Charlie Trains!

We took Charlie to the Loblolly Model Train display at the Nacogdoches Railroad Depot. It's free, it's cool and he got a hat and a sticker!

Before Charlie knew about the trains.

Look at those eyes! Those are "OH MY GOSH TRAINS" eyes.

This one is the Polar Express, complete with the disappearing hobo on top of the last cart and shadow images in the windows of the forgotten toys cart and the hot chocolate party.

Feels like a picture from Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. The swings, see saws and marry go round were all moving.

Is that Sir Topum Hat??

THAT smile. He was concentrating so hard on the trains
that this is the only smile we got - when the "conductor" gave him a hat.

And back to concentrating.

THAT face! So excited about stickers.

HIGH FIVE! Thanks for playing!

I was there too, See? This is when I sat on the curb, told Preston to take our picture and pretended to find something cool so Charlie wouldn't run away. Wait, should I not tell you that?

RUN! YAY TRAINS!

The Time that Charlie Peed on the Ball Popper

If you have even bathed a child, you know that they pee in the bath. Probably every time. Charlie does it almost instantly. I used to hover around him with a little scooper so I could catch it and dump it in the toilet. Now we use the potty chair before baths, but do not be fooled. He pees in there; I'm sure of it.

There was one time, I don't even remember how old he was. He was walking, but not yet one. I let him run around sans diaper while I drained the bath/put up the toys/took a deep breath, etc. I figured he had to have JUST peed, so it would be ok for a few minutes.

When I finished, I walked into his bedroom to find him standing in front of his ball popper.

Let me explain a ball popper: it is a toy that uses a fan to pop plastic balls into the air. Kids chase down the balls and put them in a special spot and watch them circle down a clear ball tunnel to the bottom and pop up again. The kid can turn it on himself because there is a big button on top, it stays on for a minute and then turns off. And while it is on, it plays music.

So there he was, at the ball popper. He had just peed into it. NOT ON IT. Not like he peed on it and it splattered everywhere. He peed INTO the special spot where the balls go; there was a big pee pond at the bottom of the ball tunnel. I know that he had just done it because he looked like he had discovered something.

At this point, I'm a little shocked that this happened. How did he get it all in there? Is that really pee? Oh my gosh.

Then Charlie put some balls into the special spot. They glided down the ball tunnel into the pee pond. And I thought, How am I going to clean this? This toy is forever unclean. Could we get electrocuted? I'm going to have to throw it away. But my mom bought it for him... it's was a long internal thought process in a tiny little moment before I even realized he was putting the balls in there.

Charlie then pushed the button that turns on the ball popper. The music starts. The fan gears up. All the tiny, multicolored plastic balls that were soaking in the pee pond start flying out of the ball popper all over the room. And when there were no more balls, the fan continued to blow bubbles in the pee pond until it turned off.

Charlie goes to the Veterans Day Parade.

Charlie and I went to see the Veterans Day parade in Nacogdoches. These are pictures from before the parade. Based on his "running off" record for the morning, I was too scared to let go of him during the parade to take pictures. Imagine him holding a tiny flag with one hand and waving wildly with the other, and staring, speechless, at the marching bands, horses and people as he took it all in. 

THIS is tree pose.

I said, "Charlie, where are the turkey's eyes." He found them as he banged on the window of the stained glass store.
Um, lets go look at something else now before we get in trouble!

Where is this parade you told me about,  Mom?

This one is just cute.

Charlie was excited to go to the fire station. He was excited about the fire truck. 

He was excited about his sticker badge and his hat... until he saw the fire station golf cart. 

Then he was only excited about the golf cart. He wore the hat for a few seconds

and I snuck the sticker badge back on his shirt for this picture - of him not looking

at the camera.

Charlie also threw a few fits. Mostly about holding my hand.

He ran off a few times.

And then he ran back.

He thought he might fit through these bars.

And this one is just cute.

Charlie at the Farmer's Market Spring Fling

Yes, this was two weekends ago. But I didn't know how to get photos to my computer from my phone at a high resolution easily – until now!

AAAHHHHHH! I'M RUNNINGGGGG!

This is Charlie's creepy pose.

Charlie pet this sheep and ever since, he has been pointing out all of the sheep in his books.
Surprisingly, there are a lot of sheep in the background illustrations of kids books.

We go on "bunny hunts" where we look for bunnies at Preston's parents' house / aka the wild. 

Did you say something?

And we will end this post with several swinging pictures that probably look the same to you but look different and equally awesome to me.

Lake Austin Spa Photos

For the past four years, Mom and I have spent a long weekend at the Lake Austin Spa in Austin, TX. We love it. It's relaxing, the food is yummy, the yoga and activity classes are enjoyable, the other guests are always interesting and the pool in the pool barn is shady and addicting. 

I've never taken a camera before, but this year I took some practice shots with my new Cannon 5D Mark II. I think they turned out pretty well. All in all, I don't think I really captured what it's like to go to this place or how Mom and I keep going back to the same spa resort but always end up with a different experience.

Enjoy!

Flowers and Gardens

Pomegranate

Persimmons

Eggplant

Animals

These two ducks live near the yoga deck

These two geese live near the activity deck. They were named
Will and Kate and are never more than three feet away from each other

A pretty, lazy cat

This squirrel caught me taking his picture

Will and Kate again

In the Water

Mom getting on the aqua bike 

Mom on the aqua bike

Paddle boards on the activity dock

Paddle boarding lesson

Me being awesome at Paddle boarding

Wine Tasting in the Kitchen

Flowers picked from the grounds

Wine tasting

 Just Around

Walkway in front of the hotel rooms

Shady hammock

Trumpet creeper is everywhere

A sitting room near the lobby

One of the three resort pools

Mile marker on the trail

The water sports dock

The library

Landscaping along the trail

A viewing area along the trail to the spa building

The Yoga Deck

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