a Summer of firsts!

This summer has been a year of firsts for Lori, which is to be expected in a child her age, but nevertheless, it seems like a good time to share them with all of you. You've seen her first trip to Austin, so here are a few others...

First pigtails!

Her hair is getting longer and longer and one day I thought it might just be long enough for pigtails, and I was RIGHT! She looked so cute with those pigtails that you'll most likely see her with them on most days... especially in this HOT weather!!


First chocolate cookie!

She was being a good girl so I gave her a cookie, a store brand "fudge Stripes" cookie to be exact. As you can see, she loved it!


First trip to the pool!

After a whole week of triple digits, we had to go to the neighborhood pool. Lori enjoyed herself, and much to my dismay has NO fear of the water, not even a healthy one. She'll walk around in the kiddie pool, and if she falls under she doesn't even cry when I pull her up. Lori also LOVES the big pool! (again, I find this very disconcerting.)


First car trip facing forward!

She now BARELY meets the height and weight requirements for a forward facing car seat. We're getting ready for the big road trip from CA to TX in a week (post coming soon) I'm hoping that facing forward will make the trip a little more enjoyable for her, but I'm sure that is just wishful thinking.


First toothbrush!

The dentist told me to start brushing her teeth. (all 7 of them) I'm not nearly as good about it as I should be, but she LOVES to hold and chew on her toothbrush, both ends of it acutally. I don't give her any toothpaste when I give it to her, but I do use baby toothpaste everyone once in a while.


First potty chair!

I know, I know! She's only 14 months old, am I crazy? Well, yes, I probably am crazy, but that's besides the point. On several occasions Lori has said "poo poo" and THEN gone in her diaper, so I consulted with my mom, and she told me to get her a little potty chair. It's been quasi successful. She's gone in the potty a good handful of times, but don't worry, I won't post those, pictures, although they are pretty funny. Lori is VERY proud of herself when she does go, as are Jorge and I. So it looks like AFTER the big road trip we'll start the ACTUAL potty training.


First taste of Pink Lemonade!

Lori was looking at my glass of pink lemonade the other day and kept saying "MAH?" (meaning more) I thought it would be funny to give her a taste. Cruel as it may sound, I thought she's wrinkle up her nose and make a funny face, no harm there. That was not the case! She wanted "MAH?". I ended up drinking the rest of the glass.


First time being a BIG SISTER!!!

That's right, your heard me! Lori will be a big sister in January. (January 21st is the actual due date.) I had to make her this shirt since I couldn't find one small enough. As you can see from this picture, she's pretty happy about it. Although she does lift up my shirt when I ask her, "where's the baby" and give the baby "kisses", I am thoroughly convinced that she hasn't a clue what's going on. And probably won't for a long while. But that's ok.

Austin... not SO weird.

Over Memorial Day weekend Jorge and I (and Lori) were able to get to take a trip up to Austin TX, with our good friends Trey and Mandy Barrow. They both went to UT (University of Texas) so we were able to get a tour of the whole city. It was really fun. We started off with a visit to the state capital. Not only is it the tallest building in Austin (it's actually against the law to build anything taller the capital.) but it's also taller than the Nation's Capital, if you include the basement, which of course, Texans do!

It's virtually impossible to get the whole thing in to a picture. Trey and I both tried. This was the best we could get.
















Lori enjoyed walking around the grounds and exploring in her squeaky shoes!



We went in to the Capital building just to look around

Here's a shot of the underside of the capital dome.
I thought the details were amazing.

The floor underneath the dome,
I like that it says "Republic of Texas"













and no Texas State building would be complete without this gem! TAA DAA!












We toured the University of Texas campus. I was really excited to see Bevo, the UT mascot. I was able to get pretty close, I'm pretty sure he looked at me!! This is Bevo XIV, so it is by no means the original, but I was still really happy to see him.

Can you see him??

Who does this statue look like?



Here's a cute one of Lori and her Aunt Mandy!

Our very good looking tour guides. They were both in the UT marking band.
Here they are with the marching band statue.

We walked ALL around campus and found a 7-ELEVEN!!!! We used to live within walking distance of two 7-elevens and since moving to Houston we've been very, very deprived!




There was an artsy fartsy art piece on the campus of thick rubber tubes. We let Lori walk through them, and I think she liked it, but her taste in art might be a little more less "abstract".


I was able to get this pretty "artsy" picture of her, which ended up being my favorite picture of the weekend!


Last shot of the UT campus I got was of the infamous UT Tower. The site of the 1966 shooting by Charles Whitman.

She was a little tuckered out after our day in Austin! She took a little cat nap in the car on our way to get some drinks and see a view of Lake Travis.









We technically stole this picture. They were charging 15 bucks to get your picture taken ON the back of the Longhorn, so we waited until the guy was distracted and snapped the shot. We had to move quickly, AND cautiously cause I did NOT want to startle that beast in ANY way! His horns were freaky large!!

Happy to not be walking! We did LOTS of walking!


Checkin' out the view!

Some of Lake Travis. It had just started raining, so the pictures aren't THAT great, but you get the idea!

The next place we went was called the Hula Hut. The Hula Hut is a very yummy mexican restaurant with some hawaian undertones. We arrived there at 5:45 but because it was a Saturday night, we didn't actually get seated until close to 7:30 and didn't get our food until around 8:00! Despite the LONG day and all the rain, Lori was still her happy, happy self!

Where's Lori?


THERE SHE IS!

The last stop on our Austin tour was The Saltlick. And OH MY GOSH, if you are ever in Austin, this is a must!! Jorge and I had seen an episode of Man vs. Food where the host goes to Austin and eats at The Saltlick, and just watching it made our mouths water. We were telling Trey and Mandy about it and they said that they used to go there all the time! So we put it on the list! It lived up to the hype FOR SURE! We plan to go back someday!



Our last picture is kinda blury but we had to post it!

*note Lori's new shirt... she looks cute in UT orange!