More Texas Summer Fun

July 2013

Living in Texas in the middle of the summer when the high is 110, you really don't want to spend too much time outside, unless you are near some kind of body of water. Just like in the Northeast in the middle of the winter, all indoor play areas become incredibly popular. One Saturday afternoon, we decided to head to the Legoland Discovery Center in Grapevine. I had wanted to go there for quite a while, and I'm not sure if it is because it was so crowded, but I was a little disappointed. They had a couple of fun rides, a few play areas, and a couple of places to play with legos, but lines were really long and I just felt like I was fighting my way through crowds of people the whole time.

Despite the crowds, I think Jack had fun. He and Tommy built a lego car and raced it down a steep track:

Livi was a little too young to participate in many of the activities. They did have a big pit of giant lego blocks that she enjoyed playing in, and a play area that she enjoyed, but after that, she was ready to rest:

 

Jack had never really been on any rides before, so they had a couple of rides that were fun for him. On the first one, the Kingdom Quest Laser Ride, we all rode in a motorized car and shot at bad guys with a laser gun. He wasn't sure he wanted to get on at first, but was ready to ride again by the end. The second ride was the Merlin's Apprentice ride. I went on this one with him - we sat in a little car that went around in a circle. Each of us had pedals that made our car go up and down while we pedaled. Jack's feet didn't reach the pedals, so Mommy got quite the workout on this ride!

 

As I'm writing this, it actually sounds like a pretty cool place, better than I remember. Maybe we'll try it out again when there are a few less people...

Like I said, the other thing to do in Texas in the summer is hang out by the pool. Nana and Papa's neighborhood has a really nice pool and we met them there a few times over the summer, usually joined by Aunt Brandi, Uncle Ryan, and the cousins. You can really see the family resemblence between Brandi and Tommy in this picture:

Jack had fun playing with Lincoln's water gun:

While Lincoln and his Daddy had some crazy fun:

The little ones had fun, too. I love how strong the family resemblance is in this photo too - Brandi and Charlie with Nana and Livi:

Nana also got to spend some one-on-one time with her granddaughter:

Livi got some splash time with Mommy, too :

 You can't beat summertime family fun!

Summertime Fun!

July 2013

 

Summertime is HOT in Texas, but the Mhire family found some ways to beat the summer heat.  After over 11 years and 170 thousand miles, Tommy decided it was time to let go of his beloved BMW last December, but only to upgrade to the latest model.  After he bought the new car, he joined the local BMW club and started participating in their Autocross races.  I wasn't really familiar with Autocross, but they set up cones in a large open lot, individually race around the cones as fast as possible and try to beat other racers' times.  He loved it so much, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, and join him in doing something he enjoyed, so I accompanied him out to a race one Saturday while Nana and Papa watched the kids.  Yes, I actually raced!  Everyone was a little nervous after my first drive around the cones at a less than speedy rate.  Thanks to Tommy's advice and the help of another racer who joined me in the car to teach, I rapidly improved.  By the end of the tenth run, I most definitely earned the title of most improved racer for the day!  Here I am before starting my first race: 

And here's Tommy.  Of course, he won the novice class for the day, and would go on to win the class for the whole season.  Way to go!

Here are a couple of pictures to give you an idea of what its like.  Here are a few cars lined up at the starting line:

And Tommy's car on the course:

He even took a video of me on one of my turns around the course:

While I don't think Autocross is my passion, it was really fun to be able to spend the day with Tommy and experience something that he loves so much.

On July 9th, I turned 35 years old.  Yikes!  No longer in my "early thirties," I guess.  My wonderful husband with a chocolate allergy made me the most chocolatey cake I've ever seen - Chococate cake, chocolate icing topped with chocolate chips!  Even though he couldn't taste it as he was making it, the cake was delicious and enjoyed tremendously by the other three members of the Mhire family!

As you might imagine, we spent plenty of time at the neighborhood pool.  Jack liked to jump off the side of the pool and swim to Mommy or Daddy about 15 feet away.

He also learned to swim with his head under water and come up for breath.  Fortunately, Mommy's new camera also knew how to go underwater:

Olivia wasn't a very big fan of the float.  We got these photos right after we put her in it, and I'm sure in another minute, she was ready to be out:

 

 She much preferred to be held by Mommy or Daddy and kick around in the water:

 

Or her very favorite, stand up on the shallow ledge and run as fast as she could until the shelf ended and the water got deeper - with Mommy or Daddy there to catch her, of course:

Back home in the wagon after a fun day!

