Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a fun, hectic Thanksgiving. We started Thursday off with lunch with Don's family in Arlington, moved to dinner with my parents, then hit the road first thing Friday morning to have lunch at Dondi's Grandma Cross' farm near Perkins, Oklahoma. We had planned to stay until Sunday morning, but it worked out best to come home Saturday, instead. Saturday's return trip involved eating at Babe's Chicken Dinner in Sanger, Texas, so all was not lost. :-)

Here are some pictures from the weekend. (Some were taken with our Olympus, some with my iPhone, so the quality is a little different from photo to photo).

Jordan checks out the barn and backyard area behind Grandma Cross' home.

Jordan and Matt loved the tractor in the barn.

Jordan hangs out on the carport outside Grandma Cross' house.

Matt drags a bucket around Grandma Cross' backyard. Behind him is cousin Sklyar, who is a day older than Jordan.

Jordan and Matt pose in front of the Texas welcome center in Gainesville.


Matt poses near the sign by himself, in a picture reminiscent of this favorite of Jordan's, when he was about the same age.

Matt, at the end of the day. Clearly ready to be out of his car seat and in his crib.

Catching up

Grammy (a.k.a. Jo-Jo, a.k.a. Wendy, a.k.a. Debbie) is now a member of the Dallas Arboretum. Thanks to her membership, we've been out a couple of times to take in the beauty around White Rock Lake. We enjoyed a trip right before Halloween to check out their pumpkin patch. We went back today to check out the pioneer town and to get some pictures. It was gorgeous.

Enjoy the pictures.

Halloween pictures

Jordan dressed up as Thomas the Tank Engine. Matt is dressed up as a tiger.

Jordan and Dad hit the State Fair of Texas

Matt wasn't feeling 100%, so Dad and Jordan took the DART light rail to Fair Park to experience the great State Fair of Texas while Mom and Matt hung out at home. Some pictures from the day:

Jordan waits for the green line train.

Enjoying the midway.

Enjoying the midway.

Enjoying the car show.

Enjoying the corn dogs.

Quick update

Jordan is doing much better. On Tuesday night, both Dondi and Matt became sick. According to the pediatrician, Matt definitely didn't have the flu (it was a viral upper respiratory infection); Dondi's doctor didn't test her for anything, saying she likely had the flu. But, as she is not a candidate to receive tamiflu, she was told to go home and rest. She was back up and moving pretty quickly, so I personally don't think she had the flu, but most of my medical training came from the 1980s sitcom Doogie Howser, M.D., so maybe I'm wrong.

I woke up this morning with a sore throat and bad cough; fortunately my allergist sees patients on Saturday mornings and I went in. I have a viral upper respiratory infection (like Matt), and the early stages of a bacterial sinus infection.

So we're a real fun bunch, though we're not contagious. But it sounds like lungs are forever being hacked up over here. :)

Jordan and the flu

Jordan was diagnosed with the flu this morning. Seasonal or H1N1 is really unimportant (and they'll only submit samples for testing for which one it is if he ends up in the hospital).

He's very grouchy, but fortunately has Tamiflu, so hopefully that will keep the virus from multiplying within his body.... Fortunately, too, we were referred to an excellent pharmacy in Mansfield - Ray's Pharmacy - that was able to make a compound of the Tamiflu for Jordan, since the kids' supply is nonexistent. It was strange to see real pharmacists doing real pharmacist kind of work. Usually, at CVS or Walgreen's, you just see them pulling big bottles of something and pouring it into small bottles...

Sad thing is, in the hour we were at Ray's, there were five other kids needing Tamiflu.

We'll post if anything else comes up. Fortunately, reports are that the flu is pretty mild and most people are doing just fine after a rough couple of days.

Happy Birthday, Papa!

Today is my dad's birthday. Jordan wanted to wish him a good one.

Jordan's first soccer game

Jordan started his soccer career today. We trekked out to the Harold Patterson Sports Complex and took Jordan to play in a soccer league designed just for 3- and 4-year-olds. The idea is that you're out there for about an hour. They practice, then play a game. And by play a game, I mean everyone gets a chance to score.... You know, just like in the real world. ;-)

But, it was fun. Jordan had a blast. When he wasn't upset that someone else had the ball. :) This is a six-week program, so if you need us on the next few Saturday mornings, you'll find us out in South Arlington with all of the other soccer parents.

Happy 4th Birthday Jordan!

Jordan is 4 years old today! He is all boy these days, and apparently just hit a growth spurt (evidenced by the fact that his jeans are high-watering and his shorts, which used ot be lower-than-knee-length are now comfortably-above-the-knee.

Saturday, we had a party for Jordan at the Incredible Pizza Company in Euless. The pizza place has several birthday rooms, a huge arcade, indoor go-kart track, mini-bowling and miniature golf. (It's like Chuck E. Cheese on steroids - with much better pizza). Jordan had an absolute blast.

Jordan had several friends there, all of his grandparents, both aunts, his cousin, plus most of the Fort Worth-area Jordan clan. Everyone seemed to have a great time.

