A couple weeks ago Jamie went to Nassau for work (rough, right?). The place he stayed had lots of pools and a private beach. My first thought when I saw a picture of where he was staying was, “I’d have so much fun reading there.” That’s pretty much my idea of a dream vacation!
After Ani’s car’s ball joint broke, they looked at the other ball joint and said it was about to break as well so we eventually made the decision to sell her car to a junkyard. Imagine my surprise when I went to empty out her car and discovered the place where the front passenger puts their feet was absolutely full of water!
Because the rest of the car was perfectly dry, after our initial confusion as to how this was possible, it dawned on us that the front right corner of her convertible top has always leaked just a tiny bit when it rains. Just a couple days before I found all that water, we had an incredible storm that dumped lots of rain on us over the course of several hours. Apparently the tiny leak became a very big leak during that storm.
So I spent some time bailing water while my best friend entertained me on the phone. It dried out after a few days and now the car has gone on to its final resting place where hopefully it will help someone get a little more life out of their own vehicle.
My brother’s family came to visit for a few days and while they were here we went to a San Antonio Missions minor league baseball game.
The Missions won something like 10-2. There were a couple really great plays and a whole lot of watching batters and pitchers set themselves up to bat and pitch.
Fritz and Adrian have decided they have now see more than enough baseball games to last them a lifetime. That would be one. They’ve only ever seen one baseball game.
Adrian is not a fan of reading. Getting him to read in school is like pulling teeth and he has never been interested in reading anything for fun nor has he ever picked up a book to read without being told to. Until now!
For his birthday, we gave him the Odd 1s Out book. He has sat down with it on several occasions and read a chapter or two at a time.
He loves the anime My Hero Academia and Ani discovered there are mangas of it as well. She bought a couple, he bought one, and she’s gotten several more of the mangas from the library. Adrian has enjoyed reading those so much that he actually completed two in one day!
A few weeks ago Jamie, Ani, and I went to the first gathering of service missionaries in Texas. Just a couple days before that, Ani had been set apart as a full time service missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
There are currently only a handful of service missionaries spread across Texas. Only something like 16 in the entire San Antonio Mission (which stretches to the border and includes Austin).
Going to this conference gave me the chance to see Houston for the first time. Now the only major city in Texas I have never been to is El Paso.
I put Adrian’s talking Buzz, Woody, and Forky up on the top of the bookcase in their room. The lamb was already up there. Then next time I walked into their bedroom, I burst out laughing to see Adrian had turned Buzz to make him look like he was having a conversation with the lamb.
When Cameron and Fritz turned 11, they got their Harry Potter letters. We meant to give one to Adrian on his 11th birthday, but we totally forgot! I remembered a couple days after his birthday and quickly ordered an owl from Amazon. Luckily I already had the letter on my computer so that was easy to print out for him.
The owl arrived one evening while Cameron had taken the boys to Sonic for half price milkshakes. This presented the perfect opportunity to have the owl and letter waiting for him when he got home.
We included in the letter a note saying the owl was late because it got lost on the way. In a way that was true. Amazon actually lost the first owl I ordered after it was out for delivery!
He was so happy to get his letter. For a while we weren’t sure if he actually understood that it wasn’t real. He was totally acting as if the owl was alive and everything.
After a while he asked us if he was the only one of the boys to play along and pretend it was real. He then explained that he was going to keep pretending and that was just a breaking the fourth wall moment. We should’ve known. This kid absolutely love role playing.
On Wednesday, June 19th Adrian turned 11. Jamie had to work almost all day, but he spent the day having fun with his brother, grandparents, and me so that was okay.
His favorite presents were his talking Buzz and Woody. With Toy Story 4 coming out just after his birthday, he’s been really into those movies lately.
We went to see The Secret Life of Pets 2 at Alamo Drafthouse. It was a really cute movie. Everyone enjoyed it from ages 11 up to 74!
We went to a trampoline park where the boys got to jump for a couple hours and played several games of laser tag.
We went to Golden Corral for dinner where Adrian could pick whatever he wanted for dinner. His choice? Rice and cheese, his favorite food.
The boys went swimming in the pool at the hotel.
They played some D&D after Jamie got finished working and got back to the hotel.
When we got home, Cameron gave Adrian his present. Adrian was thrilled to have a talking Forky to add to his Buzz and Woody. He had been slightly disappointed on his birthday to not get Forky since that’s the one he wanted most of all.
Fritz has been dreading becoming a teenager for several years now, but he couldn’t stop the day from coming and he turned 13 yesterday. He said it was the best day ever and being a teenager, so far, isn’t so bad.
At the outlet mall in Laredo, they had this sign posted at the elevator.
Smaller on the Outside 