And the Rockets Red Glare...

July 2013

 

We had a great family day on the 4th of July this year.  I got cute Mickey and Minnie shirts for the kids.  We took probably 50 photos of them sitting in this chair, trying to get a good one. This was the best we got:

I can't believe how much they've changed in just a year:

We made some fun 4th of July cookies - sugar cookies topped with buttercream frosting, colored sugar and Pop Rocks, so they pop and crackle in your mouth like fireworks. Strange sensation, but pretty tasty:

In the late afternoon, we headed to Frisco Square for the Frisco Freedom Fest.  They had bands, kids games and tons of food from the local restaurants.  We had pizza and pad thai - the pad thai was from my favorite local Thai restuarant that had a booth at the festival.  Yum! After that, we found a prime firework watching location and unrolled our blanket.  Jack enjoyed a snow cone while we waited for it to get dark.  He doesn't look like he's enjoying it too much here, but I think it was just cold:

I actually remembered to have someone take a family picture of us, and it turned out pretty well:

There were several families sitting around us with kids near Jack's age, so they had tons of fun running around like crazies.  We bought Jack a glow-in-the-dark sword and he thought he was super cool!  I think it is in his hand in this picture, even though we can't see it:

Of course, little Miss Livi had fun, too!

 

I didn't take any pictures of the fireworks, but I never think photos do them justice anyway.  We had a great view of them as they exploded over the soccer stadium.  Thankfully, neither of the kids seemed to mind the noise of the fireworks.  Hopefully, we can make this a family tradition.  I don't know what it is about watching fireworks on the 4th of July, but it always makes me almost giddy to watch them, especially if there is some nice patriotic music in the background.  For a few minutes each year, I have my thoughts to myself to consider just how lucky I am to have the life I've had and look forward to everything that lies ahead.  Happy 4th of July!!

Celebrating Charlie

June 2013

 

Charlie had been part of the McCarthy family for about a month when Brandi's friends threw a "Sip 'n See for her friends to gather, meet the little guy, and celebrate his arrival.  Everyone brought a package of diapers and gathered for a lovely brunch.  We had muffins, petit fours, make-your-own yogurt parfaits, quiche and mimosas.  Yum!

 

Here I am with the guests of honor:

I got to hold my little nephew for quite a while - he even took a little nap while I held him.  So sweet! 

 Of course, Nana was there for the fun, too:

Afterwards, Kathryn and I took a fun shopping trip to Charming Charlie's to pick out a birthday present for me.  I chose a necklace, navy striped dress and turquoise necklace.  Such a fun day!

In Between the Big Things...

June 2013

 

So I'm taking a little bit of a break from blogging about what we've done, just to focus on the kiddos.  I don't want to take so much time writing about what we do that I forget the little everyday things. 

 

Olivia

At 13 months, Miss Olivia's personality is really starting to shine.  She absolutely loves books and won't let Mommy or Daddy put her to bed without one.  Her current favorites are Goodnight Moon (she especially loves pointing out the bunny in the bed), any Sandra Boynton book (Moo, Baa, La, La, La and Red Hat, Green Hat are particular favorites), and Olivia and the Puppy Wedding (starring Olivia the Pig).  

 

She is much more of a Mama's girl than Jack ever was, but she especially loves her big brother, who adores her as well.  She loves to eat - spaghetti, teddy grahams and blueberries are a few of her favorites, along with anything anyone else is eating at the moment.  She's starting to talk more often and will try to say anything that begins with a B - favorites being book and baba (her bottle/sippy cup).  Probably because of my efforts to make sure she said Mama before Dada, she now says Mama and points at herself, copying, I imagine, the many times I would point at myself and say the same thing.  Ha!

 

Like her brother, she seems to have picked up her Daddy's love of music and dancing.  I really hope this sticks with them as they grow up - I always wanted to be able to dance without feeling like a fish out of water!

 

She's been pretty healthy so far, other than a double case of the hand, foot and mouth virus (which you are only supposed to get once), and a moderate case of excema that caused her cheeks to turn bright red and scaly.  Fortunately, Dr. Le prescribed a gel for her face that makes the redness and dryness go away within just a few hours.  This winter, when the cold weather came back, so did her excema, so I was so glad to have something that helps so much.

