Category: Outings

So it’s the end of August mid-September January and I’m finally sitting down to write about our little vacation in July. The delay is mostly due to wanting to add photos, of course, but it’s so time-consuming having to go back through the 500+ (or possibly more) photos I took during that week and even more of a pain to upload. But here goes. Oh yeah, and don’t forget the lack of time. Maybe I’ll even upload this entry before August is over! Ahaha. No.

We got all the kids ready to go on July 14th. Gave them breakfast, stuffed the bags in the back of the truck and got all 7 kids in the truck. We made at least 3 trips back into the house because we forgot this or that, Jorge stopped by Taco Palenque for tacos for us and then we took off for Austin!

That was the best photo I could get, believe it or not, hehe.

It was a quiet ride for the most part, as the kids slowly nodded off one by one. Jorge and I took turns picking songs to listen and sing to and then we get to the Falfurrias, TX check point. We wake all the kids up and like always, make jokes about them not being smart asses and saying something that’ll ’cause them to think we’re smuggling children ’cause there’s so many (what with all the smuggling going on these days).

We pass, “US citizens?” “Yes, sir,” and they wave us through.

Jorge jokes, “Alright, we made it!”
Jorgie: “Arriba!!”
Jorge: *breaks into Mexican anthem* “Mexicanos, al grito de Guerra…”

Always a laugh-fest with him and the kids ^_^.

We stopped to eat at McDonald’s in San Marcos at noon. People are usually pretty impressed with how efficient our orders are and how well-behaved our kids are ^_^. We let them have some time in the play area (well, the little ones, anyway) and then we were back on the road.

We made a few stops along the way, checked in at the hotel and finally made it to Dina’s around 5pm. Everyone passed around hugs and welcomes and we settled in. The first place we would be visiting would be the Micki Krebsbach Pool, so we got all the kiddos ready in their swim suits, packed coolers, and we were off.

Eenan is going to kill me if he ever sees this photo on the interwebs, heh. All 4 of the big boys are in this photo ^_^.

The kids had so much fun and reluctantly changed into their dry clothes asking when we’d be back.

We got back to Dina’s and ordered Domino’s. The kids were getting tired so we went back to the hotel. It was a tight squeeze with all our kiddos, since the room was lacking the sofabed it was supposed to have, but we made it work :). After showers were had and everyone put to bed, I pretty much crashed out.

I was the first to wake up the next morning and took Emily with me to get some breakfast. Nobody else was awake, or wanted to go. So I had my coffee and oatmeal and she happily ate her cereal.

Jorge eventually woke up, as did the boys and Alaethia and they all kind of lazied around playing on electronics. That’s what I love about our vacations: we’re not really in a hurry and everything’s calm :).

Jorge took some of the boys to get breakfast. I’d brought some pastries and yogurt and Alaethia, Eenan and Justin were ok with that. We got ready and started our day by getting a few groceries and things we’d need for our second pool day. We get back to Dina’s and start getting the kids ready. We couldn’t find Julien’s trunks anywhere, so we put him in some shorts that LOOKED like trunks and hoped for the best. We packed the bags and coolers once again and took off.

We get to Micki Krebsbach Pool…and it’s closed!! Jorge makes an audible growl and is kind of quiet on the way to the next place Briana knows about in Round Rock called Rock-n-River Family Aquatic Center. We arrive, we pay and
settle into the nearest, empty picnic area. But not before they stop us…because Julien’s trunks aren’t trunks. Ugh. Jorge’s patience was sliced very thin by now, but he kept his patience. And I’m glad, too, because the manager lent us trunks. Briana said they’ll usually kick people out!

The kids have barely stepped into the water when they blow the whistle.

Darn thunder and lightning are threatening to make their way over and everyone’s told to get out of the water. We have to wait 15 minutes before getting back in. If they blow the whistle again, it’s another 15, and so on.

So, we took photos to pass the time :).

The kids were becoming antsy so we gave them snacks. We waited a pretty long time, maybe an hour, and they continued to blow the whistle. They finally tell us they’re closing for the day and there’s an uproar from all the families that had arrived around the time we had and didn’t even get to get into the water. They gave us vouchers, but it was pretty crappy because we wouldn’t be around to use them because they’d be closed Wednesday and we were leaving Thursday. Ugh. So we gave them to Briana to use with the kids.

