On Sunday Night, we let Jack run around his room naked… primarly because he’s just getting over the worst diaper rash he’s ever had, and it felt like a good night to let him “air dry” if you know what I mean.
Josh and Elise gave Jack and little rocking chair when he was born, so, he climbed up on it, and we put together this quick movie:
On Friday night, Christine, Jack and I headed to happy hour with the old Freese & Nichols crew. It was good to see everyone again. We learned that Tejashri is leaving FN to go work for Allen Plumber, a competing engineering firm. Good for her! We’re wishing her the best of luck.
Jack had a good time hanging out with all of our friends. He didn’t fuss a bit, and the place we went (the Brentwood Tavern) had a nice sand pit outside, right in front of the live (and loud) music for the evening. Very family friendly.
Christine and Cyndi decided they wanted to help celebrate Erin’s birthday at the happy hour too, so Christine and I stoped by Cold Stone Creamery and picked up a delicious chocolate ice-cream cake on the way there. Mmmmmm… it was good! [photos here]
After the happy hour, we drove home, and got to bed quickly.
On Saturday, we went to Baby’s R Us (BRU) and bought Jack a new car-seat. He’d grown out of his little one, so we got him an Even-flo Deluxe thingamabobber type new one. Man, is that one cool car-seat. Heck, I’d like to have one just like it. Jack digs it too.
After BRU, we went to the mall so I could get my new contacts fitted. It took entirely too long for me to sit through multiple contact fitting sessions, and to leave with a headache and contacts that aren’t right. I’m heading back up there on Monday. Moral of the story: don’t go to a mall based eye doctor … especially not on a Saturday when the mall is pumping with people. Oh, but the Orange Julius’s we got were scrumpious (actually the place isn’t called Orange Julius, but that’s what I know those slushy stores at the mall as).
Then on Saturday night, Jack and I took some goofy pictures on the couch, before Jack too a bath. We then shot some fun photos of Jack in the tub, taking a bubble bath, and splashing in the water:
On Sunday morning, Jack and I got up at 6:00 in the morning. We played until about 7:30, and then we went for a walk around the block. After trying to eat breakfast, Jack went down for a nap around 8:50 (he’s usually only up for two hours in the morning, never three, so this morning was a long morning for a tired and weary dad!)
Christine got up around 10:00 and told me that we were going to church. So we raced around the house, showered and got dressed, then got Jack dressed before dashing to church. We left the house at 10:55 and got to church at 11:03 (or so). We sat in the main chapel until Rev. John started his sermon, then we went up into the cry room (Jack was starting to talk and hit the woman in front of us on the back during the beginning of the sermon – gotta teach that boy some manners someday). We ran into Murphy, Benjamin and Amanda in the cry room. Ben and Jack played together during the sermon and the closing hymns, and couldn’t have cared less… they were having lots of fun. We decided to head to Serrano’s for lunch together.
We saw Erin’s sister Kaulin and her husband and Dad on the way to Serrano’s… we don’t see them often enough.
I mowed the front yard in the evening, and tried to throw down some fertilizer, but the fertilizer I bought was a little too wet, so I set it in the garage and I’ll spread it out later this week after it drys a bit.
All in all, a nice relaxing weekend.
Last weekend, Aunt Murrell, Jon and Hanna Weakley (my family – from North Carolina) all visited Austin. It was part of Jon and Hanna’s first visit to Texas.
They got to Texas sometime the week before, and had been touring all over south and east Texas. I know they spent some time in Kima, Beaumont, Houston, and parts in between there and Austin. They got to Austin on August 11th, and Christine and Jack drove out to Debbie and Raymond’s lakehouse to meet them and welcome them to our hometown.
I was still in Detroit, so when I got home (at 1:30 in the morning on Friday 8/12) I went to bed, and planned on meeting them on the 12th.
Around noon or 1:00pm on 8/12, they all came to our house in central Austin, before we headed to lunch at Jason’s Deli. Jon and Hanna were really hungry (actually, they’d been eating lots of food all week, so that’s sort of an inside joke). Christine and Jack stayed at the house to take a nap.
After lunch, we headed over to the LBJ Library, and tootled around the exhibits. They’ve got a really nice view of downtown out the 10th floor windows there. And the Presidential Limo that’s on display there is pretty cool. I also didn’t make the connection that LBJ presided through a lot of crap this country had to go through: War, Civil Rights, a depression of sorts, and other stuff… I should learn more about our history sometime.
After the LBJ Library, we went to the Bob Bullock State History Museum. We walked the first floor of exhibits before heading up to watch the “Story of Texas” mini-movie. That was lots of fun. They all enjoyed it. If you haven’t seen it, I’d highly recommend it. We then walked a little of the second floor exhibits, trying to figure out what happened at Goliad. It was a massacre.