Saturday night, we had dinner with Emo, Papa and Aunt Cris at On the Border after church. The wait staff sang their happy birthday rendition to Jordan, which he loved.

On Sunday, we took Jordan to the Rave Motion Pictures studio at North East Mall in Fort Worth to see the new Thomas the Tank Engine movie, Hero of the Rails. The movie (which is already out on DVD) was pretty good for a kids' show. The movie theater, however, is a dump. Our first visit was also our last.

{Updated}Monday was Jordan's actual birthday. We had dinner at Joe's Crab Shack in Arlington with Jo-jo. We went back to her apartment to open gifts, and then home. Jordan's birthday week continued on Wednesday with dinner with Gee at Catfish Sam's.

Here are some pictures from the party.







Jordan's birth post.
Jordan's first birthday.
Jordan's second birthday.
Jordan's third birthday.

Jordan, Dad and Pa-pa tour the new Cowboys Stadium

Matt was napping and Dondi studying for the CPA exam, so we went and toured the stadium this afternoon.

Jordan stands next to the pond on the eastern plaza of Cowboys Stadium.

Looking to the northeast from Cowboys Stadium, a sea of Texas and U.S. flags, and The Ballpark in Arlington.

This is the world's biggest HDTV screen. I have to admit, it was kind of cool.

Pa-pa, Jordan and I pose for a picture above the east end zone.

Matt's first haircut

Matt had his first haircut today at Hudson's Family Barbershop in Arlington. (This is the same place Dad and Jordan get their haircuts).

We arrived about 11:30 and were out of there a little after 12:30, and that included Jordan, Matt and Dad getting their haircuts. (Dad's always takes the shortest for some reason)....

Matt did really well, although he was a little squirmy. Donna B., our favorite barber there, did a great job as always.

Check out the photos:

Matt is strapped in for his haircut by "Miss Donna".

Matt, not quite sure what to make of it all. :)

Donna cuts Matt's hair, as barbershop owner Dean Hudson takes Matt's picture.

The almost-finished product.

Sitting back and enjoying a lollipop for such a good first haircut.

Happy Birthday, Matthew!

Matthew is officially 1 year old today! We hosted his birthday party at our house Friday evening. Lots of fun, good times with families and friends and plenty of tacos and birthday cake.

Everyone arrived close to 6 p.m. and we started off with dinner (tacos). I have been fighting a sinus infection for two days, so I wasn't any help on the cooking and not much on the cleaning/setting up. Dondi was responsible for everything and the party was a huge success.

Matthew had a lot of fun for his first birthday. We'll let the photos tell the story:

The delicious cakes from Kathy's Icing on the Cake in Arlington.

Singing Happy Birthday to Matt.

Matt's initial hesitant grab at the cake.

Then he gets the hang of it.

Poor cake.

Time to clean up the birthday boy.

After cake and clean-up, it was to the living room for present time.

I won't even try to go through all the gifts he received. Surprisingly (to us), he didn't get anything that he already had or that was a hand-me-down from Jordan. We're not sure how that happened. I thought we already owned the equivalent of a small Toys R Us location.

I'm still working on the present pictures, but will get (and post) more soon.

SPI 2009

We took our beach trip early this year and hit South Padre Island, Texas. It was fantastic!

We left about 2 p.m. on Wednesday, May 6 and made the 12-hour drive from DFW to SPI. Why did we leave so late, you may wonder? Well, our friends at the rental car company managed to screw up our rental and it took a great deal of Wednesday morning to clear it up so we could get a van to go to SPI. Once they got it all resolved (and, they did resolve it to our satisfaction), we had a very nice 2009 Chrysler Town & Country that was quite comfy and drove really nice.

We arrived about 3 a.m. Thursday, May 7. After unloading the van - I'm sure the people in the other condos appreciated us pushing the luggage cart back and forth in front of their rooms :) - we all hit the sack. Here's our rundown of our vacation:

Wednesday, May 6
We made it to San Marcos (between Austin and San Antonio) by dinnertime, so we stopped at a Bennigan's there and ate dinner. (If you'll recall, the Bennigan's and Steak & Ale chain went out of business a couple years back; however, the franchised Bennigan's locations remain open - the one in San Marcos is a franchise). It was so good to have an authentic Monte Cristo again.

We drove a few miles to the Wal-Mart in Schertz, just north of San Antonio. Jordan had started to get sick - his asthma was acting up - and he ended up throwing up several times in the store. Fortunately, Debbie found a sand bucket to throw up in. We ended up buying that bucket...

We made the rest of the trip from San Antonio to South Padre fairly uneventfully.

Thursday, May 7
We awoke after only a couple of hours of sleep and Dondi and I headed to the Wal-Mart in nearby Port Isabel (the Queen Isabella causeway links Port Isabel (on the mainland) with South Padre Island). Debbie kept the boys at the condo while we shopped. We bought breakfast and lunch stuff, came back to the condo and had lunch.

I made a second trip to the same Wal-Mart to get a sun hat (left mine at home) and to buy some cheapy sunglasses for the beach. Thursday night we made it to Louie's Backyard for their seafood buffet and to watch the sunset.

