I have a Kindergartener

 Austin's first day of Kindergarten picture. He is in a Spanish Immersion program and it has been going so well! We love it! And he loves it.  He has an amazing teacher Senora Koppes. He has already learned a good amount of Spanish.  Tyler is very excited and happy with him, especially since his pronunciation of the words is perfect! 

Blake was COMPLETELY against a first day of preschool picture so this is just a random picture of him.  He goes to preschool twice a week and loves his class.  He's made a really great friend in his class too and those two are inseparable! 

Not long after school started Austin came down with a HORRIBLE toothache one night.  Thank goodness our dentist is a good friend so I texted him for some help and he got us in early the next morning.  Austin handled his new "robot tooth" like a champ! They couldn't pull it since his permanent tooth wasn't surfacing yet so he has a silver tooth now.  He is quite proud of it.

My Goals

 I started a weight loss journey when Cody was about 9 months old.  This picture was taken October 2015.  I was not happy with my weight but nursing is always a struggle for me and I feel like I have to eat a lot to keep my milk supply.  So I started a Health Challenge through Meltdown Challenge when my cousin encouraged me to join.  She was my Health Coach and I loved being a part of a group that supported me and encouraged me every day! I was surprised to lose 7 pounds in my first challenge of 6 weeks when I was still nursing and my goal wasn't even to lose weight! It was mainly to eat healthier.   My exercise has always been consistent so I knew my diet needed to change.

 This is me before my last Health Challenge I did starting June 2015.  I was down 13 lbs from the picture up above

This picture was taken July 2015.  I was so excited to meet my weight goal!!! I am 20 lbs lighter than the very top picture!  

Once I got down to the desired weight I continued my exercise pursuits.  I go to Fitcamp at our local YMCA 3 times a week and very recently our trainer had us do a 6 week bench press routine along with our other workout.  I increased my bench max from 155lbs to 170lbs! I never thought I would ever be able to lift that much. EVER! It was such a rush.  I had to get a guns picture as proof of what I have accomplished!  My workout buddy Whitney pushes me hard every workout! 

Blake Turns 4 - July 21

 Blake loves Hot Wheels cars so we had a Hot Wheels Birthday for him which was perfect for a hot day in July!  I completely messed up his bday cake which was going to be 3 layers, but only managed to salvage one layer so I made the rest into cake balls. We also had fruit on a stick representing a stoplight. Loved hose!

 I loved all these checker flags and colored balloons!

 LOVED the entrance! We used garbage bags and yellow duct tape.

 We have some spare tires from other occasions and I thought the entrance turned out perfect. 

 Tyler set up an obstacle course/racetrack in the backyard and the kids all brought their bikes to ride.  Perfect entertainment for a bunch of kids.  Also off in the grass we set up our PVC pipe car wash for everyone to get wet since it was so hot!

 The Start Line!

As much as Blake shies away from crowds he loves being the center of attention on his birthday which I am so glad cuz his birthday parties always seem to turn out the best! Happy Birthday to my sweet, soft spoken, adorable Blake!

Goodbye Dredge's!

So it took us FOREVER to blog about Spain....So here's to playing CATCH UP.  Not long after we returned from Spain I threw a Goodbye party for some really good friends of ours who are medical students and moving on to Iowa for residency.  Allison always threw AMAZING beyond AMAZING parties for everyone so I wanted to throw her something special.  We had a great turnout to give them a good ol' Texas Goodbye.  BYE Y'ALL!

 We had a great time with music and BBQ in the backyard

 We had a picture booth set up for everyone who came.  We had an instant Polaroid camera so everyone took their picture and taped it into a book and wrote a farewell note to them.  I was so excited that I got to have bales of straw in my backyard!

 Loved this sign my friend Kellie made for the party.  So much craftier than I could ever pull off.

 Food table before guests arrived.  I wish I would have got a close up of my mason jars with lace and twine and lemons floating in water. So cute!

We had a "SALOON" inside with Italian Sodas made by Bonnie and Spencer.  They turned out DELISH!

 Master Chef doing his thing!

 Water outside since it was pretty hot!

 Here they are! One of my favorite families! Allison was so fun and spontaneous and could get me to do anything crazy with her.  Things such as doorbell ditching at 11:30pm, going to the Y to swim in a flash flood warning downpour, and spending evening after evening late into the night helping her with her parties.  

I have loved all the people I have met here in Texas and I'm truly grateful for great friends like these gals!

Madrid ~ Walk it Out

We're finally finishing our last blog post about Spain! Not really sure why it took so long, I guess life is just busier now. Rachel and I had such a good time on this trip, truly the experience of a lifetime, and it just opened my eyes again to the wondrous diversity and excellence that humanity has to offer.

After the Royal Palace we made a bee-line for the statue of Don Quijote de la Mancha and Sancho Panza. I read the book as part of a college Spanish literature course, but Rachel actually played the part of Sancho in her middle school play! She was pretty excited for this stop.

This is probably the most "American" meal we had on the entire trip (last day in Spain), a gigantic burger at an Red Robin-esque restaurant called Cafeteria VIPS. We were really hungry after walking around all morning, so we ordered a flat bread pizza appetizer. Turns out the pizza would probably have been a decent meal all by itself...and then this monster showed up. I couldn't just leave it there.

After lunch we continued east through town toward Parque de El Retiro, the Central Park of Madrid. It is surrounded by numerous museums, and before we actually made it to the park we visited two. The Reina Sofia Art Center didn't allow pictures, but we got to see some famous paintings by Goya and act like we were sophisticated for a bit.

