Closing time

Guess whaaaaat?!?  We are officially no longer "homeless," although we won't move in for a couple of weeks while we paint and have other miscellaneous tasks completed.

The closing went off without a hitch, and I am very much looking forward to this next chapter for our family.

Sea World Recap

Due to our vacation debacle, we decided we should do something since R had taken two weeks off.  Our time was limited and we definitely did not want to deal with flights again.  Sooooo, R had the brilliant idea of spending a couple of days in San Antonio, only a short drive from home.

I wasn't quite sure how G would handle Sea World.  A two year old isn't the ideal age for an all day excursion, so we had agreed to stay as long as G was happy.  Once the grumps started, we would leave and head back for the resort.

Two shows and one sea lion feeding later, we were on our way out.  Ha!  We didn't last long, but neither did G in the car, falling asleep in a record time.  The resort was a nice getaway, and we enjoyed sitting pool side and eating s'mores at night.

The time was too brief, but it was a wonderful time and I'm grateful for our little vacation.

Enjoying the kiddie pool

Enjoying some room service - sorry for the poor quality phone pic.

The resort has a Looney Tunes breakfast - G wasn't too sure about Bugs and Daffy.

The Kids Club at the resort was a hit!

Yes, yes, yes!

It's no secret 'round these parts (spoken like a true Texan)... I am an Olympics fanatic!  After watching the trials earlier this summer, I am so pumped for the opening ceremonies tonight.

Women's soccer ... track & field ... swimming ... gymnastics ... yes, please!

The hottest, coolest time in Texas...

No, I am not brave enough to take my almost two year old to Schlitterbahn.  But apparently, I am crazy enough to take him to Sea World tomorrow!  Shamu, here we come!

Yesterday my mom came up with the brilliant idea to go to this new pool close to their house.  It has splash pad fountains, a big playscape in the middle of the shallow area, kiddie slides, etc.  A kids' paradise, indeed!

We picked up my two nieces, and the five of us drove the entire five minutes (hehe) for an afternoon o' fun.  Gigi was in charge of the two girls (ages 7 and 5) while I was obviously busy with G.  He loved the fountains and was curious about the playscape until the big orange bucket on top filled up with water and he happened to be standing in its splash zone.  Oops.

We had three different snack breaks in the span of an hour and mostly just wandered around looking and watching.

He was veeery excited about his new Mickey Mouse chair and kept pointing to it and yelling, "Hot dog!"

Then we found Gigi and the girls and I decided to take a risk and get him to swim with me.  Lately he has been hating swimming for whatever reason.  He loves to be around the pool, but not actually swimming per say.  I climbed in the pool, had my mom hand me a not-so-certain G, and we took off for the other side.  He did his usual complaining until we got to this little bench that I put him on.  That's when something clicked and he decided it wasn't so bad.  He jumped off that little bench to "swim" to me about twenty times in a row.  I was getting tired of squatting in the three feet of water, but it was so worth it to finally see him enjoy swimming.  Hallelujah!

Of course he was back to his cranky toddler self when it was time to change into his dry clothes!  After our little afternoon outing, I've decided that three kids in my future can wait a little longer.  :)

Our new "normal"

I wish I could say that what I am about to write was a crazy dream, but if anything, it makes for good blog fodder.  We arrived at the airport on Friday bright and early for go 'round dos.  Another drop off by my kind parents, hugs outside the car at curbside, and the lugging of bags to the check-in line with little G in tow.  R swiped his DL to access our tickets, but instead of an itinerary, a blank screen indicated that we did not have tickets.  So then he swiped his credit card.  Nope, no go.

R banged his fists in frustration and quickly whipped out his laptop to bring up the flight information.

...

Turns out, our tickets were for a flight scheduled to head out on Thursday.  Doh!  I quickly grabbed my phone and called my parents to do a U-turn and come back.  The look on R's face said it all - he had goofed big time and he knew it.  He flies on average twenty-five times a year and has flown internationally many, many times.  He is the planner when it comes to booking flights and getting to the airport.  I learned a valuable lesson though - always check what your partner tells you!  One for the record books, folks!

Needless to say, it was a huge disappointment to us all, but we are bound and determined to get to Costa Rica soon... maybe in January or February, our new target date.

*****

With all of the crazy transitions going on around here, I am trying my best to keep as much normalcy as possible for G.  Same, but different.

Like pizza dates with mama...

And play doh fun in the high chair...

And kitchen play...

As well as having a grand time playing with some of the vintage toys that my siblings and I used to play with...

Note to self - keep G's toys for future grandkids.

Of course, his world will all get turned upside down again when we move into our new home.  But life will go on, and this too shall pass.  For the time being, we will focus on our new "normal."  Same, but different.

Confessions

I am not a fan of the bubble necklace that everyone has either been blogging about or wearing it... sorry, peeps.  Just not my style.

That song "Call Me Maybe" drives me ca-razy.  The only thing more annoying is how much air time it gets on the radio.

I finally went to the movies with my mom (ha!) and little sis to see the highly touted "Magic Mike."  There were a handful of old ladies, one lone male, and a gaggle of middle school girls (yikes).  I thought it was just okay.  Entertaining, but not worth the price of a movie ticket.  Wait for it on dvd.

My mom recently had her blood work sent off and found out that she is gluten intolerant, as well as highly sensitive to a variety of other foods.  I've suspected for some time that I have a gluten intolerance, so I'm hoping to have my blood work done soon to find out.  I know I will have to probably change my diet substantially (blah), but it will be for the best.  We went to sample a few things at a local gluten free bakery down the street.  G was a big fan of their cupcakes!

*****

G is finally fever free... I am hoping for smoother sailing at the airport tomorrow with a sweeter little boy in tow!

Spoke too soon!

Folks, we never even left the airport!  We arrived early, checked in with relative ease, got through the long security line that had already snaked itself around four times before six a.m., went through the lovely body scanner, and headed to our gate... only to find out that our flight was delayed... by two hours!

This would cause us to miss all subsequent connections, so after watching R talk passionately (hehe) to the lady behind the counter and talk on the phone with United/Expedia for three hours (fo realz), we decided to ring my parents.  They had been so kind to wake up excruciatingly early with the rest of us to drive us to the airport and agreed to come back through now rush hour traffic and get us.  Best parents ever!

United couldn't get us out to Costa Rica any earlier than today, but that would have been a painstaking journey through Houston--->Dallas--->Miami--->San José--->(four hour drive to) Dominical.  No gracias.  

SO over the airport, as was mama.

We canceled and re-booked for Friday, so fingers are crossed all will go well then!  In hindsight, it's actually a blessing we didn't make it because once we got up on Monday from a looooong nap after the airport catastrophe, G was running a 103.6º temp.  He ran a high fever all day and hasn't been fever free since then.  I took him into the pediatrician yesterday to make sure we weren't dealing with an ear infection before boarding a flight.  Ears are perfect but he does have the coxsackie virus.  Blisters in the back of his throat, fever, low appetite, lethargic, and general grumpiness are his key symptoms.  If he still has a fever tomorrow morning, the doctor requested that we bring him in one last time before our trip.  

You know he's sick when he will do this!