After we were “Bullock’d out” we walked down to the Capitol Building. I showed Jon how you can stand in the very middle of the bottom floor, right under the rotunda, and if you talk, you’ll hear your voice echoing, but no one else will hear the echo. Pretty neat stuff… especially since I remember that from my first visit (my Mom took Allen Hillboldt, Bradley Froebel and I there when we were like 10 or 11 – almost 20 years ago, ugh). We also walked into the House and Senate chambers… it’s neat to be so close to one of the great statehouses in the country. It’s too damned bad our legislature can’t actually get much done (like school finance reform).
Then we met up with Christine on “the drag” just to the west of the UT campus. We went into the Student Union building and got our tickets for our tour of the UT Clocktower. The Clocktower is fairly well known as the place where, “On Aug. 1, 1966, Charles Whitman, a student at the university, barricaded himself on the observation deck and began shooting passers-by with a rifle. At the time, the shooting was the nation’s worst mass killing. It lasted 93 minutes, ending with Mr. Whitman’s being killed by the police, but its after effects have spanned two generations.”
The tower was closed to the public in 1975, due to a rash of suicides, and was reopened in 1999, to guided tours. The tours are led by student workers, and they’re lots of fun to listen to.
The view from the top of the Tower is pretty cool. I’d recommend the sunset tour, if you ever plan on taking the tour. I’ve heard it’s pretty cool.
We also found Aunt Murrell’s dormitory from when she attended UT back in the 1930s. I think Austin’s grown a bit since then…
Afterwards, we headed to Trudy’s for dinner, but they were packed, so we drove over to Serrano’s on Red River. Great food, but we were all exhausted.
Evan, Shadel and Ella got to Austin while we were eating dinner, so Christine, Jack and I headed home to visit with them, while the rest of the gang (Murrell, Debbie, Jon and Hanna) headed to the lake.
On Saturday, the 13th, the girls (Shadel, Ella and Christine) went to the Mall around 10:00 a.m. The boys (Evan, Jack and I) stayed home and played, then watched a little TV. When Jack woke up from his morning nap, Evan and I took him out to the lakhouse (we got there around 12:30).
We all took a dip in the pool, and then ate lunch. Christine, Shadel and Ella showed up around 2:00 or so, and around 3:00, we all headed to the lake. We’d rented a jet-ski and a pontoon boat from Hurst Harbor Marina. I piloted the pontoon boat, while Evan and Shadel drove the jet ski out. We headed out of Marina Point to the west, and parked in a little bay cove just around Lakeway. It took us around 25 minutes to get to where we were going, so we really only had an hour on the lake.
Jack slept in Aunt Murrell’s arms, all the way there. Ella napped on her Grandma’s lap too.
After parking the boat, we all went swimming in the lake, while we took turns driving the jet-ski. First out was Evan and Shadel, then Evan and Hanna (Evan drove). Debbie went out with Evan next. Then Jon and I went out (we let Jon drive). It was Jon’s first time driving a jet-ski, and he did pretty good. Then he let me take over for a little bit. I was a bit rusty, and ended up throwing us both off the jet-ski in a high-speed (attempted) turn.
Then we let Hanna drive, with me on the back. Ha! That was sooo much fun. Hanna was pretty content with testing out the jet-ski first, and seeing what it could do, then she slowly started pushing it pretty hard after we did a few donuts and figure eights while waiting on the pontoon boat to catch up with us. That was the most fun I’ve had on a jet-ski in a while.
At the Lakeway Marina, I traded in Hanna for Christine, and I rode ont he back with Christine all the way back to Hurst Harbor. It was Christine’s second time to drive a jet-ski, and that was just as fun for me as riding with Hanna had been… Christine was pretty funny… she scared herself good a few times, and forgot to let off the gas because she was gripping the handles so tight.
Then, right before we got to the marina, she threw me off the jet-ski by goosing it good while I was showing off by not holding on to anything.
After we put up the boats, we all piled back into our cars and headed to the lake house. Aunt Murrel cooked a really good shrimp-boil and veggies for dinner. I told Jon that I’d bought him his very own domain: jonagon.com (Jon’s had a business since he was 4 or 5, if I remember correctly, called Jonagon. I thought he should own the domain); so look for more from Jon on his new website.
We celebrated my Mom’s 55th birthday after dinner. She got lots of fun cards, and some great gifts.
When it was good and late, we all said our good-byes and called it a weekend.
