Columbus Day...the perfect day off.

What happened to it? Did anyone realize that yesterday used to be a standard day off? Well some Texas schools (cfbisd) called it Fair Day and gave it to their kids. Fine and Dandy but do the kids realize that we're celebrating the day that Columbus discovered America? DO THEY EVEN KNOW WHO HE IS ANYMORE?!? I don't care if he did anything objectionable....we still love Thomas Jefferson and he had slaves and bastard children with them! okay okay....enough of that.

So Moe had the day off and I decided we needed a three day weekend as a family. The weekend was phenomenal. Saturday was the annual University of Dallas Rugby Football Club Alumni Game. And we kicked their butts. I scored more times than their whole team. It doesn't help that as a coach I know their weaknesses, but as much as I was on the field I was still trying to coach them while they were trying to tackle me....Yes I was telling them to get lower as I ran them over...it was funny. As captain of the victorious team I get to hold the Macnab Shield for the next year...it's UD's stanley cup if you will, and I also got Man of the Match (MVP). IT helps that even though I am coaching I still run all the drills and run with the team so my fitness level was up there. I think the final score was like 45-5 (in rugby it's 5 points for a try(touchdown) and 2 points for the conversion (kick), we didn't make many kicks but I think almost all of the alumni tried which made the festivities even more fun.

Sunday we went to another furniture store...this time it was Ikea...and again G went nuts.. she really enjoyed the ikea rooms. In the kids section they have a bunch of different room set ups (some really good ideas) but they have little hidden archways/tunnels going from room to room which was a blast. IKEA Is nuts...we were there at opening at 10 am and if we got there any later it would have been useless to go at all. We were still there for a good 2 hours or so which really wore her out.

Monday was the best day of the weekend. Since I didn't figure out if I was going to take it off too far ahead I "called it in" my super D. Love was totally cool with it. SO we got to the zoo at opening and the line was packed with kids. I guess there was a good contingent of schools who had "Fair Day"...I guess the Texas State Fair is Bigger than Columbus...I bet more kids can tell you who won the Red River Shootout than what year Columbus discovered America... I digress.

There were some awesome exhibits. The primate exhibits at The Ft Worth Zoo are phenomenal. They had a toddler Chimp in the indoor exhibit that was so exciting. G stood at the window watching him play with his mom and the ladies for a good 20 mins. They also had 4 baby/toddler lion cubs, and some young giraffes. They were adorable, i could have stayed there all morning watching the lions and primates alone. We got some awesome pics I'll put them on flickr soon, they're on facebook. We brought g's animals and she loved trying to give the animals to the real ones. we almost lost a couple of them but I've got some quick hands...OF all the animals the one she loved the most was .....wait for it...
a horse. Yes...that's right. We had lions, gorillas, cheetahs, elephants, giraffes and birds ( and she loves birds) but she went CRAZY over the horse. She wouldn't stop saying "ORSE" and "NAY". When we told her that some of the animals we're sleeping, like the coyote, she would say "goodnight" and waive, I think she knows when she's being too cute...
I wish i didn't have to work today and we could go do something else really fun like yesterday.. it was the best day off in a long time. I would have to say it was even better than visiting family or going anywhere...it was perfect.

