The Harmonica, The Brush & The Flight

As most of you already know, our family took a trip to San Francisco, California at the end of October. Daniel had a conference out there and was done by most days around 11am. So, we thought we would take advantage of that time and spend a few extra days after the meeting was over. It was a great vacation but it seems like a blur! We left our house at 5am on a Friday morning (that meant up getting up at 3am after going to bed at 1am). Surprisingly, we arrived at the airport in time and had no problems checking in or going through the security so we found our gate and grabbed a little breakfast. They started boarding the plane as soon as we got back from getting food so those who were able to eat did and those who were too nervous to eat (me) gathered our things so we could board. We found our seats and settled in and watched the kids totally enjoy the view from the airplane. I will never forget Cooper's face as we walked onto the plane and as we took off. It brings the biggest smile to my face watching my kids experience something for the first time that they truly love. When the plane started and we started moving, Cooper with much excitement in his voice goes "I'm flying! I'm flying!". We had to explain that we weren't really flying yet but we were about to. He was glued to the window and would only turn around to look at us to give us a huge smile like "This is the best day ever!!". Once up in the air, my nerves calmed a little probably because I was so nervous about how Cate would do. She did fine on the way up there but did get a little antsy and HAD to have her diaper changed during the flight. Not an easy thing to do with a tall toddler in a tiny bathroom with a messy diaper! As we approached San Francisco, Cooper loved finding the swimming pools from the plane. We finally landed and boy were we glad!! My kids don't like to miss out on what's going on around them so no naps had been taken at this point and with the time difference, nap time was well overdue. We left for our hotel and upon arrival I thought, "Oh my...does this place really allow kids?" It was a beautiful hotel but I would've been more comfortable in a Holiday Inn. Much too froufrou for us! We relaxed for a little and then it was time to eat. We walked and walked and walked to a nice waterfront restaurant. The food was delicious and after dinner the kids and I enjoyed watching the seagulls come right up to enjoy any food they found near the restaurant. Cate is now fascinated with birds! We walked back to our hotel and we were all asleep by 6:30pm! Over the next few days we enjoyed a tour of Alcatraz, where Cooper received his very own harmonica. A trip to Napa Valley, which was much needed! My parents were supposed to leave San Francisco at that point and do the Napa Valley thing alone but we asked if we could tag along. They being the nicest parents ever obliged. All of us desperately needed a break from the hustle and bustle of the city. Cate started clapping when she got into the car seat of the rental car. We ate at some very good restaurants and did some shopping! We did so much more but to keep whatever readers are still left, I'll explain my title of the blog...

The Harmonica:

One evening as we were waiting for public transportation, Cooper (it was Daniel's idea) thought he would take this time to "perform" for the public like he had seen from walking the streets. I'll try to paint a visual...Cooper is sitting on some steps with Daniel nearby and as people approached he would confidently play his harmonica that he just got. He would stop every once in a while and give his boyish charming grin and continue playing. He made $3.75 in fourteen minutes! Not bad for his first gig!! Several people stopped, took pictures and of course threw some change in a cup that Daniel found laying around (gross I know). Cooper really enjoyed his fourteen minutes of fame!

The Brush:

The mind of a 3 year old fascinates me. Again, as were waiting for public transportation (I promise we did more than just wait) Cooper was asking what our names were. I was Michelle, Dadda was Daniel, sister was Cate, etc. I asked him what his name was and without missing a beat he said Brush. Of course we all laughed and I asked again and he said "Yep. Brush Barkley." He pretty much went by Brush the rest of the time. I guess that was his stage name. :)

The Flight:

After several days of San Francisco and a totally different sleeping routine and a much different eating routine we left the hustle and bustle and headed to the airport. The kids were exhausted and ready for a part of their "normal" life back. Cooper did great again on the plane but Cate was a totally different story. Storms were pretty heavy the day we were scheduled to fly home in DFW so our scheduled departure was 5pm arriving DFW at 10pm. I knew that was going to be bad so luckily we arrived at the airport early enough and were able to fly standby on a 1pm flight. Cate had had enough at this point. The plane was full and thankfully we were the very last row on the plane. For the first 20 minutes of the flight, she screamed bloody murder. It was the worst 20 minutes of my life and everyone else's. I was trying to rock her to sleep in the back but the fasten seat belt sign came on and so I had to sit with a screaming mad child. The only thing I had that I didn't try was a package of peanut M&Ms. I know, choking hazard, but that was all I had and if I didn't try that I feared what the other passengers would do to us. After 3, she was out. In fact, I don't think she even ate them because while she was asleep, we were cleaning out her mouth as chocolate drool ran down her chin. We were so cautious not to move or breathe. She slept for about an hour and woke up as our normal baby girl. As soon as we landed Cooper asked if we could go again. Our answer was "No. Not for a really long time!" :)

We love vacations and all the memories that are made. I'm so thankful that my whole family got to experience part of this with us. I need to mention that after that horrific flight home and not being able to find our car for about 45 minutes, my mother had a nice, warm & healthy dinner waiting for us at our house. Also, she stocked our fridge with milk and fruit so we didn't have to worry about the necessities the next morning! HOME SWEET HOME!!!