Christine got up on Sunday morning and drove Jon and Hanna to the airport. Jack and I stayed home and played… it’s so much fun having him all to myself every now and then ;).
Sadly, we forgot our camera at home during this weekend, so I don’t have any fun pictures to show you, but we all had a great time.
Today, Jack, Mommy and I had some fun after dinner but before Jack took his bath. We decided to see if Jack would push around his new walking mailbox toy (Christine bought the toy this past weekend, and so far, Jack was content playing with the mailbox part of it).
So, I propped him up behind it, and gave him a little push… and he started walking behind it… and liked it.
So Christine ran and grabbed the camera, and the result is this movie:
Cute huh?
Last week, Christine and I stopped in Bellville on Tuesday for dinner, after I drove to Houston to make a sales call. We at dinner at Galileo’s, which is a nice little Mexican place in town. We saw Mama Payton there and a few of her friends… and Cap and Maxine joined us for dinner with my mom, Evan and Shadel.
After dinner we went to Grandma’s house, and saw all of the improvements she’s made on the house… Looks great mom.
And then, my mom gave Christine and I a few photos of me when I was a kid. We also got a copy of a great photo of Evan and I as kids (don’t Evan’s eyes just look like the bluest eyes you’ve ever seen?)
So, we got some super fun photos of me as a kid and, then this week, Christine picked up photos of Jack at 7 months. Jack is growing so much… just this week he has been pulling up from a sitting position, starting to skirt around standing up while holding on to furniture, and saying “eeeee” when he sees the kitty cat (think “hi kitty” … that’s the “eeee” sound he makes).
Isn’t he just adorable?
So,
Do you think Jack looks like me, or Christine:
And, for bonus points… can anyone guess which Aunt of mine this is holding me as a baby:
Jack and I have had a great summer together. We’ve spent time in Lakeway with Debbie and Raymond and the rest of the family, we’ve taken swimming lessons and learned how to kick and splash in the water, we gone to many many weddings, we went to North Carolina to see Aunt Murrell, Grandma came to visit and helped us with inside stuff, and then Granddad came and helped us with outside stuff (the office). It has been super busy and super fun.
Then last week (July 12th thru 14th) we got to go to Bellville for a few days to visit Aunt Shadel, Uncle Evan, Cousin Ella and Grandma! We had a blast!!! Jack loves to play with Ella, and Ella loves to give Jack hugs and kisses. The two kids were so much fun to watch together!
While we were there we went out to Cap and Maxine Hillbolt’s ranch to go swimming in their pool. Jack and Ella had so much fun playing with Grandma in the water. We took some really great pictures of the two kids on the ranch. They even got to say hello to a group of cows that had come up close to the house for a snack. We “mooed” at them and they “mooed” back. On the drive out of the ranch I had to dodge a few cows in the road… honestly, I think that’s the closest I’ve ever been to cows! What a city girl I am! After Max and Cap’s we had Golden Pagoda for lunch… YUMMM!
That night Grandma came over and Shadel and I headed out for a night on the town. Bellville has a new restaurant on the square that looks like it is transplanted from the warehouse district in Austin. It is called The Fainting Goat. It is a great little place. They specialize in wine and mediterranean style food. We weren’t that hungry so we ordered a fruit and cheese plate, a hummus plate, and a bottle of wine. The food was very good, the wine was delicious, and the atmosphere was awesome. The couple that owns it transplanted to Bellville from Manhattan. That’s got to be culture shock! On Friday and Saturday nights they have live music and bring in bands from Austin, Houston, and even New York! Out waitress actually commutes to work there from Austin! Its really a cool place. If you’re ever in Bellville you should try it.
After The Fainting Goat, we went to another small bar that’s new to town, but it was so empty that they closed it early. Then we headed to the other side of town and visited the Blue Moon Saloon. That’s where we found the party. There were a few of Shadel’s friends there with a group of guys and gals. We hung out for a little while and then headed home around 11:30. It was great to get out… Thanks Grandma!
The next day Grandma took us out for breakfast at Newman’s Bakery which was yummy. Jack got to eat grits for the first time which he loved. After breakfast we played at Grandma’s house for a little while (and took pictures of course) until the kids were ready for naps. Grandma has spent the last year fixing up her house and it looks amazing folks! You can tell by the pictures we took of the kids playing in the “TV Room”. We’re looking forward to more play dates at Grandma’s house.
After naps, I packed up all our stuff, we had lunch, and then Shadel and I took the kids to Walmart in Brenham to get some of the pictures of our visit printed. Jack and I left from Brenham and drove home. About 40 miles from Austin we ran into a horrible thunderstorm, but I took it slow and Jack slept through the whole thing so we made it home just fine.