We get to Dina’s and she had just arrived from work. A drama show starts after a phone call from Jorge’s boys’ mother, who riled up Julien and he was inconsolable afterwards. Kept saying his mom had left him and he missed her. Heartbreaking. The boys confirmed that she’d not been home most of the week so he hadn’t seen her. It was sad, and Jorge was annoyed, so we gathered all the kids and went to the hotel.

We scanned the entire local phone book looking for take-out and couldn’t agree on anything with the kids so we just ordered pizza, from Pizza Hut this time. The kids were all thrilled, so that was great :). Can’t go wrong with pizza. Well, maybe for Eenan, but he was okay with it :).

We ate and joked around. Justin’s a clown!

(Hope he doesn’t flip because I posted that, haha!)

We got everyone showered and I was the last one. By the time I got out of the shower all the boys were fired up and hyper…and I find out Jorge let them have Capri Suns at almost midnight *sigh*. They were laughing their butts off, including Jorge! I finally had to switch to Strict Mom Mode and shush them all up!

The next morning only Jorgie and I were awake, so we sneaked off to get coffee for ourselves and Jorge. We watched TV while slowly each little head popped out of the covers. Some of the kids wanted breakfast from the diner, the rest wanted cereal in the room. So everyone ate, got ready and then we headed over to Dina’s, where we took an opportunity to get a group photo 🙂

Briana does a great job looking for stuff for us to do! This day, we’d visit Zilker Botanical Gardens. We usually take a hike with the kids at Walnut Creek, but this was different and AWESOME!

Throughout our hike, Julien would ask, “We see the dinosaur now?” and we’d say, “No, Pa, I don’t think we’ll find any…” and then we see this:

Jorge, Julien, Emily and I got separated from the group because the little ones needed to pee. We met up later at the butterfly area/children’s area. It was beautiful there!!

It was hot and the little ones were becoming antsy, but it was on to the next part of the trip: the Elizabet Ney Museum.

The kids thought they were visiting a castle, but they got a bit of a history lesson, heh. I was proud of how well-behaved they were :).

We went back to Dina’s apartment and ate, then packed our bags to go to the Micki Krebsbach Pool. Besides Jorgie dropping his phone in the pool and an initial stall because his in-grown toenails had become INCREDIBLY infected (and he never told us!), it was a great, great time. All us adults even went down the slide. Briana and I had to encourage each other, ’cause we’re both terrified of deep pools, but we eventually got on, TWICE!

Jorge and Javi went, too. Jorge was a bit terrified, only because he was afraid he and Javi would clear the turn and fly off due to their weight, haha, but they were fine!

I had a photo of Jorge doing the obstacle course (he kept “pish-poshing” when the kids would fall and said he could totally do it, but couldn’t LOL), but he’d kill me if I posted it :D. He did admit that it was harder than it looks, hah.

We finished the day at the pool and headed back to Dina’s. Everyone was exhausted after our long day. We gathered all our things after dinner (details are hazy now, but I think we ordered Chinese) and Jorgie spent the night there so we’d return to say our goodbyes in the morning.

We woke up, had breakfast, then checked out of the hotel. We picked up Jorgie and said our see-you-laters.

I wanted to visit East Austin Succulents so we Wazed the directions and after a slight wrong turn we found it. But only after passing by this bridge:

All the guys stayed in the car while Alethia, Emily and I browsed through the nursery.

I was in heaven :). The girls each picked a succulent and I picked two:

I drove around with them everywhere we went and prayed they’d make it home. They did. (But now that it’s been 6 months since I bought them, the one on the top right has since died, waaah! No wonder they sold it to me for $1 =\.)

We were going to drive home, spend the night and then leave to South Padre Island in the morning. But instead, we decided to drive to North Padre Island straightaway. We got a great rate on the hotel and were relieved to rest. Jorge went to Walmart to get sand toys (since we’d left all of the beach stuff at home), towels and I stayed with the kids and did some laundry. Jorge got back and since the kids wanted to walk over to the beach, we did.

We got back and washed everyone down and I finished laundry while Jorge ordered in Domino’s. And then, sleep!

Woke up the next day and we fed everyone. We made sure to gather all our things, pack our coolers and checked out and headed to the beach. It was a really nice day :).