Crazy Baby

So after a pretty low-key Saturday, hanging out with fam, Sunday was our day to get out and do stuff. No we didn't go to the park, or the zoo or the pool or anything like that. We didn't go for a bike ride or a walk. We went shopping...not grocery just errand shopping. First stop was Babies R' Us for our friends John and Sam's baby shower present. It was the start of a crazy afternoon (side note....cowboys kicked off 3 minutes after we got in the car to go to Babies R Us just pointing out the awesome dad/husband I am to skip out on Football Sunday...hehe). She absolutely loved the store she must have picked out like 4 outfits she wanted 3 hats (none of which fit we're trying to find a girls toddler baseball cap she lost her last one that she loved so much) 8 toys 4 accessories....sometimes i think that women are born with the shopping gene...and this one has it bad.
After about 20-30 minutes at babies R us we were off to REI....and it wasn't MY IDEA...she couldn't get enough of this place either. She loved the tents...Anybody looking for a Christmas idea...Kelty Villa 4 or Kelty Trail Dome 4. She just loves to run around look cute/flirt and touch stuff, and REI had plenty of cool stuff to play with.
So after another 20-30 minutes we were headed home and i saw a Sports Authority...I needed some new cleats for rugby so we stopped in. Again she had a blast. Tons of balls to play with cool stuff to touch and most importantly space to run! She started getting a little too crazy so we hurried up and got out of there....on our way to the car we noticed Freeds Furniture next door.... why the heck not.
So we headed over to Freeds. I find it absolutely hilarious how these stores/car dealerships work...they put the Most Expensive Ridiculous stuff up front. We were a little disappointed when we walked in because that's all we saw... 7k for a dining room set FORGET IT! Well we head to the back and start realizing THIS PLACE IS HUGE and the selection in the back is pretty sweet... Gianna had the same exact thoughts I imagine it went something like this...
"WOW this is cool all this space to run all these cool couches and rugs and tables i want to see and touch it all...better hurry before Mom and Dad catch me!!! AHHHH CRAZY BABY"
...seriously she calls herself crazy now. G really enjoyed helping us find furniture....in fact i think she actually may have picked out a couch or two and with all of her insane energy and running around i think we saw a couple of pieces we wouldn't have otherwise. There was some really good furniture there anybody in the Dallas area looking for stuff you should check this place out..(Freeds you can pay me now). She enjoyed herself more at the furniture store than i think she has at any other place we have been two...guess what we're doing next Sunday????? Ikea....or THE Dump or something like that...especially since she loves it so much.
Crazy Baby part 2....
She was pretty stressed out last night when i got home...stressed or anxious or frustrated...something along those lines...Dinner was rough and her bath was not that enjoyable for her...but after her bath....more crazy baby time...we played our usual game of nakey tag....where we try and corral her into her room to put pj's on...except she won...she got out into the living room and started running circles around the couch/chairs/coffee table all the while saying "Crazy" and "Nakey" we couldn't stop her. I have to get this on video...cause for the first couple minutes she runs around with her towel on...and it's the towel with the little hood so it looks like she is "Super Crazy Nakey Baby"...my little girl is pretending to be a super hero already.... Finally after about 5 minutes she disappeared in the back....oops....need to put a diaper on sooner... well as soon as the diaper went on... back to running laps and singing "Crazy". It's like we should have given her a bath first thing when we got home and it would have made everything better.

Dancing Diva

After a pretty low-key week and a mellow Saturday morning /afternoon we ended up a The Carse's beautiful new residence to spend some time hanging out with friends. G tried to be shy at first but ended up being the life of the party. It's not hard when you're the cutest girl in the room and the only one under 25. I feel bad for turning two of her favorite things into party tricks but it's hard not to when it's that freaking adorable....

Wheels on the Bus, I swear if I started singing it to her in her sleep, her arms would start going. This is out of order but on the way home she started drifting off and was kinda asleep and I tried it and her right hand went up and down once I think it's almost a learned/subconscious response. Back to the story... we were sitting around after an awesome dinner(cooked up by a prego Sam), G was being a little afraid of Annie, the Carse's dog, when I busted out the wheels on the bus. Immediately her eyes get bigger than her face, her hands ball up into tight little fists and the arms start going around each other while she lets out a loud "YEAH!", she knows all the moves, the wipers, move on back, babies, mommas, and when you get to the mommas, you better keep going cause she certainly is.

And since we had her going I decided to bust out the hokey pokey, which I hear is her favorite at school and she's one of the few who does it all the way through. She usually has to hold onto something to put her foot in and shake it, and she's kinda "gotten over" that part of it, most of the time she just wants to turn herself around... How often is it that you go to an adult outing and sit around singing children songs...I guess I better get used to it.

As John informs me she was quite the life of the party even after we left, apparently a couple of boys showed up after we left who weren't nearly as cute or well behaved as G. From what John told me the 2 1/2 year old was a menace to society. He apparently broke their barstool when he fell backwards out of it, rammed their glass door face first, threw his sippy cup at someone who had a full margarita (guess where that ended up) and ran circles around the house chasing poor annie. Needless to say G looked to be a perfect angel in light of rest of the evening.

I really need to get some footage of the wheels and hokey but also of her spontaneous dancing, in the car at home and whenever...sometimes it's to music in her head but most times it's just to whatever's on, last night for instance Moe had it on Fox when the King of the Hill theme song came on....what makes this even better, Moe absolutely hates King of the Hill and asks me to turn it as soon as she hears the song...well G danced around the living room for the whole song and as soon as it ended wanted "more".