About to fly for the first time!! He is taking everything in!

Our little street performer and a proud dad.

Cooper a.k.a. Brush



The sea lions on Pier 39. STINKY but still pretty cool.

A view of San Francisco from the top of Coit tower. That was quite a hike up to the tower. After we got down, we realized we could've taken a bus.

We ate at some really great restaurants. Cate loved every minute of that!

At one of the parks, Cooper decided on his own to lay down for a quick 'nap' in the sun.

We took so many pictures, Cooper was certain if he made enough silly faces we would stop but he was wrong!

Sleeping Babies

Awww, I just love pictures of sleeping babies so I thought I would share a couple of my sleeping babies. Most days, Cooper still needs a nap and Cate loves her sleep too so that means a little mommy time to get things done around the house and maybe even eat a meal! Cooper still uses his blanket and thumb. Cate never took a pacifier or thumb but LOVES her blanket. She holds it up over her face so the only thing you can see are her eyes. It sounds like she's smelling the blanket too. I asked her if she likes the smell of the blanket and she nodded yes like she totally knew what I was asking her. It wouldn't surprise me. She loves when the blankets first come out of the dryer. My silly kids and their blankets!!

Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall!

The title may seem a little odd considering it's the first week of October and fall officially started in September but I started writing this back in September, just never finished. So...here is what the Barkley bunch has been up to since my last blog.

Alcon had their company picnic at Six Flags this year and the kids loved it! It rained all day but it didn't bother them one bit. These two kids have no fear when it comes to the rides. Thankfully there is a height restriction or Cooper would have wanted to ride them ALL! I was finally able to ride since I'm not with child and glad to find out I still love the thrill of a good roller coaster!

Cate enjoyed, no LOVED, the zoo. I figured she would since she adores every animal but I had no idea she would go crazy over the animals. Both of the kids especially loved feeding the birds with the sticks. I think Cooper enjoyed poking the birds that were eating off of Cate's stick more than he did actually feeding them.

Cooper loves school! It's so hard for Cate to leave her bubba. She really thinks she's just as big as he is and should be able to stay too. She gets super excited when we go to pick him up. I thought I would be able to come home after we dropped off Cooper and enjoy the solo time with Cate but we have been so busy running errands that we've only had one day to come home and just play. Hopefully soon things will slow down enough so we can spend some quality girl time.

We have really taken advantage of this beautiful cool weather we've had recently. With Daniel having Friday's off, we've had a couple of picnic lunches outside and played at the local parks.

In just a couple of weeks, we will be in San Francisco for a family vacation. I should have plenty of pictures and stories to share when we return! Happy Fall!!!

School Time!

Today was our big day of going back to school. Cooper was eager to start school this year so much that on meet the teacher night he had to wear his backpack and asked us what we were going to do while he was at school. He loves his teacher and loves knowing several of the kids in his class already. Here is Cooper on his first day of Tuesday/Thursday school!!

This was last years first day of school pic.

August Fun

August is not completely over but it was jam packed with so many fun events, I had to get it all out while I still remembered everything.



We went to our last RoughRiders game and when we were walking to our room, we got approached from some of the staff asking if Cate could be apart of the skit. Of course we said yes and when the time came we took her down to the dugout and got her into her t-shirt. The skit was for her and 2 other babies to walk down this carpet that looked like a track. The object was to get from one parent to the other. When they said "go" all babies just stood there but then one decided to take off. The other took off but went off the field. Cate took 2 steps looked at the whole stadium and just sat down and put her head on the ground and cried. I guess she cracked under pressure. Here I am giving her a pep talk.

Daniel was doing homework and to avoid getting a bath, Cate decided she wanted to go see what he was doing. She grabbed his glasses, put them on and went after the computer.

Cooper started driving his sister around in his car the other day. She loved it and so did he. He kept leaning over talking to her while he was driving. They had a blast!

We celebrated my grandma's birthday.

Daniel & I took Cooper to see his 1st 3D movie Ice Age. He pretty much sat through the whole movie and really enjoyed it.

Cate loves to reach over and have Cooper hold her hand. Cooper thinks that she's scared and he's helping her.

So my Cooper-man is using more and more of his imagination everyday and using it more outside of playing cars. When he plays cars, he will come up with all different scenarios that his cars are going through. Some of my favorite include: going to church, going to get ice cones (sno-cones) and getting pulled over by the police for various reasons. He has never seen me get pulled over so I don't know where he learned that! Today, in only his Diego underwear he goes to the pantry and gets his lunch box. He starts filling it with various things. He told me he was going to work and that he would be back. He walks down the hall and turns around and announced he was back. I asked him if I could see what he packed for lunch and this is what I found: a few pairs of Daniel's socks, some peanut butter crackers, applesauce cup, fruit cup, 3 potatoes, a magnet off the fridge and a contact case. Just a side note, not all these items came from the pantry.

I forgot to mention he put a coaster in there and his silly putty.