And of course, he remembered:

A storm was rolling in and we left right on time. We got everyone washed and changed in the bathrooms nearby and then we tried finding a park on Waze. No luck, after circling the island forever. The kids snacked on stuff and then passed out:

And that was the end of our vacation. And it only took me 6 months to write about it, heh!

I spend most of my work days daydreaming about being at home. Most of the time, the daydream’s setting is the porch.

Or in the kitchen cooking with the girls while I swoon over my succulents ^_^.

This has been my “thing” lately; well, the weeks I’m kid-less. Free time is spent reading succulent care blogs or Pinning Succulents I eventually want to possess. Or visiting nurseries (like during lunch on Tuesday and after work today) or Home Depot, like on Wednesday night with John (and then he and Jorge ruined my workout by convincing me to eat Wing Stop!!). Gardening just…soothes me.

I never thought I’d get into gardening and then I did when we moved to this house and I planted flower beds everywhere. Then the Great Hail Storm of 2012 hit and ruined it all and then I stuck to my little succulents I’d planted in 2011 when I had the kiddos paint terra cotta pots for them. Just recently I got back into them (succulents are okay with being neglected, but I kind of overdid it, heh) and wanting to grow them myself, from cuttings.

So I searched for succulent propagation blogs and found these two to be really helpful: Life With SarahB and Succulents & Sunshine

So far, I think I’ve been doing pretty well!

This batch were the first little guys to undergo my latest project. I left them in the egg carton so the little cut end would dry up. Not all of them made it =|.

I laid some dirt in the carton, laid them out and began giving them a spritz of water once a day, every day for about 2 weeks.

That little cactus actually hitched a ride from Home Depot to our house when I bought a few other small pots. I hope he’ll grow!

Here are the leaves with their roots and buds almost a month later (I took these photos today):

These are a few little buds that completely propagated on their own. I actually found this Ghost Plant bud propagating on the windowsill!

I put it in a small pot, along with 2 other buds that began to propagate on their own in my large succulent pot:

This little guy overgrew the little pot Emily had painted. I picked up this blue-green-yellow pot at that nursery I stopped at today and transferred him over as soon as I got home.

I added the teeny Ghost Plant that had propagated itself so it can hopefully, eventually fill in that side of the pot. I was happy to see the Ghost Plant had a new sprout on one of the stems, too.

So now I have my first succulent garden that I wrote about 3 entries ago:

I’ve since removed the Baby Toes, which I named Roger, from the pot. It seemed unhealthy when I bought it, but it just never got better and eventually it started shriveling up. I took such good care of my first Baby Toes and now I can’t seem to keep them alive :(.

My Donkey Tail Burrito is also having a bit of trouble. At first I thought it was too hot outside, so I moved the pot to the windowsill and it’s still dropping a lot of “beads”. My String of Pearls was unhealthy when I bought it as well, and doesn’t seem to be getting any better. I’m keeping my fingers crossed though. Maybe neglecting it a bit will help.

I had bought a few succulents here and there for the past couple of weeks. A pink/green Echeveria and a Gollum at H-E-B, a severely over-watered Zebra Haworthia from Valley Garden Center, and then the other few that I bought when John and I went to Home Depot this Wednesday. So I made Succulent Garden #2:

I’m so happy with them. I hope I can keep them all alive. I’m so impatient. I want the sprouts to grow and I want to know the big ones will be ok!

So there you go: a bit of my madness and my current hobby. I’d been in a funk the last weeks of May and early June (no idea why, either, it was just weird), but I’ve been taking this literally lately:

It seems to be working pretty well!

We had a great week with the kids. It started on Sunday evening when we picked them up from the other parents’ homes and took them to the drive-in to watch Maleficent and Transformers: Age of Extinction. We bought tons of snacks and got the cooler, blankets and lawn chairs ready, went on the drive and found a pretty good spot.

They were into the movies, thank goodness, and although the girls and I spent a lot of time in line at the bathrooms (OMG, the lines!!), we had a pretty good time :).

We got out super late, though, and Jorge and I worked the next morning so we got them home and put them all into bed.

This was the 1st year that we’ve gotten to have all 7 kids together for 4th of July, so we were excited :).

Our boss let us out early on Thursday, by noon, so I went straight to HEB to buy all the stuff for the BBQ and s’mores during the fireworks. I wasn’t sure about what type of patties to buy for the burgers, so I called Jorge and asked, even sending him a photo of the beef patties I figured we should take (and that weren’t part of a recent recall). He approved, and I took them.

