were a few uncertain years, but here we are today - in good health, with jobs we love, and of course with one adorable little daughter.

Her hair has been getting a little out of control so I gave it a trim this weekend as well. You never know where life will take you - but all things considered, we're looking good at the Wadey house.

We're okay!

These past few days we've gotten a lot of calls and emails asking if we've been affected by the fires here in Central Texas. We are totally fine, but they certainly are close by. Austin is a small city, and the fires are pretty massive. It's just been too dry and hot - but so far our neighborhood is not in danger.

Even with the smell of smoke and ash in the air, we had a fine weekend. I caught up on house work while Chuck worked, and we all had a lazy Labor Day off. We desperately need rain, but I am so thankful that we're safe and the temperatures are finally cooling off enough to start having dinner on the balcony again. After months of temps over 100, the low 90's have never felt so good.

Dance

Last year I was a bit torn as to whether or not I should sign Aurora up for dance. They offer it through school and many of her friends were doing it, but she was just 2 years old and it seemed a bit much. Honestly, I'm really glad we waited - she was so little. Now she's a big 3 year old who can tell me what she wants, and yes - she wants to dance. I think visiting Lillie solidified it for both of us. Lillie's been dancing for 5 years and she loves it. So, I signed Aurora up and she starts next week!

Even with a registration fee, monthly fee, costume fee, and recital fee, we still had some shopping to do for her leotard, tights, ballet slippers and tap shoes. First we went to Target, hoping to find everything we needed. We only found leotards, and there were a lot of colors and styles to choose from. Here's her first pose in the new dance duds:

Today we went to Payless and found ballet shoes, tap shoes, and even a cute dance bag to keep them in. Amazingly, she chose turquoise and black over pink:

Why is this amazing? Because 30 years ago I took dance for a very short time, and my mom let me choose my outfit as well:

Everybody else wore red, white and pink - and I'm guessing Aurora's friends will as well. But, she clearly loves her choices and I think she looks adorable. Turns out, shopping for dance stuff was a lot more fun than I expected. Here's hoping dance class will be just as fun!