Seattle

On the way home from Hawaii, we got to spend some time in Seattle. We took a redeye from Oahu and got into Seattle at 6 a.m. We rented a car and went to Pike Market for breakfast and then drove to our favorite Seattle overlook to get a picture of the city. It was so clear that day we even got pictures of Mt. Rainier. The world's first Starbucks.
See Mt. Rainier to the right of the city???

Hawaii Part III

It was such a cool trip. We hiked a ton. One day, we did an 8 mile hike on the Na Pali coast to a waterfall (both pictured above). We kayaked into the ocean. We spent one day on Oahu visiting friends who made this guava cake for Dain. On the way home, our flight was delayed so we ended up spending half a day in Seattle. I'll do a separate Seattle post.

Hawaii Part II

Some random pix. This first one is the sunrise from our lanai.

Overlook to Na Pali from the Waimea Canyon. We actually hiked a couple of miles around the rim to the top of a cliff. Pretty cool.

Top of Waimea Canyon

Hanalei Taro fields

Aloha Birthday -- Part I

April 13 was Dain's birthday and we decided to celebrate it in Hawaii. He thinks he was meant to be born in a Polynesian family and ended up on the wrong continent. ha ha ha. We've been to Hawaii many times and this was our third trip to Kauai. We explored and explored and did some things we love there and found new places to enjoy.
On the lanai after a long flight ...

Land! I see land! Honolulu where we transferred to Lihue

Long flights have this effect on Dain.

Blue Bonnets

Our yearly pilgrimage to see the blue bonnets ...

Alyssa

Alyssa was asked to sit for pictures to be published in some Aggie publication. Isn't she beautiful?? As the mom, I'm biased and I think she looks very pretty!


Here she is with "the Erin", as we call her at home. Erin and Alyssa have been good friends since about 6th grade!

My mini trip to Utah

I decided on a quick trip to Utah to visit my office and to attend a family party. I got there Thursday so I went straight to the slopes! They got 12 inches of new snow the night before so I wanted to ski some fresh powder. I took this picture of myself on the lift.

I was happy to have Alyssa come down from Logan to spend time with me. It was fun to see her! Some mommy-daughter time.

This is my sister Lee (now she wants me to call her by her real name, Lina). It's hard to change after all these years!!! We had crazy time together. She and I met Thursday night for sushi. We also invited my best friend, D'Ann, and our former sister in law Mary. Lee and Mary both have March birthdays so this was a little celebration.

Friday night was the party! There was a ton of food and karaoke. My dad LOVES to sing (and has a beautiful voice too) so he spent quite a while singing Elvis (his hero) songs. I ate and ate and ate. So good. It was great to see family and friends, some of whom I hadn't seen in years.

My family. One of my brothers didn't make it (he lives in Calif).

Fighter Pilot for a Day

Dain gave me a gift certified to do dog fights and aerobatics and be a fighter pilot for a day. So I turned around and bought a certificate for him and took him along. We flew this past Saturday. It was SO cool! We pulled major G's as we looped and did wing overs and fought each other in the skies over Galveston Bay. We have a video but we need to transfer formats. So here are some pictures. Of all things we did, the hardest was flying formation! We each got to sit left seat and actually fly the plane. It was intimidating at first but once we got into it, I forgot myself and enjoyed the moment. My first attempt pulled 2 G's and worked my way up to 5 G's. Dain got closer to 6 G's. Wicked!

Spring Break

We've had a leisurely Spring Break this year. Rodeo gave us much to do. We went to concerts, made cookies, celebrated Emi's birthday (see previous post), visited my cousin Mike and his new baby Will, went shopping, ate out, just had a great time!
Rascal Flatts was actually the previous week.

HMMMM, this is my eye candy. Dain likes Nicole so we're even. :-)

Happy Birthday EMI!!!!

Emi is 14 today ... on St. Patrick's day. I call her my "green baby". 14!!!!! Oh, where does time go? She was a premie, 2 months early. Weighed 3 lbs 11 oz, 18" long. She was beautiful then and even more beautiful now.

Here she is with her friend Paige. I'm taking these two to see Keith Urban tonight!

With me, on Sunday, baking cookies.

She was SO excited to meet Jewel last year ...

Dain's Commercial Pilot Test

Dain passed his written commercial pilot's test!!!! Hooray!!!

Yummy loquats

When we moved to Texas, the first thing I did was plant a loquat tree. I grew up eating loquats in Argentina and I LOVE THEM. Yum, yum. When my brother moved to California, I got him to ship a few to me in Utah but they don't ship well. My tree bears yummy fruits. I tend to be impatient and pick them a bit green but this week, I finally reaped good fruit. They are sweet, juicy, delicious. I'm so happy!

Rodeo Cook Off - LeeAnn Womack

Dain's company puts on a big show for Cook Off. Rodeo is HUGE in Houston and it goes on for several weeks. Cook Off happens right before Rodeo starts. Cox Radio has a huge tent during Cook Off where they host clients and have a dinner/party every night. The first night of Cook Off, our entertainment was LeeAnn Womack! We had a private concert. She was actually sick that day so she did a limited appearance--I think she sang maybe 8 songs? Still, it was cool to be in a small group of people, eating dinner, and listening to LeeAnn (did I spell it right?).

Ronald McDonald House

I went with a women's association group to the Ronald McDonald House to serve lunch. We do this yearly. It's such a cool place .... I made chicken and funeral potatoes. They couldn't get enough of the potatoes! So funny .. lol There, I called them sour cream potatoes because it seemed more appropriate.

Shelley's Baby Shower--I'm such a DORK!

My cousin Mike and his wife Shelley are having their first baby!!! They live in Richmond and last Friday, I was invited to Shelley's shower. Here's a picture of shelley opening the gifts we got her:

And one of Shelley and me:

Now here's my mess up: I was bringing part of the food and somehow, who knows HOW, I wrote it down for an hour later so I SHOWED UP ONE HOUR LATE. I walked in and thought how odd that all the food on the table was gone. I'M SUCH A DORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol My only relatives in the area and I'm late. EEEEK!

Mardi Gras

We celebrate Mardi Gras every year at home. We have a box full of beads and masks which we have collected over the years. Dain's mom used to live in Baton Rouge and that started the tradition. She used to send us a king cake every year. Now we send one to her when we actually remember to do so ... lol We make jambalaya and other things. It's fun! Growing up in Argentina, we always celebrated Carnaval. Now THAT was fun. :-)

Emi Band UIL Ensemble

Emi's ensemble did an informal presentation to the parents. They are competing this weekend. Good luck Emi!!! (Took pix with my phone and they're a bit fuzzy)

My missing half

So while I sit in Texas, Dain sends me this of himself ... so jealous! As a certified ski instructor, he has to teach so many days a year and be employed by a ski resort or he loses his PSIA certification. So he goes back and teaches a few times a year.

V-Day Grant a Starr

Dain sent me flowers ... Then Emi and I ran a 5K together

This is Emi with her friend Kim who was at the race

I forgot to take a pix of me so I took a pix of my #!!!

The crowd before the race started. From Commonwealth Elementary to Sugar Land Memorial Park, around back to the school. The day was beautiful!

After the race, Emi stayed behind to help clean up (for JHS service hours) and I went to get a nice pedi. We finished the day by going to see a chick flick. The boys were gone so Emi was my date. It was a great day!