The best pool EVER

This weekend was the grand opening of the pool in the new section of the The Woodlands. We braved the crowds today and it was awesome. It has a lazy river, giant tube slide, huge kids play area and best of all a concession stand that sells Smoothie King and Chick Fil A. It was really crowded today but there was still plenty of room to play. I even ran into a friend from grad school and her family. Here's some pics though Owen's not in any of them.


Part of the play area

The entrance to the lazy river.

And Owen in his very stylish goggles. I am SO proud of him in the pool this year. In the past he's been resistant to going under which was a pain and really holding him back from swimming. But now he's underwater almost the entire time that we're there. My goal for the summer is having him swim some semblance of freestyle by the end of the summer so I'll have to rack my brain back to the days when I taught swim lessons! Right now we've got a good doggy paddle and he'll do a version of breaststroke underwater.



And finally a picture of Owen giving himself a facial with the leftover batter from blueberry muffins :)

RIP Spotty/Cheese/Sprinkles

Sadly, we unexpectedly lost Spotty on Tuesday morning. We found her breathing hard and she got worse over about the next 30 minutes and then died. Owen knew she was not doing well so I made him go downstairs and watch TV so he wouldn't see what was happening but he was totally heartbroken when I told him. We just said that she went to Heaven and he kept saying that he just wanted to pet her one more time. So we let him say goodbye and then I had to take him to school. The one funny thing he said during the whole ordeal was "at least it wasn't Spotty". And because I am weak and felt so bad for him, I told him we could get another cat but we're going to see how long we can hold out on that one. Namey does really seem to miss her and goes and lays on the Dora couch that Spotty always laid on.

After the cat actually died, Bryan and I both had to go to work so we were faced with the dilemma of what to do with the cat. So we put it in the garage freezer that we never use. My only other thought was to bury her but since our backyard is like the woods, I didn't think Owen running into the dug up remains of his kitty was a good idea. I accidentally told Owen where the cat was and kept saying that he wanted to go and see her. I'm hoping it was just curiosity about a frozen cat vs. thinking he could hang out and pet her. I took her to the pound today so we're officially down to one cat.

P.S. I just looked at the picture and it almost seems like some creepy post mortem photo of Spotty. It's actually Spotty cuddling with Namey when they were smaller and I thought it was sweet :)

Happy Father's Day Bryan!!

We had a great Father's Day weekend hanging out at the pool and our house. I took a ton of pictures of his FABULOUS breakfast in bed but something happened with my memory card and they disappeared. Owen painted Bryan a coffee mug that was gorgeous :) Here is Owen's take on his Dad (his answers are bolded):

Favorite food: sushi
Totally right

Favorite drink: coffee or mountain dew or Monster or martini
Ahhh, caffeine and gin. That's Bryan!

How many olives does he take: 3
Sadly he got that one right too. I swear Bryan usually only has a drink after Owen goes to bed.

What kind of car does he drive: a red truck with a back window and the mirrors can go in, ummm....it's a Nissan
Right again

Favorite thing you did for father's day: made him a cup
And it was gorgeous!

Favorite movie: Star Wars
And Owen's favorite too

Favorite sport: football
Yep

Favorite Wii game: Mario Kart, sometimes he likes to play Indiana Jones
Our Wii gets played way too much. Especially since it's so incredibly hot and mommy likes to do anything that keeps her laying on the couch.

Favorite color: purple
Right again and also Owen's favorite. We only have very masculine men at our house!

Where he went to college: A&M
Anytime Owen sees a UT sticker or longhorn he says how much he doesn't like Longhorns. I think Bryan brainwashed him because I didn't do it.

His middle name: Edward
Correct

Age: 25
Plus or minus 10 years

Height: 3 feet tall
Plus or minus 3 feet

Weight: 5 lbs
Plus or minus I won't say how much

Something you do only with daddy: read books

Favorite thing to do with daddy: go to the pool with Mommy and Daddy :)

Why I love daddy: because he always reads books to me every night and he's funny and crazy.

The kid knows his father well!!! And here are the few pictures that I got this weekend.

Watching Indiana Jones which is the new obsession because of the Wii game.

What Owen does when they make out :)

Baby birds

The baby birds have finally hatched and there's four of them squashed into Bryan's shoe. They are outside the window of the playroom where I see the mama bird bringing them food all day long. Not that I'm on the couch all day long :) Owen and I check them out everyday and it's amazing how fast they grow. If you walk by the chirp at you for food. And to continue with my fear of birds, I'm afraid to get too close when the mama bird is there for fear that she'll peck our eyes out :)

Pooberry Picking

The title is not a typo but rather what Owen the comedian likes to call blueberries. Today we went to a local farm to pick blueberries with Mimi and Popi. Owen doesn't like blueberries but had fun picking them because they were really easy to find there were a ton of them. He got bored and hot after a while and decided to be a jungle ninja in the blueberry bushes and then entertained himself for a while squashing the berries. The ninja thing is new but so funny to watch. We were at furniture store #1000 looking for an ottoman this weekend and Owen decided to be a ninja and sneak up on Bryan. It was full-on roll on the floor, climb through tables, and hide behind couches. I don't know why I thought it was so cute but he was SO serious about the whole thing!

