Parents Day Out

Trevor and I celebrated six years of marriage last Saturday. Seems like sooo many more... We were lucky enough to have an entire day to ourselves. We wanted to do something besides dinner and a movie. We did do those things, but so much more as well.

First, we had lunch at the Texican Cafe which is a treat because its actually a Mexican restaurant that Trevor enjoys. Next, we went to The Peddler Show in Cedar Park. this is a big craft show. Trevor was a trooper and looked at lots of clothes, jewelery and smelly stuff.

This is NOT me... LOL... this poor girl sat outside the Cedar park center in the heat with this sign... she deserves a shout out on this blog... Our anniversary, but our boys reaped the benefits of this cool toy from the craft show.And I got this cool bottle cap necklace!

Then we went to Cafe Monet. It is a ceramic shop where you choose a piece and paint it yourself, leave with them and they glaze and fire it for you. After a week or so, come back and your master piece is ready. Since it was our anniversary, we made coffee mugs for each other.

Trevor painting mine.

after we were finished....

Our mugs after.... I did a theme... made half baseball, half soccer for his coaching

For our next stop, we ate dinner at the Vince Young Steakhouse downtown. It was VERY nice. Good food and good service.

A very cool longhorn made of pennies is behind us... you can't NOT take a picture with this thing when you go there for the first time, seriously... and this is what bloggers do... we take photos of the napkins in the bathrooms and think, oh yes! that will be great for the blog!
And a nice complimentary dessert... nice touch Vince yes, it was YUMM-O!

Lastly, we went to a super late movie, Captain America. See, we couldn't resist dinner and movie, I know... cliche'... but this is the first date we have had in a long, long time that didn't end at Wal-Mart. I say that spells success!

Sugar Sunday

Stop 1: Crepe's for breakfast?

Seriously, I think that gets us HUGE points for Parents of the Year! Nutella and bananas for breakfast! YUMM-O!This is one of those "Austin experiences" that I have tried to avoid, but just can't anymore. How cool to sit outside and eat crepes for breakfast with my boys? Remember the Omelettry I told you about? Well, we found Le Crepe Cafe on the blog 365 things to do in Austin. Though we won't be trying all of that list, we enjoyed the crepe place. Some cool things in the downtown area. Stop 2: We walked around to try a new cupcake shop, Delish, in the downtown area. It was such a disappointment. We bought 4 different flavors and none of them tasted any different. But they do get points for presentation, the cupcakes are pretty.
I know, we are cupcake snobs, but trust me, if you are local, DO NOT waste your time at Delish for cupcakes. Even our little ones didn't like them.
Stop 3 of "Sugary Sunday", Trevor made some awesome cupcakes that were actually edible.
Hope Kendrick didn't want to eat that cupcake. Hamilton has different ideas.

Part 3 of the ABC's

V day was for Valentine's... Wrapped around Hollister's neck is his viper... X is for X ray
On Q day we were lucky to go to the new "Quarry Splash pad". How lucky was I that opened during the ABC's of summer?
T is for Todd. He has had this guy since he was born. It is quickly becoming one of Hamilton's favorites too.
On T day, I also took the opportunity for a fun trip to Target! Don't my "twins" look like they are having fun?

U is for Umbrella... No rain, but he got to play with the umbrella and LOVED it.
On U day, Daddy called from work and asked what letter day it was. He suggested we come check out a new cupcake shop called "Polka Dots". Well, it wasn't "C" or "P" day, but who can pass on cupcakes? Wait... there is a "U" in cupcake...

So, for us... U is for cUpcake....
L is for lion... this is Hamilton's hands... he loves doing these projects!

B day worked perfectly. He pulled the B on a Monday which was $1 (hot) dog night at the Dell Diamond and the kids got free baseball caps. On Y day we went to Yogurt Planet in a yellow shirt!
We are officially through every letter now. The Hodges' Kindergarten Academy isn't shut down though. We still have lots to prepare for before "big school" starts. Hollister's really figured out the whole letter and picture thing though. We were downtown yesterday and whenever I would say, "Let me take your picture", he'd ask me, "What letter is this for?"
He'll be thankful though when he sees the cool ABC picture book I have created for him.

Water Babies

During the summer, many of the teachers I work with get together for play dates. We have lots of little ones and we get to tire them out and see our friends and chit chat too.

We almost always have water involved...

This is a new place in Round Rock called the Quarry Splash Pad. It was perfect for Q day. Plus, its fun! They have lots of water, a sand pit, picnic tables, a little shade and is perfect for my kids age group. And it only cost $1 for each of us!

It was also nice to have CJ there as a helper!

He is stepping on the stream of water. He thinks its so funny to do that. Another spot we go is to a sprinkler park in Round Rock. This one is FREE! We have been here many times. Last year was harder because Hamilton wasn't really mobile. This year though, he figured it out, quick!
Here's the gang... Jackson, Chance, Hollister, Hamilton and Kylie
We have also invaded neighborhood pools from each others neighborhoods. We don't have one here in Elgin, but thank goodness our friends do! Again, free entertainment!
This is a body board. I told Hamilton "lay down" on it and he thought that meant to nap... LOL sooo literal...