Wednesday, April 28, 2010

A little of this and a little of that

Last night we decided that I will be leaving this afternoon to go visit my sister Laura in Iowa for a while (originally I was going to leave this coming Monday, but gratefully flying standby lets you be flexible). So now I'm trying to get clothes washed, packed, and organized before our flight today. But of course I feel the need to blog about the last few weeks, especially since I won't be home for a while. So here's a few random things we've been doing:

Paul got scuba certified...this required him to dive at the Balmorhea State Park, about 4 hours away. The girls and I came along, thinking we would enjoy the day swimming in the natural spring while he dove. It turned out to be ridiculously windy, and the girls lasted all of 10 seconds in the water before wanting out. So I was stuck with two cold, wet, crabby kids with nothing to do in the middle of nowhere. Gratefully our friends Cassie and Jacob came along and we decided to visit the McDonald Observatory, about an hour away in the Davis mountains. The girls napped while we drove :). It was only sad that Paul couldn't come along since he is the astronomer in the family.

Hattie enjoying the giant sundial




This is the gigantic 433 inch mirror, made up of 91 hexagonal mirrors (it's lying flat looking toward the dome). It's the 5th largest telescope in the world.

Hattie liked Anna's carseat

Hattie has also taken an interest in photography. She borrowed the camera during the drive home from Balmorhea and actually had a couple of decent shots.





Proof that we really were in the middle of nowhere

Then yesterday she documented Paul mowing the lawn:


You can see from these two pictures, taken in succession, that she learned out to take pictures vertically




The girls have been a lot of fun lately. Yesterday Hattie was making Anna laugh like crazy...and it lasted for about 20 minutes! I love my crazy girls.



And some random pictures for your viewing pleasure:







10 comments:

Shannon said...

Melanie, you are looking so good! And I love the video of your girls laughing. SO cute.

Have fun in Iowa!

sam and brittney said...

Love the laughing video!! Have fun in Iowa! Sad. I probably won't see you for 2 months!! We will have a lot of catching up to do when we get back. And our babies will almost be 1!!

Nancy and Spencer said...

I too love the girls giggling! And I can't not love the one of Hattie in the fridge! She & my Kaden could find lots of trouble together. :)

Cristi said...

I love the laughing video how precious! How awesome! Hattie has gift for photography!

Tandy said...

holy gorgeous eyes on that anna! wowzers! love the girls laughing. they are going to be such good friends. what a wonderful thing for them to have each other for the whole rest of their lives! *love it*
and the fridge picture: priceless. how on earth did she get up there! crazy kid!

Noelle said...

I love the picture of her standing in the fridge in her tutu :) Too cute!

kd said...

My fave is the fridge shot as well! Hope you're having a great time w/Laura!

Steven and Erika said...

Diving lessons? Is this for a trip this summer? Sounds fun and I love the pics of the girls. Keira and Max love the giggling video! I love the stage where Sam and Anna are.

Kat Curtis said...

i LOVE the Hattie picture in the fridge. That is classic. Was the observatory worth seeing? I keep threatening to drag my family out there just for the sheer joy of seeing a real observatory that is so close (and the "Star Date" one too, at that!), but Jeremy keeps asking me what there is to see there. Frankly, I'd make the drive out of nerdiness, but I'd love to know what there is to do!

By the way, my "word verification" was actually a real word for once - ha! That's great!

Unknown said...

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