San Antonio 2010

  Our last trip of the summer was to San Antonio.  Jason had to go for a business trip and Kohen and I tagged along.  This was Kohen's 3rd time on an airplane this year.  I have to say it was the best "airplane experience" out of the 3.  I'm not saying it was a good experience....just better than the other two.  He was better in the airport...probably because we didn't have the monkey strapped to his back, lol!  Those things work for some kids but not for mine.  He's kind of like a dog that doesn't know he's on a leash and runs full speed ahead and gets jerked to the ground when the slack runs out....  Kohen has never understood his boundaries with that thing.  ANYWAY...  the key to a "decent" plane ride is to buy him his own seat.

The picture below is at the airport...

Our hotel (in the background on the far left) was right beside the Alamo!  

I haven't been to San Antonio since I went with my church youth group in Jr. High.  So, going back to the Alamo brought back some good memories :)

This is the view from our hotel room.  We could see right into the Alamo grounds and during the day we could see the little shows they put on inside the gates.  This is also where all the horse and carriages lined up.  Kohen LOVED looking out the window at the horses.  We rode in a carriage but forgot to take pictures :(

Doing a little sight seeing...

The River Walk.

The architecture was beautiful...but it was hard to appreciate it because we were having to carry Kohen in his stroller up and down it!  (Remember the NYC subway Mom???)

Looking at these next few pictures makes me want to shoot myself....

oops...did I just say that out loud???....

I know what you're thinking... "Oh, how fun, they did the boat ride down the River Walk!".

Two words... NOT FUN.

Our first mistake, I guess, was being the first to board the boat.  We had to wait until the boat was full before we got to actually go somewhere.  This took about 15 minutes.  By the end of the 15 minutes Kohen had had enough.  Looking back...THIS is when we should have gotten off the boat.

These next two pictures are of us in the boat.  

Can you tell it's not going well?  No?  Well, these pictures were taken during the 15 minutes we weren't moving.  I kept thinking "as soon as the boat starts moving, Kohen will be so excited and love it".

The damn boat ride from hell lasted 35 minutes.  

(It reminds me of the horrible boat ride from the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory).  Kohen SCREAMED NON STOP THE ENTIRE 35 MINUTES.  He threw the biggest, loudest, most destructive fit he has even thrown.  Everyone on that boat HATED us.  We RUINED the experience for EVERYONE.  We couldn't even make eye contact with anyone after it was over.  I can't tell you one thing I learned from the guide because I couldn't hear him from my screaming child.  I'm sure everyone would have failed a Q and A after that ride.  Not only were people on our boat disturbed, but people walking down the River Walk were staring at us!  I had a death grip on Kohen so he couldn't rare his body back and forth.  I was so sweaty when we finally got off and Jason had a busted lip from our wild child.  We ended up canceling our reservations to dinner that night.  We weren't about to go through that again at a restaurant!

Jason had lots of business meetings while we were in San Antonio (for 4 days).  So Kohen and I were on our own most of the time.  Below is a picture of Kohen at the Children's Museum.     

And here is my little dinner date....

We had a few hours before our plane left (and Jason was in a meeting) so we headed across the street to the Alamo.  There are signs posted saying things like, "No hats, No noise"...  Well, as soon as we got to the center of the Alamo, Kohen started one of his fits.  I quickly got out of there asap.  

These last pictures were taken on the Alamo grounds. 

I think I should also note that we forgot a stroller.  This is the story of our life.  It seems like every trip we've taken we've forgotten the stroller and had to buy a new one.  This was our SIXTH stroller to purchase.  I'm known for my wide variety of strollers with my friends at home and they about died when they heard we had to buy another one!  

I'm glad to be home.  I'm exhausted.  

Video

I've posted twice today!  Guess I'm trying to make up for not posting in a few days.  Make sure you read the next post below this one too!

CASA

I have been busy, busy, busy!  A few months ago I became a "Friend of CASA" (Court Appointed Special Advocates).  I have been to TONS of meetings and dedicated LOTS of hours to this group.  I've LOVED every minute of it!  It has been great to get out, meet people and most importantly help kids.  We have been preparing for the annual "Festival of Chairs" fundraiser for several months now.  I can't tell you how happy I am to be a part of this group!  