We had a great time in Bellville. Thank you Shadel, Evan and Grandma!
See the rest of the photos from our trip to Bellville here.
This year, we all took it easy for July 4th.
Christine headed out to the lakehouse to see Peggy before she drove home, while Frank and I worked until around 5:00 p.m. (we were hanging the last of the ceiling sheetrock).
When Frank and I finally arrived at the lake house, Jack and Christine were in the pool with Uncle Raymond. Raymond was playing with Jack in the pool… having lots of fun.
We ate dinner and drove home, watching some fireworks out the windows of the car as we hit I-35 in Austin… we went to bed early… it had been a long but fun day.
Just a quick update to tell you all that Jack is feeding himself pretty well now.
Jack loves to eat his little Gerber vegie and fruit puffs, which are puffed wheat flavored with sweet potato, or strawberry-apple flavors.
When I’m testing him to see if he’s hungry, or putting him in his high-chair while we fix his bottle or get his real food, we give him about 6 of those little puffs. He immediately shoves the first puff in his mouth (after a few tries at picking them up). Still no teeth, but Jack is feeding himself pretty well now.
Jack turned seven months old on Thursday, June 23rd. His getting to be such a little man folks.
Jack also graduated from his swimming class on Thursday, earning his first certificate ever. Jack is now a certified Starfish according to the city of Austin.
I went to Starfish class with Christine and took a lot of photos of Jack swimmming in the pool with his Mommy.
In some of those photos, you can see Jack standing up, holding on to the side of the pool. You cal also tell he still doesn’t like to be on his back in the pool. You can also catch a few glimpses of him sticking his tongue out “Air Jordan Style”, which is a new thing he’s started doing lately. In this shot, you can’t tell, but he’s super excited and jumping up and down.
Jack’s Grandma came to visit him this week. She drove up from Bellville on Tuesday, and stayed with us until Thursday, and man was it nice to have her come visit, especially because Jack’s Daddy was out of town Monday through Wednesday night…
We were able to catch up on some much needed house work, as well as just enjoy each other’s company. Grandma brought Jack a sprinkler water toy that looks like too much fun… and she played in the pool with us.
Jack really enjoyed laughing and playing with Grandma this week.
This past weekend was awesome. It was the best weekend it could be, especially for a first Father’s Day.
Evan and Ella came to visit us in Austin while Shadel visited some friends in Galveston for a bachelorette party.
Evan and Ella arrived around 11:30 on Saturday morning, and we all loaded up and drove out to the lake house. Greg and Cheri’s family were still visiting, and they’d invited us out to swim with them. We figured why the hell not? What else do you do with two babies all weekend, right? It’s not like you can take them a movie or a museum to keep them busy, can you? That, and spending time with Cheri and Greg and the kids and in-laws and grandparents is always fun… the pool was a bonus.
Cheri had lots of fixin’s for lunch ready for us when we got there, so we ate lunch and the jumped in the pool. I got sunburned (stupid me forgot to put on sunscreen again). Ella and Jack loved the pool. Just loved it. Matthew, Paige and Patrick loved having Jack and Ella around to play with, and I’m sure the feeling was mutual.
Jack did a little kick-boarding with a little help from Daddy. Ella danced on the pool patio to the tunes of Pat Green. Patrick showed us how good he was at pushing off of me to swim across the pool. Cool dude Mathew watered his mommy with a watering pail. Paige and Patrick learned a new trick with the floats (they’d jump off the side of the pool onto one of the floats to skim across the pool). All in all, we had a great time at the pool, hanging out with family.
When we got home from swimming, we fed Jack and Ella at the table, then gave them a bath in the big tub together… too much fun!
Evan and I headed up to Home Depot (with Ella) and bought some supplies for the little building going in out back. (Ugh… didn’t realize wires were that expensive). Christine headed to Babies-R-Us with Jack and bought a high-chair and a big baby gate for the entrance to the dining room, and some outlet covers (before, after).
Saturday evening, I cooked T-bone steaks for Evan. They were pretty good steaks, though I cooked them just a tad too long, or rather over a tad too hot fire… “But, John, charred edges on a steak are the only way to eat them!” you’re saying? I hear ya, but I couldn’t done a little better job. Ella told us that the peas and carrots were good (she ate half of both of the peas and carrots off our plates).
We watched Last of the Mohicans on Saturday night, then started to watch Troy, but Evan couldn’t hang, so we went to bed.
Sunday, we unpacked the stuff from Home Depot after playing with the kids for a little while… then Evan and Ella left to get home for Father’s Day activities with Shadel.