Some pics:

The sun sets over the Laguna Madre - the waterway between the mainland and Padre Island.

Matt enjoys his first taste of shrimp. And he eats lots of it!

The five of us pose for a picture overlooking the Laguna Madre.

Debbie and Jordan work on their silly faces at Louie's Backyard.

Friday, May 8
We spent a lot of time on the beach, but also went to the Port Isabel Lighthouse. It was built between 1851 and 1853, and its light could be seen up to 16 miles away. Unfortunately, Jordan was too young to climb to the top, so we'll have to make that a stop for another day. We ate dinner at a pirate-themed restaurant that night. Not as good as Louie's, but not bad, either.

Some pics:

The four of us hang out at the bottom of the Port Isabel Lighthouse.

That's Jordan (in the red) hanging out at the base of the Port Isabel Lighthouse.

Saturday-Sunday, May 9-10
We spent a lot of these days on the beach, or by the pool. Having fun. Dinner Saturday night was at the Big Donkey, a Tex-Mex restaurant with good fajitas. (I recommend the chicken/beef/shrimp combo).

Sunday, we took Dondi and Debbie to dinner at Blackbeard's, an excellent restaurant on the Island, and then made the drive down to Brownsville. We showed Jordan the border crossing between the Republic of Texas (oops, not yet!) the United States and Mexico. The crossing we showed him sits just across the street from the campus of the University of Texas at Brownsville-Texas Southmost College. He wanted to see Mexico, but we explained we couldn't because (a) we didn't have the proper paperwork to cross the border, (b) our rental car agreement specifically forebade taking it into Mexico and (c) there's a little drug war going on along the border. He decided that meant "Mexico is closed because it's nighttime."

Whatever works. :)

Some pictures from the weekend:

Jordan is itching to get to the beach.

Matt crawls on the beach to try to catch a waiting seagull.

Our condo building. Our unit is on the right-hand side, two up and two over.

Monday, May 11

Dondi, Jordan and I decided to head out on a dolphin-watching cruise. It was gorgeous. We saw scores of dolphins, including an almost-albino one and a mother with her 12-day-old calf. It was really nice out on the boat. We spent nearly 90 minutes in the Laguna Madre and the Gulf of Mexico. It was really a lot of fun.

We also spent some time on the beach that afternoon. Dinner was back to Louie's Backyard.

Some pics:

The shutter speed on my camera isn't perfect. Take my word for it, this is a dolphin, not a shark. :)

The view from the "border" of the Gulf of Mexico and the Laguna Madre, looking at South Padre Island.

Tuesday, May 12
Our last day on the beach was a lot of fun, too. Matthew dove head-first into the waves and Jordan had a blast running to and fro. We spent the most time on the beach on this day, and it was so much fun.

Matt crawling into the waves:

And, some final pictures:




Wednesday, May 13
I got up and took a walk before 7 a.m. on the beach. There's nothing quite as peaceful as the sound of roaring waves crashing against an empty beach. Then, it was back to the condo for breakfast. We loaded up the van - somehow, we had way more to take home than we did to bring down - early Wednesday morning. It still took three hours to do that.

We headed off the island and stopped just before noon for lunch at a Whataburger in Harlingen. We continued to head north and had to stop for a Border Patrol checkpoint. That was pretty easy: The Border Patrol agent asked if we were all American citizens. When I answered in the affirmative, he told me go ahead. We had to stop at another Whataburger in the middle of nowhere for Jordan to go to the restroom. Then, had to stop at a Wal-Mart in Kingsville for another restroom break (and to get some clip-on sunglasses for my prescription glasses. My prescription sunglasses broke a couple of weeks back and I was having a hard time driving with the sun in my eyes).

We had to stop again at a rest area along I-37 between Corpus Christi and San Antonio, and then had to stop in San Antonio proper to get gas (thought I could make it to the dinner break - but no luck).

Our plan was to stop for dinner somewhere between Austin and San Antonio. Well, just as we made our way from the 410 Loop onto I-35 in San Antonio, Jordan announced he needed another restroom break. It actually worked out for us, because I-35 was backing up due to rush hour traffic, so we pulled off and ate dinner at Cracker Barrel. We sailed through northern San Antonio and even Austin.

We made two other restroom stops on the way home, and pulled into our driveway at about 11 p.m.

It was a lot of fun on this trip. Dondi and Debbie had each been to SPI numerous times in the past, but this was my first trip. Much as I had heard - the beaches there are much nicer than Galveston's (of course, Galveston is a five-hour drive, and SPI a 12-hour drive, so you win some and you lose some!). SPI still wasn't as nice as Destin, but nicer than the other beaches I've been to on Florida's Atlantic coast, Atlantic City, N.J., North Carolina and Gulfport.

Our condo was gorgeous (if you're heading down, let us know and we'll get you the information). The complex was well-cared for, and the rental office was on-site, which meant it was easy to get fresh towels, and to get help for the occasional issue. The condo was right on the beach, so we walked out of our room, crossed a wooden bridge over the sand dunes and you were right there. It was perfect.

The kids had a blast and now we're ready to hit the ground running next week!