Eco Car Marathon 2011

The annual Shell Eco Car Marathon was this weekend, which means the Tims were in town! Barbara and Carter spent the day with me and Jackson on Friday while everyone else was busy working. Then we made our way to Discovery Green for the car races on Saturday.

Friday morning we went to Space Center Houston where Ross was busy coordinating a National Robotics Week event. I got to be their unofficial photographer for a little while, so I'm sure there will be a fun post on that event too. The boys had a blast checking everything out. This was actually Jackson's first visit. Here are a couple of pictures of the action.

After lunch and a nap, we made our way back to Froberg's Farm to pick some more strawberries. Jackson remembered the rules for picking and made sure Carter did it right.

Jackson was much more interested in carrying the bucket than actually picking the strawberries this time. Carter on the other hand was all about finding the good ones and filling up both his bucket and Jackson's!

See everyone...

Friday evening we caught up with Ross and Audrey for dinner at Lupe, and they all got to play to their hearts content...i.e. they slept well that night!

The National Robotics Week event continued on Saturday, so I loaded Jackson and Audrey into the car and headed to Discovery Green to spend some more time with Barbara and Carter. The kiddos loved the play ground and splash pad!

It was a little chilly to be playing in the water, so the boys eventually decided they were ready to dry off and warm up. We grabed some lunch and headed to the LA Tech cheering section for the Eco Car Marathon where Ross was able to catch up with us.

The LA Tech team had two urban cars and a proto type competing this year, and when we left that evening the results were posted putting LA Tech in first place for the urban car competition for the day, as well as breaking an American record with 513 mpg! Way to go! Here are some pictures of the boys with the urban car that broke the record.

It was SO much fun to see everyone! There are more pictures in the album, and I'll post the final results when we find out more!

Kemah Kids

On Sunday we made our way to Kemah for a kids festival they had going on last weekend. They had a couple of local dance groups performing along with several tents with fun activities, face painting, and the ever popular fountain.

Jackson loved watching the dancers and wanted nothing to do with playing in the water. Audrey, on the other hand, wanted to play. She wasn't 100% sure about the fountain, but she definitely checked it out.

Right after this picture, the water sprayed her in the face! She wasn't a fan of that, but it didn't stop her from going out again after a little while.

Jackson never wanted to put on his swimsuit, but he did eventually wander out into the fountain.

The highlight of the day for Jackson was getting Elmo painted on his hand!

There are more pictures in the album.

Amazing Kiddos

Just a few weeks ago we began some transitions for both Jackson and Audrey, and I'm happy to report both are doing extremely well! We can officially say Jackson is fully potty trained now. He hasn't had an accident at night in over 2 weeks!

Audrey's transition off the bottle has gone well too. The first few nights she cried as she was going to sleep, but now she just curls up and goes right to sleep. She's an expert with the sippy cup and has even demanded to use a regular cup, which she does surprisingly well with. She is now cutting her 8th tooth, and I think her molars are on their way soon.

Audrey and Jackson both constantly amaze us. Audrey can figure just about anything out with a quick study! She is a climber, so we've had to create a make-shift baby gate at the bottom of our stairs since there's not an easy way to actually install one. We've lined up several ottomans along the bottom step, and it's been working well. She has been climbing up stairs for quite a while now, but I discovered at the park today that she has figured out how to get down them too. I'm not ready to trust her on our stairs alone, but she's making progress!

Jackson's language, imagination, and thought process in general are what amaze us about him these days. He loves to pretend. He has lots of dinosaur friends...some are grumpy and some are nice, which seems to be determined by what color they are. :) If you can keep him focused, you can have a really fun conversation, and when we ask him a questions, we are often surprised at the logic behind his answers. He's at a really fun age!

Zachary's B-day Party

Today was another fun-filled day! We celebrated Zachary's 1st birthday today, and it was a "Bear-y" good time...there was a teddy bear theme. The birthday boy was adorable as always. Seriously...check out those eyes...

And then there's the wave...

Our friends have some seriously cute kiddos, so I feel the need to share a couple of pics I got of them! This is Emmy...so sweet.

And this is Jace...so much fun!

Audrey had a ball!

And Jackson enjoyed hanging out.

It was great way to spend our Saturday morning! There are a lot more pictures of the action in the album.

Playing at the Park

We spent Saturday afternoon at the park, and of course, I took the camera along, so here are some pictures of Jackson and Audrey just playing around!

Getting ready to slide...

We may have a future track star on our hands...

No trip to the park is complete without swinging for a while...

To wrap up the pictures for the weekend, here's Audrey all dressed up for church this morning!

There are more pictures in Audrey and Jackson's albums.

Strawberry Picking

This morning we headed out to Froberg's Farm to do a little strawberry picking.

Neither of the kids were shy to get started. As you walked in they explained what to pick and what to leave alone. Jackson listened intently and did a great job finding good strawberries for us to bring home.

Audrey found some really good ones too. Although, I don't think you're supposed to eat them before you pay for them...who me?

It was a perfect day to be outside, and we were glad we were among the first to arrive. By the time we left, the place was packed! It was well worth the short trip though.

We think Audrey ate more strawberrys than dirt, but it's hard to be sure...

Jackson really isn't a fan of strawberries, so he was never tempted to eat them while we were there. He just had a blast picking out the good ones and running down the rows.

We will definitely be coming back to Froberg's. Not only was the strawberry picking fun, but they had a great little farmer's market too. It was difficult not to buy a little of everything!

There are several more pictures of the strawberry picking fun in the album.

Birthday Party Weekend

Last weekend was all about birthdays. We celebrated with our friend, Pam, on Friday evening and then did a little party hoping on Saturday. Friday we went to Lupe Tortilla and enjoyed sitting outside watching the kiddos play. Pam is a friend of ours from church, but there was also another party going on at the same time with a bunch of folks from daycare, which meant Jackson was in heaven. He got to play with everyone! I wish I'd had my camera with me because it was so much fun watching everyone running and playing.

Saturday morning was Charlotte's "bee"-day party. The decorations and theme were adorable along with this precious little girl! Her mom, Whitney, made this dress...too cute!

The kids had a blast at the park. Audrey especially enjoyed chasing bubbles, and of course, Jackson wanted to spend most of his time on the swings.

They played so hard Audrey passed out on the short trip home. They both slept well for their naps and were ready to go again in the afternoon for Parker's birthday party. This cute little guy just turned 1!

Audrey was pretty excited about his new Cozy Coupe, and Jackson enjoyed sitting in the wagon.

It was a busy, but very fun weekend! There are more pictures from Charlotte's party and Parker's party in the albums.