Got home, made dinner for the kids, Mom, John and Jorge. I got ready and met Alexis at the gym. We didn’t want to miss it since we knew we’d be “bad” the next day. I had all intentions of eating many s’mores hehe.

She didn’t have plans since her hubby would be working, so I invited her and her nephew over for the festivities :).

Jorge and I started the next morning off on the wrong foot; we just argued about who knows what (the sky being blue? Something ridiculous like that, heh). So I was huffing and puffing by the time the kids and I got in the car with Mom to go to Walmart and to visit Gramma. 4th of July is her birthday. Mom wanted to stop by Walmart since she wanted to do some last-minute shopping for her and so I waited in the car with the kids while she and Jaylen got down. Emily wanted to get down too, but I could already imagine the trouble she’d give Mom, so I told her to stay with me. Thus began the Meltdown of the Century. The other 2 kids and I had to endure the wails; she needed a nap BIGTIME. It seemed like Mom and Jaylen were never getting back! When they did, we took off to Gramma’s.

The smart thing would have been to take her home and go back later, but I had a long list of things to get done so I figured she’d calm down. WRONG.

She wailed while we visited with Gramma, until a nurse came in to tell us to keep it down. She said the “family” of a dying patient a few rooms down wanted us to be quiet. I’ve already gotten into it with her before; she was the nurse who so kindly quit sitting Gramma up in her wheelchair because Gramma “didn’t want to”. Grrr. Gramma NEEDS to sit every day or else her pneumonia will relapse. Just seeing her pissed me off, so I gave Gramma a kiss on the head, and grabbed Emmo’s hand and we stomped off. I turned back to the nurse and told her I wanted to make a complaint. There’s been plenty of times that I’ve had to visit Gramma with people howling for water, for their relatives, food, going to the bathroom and they’ve scared my kids but I’ve been understanding. I got that Emily was loud and perhaps there really was a family who asked (I didn’t believe her, though), but the way she told me was rude and condescending. Of course, the one person I had to make the complaint with never became unoccupied (figures) so Emily and I just left. We sat in the car and I was so frustrated I just bawled with her :(.

Low and behold, we get home and Emily falls asleep. Poor thing. I couldn’t even be upset with her, it wasn’t her fault. But I tried making the best of the day and I cleaned, and then we picked up fireworks with all the kids and got back home to start the fire. Alexis got here with her nephew and we prepped the corn on the cobs, chopped veggies and got everything ready. I realized, in horror, that I hadn’t defrosted the darn hamburger patties!! So I start thawing them in water. Jorge walks in and says, “Nooo! Use the microwave!” But it’s too late. They’re all mushy and weird. He stands over my shoulder as I’m pulling them apart (’cause the centers are still super frozen) and patting them back together once they do fall apart. He says, “Are you trying to feed me turkey burgers? ‘Cause they look like turkey burgers. The hot dogs are turkey. (insert suspicious scowl here, heh)” I tell him, “No! They’re beef, hello, I sent you the pic yesterday, remember?” I even walk to the trash to find the packaging, ’cause now I’m wondering if they’re beef, but the package is under way too much junk.

I finally get the patties to look decent and take them out to Jorge. Jorgie walks in and says, “I think those patties are turkey…they keep falling apart. Dad says regular patties don’t do that.”

I go outside and sure enough, they’re falling apart. There were some casualties, but the ones that do make it looked pretty good, and tasted great!

We got all the kiddos lined up and fed and Alexis and I were pretty proud of the “healthy” burger version we made. It was amazing!

We got all the kiddos in the car and Alexis followed us to the same parking lot we went to last year to watch the fireworks. All the kids were well-behaved and patient. It was a nice show :).

We had a pretty “easy” time getting out of the parking lot, considering how crowded it was. It took us about an hour to get home last year!

We got home and we all helped getting the table and chairs out for the fireworks and s’mores. It was such an awesome time with all the kids and family and Alexis :). And nobody caught fire or anything so that’s a plus!

A few days later I’m cleaning up the counter and find an HEB receipt. I crumple it up to throw it, but something tells me I should read it so I do. The first thing on it: “soy patties”!!!

I couldn’t stop laughing. It wasn’t EVEN turkey, it was SOY!! I texted the photo to Jorge and he posted it on Facebook for all to see, buahaha. I guess we ate pretty healthy after all!