While Mom and Dad's away, the kids will play!

Thank God for Grandparents!!! 

Ron and Liza were troopers and took care of the kids while we were in Vegas.  They had all kinds of fun stuff planned out for the kids. 

Liza sent me and Dylan pictures everyday which was so nice.  I don't like talking to the kids while we are gone because if they get upset when we talk, it upsets me more than being away from them.  If they are happy and content and not asking about us or getting upset about us being gone, no need to stir the pot.

Thanks to Ron and Liza for keeping the kids!  It make leaving them not as stressful when you know they are in good hands! 

My messy son, enjoying his dinner

Gam-E and Tatum made their own play-do!  She loves playing with it.

Tatum's favorite thing in the world is the zoo.  Gam-E did not disappoint and took the kids to the zoo with Benita and her grandson.

 Checking out the penguins

 My girl LOVES treats!

 After getting this picture we almost booked an immediate flight home to save our daughter from converting!

G-Pop loves reading to the kids.  Books before bedtime!

Fresh and Clean after his bath.

Making Daddy a heart with her homemade play-do.

Gam-E is brave letting her ride the Carousel at the zoo.  She usually refuses to get off.  If she did refuse, Gam-E kept it a secret.  She definitely had a great time!

Nightly walk.  Druz looks like he is in heaven

Liza said Tatum is hard to say no to.  I know!

 I hate messes.  Hate them.  It's hard to avoid with kids but I do my best.  From this picture, Druz had to be in heaven.  Making messes and getting to feed himself!  Love the bandana bib!

 Having dinner the first night.  Made my day!

More fun at the zoo.  Tatum is so sweet with Druz, she has become such the little helper.  

Druz has a weird fix with our Carmen and Playa's beds.  He is too small to climb into Playa's cage but he will roll all over in Carmens bed.  Apparently, it's not just our dogs.  Liza said he enjoyed Lily's bed too!

Tatum looking through our wedding album.  Liza said she was telling her all about it, as if she were there.  

 Always the little talker!

LOVE THESE MUNCHKINS!!!

Viva Las Vegas!!!

My uncle came in town the night we got back from Sea World.  We had a good time hanging out, catching up, and celebrating my cousin Taylor's high school graduation. 

Friday we took the kids to Parent's Night Out at Tatum's Pre-School.  We had dinner with Casey, Becca, Nicole, and Cody.  After dinner we headed over to Cody and Nicole's.  She is due any day so it was fun catching up and seeing Hogan's nursery.

Saturday morning we got up early and got on the road.  The kids were going to spend a few days with Gam-E and G-Pop while we took off for Vegas.

We met half way, made the switch, sped home, and headed to the airport.  We had a great time, ate good food, enjoyed some fun in the sun, caught a few great shows, and walked around...a lot!

We didn't waste anytime.  We flew in at 5:30 and had dinner reservations at 7, then a show at 9:30!

Our first night (Saturday)...

Heading to dinner at Il Mulino's in Cesar's Palace, after dinner we caught Mystere, a Cirque du Soleil Show.  It was great and such a fun way to start our trip!  I've been to Vegas 4 times before but had never once seen a show.  After the show we were walking back and stumbled on the Sirens of TI.  It's the Pirate Show outside Treasure Island.  Let me just say, we wasted 15 minutes of our life there, but hey...at least we know this for the next time.  NOT recommended!

 

Pool Time!  

We spent a lot of time poolside and I loved every second of it.  It was in the 90's the whole time we were there but with the dry air and a little breeze, it was really nice.  This is me and Amber reading our books enjoying the peace and quiet.  

Sunday, after lounging all day, we headed over to Paris for dinner and then on to Jersey Boys.  The show was seriously awesome!  So entertaining!  Even Dylan said he was surprised how into it he was, being a musical with a bunch of men dancing around.  "Oh, What a Night..."  Highly Recommended!

After the show we decided to check out The Fremont Street Experience.  Dylan had never been so I thought it would be something fun and low-key to end the night.  The light show was a Queen Tribute.  I've seen better shows but it was still cool to see it and all the crazy people down there!

 For those Vegas virgins, Fremont Street is just the old school Vegas casinos.  The big fancy hotels you see on the strip isn't how Vegas used to be.  Not that I was around to see for myself but, Fremont Street has more flashy lights, vs. skyscraper/fancy hotels.

