Take me out to the ball game

On Friday, I had a mandatory work event in Austin. The conference center was co-located with the Dell Diamond, a minor league baseball stadium. After suffering through hours of boring lectures, families were invited to join you for a BBQ, baseball game, and children's activities. Ryan had a rare day off, and drove the kiddos up in the evening (battling Austin traffic) to meet me for dinner and the game. I can't say we saw much baseball but the kids had a really good time and Ryan was placated with frozen margaritas.

Ava and Casey couldn't get enough of the moon bounce.

The girls attempted the rock wall. They still have a ways before reaching the top, but I applaud their efforts.

I can't believe how fast our time in San Antonio is coming to an end, so I am glad we are taking advantage of many of the things that Texas offers before we leave.

Another one bites the dust

Elizabeth has been working on this tooth for a while, and sure enough the other night while eating pizza out it came. I have never seen a kid so proud and excited to have teeth fall out of her head. This is the 3rd one in 5 months. However, this was the first time that we had any issues with the tooth fairy. As standard procedure, she put her tooth in her special tooth holder and placed it under her pillow before going to sleep. However, it seemed the tooth fairy fell asleep on the job and didn't pay a visit that night. We attributed the tooth fairy's delinquency to the fact that Elizabeth did not sleep in her bed like she was told. Instead, she crawled down the her ladder (tooth and all) to sleep in her sister's bed. Therefore, the tooth fairy did not know where to find her tooth. Elizabeth then wanted to take her tooth to school to show her friends. I did not endorse this course of action and asked her to leave her tooth at home. That did not prevent her from sneaking off to school with it anyway. When Ryan dropped the kids off at school, Elizabeth immediately produced her tooth holder to show all her classmates her tooth only to discover no tooth. Of course, drama and hysterics ensued. The remedy to the missing tooth was to draw a tooth and write a note for the tooth fairy that night. She also made sure she slept in her own bed. Fortunately, the tooth fairy understood the circumstances and left $1 and piece of candy in exchange for the note and drawing. Wait, the story doesn't end there. The next day, Elizabeth found her missing tooth in the living room and felt it was very important to get the tooth to the tooth fairy. She wrote another note, explaining that she found her tooth and she even reminded the tooth fairy that she didn't owe her another present, which Ryan and I found very honest of her. So now, all teeth are with the tooth fairy and all children are properly compensated. The end.

Family Tree

I hadn't been back from Europe for more than a week, when it was time to pack up and head out the door again. This time the kiddos got to come along for some fun in PA. Ryan had to work and couldn't get a away. Oma and Opa (my grandparents) celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on 8 July. In commemoration of this milestone event, we planted a family tree grove on the family farm. These trees are going to look really awesome in 10 years.

After spending a few days with my dad's side of the family, the kids and I drove over to see my mom and stepdad. They had a good time watching movies, doing art projects, and eating 10 lbs of fruit. The bad news was that Casey learned the he could climb out of the portable crib, a skill that he brought home. No trip is complete without airline issues. I really enjoyed spending 2 hours sitting on the Chicago taxi way with 3 tired, cranky, bored kids at 9pm waiting for storms to move through.