Now I have several pounds of blueberries that I have no idea what to do with and the irony is that no one in the Hulshof Family is a big fan. I'm sure we'll figure out something but in the meantime we have a huge bag of them in fridge!

Owen and Mimi in action

Back from the beach

Owen and I got back tonight from a quick trip to the beach to visit Leigh, Adam, and of course Beans Bones. We went to the beach on Thursday and it was REALLY windy. At one point, the wind blew Owen's float away and as I tried to chase it down the beach in my maternity bathing suit, the waves picked up my bag and attempted to take it out to sea. I had to decide which was more important and went with the bag since it had my keys, cell phone, and camera in it :) Owen loved the beach despite it being so rough and spent the entire time digging holes and filling them up with those little clams that Adam said are called periwinkles. We also got to hang out at their pool, paint some pottery, go out to eat, go book shopping, play lots of Wii and most importantly to Owen, harass Beans the dog. Here are some pics!


Owen posing in a giant shark mouth at a beach store. He insisted laying down so as to simulate being eaten by the shark.
Making his giant hole in the sand so that he could bury the "clams". The poor things all perished as he then filled the hole with mud and sat on it.
Owen and Beans Bones. He terrorized the dog the entire time and it doesn't help that Beans is a bit high strung to begin with.
Picture taken by Owen out of the car window at Sonic while we ate lunch. The seagulls were just sitting there, minding their business until.... Someone had the brilliant idea to throw tater tots out the window. They ATTACKED my car. One sat on top of the sunroof and stared at us and I swear would have pecked our eyes out if it could have gotten in the car. Can you tell that I have an irrational fear of birds???
Aunt Lala and Uncle Adam painting Owen at the pottery store.
The owner of the store had a dog named Cookie that hung out there all day. Owen chased the dog around and luckily I didn't end up having to pay for a bunch of broken pottery that I was sure he would knock over.
This picture is again compliments of Owen hence the blurriness due to no flash. But I had to include it because it shows me rocking out playing Rock Band on the Playstation. That's Adam on the couch doing his version of "singing" :) If you ask Leigh and Adam and they try to tell you that I wasn't very good on the drums, guitar or vocals, they LIE I tell you, LIE!!!!!!!!!

Trip to the Oil Ranch

Owen and I spent the day at a working ranch where they have a ton of activities for kids. We spent 5+ hours there and when we got in the car it said it was a balmy 95 degrees outside. So rather than a long post, here are the pics!

Owen riding the pony


Owen chasing a rooster


Owen hanging out with what is allegedly a turkey


Owen not milking the cow but deciding to brush it instead


Owen holding what looks like poo but is really the cow food

Owen feeding the cows which came WAY too close for his Mom's comfort. Those things smelled horrible!!!!!!!!!

Owen being incredibly dramatic because he was hot and wanted to go get in the pool.

Owen and the rest of the crazy kids that we went with.

Owen FINALLY getting to go swim.

Owen eating a snowcone but really just trying to drink all of the syrup.

Owen and Zach on the train.


Owen posing with the train.


We really had a great time but I am exhausted!!! Tomorrow we are headed to the beach to stay with Leigh and Adam and Owen is SO excited to go.

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

On Saturday I turned 33 and got to spend it with some of my best friends at the beach. We went for an annual girls weekend and it just happened to fall on my birthday this year which was really fun even though I'm pregnant which makes it not as fun. Here is the birthday cake that I SWEAR had my name on it in addition to Angie's who also had a birthday this week.

We had a great time but it was a little sad not to get to spend it with Bryan and Owen. When I called on my birthday I asked Owen if he knew whose birthday it was and he guessed every member of our extended family before I had to tell him it was mine.

Owen and Bryan spent Saturday night in Pearland and I was due to get home before them. Owen told me that I couldn't go downstairs because my birthday present was down there. When they got home they made me close my eyes and TADA, just what every woman wants on her 33rd birthday.....

The biggest TV ever produced on the planet earth. It's a 60 something inch TV and I really should have had Owen stand next to it for scale because it is GIGANTIC!!!! And no that is not a transvestite on the screen, it's David Bowie in Labryinth which I'm sure is a favorite of most four year olds :)

We have been looking at couches for a while for the playroom downstairs and since we got a gigantic TV, we needed a gigantic couch. I actually got to pick this one out and I love it. The whole family can sit on it at once and it's super comfortable.

Owen and I were supposed to be going to visit Leigh and Adam in Corpus tomorrow but she has Fifth's disease. We're going to wait and go on Wednesday because Owen has the week off of school. He is super excited and I really hope we get to go!