CASA helps child victims of abuse and neglect to regain their childhood and be placed in safe, permanent homes.  Friends of CASA is a group of volunteers that help support these kids by raising money and promote community awareness.

We held the "Festival of Chairs" this past Saturday.     

Different artists around Conway paint a chair then donate it to the "Festival of Chairs" to be bid on in the silent or live auction.  The whole idea behind the chairs is to take a "neglected and abused" chair (much like the neglected and abused children) and restore it to a new beautiful chair.
I was lucky to be able to paint a chair for the fundraiser.

Below is a picture of my chair (in this case an old school student desk) before I sanded and painted it.

And here is the chair AFTER:

There were about 25 chairs at the fundraiser.  There were only 3 chairs chosen to be in the Live Auction and my chair was chosen to be one of the 3 in the Live Auction!!!!  I was SO excited (and nervous!)!

Here is a pic of some of the "Friends of CASA".  We got to know each other pretty
well this past week, lol! :)  This was the day we started setting up for the fundraiser.

This picture is of Sherri and me.  We are pretty much joined at the hip these days :)

A few of the auction items:

Some of the chairs:

The best seat in the house ;)

our table

Ashley (my neighbor), Sherri and me

Me, Amy, Paul

Here's a picture of when my chair was up for auction!  Heather Crawford from channel 7 was an MC 

My chair sold for $150.00

I don't know what I would do without this girl!!!

This is a picture from when they were doing the live auction for a getaway to the Treehouse Cottages in Eureka Springs.....

and guess who won?????......

Here are two pics I got online from the Treehouse Cottages:  

I'm excited to go!  The auction includes a free dinner at a restaurant in downtown Eureka Springs and it also includes a carriage ride!

Below is a picture of our neighbor, Adam.  This picture is so funny to me because he is bidding on a live puppy.  He wanted this puppy so bad that he stood up and just held up his bid card the whole time bids were going back and forth!  I think he finally put his arm down at around $2,400.00!  The puppy sold for $3,200.00!   

Tori, Maret, Me, Sherri

Me with one of my favorite couples!  Paul and Sherri!

Oh these boys.... :)  These boys LOVE them some golf.  

Jason, Me, Paul and Adam

You can't tell but we are sitting on my chair I painted!  Rick and Tori were the winning bidders!

Some of the Friends of CASA after the fundraiser

We raised about $83,000.00 durning the Festival of Chairs.  It makes me feel SO good that these kids will get ALL of this money to help them have better lives.  

Being a member of CASA has helped me in so many ways.  I even think it has helped fill a void I have been feeling ever since I stopped teaching .  I'm glad I can help these kiddos and I'm glad it makes me feel good in return.  I CAN NOT WAIT until our next CASA event!

The Million Dollar Question

Why is Kohen SO obsessed with lining his toys up perfectly?

Whose fault is it???  You will find the answer at the end of this post...

In our garage there is a container labeled "Jason's Collectables".  It has lots of stuff from his childhood.  Most of the stuff are toys he collected when he was a kid.  Lots of model cars, sports figures and a pretty large collection of toy motorcycles.  Well, this container in our garage is a clear container and guess who saw it...Kohen.  Kohen wanted that stuff in that container SOOO bad.  So Jason reluctantly gave him the bag of motorcycles.... 

I love this picture of his finger up his nose :)

Lining those motorcycles up JUST right...

He was so happy.  Lots of hugs were given :)

I love this picture of me kissing the back of his neck.  My mom used to always do that to me when I was a little girl :)

Time to go inside!  Grab as many as you can!

Hands FULL!

 These next few pictures are of Kohen playing (or lining up) the motorcycles on the couch.  Notice how "perfect" they are...

Kohen has also found a new "train station" for all of his trains...

Notice the motorcycles in the background of the picture.  They're all lined up on the floor!

And here is the reason Kohen is so obsessed with lining up his toys.....

It's Jason's fault!!!!!  These next two pictures are of Jason when he was a little boy...lining up his toys :)