On our way back to the hotel after Fremont Street, we stopped at The Cosmopolitan on the strip.  It;s the newest hotel and definitely where all the pretty people stay.  They have a really cool bar called The Chandelier Room.  If you ever go to Vegas, it's worth a look.  We had a drink there.  Cool Place.  As we were walking out this shoe was in the lobby.  Dylan couldn't figure out how to put it on, but he tried.  The best part of this picture are the three girls in the back ground looking at him.  Everyone thought he was pretty funny.

Me...Posing...Dylan's idea, not mine.  I think he just wanted me to do it because he wanted to!  We clearly have no shame. 

Monday we did more lounging around.  Dylan and I even got up early and worked out in the hotel gym.  Who works out in Vegas?!?!?!?  We do!  Weird, I know.   Dylan had a dinner Monday night so Amber and I went to dinner at some horrible place in Cesar's Palace that served Mexican food.  Then we walked back and caught the Fountain Show at Bellagio.  I've seen it every time I've been to Vegas and love it just the same every time.

I slept GREAT while we were there, I got to sleep in, which is foreign.  Let's put "sleeping in" into perspective here, what I really mean is, I got to lay in bed, uninterrupted until 9.  It was NICE!

Tuesday the Dylan had meetings all day so I went to the gym, then back to the pool to read some more.  Our flight was around 6 so after Dylan's meeting we had to say good bye.  

This was definitely a different kind of Vegas trip than I have participated in in the past, but it was my favorite trip so far, great shows, great food, a few drinks, spending time with Dylan, lots of reading, sun, and pool time, and the best part...no hang overs!

Triathlon

My little tri buddy and I liked the tri we did in Austin in 2010 that we decided to do the same one again.  The race takes place downtown so its cool to bike right past the capitol building.  There are thousands of participants so the city is just buzzing.  

It is always a little hectic getting situated but thankfully Dylan had some help with the kids so I didn't leave him totally stranded.  I had to go pick up my packet and then go get my bike (I rented one from Mellow Johnny's, which is the bike shop Lance Armstrong owns), then back to the Palmer Center to meet up with Alison and then get our bikes numbered and checked in for the night.  I panicked at the last second and had to go back one last time to change out my pedals on my bike, which I was so thankful I did!

This year I was hoping to beat my time from the first race.

Here are my stats....

I have to say I'm VERY proud of my self.  Out of the 95 women that competed in my heat, Alison and I finished top 10!  I finished 9th over all and 4th in my age group.

 

Swim Rank: 5th

Swim Time: 10:40

T1: 3:09

Bike Rank: 1st!!!  That's right...I was 1st of everyone in my heat on the bike!

Bike Time: 23:11

Bike Pace: 16.0 mph

T2: 2:26

Run Rank: 21

Run Time: 30:55

Run Pace: 9:55 minutes/mile

Total time was 1:10:23  

My time in 2010 was 1:23:23 so I took exactly 13 minutes off my time...Not bad!

 

 Ali and I getting ready to race.  The first heat started at 6:45am and ours wasn't until 10:26am.  Transition was only open from 730-8am so we had some time to kill!

In line waiting for the heat in front of us to go

Treading water for what seems like an hour...waiting for the starting gun to fire.

Each heat has a different colored swim cap.  Ours was hot pink this year (yellow last time), it's like they knew we were racing again.  ;o)

Starting off on my 10k bike.  Transition is behind me.

Heading out for my 3.1 mile run.  My watch was messed up so I had no idea how far I had run or how fast.  When you get off the bike your legs are all wobbly and feel like dead weight.  My watch was saying I was running 17 minute miles and then finally went to 12 minute mile, luckily it was wrong but the whole time I was running I was getting frustrated with myself because I just couldn't get going any faster!

 

We finished!!!  YAY!!!

On our way home Tyler wanted to stop by and see the Baylor campus.  Everything was closed down since it was Memorial Day and between sessions but we did stop long enough for them to get a picture in front of the college.

Wild Oak Ranch

We stayed at the Hyatt Wild Oak Ranch the next couple days.  They have a great pool, lazy river, sand beach, etc.  Tatum loved it last year so we decided to stay there again. We all shared a two bedroom condo.  We cooked dinner every night and had fun hanging out.