I really don't know why this pops into my head or when the last time I saw this movie was....and for those of you who know how bad I am at movie quotes it may surprise you....but ...
"Nobody puts baby in a corner"

Have you ever wondered if there was more to life, other than being really, really, ridiculously good looking?

Sorry for the major slackage in posts, you can blame me. I usually take a little time out of my workday to write these things and i have been just too busy to do it, which is both good and bad, Bad that i spend so much time at work (two Saturdays in a row) but good for our bank account, i hope. Anywhoos..This blog has always been more about G and less about me.... so on to our feature presentation...

It's been so long i don't know where to start. Daycare has been alot easier lately now that she has warmed up to it and enjoys being with her friends. We had a little bit of an issue with biting...her and her best friend Brynn like to bite each other...i have a feeling it's more fun than it is jealousy or frustration, but they were getting in trouble for the frequency but that has cleared up and we haven't had an incident in over a week.

My daughter is a fashionista and I wonder where she gets that from. At 16 months she already loves to play dress up...Which involves putting on all of Moe's fun bracelets and necklaces, grabbing her purse and parading around the house. She also loves to pick out her clothes in the morning, as I discovered this morning. I washed her up after her "OOameal" and got her down to her diaper on the changing table. She's sitting on the edge looking down into her drawers as i grab an outfit, as soon as i put my hand on it she says "i no want" (At least that's what she is trying to say) and keeps saying it until i grabbed the one she was looking at to which her reply was "YES". And what do you know it was her shirt that said "Daddy's girl", yes my daughter can read already... :)

I've got more stories and more to tell but even more work to do...so i'll save some for later....
Stay "Hap -Py"!!!!

"Well I guess it all started the first time I went through the second grade. I caught my reflection in a spoon while I was eating my cereal, and I remember thinking "wow, you're ridiculously good looking, maybe you could do that for a career."

_Next post_ The Dancing Diva_

Nothings.

There is nothing more endearing than your knee hugs. A child who is so anxious to show her affection, she can't wait for you to bend over or get down on the ground to her height, she has to hug your knees immediately as if she needs to release this tremendous amount of love that she carries all day, and is too impatient to wait.

There is nothing more entertaining than learning. I love how hard you try on each new word, and how obsessed you are once you've got it down that older words become mundane, that is of course with the exception of "mom" and "dad".

There is nothing more energizing than your uncontrollable laughter, and while it may be past your bedtime and I really shouldn't keep you awake, I can't help but indulge myself in my addiction to your laughter.

There is nothing sweeter than a sleepy baby. Playing in the clean laundry and trying to get comfortable enough to go to sleep and yet you want to stay awake. And even though we both know you're way too tired to function properly you still don't want to go to bed.

There is nothing more precious than when you look up at me to make sure I'm still there before you go to sleep. After i put you down and you've put all your animals where you want them and snuggled up with George (curious), you check to see if i am still there. I know I have only been home for an hour but I promise I won't go.

Daycare Stinks

Last year was fine. She hardly had a clue what was going on for most of it. The first half of the year she was too small to care and the second half of the year she was excited to see her friends, and so it wasn't a problem when it came to dropping her off.

This year....I have a feeling is really going to stink. The second we get out of the car she knows where we are and she starts her tight grip on the back of my shirt. It gets tighter as we walk up to the door. I say hello to her teacher from last year, who she used to love and now pretends she doesn't know, only for G to shrug her off and grip tighter. Her room is the second on the left and you can feel her muscles start to clench. Today we walked in and Miss Letty was blowing bubbles....you would think that would be enough to distract any kid....nope not this one. All her little friends are playing and climbing on stuff but she just wants to squeeze tighter. Nothing can distract her long enough for me to sneak out of the room. She knows what's coming and does not want to make it any easier on either mom or dad. No kisses or hugs to start the day just screaming and crying...I really don't think that's a great way to start the day for either of us. But it's how she wants to do it.

I really hope she gets over this separation anxiety soon, cause it's harder on us then it is on her...she forgets about it soon enough and then gets to play all day...i have to go to work and pretend to forget about it...at least until I see her tonight.

Texas Tornado in St. Louis

If you haven't read the news this weekend then you might have missed the biggest story of the weekend. No it wasn't the amazing Michael Phelps and his 8 gold medals, and it wasn't that hurricane thingy over in Florida. It had nothing to do with McCain, Obama or Bush. It had to do with a Texas Tornado in St. Louis, a la the Rowles' whirlwind visit this weekend.

