Spooktacular BOO-ze Bash! 2015

This past weekend we successfully hosted our annual Halloween bash!  The jell-o shots were aplenty, the costumes amazing and the company always entertaining.  Everyone loved the decorations, we had several new spooky items this year as well as some new foods, introducing the new zombie meat body for snacks!!

 HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Facebook link to all the pictures.

Below are a few shots from the night (only the girls liked to take group shots)

The spread

pick your poison

Hosts:  Captain America and Wonder Woman

80s 8K

Forgot to post about this one!  At the end of September many of us Pfelly lane runners ran the 80's 8K in Cedar Park.  It was my first time running this 4.97 mile race and I had no idea what to expect, I just knew it had hills (my most favorite thing in the entire world...not!).  Thankfully all my marathon training is paying off as I ran an excellent race!

Before.  DeLorean!!! 9/27/2015

It was 65 degrees, 78% humidity, 3 mph winds and partly cloudy at 7:30 am race time. It felt great out! At first I was going to treat it as a training run and keep to a 9:30 pace, but with all the adrenaline pumping and the fact that I felt great, I went ahead and raced it. There were a TON of hills, at minimum 3-4 really good hills and a couple other rolling. I managed to power through it all and even kick it up at the end. New PR baby!

chip time: 00:43:50.1
Avg pace - 8:50
8:55
9:00
8:55
8:56
8:23

after the run

Ry's in Pre-K!

I can't believe how quickly time flies, my little guy started Pre-K this month!  Ryland loves that he now attends a big kid school.  It's great because his school is in the neighborhood, only a 1 mile walk away, and no more daycare!  His first day of school went very well, we all made it through drop off without crying.  So proud of my little man!  He's just so darn cute with his backpack and lunch box.

8/25/2015

walking to school

greeted by one of his teachers

I think he was a little shell shocked, but no crying!

Cincinnati Trip

The beginning of August we took the kids on their very first airplane flight to visit my brother & family in Cincinnati.  We left late Thursday evening stayed through Sunday afternoon.  They loved the plane ride, it didn't phase them one bit.  I finally got to meet my new niece, Harper, and the kids got to meet their cousins!  It was a reunion long time coming.   The kids played great together and enjoyed staying up way past their bedtimes.  Us parents got little to no sleep.  We had a fabulous time catching up, checking out the zoo & aquarium, visiting with extended family and eating at an awesome German restaurant!

baby Harper!

Visiting with family!

Freunds/Seitz/Maleks

all the littles

Checking out the Cincinnati zoo

they loved the water table

relaxing after a long day

Fun at the aquarium!

Infant Swim Rescue Lessons

Once the beginning of summer hit I immediately registered both kids for swim lessons.  We started the first local swim lessons in June and I just wasn't that impressed.  For Carsyn is was a parent/tot class where all you did was make them comfortable in the water; blow bubbles, jump in and carry them around in circles.  Ryland's classes were a little better, they taught swim moves, but they never let the kids do it on their own, they were always holding them.

One day at our local pool, Ry ran past me (obviously excited) and jumped into the deep end.  The kid has no fear!  I had Carsyn and wasn't able to make it to him in time, luckily another adult was in the water next to him and grabbed his quickly sinking arm.  Yeesh!  I knew these local swim lessons just weren't cutting it and we were tired of having to use life-vests and floaties all the time.  The next day we were at my SIL's house and I saw her kids swimming, they are the same age as Ry and Carsy!  I asked what they were doing differently and ISR came up.  This is the 2nd time I've heard this mentioned.  I looked into it last year but the price is what made me hesitate.  Once I saw the results we realized it was soooo worth it to put them in these lessons.

I asked one of my running friends for their ISR contact, registered the kids for the following week and cancelled the local swim lessons.  We were ready to go!

The first time participating in ISR it usually runs for 6 weeks, depending on the child's skills.  They are 1 on 1 lessons with the teacher, 5 days a week for 10 mins each lesson.  Then every year after that you can re-register for a refresher course which should last about 2-4 weeks.  Our teacher, Ms Vicki, was AMAZED with our kids (especially Carsyn).  Ry only cried the first 3 lessons, then after that he LOVED it and couldn't wait to go to swim lessons every day.  Carsyn cried for probably a good 2 weeks before she was comfortable with the process.  However right off the bat the teacher noticed how strong Carsyn was and how quickly she caught on.  Heck by week 2 these kids made amazing leaps and bounds with their swimming skills and by week 3 Carsyn was loving it and actually started smiling during the lessons.

Carsyn on Day 4  - swim to side/bar

Ryland on Day 4 - working on float

Ryland week 3 of ISR lessons

Carsyn week 3

At the end of week 3 Ms Vicki told us they were ready to test out the following week!  I couldn't believe how quickly they had mastered these swimming/survival skills.  They both had to complete 2 tests.  The first test was in summer clothes (shorts, shirt, sandals), they had to fall in and demonstrate all their survival/swimming techniques.  Carsyn even had to wear 2 diapers!!  I can't imagine how heavy that must have been wearing a swim diaper and a regular diaper.  The second test was in winter clothes; pants, long sleeved shirt, jacket, socks and tennis shoes.  THEY DID GREAT!  I feel so much better now when we take them to the pool knowing that if they fall in they can float, swim, survive.  These kids are like fish!  They love the water and no longer require floaties!!  :)

Below our their test out videos:  Summer clothes, Winter clothes

Sea World SA!

We finished the busy month of June with a trip to Sea World!  This was Ry's 2nd time and Car-Car's 1st time to take on Sea World.  Thankfully we bought tickets during a flash sale and only ended up paying for 1 ticket and 1 parking pass.  Ry had a free pre-K school pass and kids under 2 are free.  It was a warm day and overcast, hitting 90 degrees.  We left the house at 8am and arrived at Sea World around 10:15am,  after figuring out the ticket situation we entered the park around 10:45am.  

6/30/2015

We started off checking out the flamingos and then headed to the dolphin walk.  This area is new as the original dolphin tank and shark aquarium were under construction until 2016.  Unfortunately we couldn't go right up to the tanks and pet the dolphins this time around, which was a little disappointing as I really wanted Carsy and Ry to see the dolphins up close.  As the dolphin walk was right by Shamu, we made the 11:30am showing.  The kids were impressed when the whales jumped and performed tricks, but didn't seem to care too much for the informative facts.  :)  

dolphins

Shamu show

Shamu

After that we saw the penguin exhibit, alligator alley, animal connection (snakes and birds) and the kiddie play area!  Both kids loved that area the best as it had rides, the splash pad and a huge climbing net thing that Ry tackled with gusto.  Then the rain hit.  Thankfully the kids were in their swim suits and they didn't really care, but we were soaked.  I missed out on a ton of pictures as I put my phone away to avoid water damage.  About 1:30pm we were able to convince the kids to leave the play area and check out the sea lions before heading out.  This time I bought Ryland some fish to feed the sea lions...and I totally forgot to take a picture!  Bad mommy.  Anyways, the kids had a blast and especially loved the kiddie water park.  Carsy fell asleep in her stroller on the way back to the car.  We left the park about 2pm and hit up Big'Z Burger Joint for a really late lunch.  Then the rain hit again!  This time even harder than before, and it lasted our entire 2 hour ride home.  So much for only a 20% chance of rain that day...  I think we made it home around 5:30pm, LONG but FUN day!  :)

alligator alley

Ry on Elmo's drop

Carsyn and Daddy on the big bird ferris wheel