Wedding 3 of 3

Wedding season for us is officially over! John & Tara's wedding was beautiful and fun. Thankfully the storms were over before the wedding began. Cooper didn't do so well this time as ring bearer. He was antsy and wanted to play with the other kids who were there. He did manage to find a way to entertain himself while standing up there...while the vows were being recited, Cooper thought it would be funny to poke his Papa in the bottom. I don't think Papa found that as funny as he did.


Cooper actually being good & praying with everyone else.


The boys looked so good in the khaki suits!


Baby girl enjoyed the wedding!

"I wanna go under!"

"But I wanna go under!" is what I heard from Cooper when I asked him to put his life jacket on when we went swimming at Mimi's. Up until recently he has had no problem zipping up the jacket and heading straight for the diving board. For some reason, he wants nothing to do with it anymore. He still wants to jump off the board but with no jacket. He is learning how to swim better now that we've put the jacket off to the side but he still likes to hold on to one of us in the pool. His new favorite thing is going under to get the rings. He did so good the first time! I told him to hold his nose and we counted to 3 and went under to retrieve the rings. He loves putting his goggles on too and going under water to talk. He usually just says "hi" or "I love you". It's the sweetest and cutest thing. We love summer and can't believe August is only 2 days away! We better get as much swimming in as we can!!





Cooper and Dada after a successful dive for rings. Cooper's face & hair cracks me up!







A sample of the many faces this boy can make. He is full of personality!





My sweet baby girl trying out a new bow that she got as a gift from a cousin.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

My sweet baby girl is now one year old! I know people say all the time how fast time goes by but I seriously cannot believe how fast the time has gone. Maybe it's because I have two now and I'm so busy with them that I don't slow down enough to appreciate every single minute. Either way, what a year this has been since Cate has joined our family! We knew from the beginning that we had a good eater and a good sleeper. Her first word was banana! Forget momma...bring on the bananas!! Cate will wake up around 8am and then want a nap around 11am. She'll sleep for at least two hours and then will sometimes want another little cat nap around 4pm. By the time 7:30pm rolls around...she's begging to be in her bed! What a personality this little girl has too! When she doesn't get her way, she will lay her head on the floor ever so softly and just "cry". She has to look up pretty quickly to make sure she has an audience. She loves her bubba but I think she likes to pick on him a little more than she should at this age. Cate loves to dance, loves to sing, loves to rock her babies or stuffed animal kitty cat and usually loves to be the center of attention. We love our baby girl so much and look forward to learning more about her every day!!


Her DELICIOUS cake from Tempt! Thanks Jamie!!!



Cate sportin' her new shades from Uncle Nathan & Aunt Linz.


She got these books from Aunt Val and wouldn't put them down!


Daniel pointed out that Cate and I are both showing off her gifts upside down. Like mother, like daughter!


Getting ready to blow out her first candle! She loved everyone singing to her.


Digging in! She didn't go crazy like we thought but she loved her banana cake!



Cooper went crazy over the cake!


She didn't want her party to be over...

My Beach Babes

There is nothing like a spur of the moment vacation! At least this time anyway. We had been out of town the weekend before for a wedding but when we were asked if we wanted to go to my uncles beach house in Galveston, we didn't give it a second thought!! We knew the kids would have a blast...Cooper had been once when he was about 18 months but Cate had never been before. They had so much fun!! Cooper loved jumping over the waves and of course playing in the dirt (see pics below). Cate loved playing in the sand and crawling to the edge of the water. We also went to the aquarium in Galveston and had so much fun. Our little baby girl just loves animals so we thought she would enjoy the sea animals too. She didn't just enjoy them, she thought they were the most fascinating things in the world!! I thought she was going to pass out from breathing so hard and so fast when she saw the fish or penguins or anything that moved in the water. It was so cute to hear her go "OH WOOOOWWW!" anytime we walked to a new exhibit. We had so much fun on our spur of the moment mini-vacation!! We are so blessed to have amazing family. I don't know what I would do without them!




Before:



After:





Way After:









This is baby girl after her nap. She always makes this face. It's usually followed by "Look!"

Cate LOVING the aquarium!

Momma and her Rock Star

Wedding 2 of 3

Two down and one to go! The weddings have been fun so I don't mean to sound like I'm ready to get them over with. This last one was different because it was a catholic wedding but it was very interesting. The wedding started at 2pm and lasted about an hour and then we had a huge dinner immediately following. Then there was a dance from 8-midnight. My kids didn't make it all night obviously but Cooper made sure to dance to the twist and some other random dance. Cate even attempted a few moves but lost interest after a minute or two. It's always good to see family and we had fun visiting new places and seeing new things in Snyder, TX. In fact, Cooper asked today if we could go see windmills in Snyder (for those of you that have not had the pleasure of visiting west Texas, there is a huge area that is filled with windmills). He was fascinated with them as we drove by. We had fun and are looking forward to the last wedding in about a month!

I don't have any pics from the wedding but these are from my uncle's land that he just bought. Cooper had never seen a horned frog before and was fascinated with this little guy. I can't believe I used to play with these things when I was younger!!

Four generations! (From left: Grandma, Mom/Mimi, Yaya (aunt), Me & Cooper)

My silly baby girl

Cooper and Grandpa enjoying the tractor on Father's Day.