A 5 am wake up for a 7am flight out of Dallas on Saturday morning had us in St. Louis for breakfast. We couldn't believe the weather it was like 70 out so we ate breakfast outside. After breakfast we all had a little nap time before going to the park and playing a little tennis. After that it was time to celebrate the Mchugh's 30th anniversary, which started with a little celebration at the house and dinner at a restaurant. I think they rented the whole place out cause we were the only ones in there. They really went all out for the 30th. Dinner was so delicious and filling that Moe and I had to walk back to the house just to make some room for dessert!

Sunday we got up bright and early packed the cars full of people and supplies and went to a YMCA camp, Trout lodge. It was jampacked full of activities from Archery to kayaking, rock climbing rope swinging and swimming. G go so worn out she fell asleep on the beach. We really cut it close too. We were having so much fun that we almost forgot to leave. WE had to be to the airport at 6.30....we didn't leave trout lodge till 4 and got to the house at 5.30...meaning we had 20 minutes to pack up and say goodbye before we left. Not that we really had time to unpack in the first place...

Boy Band Friday

Ohhh ohh oh oh
Ohhhh Ohh oh oh
Ohhh ohhh weee oh oh
The right stuff

Best things about Fridays are the mornings! Not cause I want to be at work or cause it's the last day but because we crank up the jams! I like to think of Freaky Friday, Funky Friday, Fresh Friday or any of the trillion names we've given it as my creation, and most people will agree to it as that. We tend to theme it every Friday, and have hit the highs and the lows of music from 90's rap (Tupc Bigs and Dre) to 70's Disco(Ring My bell!), but i think today we may hit either a real high or a real low depending on your mood. That's right boy band Friday, because as much as you may hate it (me) you still know all the words " Cause it ain't no lie... baby bye bye bye"


G-She is trying to learn every word we use and it is so darn cute. We've really been working the body parts lately. She can say nose and eye and can point out her legs arms neck chin toes ear mouth and i think cheeks. She's can pretty much do anything you tell her and she is so close to being able to talk. The one thing she hasn't learned yet is Don't Touch and No...but those are always the hardest right?

Side note- We're going to St. Louis this weekend to Celebrate Grandma and Grandpa Mchugh's 30th anniversary. Now that Gianna is really trying to learn words, I've decided to start calling them Grandma and Grandpa, I really want her to start using them, she's got mom and dad down so it shouldn't be too far off. This weekend should be jampacked with fun since the whole fam will be in St. Louis and there should be plenty of pics!

Ouch...

UPDATE...PICS ARE POSTED..
Link on the side OUR FLICKR

I really should have posted once or twice while in Cali. It would have made this much easier. I guess i'll break it down by day...

Saturday-after mowing the yard and getting ready we hopped in plane to SFO. G would not take a nap and thank goodness we were on a big plane (airbus with two aisles) cause we occupied the aisle most of the way to SFO. What a little handful. Got to napa for the start of a week of feasts and some poker with the fam. Lasagna Dinner (one of my favorites best lasagna EVER)

Sunday- Fresh blueberry pancake breakfast with eggs saugage the works...Got to put the hiking backpack to good use. We went up to one of the insider spots in Napa, the Christian Brothers monastery. Went for a hike with a good amount of family and wandered through some old abandoned vineyards (some of these vines were easily 100+ years old). And that was just the start of that day. We had the family potluck over at house that evening where we celebrated the monthly birthdays. Go figure mine happened to be that week two. Basically all the all the extended family was over that night for dinner and boy was that hectic but fun.

Monday- Second morning in a row of pre-5am wake ups. G shared our room which made it tough for her to go back to bed. So Moe G and I got up ate a little breakfast and zoned out in front of the tv, watching lion king which she loved. Basically moe and i fell asleep on the floor/couch and g eventually joined in the pre-dawn nap. After that nap, when kids (bros and sisters, and for those of you who don't know me too well..i have 9 younger brothers and sisters youngest of which is 6) started waking up we went on a bike ride. Yep we gathered a total of 10 bikes up from family and friends and rode 6 miles to yountville. It was fantastic. My sister beth who is 8 even kept up. We had sandwiches and hung out at the yountville park before riding home...another 6 miles. I think my mom was the most impressed, impressed that i could get my entire family to go riding and that we made it without a rowles injury! Well we got back took a dip and then went to a GIANTS game. So it's August in Cali..you wouldn't think you would need pants right? Wrong...pants and a hoodie were no match for the cold biting wind of the San Francisico bay. Moe went through 2 or 10 hot chocolates trying to stay warm. Giants won...thank goodness.

