Camping at Peninsula State Park

We returned to Peninsula State Park to camp this weekend. We were the only family in the park without bikes. We all sorely missed our two wheelers and are hatching a plan to get a hitch and bike rack for the next camping trip. There was a beach area where the kids would "only get their feet wet" and were wet, sandy messes within a few minutes. We fished of a pier for a little while. I was a nervous wreck afraid that someone would fall off! No mishaps, but Rylie caught a little fishie! She was so proud! We love our tent and adding to our equipment each time we go. Not having grown up camping, Brian does his best to make sure each experience is really good so that I'll want to go again!

One of the highlights for all of us was after dark when Brian took us on a night walk down to the water's edge to look at the stars. We were all amazed at how many visible stars there were. Everyone got to see the Milky Way (try explaining that concept to almost-5 year olds!), constellations and millions of stars. As we lay on picnic tables hoping to see shooting stars, the clouds rolled in signaling time to go back to the campsite.

Tagged by Kellie and Sarah L.

Well, since I was tagged twice this week, I'll play your little game and answer the questions. Maybe later I'll find and scan pictures like Kellie did!

Ten Years Ago...
Aug 1998
We lived in College Station and Tyler was 4 months old. We walked to parks and friends' houses to pass the time until Brian got home from work at Neodyme. Most every afternoon, we found ourselves at Adriana Grande's apartment until our welcome was worn out, then we walked home! Brian and I had bought Nikon SLR cameras and in the evenings when Tyler was in bed, we would practice phography on our cats, Marty and Skyler.

Five Years Ago...
Aug 2003
I was 33-34 weeks pregnant with Claire and Rylie. I had stopped taking wedding photos at 25 weeks because I was just too big (my belly got to the legs of the tripod before my eyes could get to the camera). Tyler was in Kindergarten at McDermott Elementary in San Antonio and Brian was a 3rd year medical student. Deanna Herald brought us weekly meals as I spent most of the time beached on the couch.

Five Months Ago...
April 2003
Beautiful spring in Wisconsin and the girls were learning how to ride their bikes and I was hatching my plans for returning to the pharmacy field.

Five Things on Tomorrows 'To Do' List...
1. Buy a jump drive
2. Take Tyler to the orthodontist
3. Babysit for a friend
4. Take the girls to school
5. Go to Kinkos for some printing for a wedding I'm photographing this weekend

Five Things People Don't Know About Me...
1. As a little girl, I lived in the country and had 2 horses that I named Sunny and Happy
2. I've never broken a bone nor had a cavity
3. I took the SAT in 7th grade as part of some study thing
4. I was a neat freak and a sugar-phobe as a kid (too scared of cavities)
5. I worked out at Gold's Gym for about 2 years during junior college (hey, Laura Easterling!). I never built any muscle, though!

Five Bad Habits...
1. I pop my gum
2. Addicted to Glenn Beck (pod cast his radio show and DVR the tv show)
3. I do a rolling stop through most stop signs
4. I stay up waaaay too late (that will have to end next week)
5. I scoop peanut butter from the jar with a spoon, then dip it into chocolate chips!

Five Places I've Lived...
1. Garland, TX
2. Tyler, TX
3. College Station, TX
4. Sweden
5. San Antonio, TX

Tag 5 People...
1. Maria Zhohar
2. Julianne Baer
3. Jamie Mutz
4. Stephanie Bradshaw
5. Dayna Bird

Retin-A

Distressed with how my skin had responded to our 3 years in Wisconsin, I visited a cosmetic dermatologist today. She told me something very interesting that I thought many of you would like to know about. She said that any woman over 30 should use Retin-A daily as you would a vitamin. Hmm! Sign me up! She told me that "at my age" (why do I keep hearing that phrase from doctors?), that they would have to fight with the insurance company to pay for it, as they will assume it is for anti-aging. But since I do have some "active papules" (that something no one wants to hear) and clogged pores, she felt very comfortable saying that it was for acne.

So, here is the regimen she recommended:
AM-wash with Cetaphil or Dove, Retin-A, moisturizer with SPF 15+
PM-wash with Cetaphil or Dove, glycolic acid gel 2x week (couldn't find this at Target, so I'll go back and buy it from the aesthetician in her office)

That's it. I will probably move the Retin-A to PM, because I will feel like I have to put something on my face after I wash it! The glycolic acid stings, and it is what exfoliates to make the skin surface more dewy and youthful. Whatever it takes!

