Joe Cool

Ever since we moved to Texas, we've been saying to ourselves "We need to get Austin some sun glasses". Well, we found ourselves in Academy today and these awesomely cool shades made their way home with us. Yes, we paid for them. We don't have a budding felon on our hands.

I will tell you this, everyone in the parking lot was taking in his coolness and his cuteness. If you look closely, you'll see the racing flags in the lenses of his Lightning McQueen shades. He kind of reminds me of a race car driver looking off in the distance like he's too cool for the rest of the crowd... or maybe just his Mommy trying to take his picture.

Winterfest 2011

For the past couple of weeks, we've seen banners, posters and ads for "Winterfest" here in Pearland. Among the rides and attractions, they boasted having 250,000 lbs of snow for snowball fights and tubing hills. With temperatures forecast in the upper 60's and low 70's, we couldn't miss the opportunity to see man-made snow melt. We haven't seen snow since last winter in Utah, and I for one miss it. So we headed out in short sleeves and shorts (yes, of course, Brent was in shorts) to see what adventures awaited us at Winterfest.

First up was a ride on a mechanical bull. Brenna said she was going to "take that bull down". According to the video I shot, she stayed on a good 20 seconds. Not bad for a city girl.

Austin decided to stay in his stroller and work his way into the action.

Next up was a little rock wall climbing followed by a tube ride down a very challenging man-made hill.

Austin, meanwhile, still preferred to hang out in the stroller and feast on graham cracker Goldfish.

Brenna took a spin on the Wiggle Wurm. I can't believe she picked the pink bird. Can you?
(No, that was not a typo above. I can't help it if the Carnies can't spell.)

All that watching Brenna go around in circles only made Austin thirsty.

Brenna and Daddy had some fun in the fun house.

And, we FINALLY found a ride that Austin liked!

Thanks Pearland Winterfest! That was the best $17 dollars we've spent on entertainment in a long time. That's right folks, one admission fee and all the rides you can stand. None of this buy tickets and then tell your kids you're out of money after the 2nd or 3rd ride stuff. Local "small town" festivals rule!

Tying Up Loose Ends

Thanks to the invention of Velcro and slip-on tennis shoes, the urgency for Brenna to learn to tie shoes never became, well, urgent. Sure her kindergarten teacher tried to impress upon her how paramount it was that she learn to tie her own shoes, but it was to no avail. No matter how many shoe shaped cut-outs with yarn laces came home, Brenna had absolutely no interest. But one night last week, she just decided that it was time to learn this important life skill. That's how it is with most things that Brenna learns... always on her own terms.

I'm just so relieved she won't go off to college having to ask her roommate to tie her shoes.

Her Sweet Face

This face sees the world from a different perspective than mine.

This face has a style all her own.

This face won't let me get away with anything anymore.

This face makes the corners of my mouth turn up instead of down.

You Spin Me Right Round

If I had been faster getting my camera, Austin would be in this video, but as always I stood there savoring the moment instead of capturing it on video. Maybe one day I'll be able to hook my computer up to my brain and you'll be able to see the videos that are in my mind. On second thought, maybe that's not such a good idea.

Just Another Day in Paradise

I'm not sure what Austin is lamenting here. Perhaps he's tired of eating pancakes every morning for breakfast and just can't break the news to me for fear he will cause the stock prices at Kellogg's to plummet creating an economic shift from which the nation will never recover. He could be tired of listening to us tell Brenna to put on her socks and shoes for the umpteenth time. Maybe he's trying to think of a way to give up his pacifier for his New Year's resolution, but doesn't know if he has the emotional fortitude to do it. Nah, that's just my wishful thinking.

Our Dam Pictures

During our trip to Vegas for the CarMax President's Club Dinner, we visited the Hoover Dam. Neither of us had ever been there before, so we weren't sure what to expect. We weren't disappointed. We signed up for the Dam Tour. Our Dam Guide told us to take all the Dam pictures we wanted, so we did. No, I won't bore you with them all...just the Dam good ones.


We took the Dam elevator to the power plant on the Nevada side where we saw 8 large generators and a floor so clean you could eat off of it. They only do tours on the Nevada side, so I wonder if the Arizona side (which is a mirror image except it has 9 generators) is just as clean. You know you only clean up that much when company is coming.

During the power plant portion of the tour, our Dam Tour group was combined with the common folks who only paid for a lesser Dam tour. We Dam Tour folks got to go into the depths of the dam and walk through the dam tunnels and take dam elevator rides where we got to know each other real dam well in tight spaces.

The picture below is looking out of one of the ventilation shafts from inside the dam. In it you can see the new by-pass bridge. They say it takes an hour off the travel time since you don't have to go over the Dam and try to avoid hitting all the Dam tourists.

To get to that glorious view, you had to be willing to walk through this tunnel.

And over this grate!

After our Dam Tour was over, we spent some time up top taking in the breathtaking views of Lake Mead. The water was really this blue and the sky that clear. It was the perfect day for a Dam Tour.

Before we went back to Vegas for more fun on the Strip, we took a walk on the new Mike O'Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge for a few more Dam pictures. Here's one of them.And just like Disney World, you can always get taken for a ride on the Dam photo ops.

We hope you enjoyed our Dam pictures. We had a lot of Dam fun taking them.