Jack and I hung out together (after a much needed nap) and talked Father/Son stuff. I gave Jack some advice about life, which he took pretty well. Christine went to HEB to buy some stuff to make dinner with.
When Christine got home, we opened presents. Jack got me two cool shirts that I’ll wear a lot this summer I’m sure. Christine bought me a good DVD. Then I put Jack to sleep (he fell asleep in my arms he was so tired after reading his book for the night which was too cool … he hasn’t fallen asleep in my arms in a good 4-5 months).
Then Christine made us dinner. She made Crawfish Etoufee from a recipe, and it was goood! Ummm!
Best Father’s Day Weekend I’ve ever had. Glad I got to spend it with my brother and niece too.
It’s officially summer again, and you know what that means folks: Time to hit the river! Woohoo!
If you need an excuse to hit the river, Dub’s wedding is a good one… we’re all going to be on the river on July 16th… call us if you need the details.
*photo courtesy of Josh Janicek
I got this voicemail from Christine today… it’s too cute, so I had to share it with all of you (click the link to hear an MP3 of the voicemail Christine left me):
Woohoo! The boy figured out how to work his arms and legs together!!!
(If you have a kid, you know how big of a deal this is… if you don’t, you will understand someday)
I’m so proud of the little guy. It seems like just this week that he learned to push himself up into a sitting position, and now he’s figured out how to pull himself up into a standing position? Damn they learn things fast.
It seems like Jack learns at least one new thing a week (at least) and I’m lucky if I learn one useful thing a month…
The last couple of weeks have been just crazy for Christine and I (and Jack).
Let’s see… last Thursday, Christine, Jack and I went out to Debbie and Raymond’s lake house to go swimming. Boy, oh boy, did we have fun! Debbie and Raymond had brought Paige and Patrick (Cheri and Greg’s two oldest) with them to the lake (Paige is 7, Patrick is 5) and we all went swimming in the afternoon together… lots of fun. Cheri and Greg showed up with Matthew (2 years old) on Friday, and we happened to head back out to the lakehouse to see them, and to swim some more.
Then we helped Josh build his deck (it’s almost finished by the way) and went to the Schuster wedding this past weekend.
Then, this week, Jack started taking swimming lessons from the City of Austin, thanks to their summer aquatic programs. Jack is in the Starfish class with 8 other kids, and he’s the youngest one there, and he’s learning a lot about swimming. (Kudos to Christine for getting our kid trained on how to swim as early as she can.) They swim for 30 minutes a day, Monday – Thursday for 2 weeks.
Jack has learned how to enjoy the water (that first dip in the pool out at Debbie’s was a little scary for him) and is learning to kick while his mommy drags him through the water on his belly. At first he didn’t like being on his back in the water, but he’s learning to relax and enjoy it … slowly, but not bad for 6 months old.
Then on Wednesday of this week, Greg’s brother Scott, his wife Sara, and their 3 year old son Luke met Greg and Cheri at the lakehouse. Christine had taken Jack out there earlier in the day to swim and hang out, so I went out after work to have dinner and swim a bit as well.
Today (Friday), Christine and I went up to the neighborhood pool at Patterson Park to swim a little, as a fun way to cap off the week:
Here are some more photos of Jack and Christine in the neighborhood pool.
Tomorrow, Evan and Ella are driving up from Bellville, and we’re heading out to the lakehouse again, to spend some time swimming with Cheri, Greg and the kids.
It’s gonna be a fun summer, and hopefully we all come away from it with a good tan!
Mauricio Zuazua is one of our closest friends from Christine’s days at Freese and Nichols in Fort Worth. I don’t know why, but the man just amazes me.
Maybe it’s the way he always wears the right clothes for the occasion, or perhaps it’s how he always knows the perfect thing to say at the perfect time for the perfect reasons. Maybe it’s because he’s so skilled with the ladies. Maybe it’s because he possesses the class of the old world while still being a modern man.
I can’t pin it down exactly, but I always feel priviledged to talk to Mr. Zuazua, and am downright awed when in his presence.
So, it was a very happy coincidence that he was in Fort Worth the weekend that we were in Dallas for Angela’s wedding. We met up with Mauricio and his girlfriend of a few years now at Mi Cocina for brunch on Sunday the 5th, to try to catch up with each other.
We had a lot of fun, and I could tell Jack was just as impressed with being in Mauricio’s presence as I am… that, or the little guy had some serious gas…
It was really good to see Mauricio again. He’s done with graduate school now, and is looking to travel to Brazil for a few weeks on a consulting gig before moving back to the D.C. area to get a real job again. Hopefully we’ll get to visit him in D.C. someday when he gets settled.