Twilight Crazy

Okay, so I've been gone for about a week and a half reading the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. I'd heard about these in passing, and when our babysitter, Kelli came over a couple of weeks ago with the first one under her arm, I was excited. She let me borrow it and the remaining 3! (Number 4 came out last week and Kelli finished with hers just in time for me to read it!) While reading them, I found out that I'm about the last person on the planet to do so, there is a major cult following and the first movie is coming out in November! Talk about immedate gratification!

Tyler in Big Sandy

Thanks, Daddy, for sending these pictures of Tyler at your place in the country while he was in Texas. Daddy called me while Tyler was making laps like Mario Andretti around his property. He is sure Tyler has a future in Nascar. He also let Tyler shoot cans with a 22 caliber rifle and they went fishing in the tank. It was pretty much a boy's paradise at Daddy's place! Aunt Karla was impressed how great Tyler was with cousin Karee. Did she forget how much experience he has with 4 year old sisters?

Titan Universe

Just a plug for Tyler's blog, Titan Universe. You can find a link for it to the left. If those of you whom he knows left him a comment, he would feel pretty cool.

Happy Birthday to ME!

What a great day! Thanks to the many for your calls and wishes. I especially loved talking to Ingrid! It's been too long! We'll talk soon, on August 22, perhaps?!

Claire and Rylie started back to school today. They go to a year round school, thus the strange start date. While they were there, I went to the optometrist for new contacts. Out with the hard and in with the soft. And I'm seeing at 20/15! They've really improved the toric technology. And no eye rabies today! (Eye rabies is what Brian calls it when I get something in my eye, am in pain, eye is watering, and I can't function until the offending particle or contact is removed.) Let's see how they perform at work tomorrow in front of the hood that blows air toward my face. Then I went to the DMV to renew my license. That was fun.

The girls and I made cupcakes, because that's what Rylie said I wanted. And I wanted them decorated with sprinkles. Oh, right. And I had to have a pinata. Who doesn't. So I bought the candy yesterday, and the girls decorated a paper bag today which we used to hold the candy and hand in the tree. Viola. Pinata. Birthday miracle...in that paper bag, which I dug out of my giftwrap box, I found a necklace I lost many years ago!

So, after dinner, I put in my own candles, lit them, and instructed everyone it was time to sing now. Am I really the only one here who knows how to run a birthday party?! Tyler was the photographer for the blessed event. I had fun opening my cards and generally trying to get as much attention as possible. The girls were disappointed that here were no presents and needed reassuring that they wouldn't just get cards and that there would be friends and not just family for their party! Tyler, Brian and I just laughed!

No trip to Texas is complete without...

If you don't know what Freebirds is, look in the archives for March 2007 at the essay Tyler wrote for school about this favorite eating place. It will make you want to buy a plane ticket to Texas just to get one! I think he ate here twice while visiting.

Renaissance Faire

Brian and I have many great memories of Renaissance Festival in Texas. When we discovered they had one near us, we had to go. In this slideshow, you'll see Claire and Tyler trying on knight gear, a spider lady, Sir Andrew of Scotland vowing to fight for my honor at the joust, Tyler eating a turkey leg, Rylie at a tea with a princess to learn how to be a real princess (and then she was named Princess Rylie of the Dragonflies!) and much more!

Second Half of Tyler's Tour of Texas

Tyler is going to tell us about these pictures...take it away, Tyler!

1.The longhorns at NASA and as my Grandma called them "Spacecows"

2.Me pointing to a crab at the Gulf of Mexico in Galveston.
3.Me doing a rope course at Johnson Space Center.

4.Me exiting out of a space simulator.

5.Grandpa and me taking a picture with the stormtroopers.

6.Grandma and me at the Gulf of Mexico.

7.The Saturn 5 rocket comparred to me.

8. Me in fromt of the Jedi Starfighter in the episode 2 version (acually used in filming).

So, there you have it. I would love to see and post pictures from his North Texas stay. Please email them to me (not too large) and I'll post them here!