Tuesday- Starting to become a blur due to the early wake ups and activities. I think this was the day we went to Benicia. I went on an early morning hike with Eric(maybe that was monday?) up to alston park with the dogs. Beautiful NorCal morning 65-70degrees. just beautiful. Then later the whole family went to this awesome park in Benicia with a 35 foot cement slide. Wow that thing was cool. Did a little picknik thing for lunch. And more feasts for dinner. Every night my mom made something amazing. I am blanking on what she made as i think i went comatose with over eating. It was ridiculous.

Wednesday- Was lazy day. We hung out all day did some swimming and hung out mostly. We went on a hike that night before dinner. Up the Westwood hills. You get some amazing views of the valley from here. Again took all the kids with us and we had a blast exploring some of the lesser used trails. Fajita Burrito dinner

Thursday- WE picked up Shan and her boyfriend Tom from the airport. Stopped for some In&Out. I know i am surprised i waited till Thursday also. G ate a whole cheeseburger....little fatty (not really but i think if i start calling her that she'll live up to it). Got back to the house went for a little wine tasting at our favorite spot.... Artesa. That place is amazing as many of my friends know. Then before dinner we went on another hike...another hidden gem in napa...so hidden most of my aunts and uncles who have lived their whole life in napa (and grew up not to far from this park) didn't know about it. Timber Hill. More beautiful views of napa adn some of the best blackberry picking around. Shan and tom didn't bring tennis shoes but we were able to round up some extra ones, i think they were a little skeptical of a "hike" but really loved the whole adventure...it's hard not to when you get rewarded with some of mom's kick butt cooking. She made a full turkey dinner. Whipped it up no problem and fed 8 adults 2 teen boys and 4 kids.

Friday- Off to Fresno for a weekend of wedding fun. Girls did some nails appointment thingy before the rehearsal. Tom and i got to skip out on this so we got a 12 pack and watched the olympics/tv. Then went to the rehearsal dinner. Holy cow. It was hosted by the Jura family at their beautiful Fresno estate. I had no clue there existed such a beautiful neighborhood in Fresno. Moe asked me on the way back if i would mind living in fresno... I said not if i could live there!

Saturday- Big day for our friends Nichole and Oskar. The wedding was amazing. They had the UD Collegium come and sing which was pretty amazing. Jenny and Vince were invited so we got to partay with them. Good times. The reception was located in downtown fresno at the Downtown club....beautiful. We had a great time, dancing drinking hanging out with the Jura Family and friends. Had so much fun it was tough to get going in the morning.

Sunday- A blur of hangover travel. Tough to get up in the morning and get going. We were supposed to be in napa for a brunch...well brunch turned into linner. My mom again came through with a massive spread too bad we were a couple hours late. Cold but good. Too bad Shan and Tom couldn't enjoy it. Well our flight was late 7.30 but g had just gone down for a nap a couple hours earlier so we did the responsible parent thing...and gave her some benadryl, to make sure napped on the plan and kept on schedule. That was funny, she was so drowsy but fought so hard not to give in, eventually she did and was sprawled out across both of us. We got in at 12.30....and didn't get home till 1.....
Ouch.

(pics to be posted soon)

Here we come!

A couple nights ago we rode our bikes over to this park. The park is nice it's low profile so g can climb up it and around it, and it has this sweet rubber pad instead of sand. Well, there are 5 slides at this place...2 teeny kid ones and then 3 big ones....Well that little dare devil baby decided to take on the biggest one of them all...by herself
That's right, see you later mom and dad i gots this!

I had to work some major hours this week to get ready to leave. And last night i stayed pretty late so i called home on the way home. I was quite surprised when G answered the phone(mom helped i am sure)...well we actually had a conversation...

"hiye"

Hi Baby

hiye hiye hiye

Hey Baby its Dad

DAAAAAD

That's right. I love you

Can you give momma a kiss

*smack*

How about that.
California is only a few hours away, and i think G knows something is up. I hope she's as excited as I am.