Family Vacation 2011

This year for our family vacation, we decided to visit San Antonio, TX...mainly for the purpose of going to Sea World. We left Sept 15th and returned Sept 18th. The short version of this summary is: It was a BLAST!! We splurged on our hotel room, and booked a 2 bedroom suite (complete with kitchen and living room). It was completely worth the extra expense (which wasn't even that much). When we arrived on Thursday, we checked in and went to eat at the Riverwalk. Can't say that was the smartest choice because we were all tired and cranky from the drive. Friday we headed out to Sea World. When we pulled into the entrance, you'd have thought Lukas had been given the moon he was so excited. Other than Christmas, I've never seen him glow with delight the way he did. We arrived in time to hear the Star Spangled Banner played before they opened the park. The first thing we did was go see and feed the dolphins. After that we headed over to the kids area to see a Sesame Street show, ride the carousel, and let Lukas ride his first roller coaster. Then it was lunch time, and time to book it over to see the Shamu show. I couldn't get pictures of the kids faces as they watched due to keeping Corina from going down to see Shamu even closer, but lets just say they both LOVED every minute of it. After that we walked over to see a show Mommy and Daddy wanted to see. The kids enjoyed bits of this one, but were really done with sitting still. Then we saw penguins, sea lions, the souvenir shop, sharks, and the dolphins one last time. By the time we left everyone was EXHAUSTED, but we got everything out of Sea World that we could have (in one day that is) so we were happy. For dinner, we went to one of Eric and my favorite restraunts....La Fonda on Main. Saturday we woke up to rain. After it stopped we headed out to the San Antonio Zoo. This trip was fun, but it was so hot and muggy outside (in addition to still being kind of tired from Sea World) that we didn't stay very long. We made sure and rode the train before we left, but then headed back to the hotel for lunch and rest. That evening we went to The Market for shopping and dinner. That ended up being more fun than I expected because Lukas really enjoyed looking at all the stuff. When we woke up Sunday, we were glad it was "going home day". The kids were wild, cranky, and ready for their own house. On the way back, we stopped in at The Aquerena Center in San Marcos for a glass bottom boat ride. Lukas loved it, but Corina hated it. It ended up being a long 30 minutes. We were all very glad when we finally pulled into our driveway that evening. Small side note to mention that Lukas was on breathing treatments (and inhaler while out) the entire weekend due to an asthma flare. Poor kid does not tend to do well in extreme humidity.

For chasing around two kids, we actually managed to get quite a few pictures. Here's some of the batch.

Ready to go on vacation!!



Sea World!













Some nice lady offered to take our picture. While the picture itself is horrible, at least it documents that we were all there.







San Antonio Zoo!

The fog is due to the humidity fogging up the camera. Didn't realize or I'd have wiped it clean.

First Day of School

Today (9-6-11) was the first day of school. Both kids are attending Butterfly School this year. Lukas is in Pre-K this year, and in Ms. Karen's class. He is very excited for school to start again. When I dropped him off, he went straight in and barely said bye. True Lukas style. Corina is in the Toddler class this year with Ms. Carrie and Ms. LaRae. She really enjoyed playing with all the toys at Meet the Teacher, and is ready to stay all day. When I dropped her off, she thought about crying because several other kids were, but went off to play as soon as I turned around to sign her in.

Cuddling with Daddy after getting dressed.



He was ready to go this morning! He didn't even complain when I gave him his clothes and told him to get dressed.



Amazingly no one complained about taking pictures this morning. They just stood there saying "cheese" over and over.





She went straight to playing after being dropped off.

17 Months

Corina at 17 months:
- weighs about 23 lbs.
- is running (toddler run of course).
- is talking up a storm. I haven't even been able to keep up with all the new words in her vocabulary. She is also getting pretty understandable to people other than Mommy or Daddy.
- enjoys playing with Lukas, baby dolls, Little People, music instruments, drawing, reading books, being outside, swimming, and pretend cooking.
- has become VERY picky about food. She only has a short list of things that she'll eat all the time, and another small list that she'll sometimes eat. Bananas, PB&J, yogurt, grapes, mac and cheese, and tortellini are some that she'll eat anytime. Pizza, deli meat (only one brand), apples, cheese, and other pastas are some that she'll eat some of the time.
- has a definite opinion about most everything.
- loves accessories. She has bracelets, bows, rings, shoes, necklaces, etc that she wears and plays with regularly.
- has discovered that going to the nursery, bible class, or with babysitter are all very fun. She used to complain for a few min when dropped off, but no longer. Now she runs in ready to play.
- likes to hold a fork or a spoon, but has no desire to actually eat with it.
- loves animals. She's still not too sure about actually touching most of them, but she loves to watch and talk about them.
- loves her Mommy, Daddy, and Brother more and more every day!!

She loves to put on shoes, no matter who's they are.



Reading with Daddy and Lukas.



She's watching an elephant.

A Picture Catch-up Post

I've been horrible lately at getting things posted to the blog. So, here's a few pictures from the last month or so.











Corina LOVES shoes, and if it'll stay on her little foot, she'll wear it regardless of who's shoe it actually is.



Storytime!



The next couple are videos of Corina dancing. They don't really do her dancing justice since most of the time I point the camera at her, she stops. But here's a small taste of the dancing that she does constantly during the day.




Corina was trying to figure out how to shake her leg properly. By the time I actually recorded it, she was doing it. However just before this video, she'd put her leg in the air and shake her head instead of her leg. I was practically on the floor laughing because she looked so funny (and cute!).

Swim Lessons 2011

Here's a few pictures/videos from Lukas and Corina's swim lessons. The lessons were July 24 - August 4.





Lukas puts a ton of effort into swimming, but is hard pressed to actually go anywhere. This video was taken during "safety day", and he kept flipping over (accidentally) in his life jacket.



C loved swimming as long as she was on her tummy. This video was taken during her "safety day", and she HATED the life jacket.

Surprise!

We're expecting Baby Swayne #3 early February 2012!

July 4, 2011

We had a relaxing family day on the Fourth. Here's some of what we did...

Color and Paint



Play outside.
And only Lukas could make that hat look cool. :)





Play in the water.









Grill hamburgers. Yummy!