Birthday Shout Out!

Eli at his First Holy Communion last month.

Our nephew, Elias, turns 9 today! Happy Birthday buddy! We miss seeing your smiling face and Madeline and James miss playing with you. We hope you have a fantastic birthday weekend. We sent your gift in the mail earlier this week, hopefully you've received it. Lots of love always.


So miss Penny Lane is still recovering from her hernia repair surgery. On Thursday evening we noticed a tinge of blood near her stitches, so on Friday we took her by the vet...again...to get checked and have an e-collar put on. This playful pup is just making it hard on herself, if only she would stay calm, rest and heal she could go back to chasing the kids around, running around playing fetch, and wrestling with daddy.

We borrowed Bill and Jimmena's dog kennel to keep Penny confined. She's not too thrilled to staying in it but it's our only way of keeping her calm. Hopefully she'll be all healed up by the time company arrives later this week!

So my oldest brother, David, his wife Armilyn and their son Alexander are coming to visit this week! :) And after they arrive late Wednesday night, my cousin Eric's family from Hawaii will be here on Friday, along with my cousin Whitney's family from Houston. We're having like a mini cousin reunion here in Austin. Stephen and I are taking 5 days off from work while everyone is here. We have a few fun things planned including taking a trip on the Austin Steam Train and touring the scenic route of the Texas Hill Country on this 1949 coach car. We'll be stopping at historic 1912 train station in Bertram. It should be a lot of fun with all the kiddos!

While everyone is visiting we're also going to check out the Hamilton Pool Preserve. The Hamilton Pool Preserve is a historic swimming hole and the Hamilton Creek spills out over limestone outcroppings to create a 50 foot waterfall as it plunges into the head of a steep box canyon. We're going to picnic and swim there with the kids. We really enjoy discovering all of the spring fed pools around the Austin area, hopefully this one will become a new fav!