JAMSquared

Sunday, August 8, 2010

James, Jessica and I went down to McDade’s Emporium, the little pastry & ice cream parlor near the lobby, and picked up some breakfast tacos. We then wandered outside to enjoy our breakfast on a bench under a massive oak tree. We then returned to our room to change into our swimsuits.

At the pool, we floated the Crooked River, the resort’s registered name for a lazy river, with everyone except Jason’s family who had already going swimming and went to take a nap.

Everyone then met up for lunch at Old Buck’s Place, the poolside cafe.

While Jessica napped in our room, and Cameron and Trevor napped in Jason and Julia’s room, the adults played a round of Balderdash in Mom and Dad’s room while Aspen played on the floor. Jason won. He had a real knack for guessing the real answer.

After nap time, Cameron rode a pink tricycle that was still too big (it was smaller than the blue tricycle).

And Jessica and Trevor talked to each other in their strollers.

Jason, Julia, Aspen and Dad went swimming some more.

Jessica then rode the horse in the lobby.

We drove into Bastrop and enjoyed dinner at Nancy’s Steakhouse. The bacon wrapped shrimp and chicken appetizers were very good.

Back at the beginning of August, we went on a mini vacation getaway with the Dzubinski side of the family. I tend to be really picture heavy in my travel blog posts, so I’ve decided to do separate posts for each day. Check out Julia’s post here and Sarah’s posts here and here. I apologize for the delay in sharing our trip. James and I are making some behind the scenes changes to our website and I had hoped to be finished before posting about the trip. Alas, grout sealing has taken up our time until recently so the web changes are still not in place yet.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

After partying with Aspen at her birthday celebration and Jessica’s afternoon nap, we arrived at our travel destination, the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa. Granted, the destination wasn’t far from home, off of Highway 71 just west of Bastrop but it was a perfect getaway. Everyone settled into their rooms. Sarah’s family’s room was on the 3rd floor while the rest of us were on the 4th floor. Dinner was then eaten at the Firewheel Cafe, one of the resort’s six dining facilities. They had a buffet that everyone decided to try. I tried a variety of dishes including salmon, prime rib, and a cauliflower au gratin that would have tasted better if the cauliflower pieces had been more uniform in size. The dessert table of the buffet had many delicious choices. I loved how many of the desserts were bite-sized or small so you could try multiples desserts without feeling guilty.

After dinner, we walked around the grounds a bit. Cameron tested out the covered wagon.

We scoped out the pool. Then we let the kiddos play on the playground.

Don’t you love that little tongue sticking out? Ever since this trip Jessica has been sticking her tongue out a lot too. I don’t know if it is because she saw Trevor doing it or what, but it sure is cute.

Jessica turned 10 months old on Monday. Only two months shy of her first birthday. I’m starting to work on little projects for her party. James’ Mom is going to make her the best little party dress. I’m getting so excited.

What Jessica is Up To

Last month, I mentioned that she wasn’t crawling up on her knees yet. Well, now there is no stopping her. She is fast. She also pulls herself up and cruises along the couch or anything really at the right height. She is also attempting to climb anything and everything. She has crawled into her car seat when it is sitting on the floor, her rocking chair, and she attempts to climb the couch, her bookshelf, and many of her toys.

And yes, that is a disposable diaper. I decided not to deal with cloth diapers on our trip.

She has started being more interactive with other kids and it so fun to watch her play with her cousins or the other kiddos in the play group.

She recently has started sticking her tongue out. I don’t know if she picked that up from Trevor on our trip or if she is just experimenting.

What Jessica is Saying

Still nothing really concrete.

How Jessica is Sleeping

The tough love approach has worked and she is now back to sleeping through the night 99% of the time. The 1% of the time she doesn’t, her teeth seem to be bothering her, or something is different (we have company or we were staying in a hotel). She still takes two naps a day most of the time.

What Jessica is Eating

Jessica now has four teeth. Both her front top teeth have erupted. This makes meal time even messier, because she has taken to biting everything into pieces between her teeth. Crumbs, crumbs and more crumbs.

She has tried too many new foods to keep listing, but I will comment on a few. She has now had protein. She’s not the biggest fan of beans, but with cheese they’re okay. She enjoyed some of my tuna salad and she went to town on the roasted turkey at Costco last night (so I bought some). Bananas are still her favorite fruit and she will eat almost an entire banana in one sitting. She also loves spinach.

She eats around 4 to 5 ounces of food in any given meal. On our trip, she was eating like 6 to 8 ounces, so she was either burning a lot more calories playing in the pool or maybe she was going through a growth spurt.

She doesn’t like being cleaned up after meals, so sometimes we let her play with the washcloth in an attempt to keep her from getting upset.

I am sorry there aren’t more pictures with this post, but I haven’t taken that many pictures since my last Jessica update two weeks ago that aren’t related to our Lost Pines Resort trip or James’ family visiting. Posts with those pictures will be coming soon.

With a title like that, you probably figured out that it’s time for another round of Texas Tuesday. I started off using Jen del Muro’s Sketch for You to Try. I wasn’t completely happy with how it turned out. So I made another card omitting the panel on the right. Which do you like better? Both are great “just because” cards and you can never have too many “just because” cards.

Make sure and check out the other Texas Tuesday cardmakers: Libby, Mark, Betty, Tina, and Karen. Geeta, Shannan and Linda are taking a break this week.

Stamps: Deadbeat Designs Texas Our Texas; Stampin’ Up Background Basics
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up So Saffron, Whisper White, Kraft
Designer Paper: Stampin’ Up Paper Prints So Saffron
Ink: Stampin’ Up Basic Brown, Craft Whisper White; Versamark (SFYTT card only)
Tools: white gel pen

I love all the stars that ended up on these two cards. They got me to thinking about singing, so I found you a video to sing along with. The 1941 song features lyrics by June Hershey and music by Don Swander. Perry Como was the first artist to record this song, yet he’s not even from Texas. That just goes to show you everyone loves Texas.

I also like this muppet version.

Our beautiful little niece turned one last Thursday. Her birthday celebration was held last Saturday around lunchtime. We had a blast and I think Aspen did too. Check out Julia’s post and Sarah’s post for more pictures.

When we arrived, Jason, Julia and some of their friends were putting last minute touches on the food. The lunch of kabobs, pasta salad and chips and salsa was delicious. I especially enjoyed the shrimp kabobs. Here’s Grant holding up one of the kabobs he threaded.

Aspen had a beach themed party. Don’t you like the little lanterns Julia picked up at Party City? You might remember that Julia and I had gotten together for lunch and shopping last week.

Aspen had to show off her walking skills to her admiring audience.

Of course, I had to get some photos of Papa with his grandkids. Although, somehow, I didn’t get a single picture of Cameron the entire party.

After lunch, Aspen opened her presents. She didn’t seem too interested in unwrapping the presents, except for the big one. Jessica was interested in that one as well and helped out.

Then came cake. At first, Aspen didn’t seem to know what to do with the cake. Then she started picking the blueberries off the whipped cream frosting.

A little later, they cut the cake in half with a spatula and then she really went to town.

Bella seemed excited about Aspen’s cake too. I guess she knew if she stuck around, she might get a little nibble.

While Aspen ate her cake, Trevor spent some time with Nanny.

And Jessica checked out all of Aspen’s new toys.