ShannonAlbert.com - June 2009

Casey and I took our boys to Fossil Rim today. Beautiful weather for it and had a great time. Casey had never been and since she's moving to Colorado in a few days, she wanted to visit before leaving. We hadn't been in a couple of years so it was good to go back with Blake since he doesn't remember it from before.

Some pics...

We took a picture in this spot a couple of years ago. Blake and I have both gotten much bigger since!


The sign is true...


This was really brave for Blake as he's been scared of animals lately.


Giraffes look good from a distance....


Until they stick their freakishly long tongues in the car and scare the bejeezus out of us and send us into laughing hysterics when he won't go away..


Other random animal photo ops...




And a gratuitous baby shot because he is the SWEETEST baby in the whole wide world even when he pukes and poops on me...

Blake and I met Amanda for lunch and then headed out to Founders' Plaza at DFW Airport. It's a nice little park area where you can watch airplanes come and go.



I think he's acting like an airplane here...

Amanda and I went out last night and I don't have pics but take my word for it despite the lack of photographic evidence. :) We started out at a hibachi grill for some Japanese food and then on to Pete's Dueling Piano Bar which was infested with Bridezillas and their bridesmaids. They traveled in packs throughout the bar and god forbid if you got behind them if you had to go to the bathroom. We couldn't even see the guys playing piano because it was so crowded so we left after about 30 or 45 minutes. As huge fans of comedians, we decided to see who was at Hyena's Comedy Club and got tickets. They had 3 comedians who were all good w/the headliner being BT and he was fantastic. He and I actually conversed via Myspace after the show because I wanted to let him know what a good show it was. Good times and I hope to go back to Hyena's again soon!

New Oprah shows start tomorrow and her ticket line also opens up for October tickets - wish me luck in my 15th year of trying to get tickets!

Blake started Museum School on Thursday which he seems to really love. It only lasts for two hours once a week but I've always wanted him to be able to go and now he can. :)



And today it rained pretty much all day and our grass is actually green again! Blake went out to stand in it for a bit....

On Tuesday, Blake and I met Casey and her two boys (5 year old's name happens to also be Blake - as does her husband's - but they call him by his middle name, Carter). Casey and I used to work together and talk about how we enjoyed working and didn't enjoy our time as stay-at-home-moms as much and here we are being SAHMs and meeting at the museum for the afternoon. She has the cutest baby ever named Jack and as a bonus, he thought I was so funny! Sadly (for me anyway!), she and her family are moving to Colorado in a couple of weeks and we'll miss them. Some pics....

First photo by Blake...



(photo borrowed from Casey)

In the dino dig area moments after I crashed and burned on the steps going down to this area...

We spent Saturday at Trinity Park where there's great play areas, a river, a train to ride and the kids took Ziplocs to collect things like nuts, leaves, interesting rocks, etc. Here are some pics from the day (hallelujah for great weather so we can go outside everyday again!).







View of a big train from our little train...


Turtles in the sun...




Walking on rocks across the river...


In other news...
two weddings that took place this summer have led to two babies that are due in March and April. Congrats to our brothers on their babies!

On Saturday, I set up a scavenger hunt for the kids at a big park/recreation area so there would be plenty of spots to hide things. The way it worked was this: each of them was given a clue to start with (Blake's clues were in the form of maps) and then when they got to that place from the clue, they'd find a gift and another clue for their next spot. There were 4 clues in all. Blake went first....











Then Payton....








Hiding places included a mini-golf course, trees, the bathroom, bushes and inside a building with a staff member. They had a lot of fun and the best part was seeing Payton's reaction on her final prize - she finally got the cell phone she's been begging for! :-)