 

Jack 

My happy, goofy, bright little boy.  He still loves Spiderman and superheroes, but his focus is definitely starting to shift to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  He also loves Bubble Guppies and Monsters, Inc.  He can type in the password to unlock the iPad, find Netflix and select the show of his choice.  When Grandma and Grandpa were in town in June, Grandpa and Mommy took Jack to his third theater movie ever - Monsters University.  Grandpa even bought him popcorn and he had a big time!

While he loves his movies and shows, he also loves to be active.  We signed him up for Touchdown Tots at school, where he learned the basics of football, teamwork, and athletics in general.  Football wouldn't be my first pick as a sport for him, but this program was really more of an exercise and teamwork class, which he loved.  I must admit I'm really hoping he decides he likes soccer or baseball better!  He also took his third set of swim lessons at Emler over the summer.  I took lots of cute pictures of him at his last lesson - one with him holding his ribbon and a video of his last swim, all lost in the phone wipe-out :(.  These lessons focused on starting to teach him how to take breaths while swimming.  By the time the lessons ended, he could swim 15-20 feet by himself taking a breath in between and loved to slide down the big slide at the end of lessons!

 

He has also really taken a liking to coloring and gotten suprisingly good at coloring within the lines. I love the focus on his face when he gets out his big box of markers and sits down at his little table with his coloring books - Spiderman, Bubble Guppies and Ninja Turtles, of course.  But you know, a 3 1/2 year-old boy can't always color in the lines.  I picked him up from school one day and found this:

Luckily, the markers were washable!!

 

I'll close with a few pictuers of Jack and Olivia together.  It is really fun to see them start playing together, even if it does sometimes end up like this:

 

They were both having a ball, I promise!

 

Finally, my little Longhorns.  I don't know if they will grow up sharing their parents love for the University of Texas, but for now, I can teach them to sing them the Eyes of Texas and Hook 'Em Horns and they wear their burnt Orange with pride!

 

9 Amazing Years

June 2013

A lot can change in nine years.  Nine years ago, we were living in Houston, in the apartment in which Tommy proposed to me the day before we moved in.  Jack and Olivia were distant glimmers in our future, so was Albert, and even Max wouldn't even join our family for another couple of months.  In the time that has followed, we've become quite the team.  We support each other in the big decisions; our moves to Dallas for Tommy's job, to Connecticut for mine, and several other jobs before, after and in between.  We support each other in so many little ways that make our lives work every day; from who picks up the kids and takes them to school, stays home with a sick one, does the laundry (me), or cooks dinner (Tommy).  As I re-read this, it sounds a little silly, but it makes all the difference in the world.  It really is amazing to know that from the huge decisions down to the most mundane, through the tough times and the joyous ones, I'll have someone by my side to support me, laugh with me and of course, to love.  I can't wait to see what life has in store for us in the next 9 years and far, far beyond!

So I had great plans for our anniversary weekend.  I'd researched restaurants and found a new, much-accoladed restaurant in the heart of the trendy Design District in Dallas.  Nana and Papa had even agreed to babysit.  I booked the reservation weeks in advance and was really looking forward to it - until I happened to look at the reservation a few days before the big date, and realized that I made the reservation for the wrong week.  Yikes!  Fortunately, it just happened that my parents were going to be in town the following weekend, so we got to celebrate twice!

The night we were originally supposed to celebrate, we revised our plans and started with a few car test drives.  We had decided that I needed a new car, and that day marked the beginning of our search.  Stay tuned to find out what we picked...many months later.  We followed car shopping with some golf at Top Golf and then the new Superman movie.  Not quite the super-fancy dinner I had planned, but we had a great night!

The next weekend, we finally got to dress up in our fancy clothes and head to our dinner date at FT 33.  We clean up pretty well, I think (and it looks like I got a (much needed) haircut sometime that week!)

Someone else wanted his picture taken before we left, too:

While we were at the restaurant, I took lots of photos of our delicious food and drinks - it really was wonderful - and of us as we dined.  Unfortunately, they were also lost in the Great Three Year Old Phone Wipeout.  Oh well.  I really don't remember the details of our menu that night, except that we started with the charcuterie board and everything we ate was amazing.  I'll close with a photo of the sign outside the restaurant that I stole from someone else's photos.  I took a similar one, I promise:

Happy anniversary, Tommy.  I love you!!