Then we returned to our roots by spending twice as long in the free national naval museum! This was one oft he places my Lonely Planet guidebook for Spain recommended as "good for kids" :) 

Out front this dude was dressed in character to advertise/welcome people to the museum. He was chatting with a street cop, and I couldn't resist the chance to get a picture with him. The cop thought we were a little weird but the Admiral was diggin' it.

 This wasn't even the biggest model they had on display, but it was my favorite.

The museum had about 30 rooms full of different-sized models like this one, military clothing and weaponry, seafaring equipment of all kinds and lots of paintings with captions reciting the history of the Spanish Navy. They even had recovered debris from famous shipwrecks or naval battles.

 Pining for the ocean.

 The romantic row-boat reservoir in the middle of Parque de El Retiro. We people watched for a while, ate some delicious snacks and rested our tired feet. Could've easily spent a lazy afternoon in this park, but instead we pushed on toward a last little bit of nostalgia: El Corte Inglés

El Corte Inglés is a famous store in several European countries, and it's one place I remember shopping when I was a kid living in Spain in the mid-90's. We bought our roller blades from there :)

We went there looking for a "trompo" (wooden top) for the boys, but even in this seven floor behemoth of a store I could not find one. I'd been on the lookout all week long in any street market, shop or store we passed, and this was my last chance. The place was like Walmart, JC Penny's and Toys R Us rolled in to one, but the best thing we got were these two pictures and some paella ingredients. Oh well.

One simple thing I loved about our trip was the chance to travel in different ways than we normally do in Fort Worth. Walking, riding the metro and taxis were all great for experiencing the culture and people.

Do we look tired? It was a long, full, fun trip together! This metro ride took us back to Plaza del Sol the attic loft for our last night in Spain. We talked with Gigi and Bibiana and their daughter Mia about our day and started feeling excited to see our kids again. Mia was six years old, and after talking to her about the books we'd bought for A, B and C we were pretty much ready to go. 

Madrid ~ The Royal Palace

We ate a hearty breakfast to prepare us for what would be a long day full of walking.

Our walking tour took us through Plaza Mayor, where they were having a GIANT yoga fest. There were hundreds of people inside the fenced area already (but only a few were actually doing yoga...haha), and hundreds more waiting in line to either fill up the last few spots or wait for others to leave. Rachel knows yoga :)

 Our first stop was the Royal Palace, but before we got inside we ran into these two dudes... 

Rachel says: "Take a close look at Tyler's eyes...stunning!"

Tyler says: "I can't believe this beautiful woman followed me all the way to Spain."

The Palace was incredible! The royal family used to live there, but for the last few decades it has been exclusively a museum of Spanish heritage and history and a tourist attraction. It was VERY grand, full of incredible artwork, architecture, and artifacts. There were very few places where we were allowed to take pictures inside the palace, so you'll just have to take our word for it.

The Royal Staircase...not part of the original design but built in after the fact by one of the Monarchs because he wanted a grand entrance to his ballroom and other parts of the palace to impress the foreigners. It worked. 

The ceiling paintings were typically murals depicting the life and accomplishments of the great monarchs of Spain and the people they ruled. I was surprised to learn about how strong a connection there was between Roman culture, Christianity and the Spanish nobility.

Toledo and our first night in Madrid

Rachel forgot to include this video her last post about Consuegra. The castle was left almost entirely in its original state, with only the bare minimum construction work done to ensure that it didn't collapse in on itself. There were lots of neat rooms, each with different artifacts that described the purpose of that part of the castle.

After fighting windmills alongside el Hombre de la Mancha, we made a quick stop in Toledo (means the steel blade) on our way to Madrid. The city is an ancient treasure and the former capital of Spain, surrounded by walls and known for its steel making, sword smiths, and religious diversity. The picture above is of Rachel standing in front of it's gigantic Catholic Cathedral. We only had about 3-4 hours, and we got rained on trying to escape to our car at the end, but it was worth the quick stop.

When we arrived at Madrid we dropped off our bags at the attic apartment where we'd be staying for the night and then ventured out to return our rental car. The Mini-Cooper was a blast to drive and a perfect fit for our needs on the trip!

From the rental dealer it was a short walk to Atocha Train Station, the main hub for Madrid's high-speed train, metro and bus systems. We ate a delicious meal right across the street - Rachel's first time trying calamare (squid) - and then stopped to listen to a part of the city orchestra playing a free concert on the lawn in from of the train station. It was moments like those that really made it seem like a vacation: no hurry to get anywhere, just enjoying whatever life happened to bring our way. As the sun set we caught the metro (for $1.50/person) back to our apartment at Puerta del Sol.

Madrid's night life is apparently epic, and we got to experience a bit of it just by walking through Plaza del Sol. This particular town square is right in the geographic center of Madrid, and it is a happening place. Magicians, musicians, street dancers, vendors, plenty of locals and lots of tourists!

This is the apartment that we stayed at for two nights in Madrid. The owners, Gigi (Italian) and Bibiana (Spaniard), and their 6 year old daughter Mia, were friendly and helpful. The first night we stayed there Bibiana and Mia returned home late, at almost 11 pm, and Mia was pretty upset to find two strangers staying the night instead of her dad (Gigi was flying in from Italy but had not yet made it home). Mia had a little meltdown, and Rachel and I lay in the attic thinking about our own boys, whom we hadn't seen for over a week. It was easy to forgive because we'd been there before!

The view from our attic bedroom window, on the 5th floor of an apartment building at about midnight. The room was shaped like a triangle, but the windows on the roof cranked open and gave us a unique look at the city.