Everyone hanging out in the lazy river

The boys chillin' on the sand beach

Druz had a blast playing in the water.  He fell asleep on Dylan's lap while tubing it around the lazy river.

The resort has different activities at night.  Friday night they had a movie outside by the pool and saturday they had s'mores.  Tatum had her first experience making them.  She loved it.

Eating her treat!

While making s'mores, a llitte bunny came by to say hi!

Aunt Lulu, Uncle Matt, and Tatum

I bought cupcakes and ice cream to eat and celebrate Druz birthday but we never actually ate them. I don't know when that has EVER happened to me before!  Cupcakes uneaten...it should be a crime!  With our schedules off from being out of town and the kids not sleeping great, by the time we ate dinner the kids were going crazy and Druz needed to just go to bed.  So, we opened presents one morning and passed on the breakfast cupcakes.

Tatum "helping" Druz open his presents.

Tatum and Druz playing with his new train set!

After a couple days it was time to head to Austin.  I had a triathlon on Memorial Day so we loaded up and hit the road again!

ROAD TRIP to Sea World!

For Druz birthday we decided to take a little trip to Sea World.  We've been wanting to go for a few months now so this seemed to be as good an excuse as any.  Dylan's parents, sister, and brother-in-law met us in San Antonio too.  We had a great time hanging out with everyone.  We were so glad it worked out that we could all meet up and spend time together.  Since we are all in different states now (Texas, Oklahoma, and Colorado). 

 Loaded up, ready to go!

We loaded up and got on the road late Thursday afternoon.  The kisd and I had all been feeling under the weather but I just kept pushing on (as Mom's do) and the kids didn't seem totally untravelable...just a little lethargic.  We didn't have to make many stops.  The kids cooperated as much as a 1 and 2 year old can on a 6 hour drive.  We stopped for dinner then got back on the road.  About 10 minutes in, Tatum started complaining that her tummy hurt.  She had mentioned this once or twice already and we told her she was fine.  I wasn't feeling great myself and she is starting to take on everyone else's ailments these days so I thought she was just doing that now.  Clearly, I need to take my children more seriously.  I told Dylan she has only ever said that once and it was the only time she has ever been sick.  She proceeds to vomit everywhere and is hysterically crying, as would I.  Luckily, I was sitting in between the kids at the time and was able to hold a blanket for her so it wasn't quite as bad as it could have been.  I'm screaming for Dylan to PULL OVER!  He finally does and we get her out, change her clothes, clean out the car seat, and calm her down.  I have no idea what happened because she immediately wants to eat crackers and feels better.  So back on the road we go.  We couldn't have arrived at our hotel any sooner!

Once we get our bags and kids to the room and ready for bed Dylan heads out to pick up Ron and Liza at the train station.  They road the train from Tulsa to San Antonio.  We will have to try that sometime, sounded like a lot of fun!  Lucy and Matt also arrived later that night.

 This little guy had a hard time sleeping pretty much the entire weekend.  He finally fell asleep for a few minutes while we finished packing up the hotel room before Sea World.  He looks so BIG here!

We spent Friday at Sea World.

He is getting so big!!!  Ready for the big day!

 My girl excited, watching Shamu!

The whole fam, getting ready for our first show of the day!

Shamu and baby Shamu

Aunt LuLu and Druz.  Druz was so amazed by it all.

Shamu showing us his cool tricks

Taking a bow.

The only picture I was in the entire weekend, out of focus and over exposed...but this is just proof that I was there!

Feeding the dolphins.  She was terrified.  Kind of disappointing because last year she LOVED it.  Dylan said it's probably because she is realizing these animals are REAL now!

Having a sweet treat to cool her down on this 97 degree day!!!

Saying "hi"

Begging for our fish

After feeding the dolphins we head over to the aquarium and just happened to catch feeding time.

 

Druz loved it and would try to touch all the fish through the glass.

I loved this picture, it almost looks fake.  Amazing animals.

He could have sat in here all day and just stared at all the colors and fish.

Checking out the Seals before the Clyde and Seamore Show.

 Tatum fed the seals (unlike the dolphins).  I guess she felt more comfortable dropping food down instead of them taking it out of your hands!  I guess I can't blame her.

Tatum rode the carousel with Gam-E and played in the splash park with Aunt LuLu for a while before we headed out.  We were going to the Hyatt Wild Oak Ranch Resort to finish out the weekend.