The Alamo. Remember?

Truman has been obsessed with the Alamo lately, so we decided to take a family trip to San Antonio. Who knew it would also be the hottest day of the year (so far) in Texas?! Still, we had a great time walking through the Mission and around the grounds.

Truman especially liked the various cannons. He was thrilled to notice that one even had a cannonball still in it!

 

Did you know that there are huge koi at the Alamo? The story we heard was that Davy Crockett had brought along a pet goldfish hidden under his coonskin cap....

We discovered this detailed miniature of the battle in the Visitors Center right across the street from the Alamo. Truman loved it, especially the cotton "smoke" coming out of the teeny tiny rifles.

We had lunch on the Riverwalk, then headed to the Tower of the Americas. We took the elevator to the top, 750 ft up! We had a great 360-degree view of the city.

Truman's takeaway from this historic trip? Remember the Alamo....gift shop! He's counting the days until he can go back to purchase cannons for his soldiers. (We'll see.)

Ho Ho Ho

We're so behind on our posts and have lots of photos to share (NJ! Ice skating!), but here's a place holder to get us started. Our neighborhood bank branch hosted a meet-and-greet with Santa yesterday. What a deal! Free professional photos taken and produced on the spot, PLUS facetime with Santa w/o having to go to the mall and wait in a super-long line. AND, cookies and candy canes. Wow. (Guess we'll keep our account there.)

So, here's Truman's holiday photo with Santa. Because nothing says Christmas like a Darth Vader t-shirt.

Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone is having a great Halloween! Here's Spiderman posing with his trusty sidekick, Luther.


We call this shot "the haul." Truman made out pretty well for going to only a few houses.



The counting begins.



Had to document this treat. A gentleman up the street opened the door and offered the kids full-sized candy bars! Who does that any more?! The kids were in shock. (Truman claims Milky Ways are his favorite even though he's never had one before.)

Unfortunately, we didn't time things well, so we missed most of the kids while we were out trick or treating. We had exactly two children stop by after 7 pm. Now we're sitting here with a full bowl of candy and two unopened bags. I guess that's what they call a "good" problem. Next year, we'll know better.

Halloween Sneak Peek

Truman modeling his new Spiderman costume!


The half mask's a little problematic (although more safe than the full face-covering one they show with the older boy costume). Get a load of the "muscles"...


Spinning his web!

OMG

Finally! We have such a backlog (we're talking MONTHS) of photos, but let's start small. Truman recently acquired a knight costume (not to be confused with his Halloween costume, which has yet to arrive). We've had a lot of "fun" playing Knight, Knight-girl, and Bad Guy. We'll let you figure out who gets to play which character.

Spring Break!

We had a busy spring break, spending the first weekend in NJ with family and the second back in Austin enjoying SXSW. Enjoy the pics!



Truman serenading the Groupps with someone's (Phoebe? Eli?) harmonica.



Dad and Truman down the shore. (Thank you, Reillys!)



Mom and T at the beach.


Cousins!


Aunt Alison and Uncle Paul enjoying quality time with their godson, Eli.


The country cousin on his way back to the Lone Star state (taking the airtrain from the rental car stop to Terminal C at Newark). Goodbye, NJ! We'll miss you.



Back in Austin, we enjoyed a visit from Grandmommy and Granddad.


Truman and Dad hanging out at the Peelander-Z kids' show during SXSW. (The snacks were Truman's. The beer belonged to Dad.)



Rocking out!



A surprise tour of the neighborhood fire station on the way back to the car, courtesy of Mr. Hunt. That's Truman with friend Tiernan Hunt. (Thanks, John!)

Snow Day

Daycare was closed today because of the "snow." Very little accumulation, but we went out for a short while this morning.


We *thought* Truman owned mittens. Instead, we had to improvise with saran wrap covered by socks. Kind of sad, really.



The world's tiniest snowman.


Truman surveying our handiwork.

'Twas the night before Christmas

Here's the scene at our house tonight:


Truman dictated his note to Santa, which reads, "Dear Santa: Happy Santa! Merry Christmas, Santa! Get some milk and some cookies. Goodbye."

And to all a good night!

A Backwoods Christmas

It's a Christmas miracle! (No, not the first photo with Santa, but the fact that we actually posted an entry on this blog.) A big thank you to our neighbor Ben, who took pity on us, the parents who always forget the camera, and documented Truman's first sit-down with the big guy.

I know what you're thinking: This child doesn't need another fire truck. The poor thing needs a pair of shoes! I would have preferred a more formal portrait, but we had to take what we could get. The photo op with Santa was courtesy of our neighborhood block party this afternoon. We all chipped in a bunch of money to get Santa for an hour, but it was worth it (plus, all of the money goes to the Ronald McDonald House). After much coaxing, Truman climbed up on Santa's lap and told him he wanted (drum roll, please) another fire truck.

As for the bare feet, they were thanks to the bouncy house that several more seasoned parents insisted we needed at the block party. (Truman ditched his shoes *and* socks.) What can I say? They do things big down here in Texas.

Stay tuned for a backlog of photos and news. Really!

It's a bird, it's a plane

It's Superhero week at Truman's daycare, and this is what greeted me at the door when I went to pick him up for his doctor's appointment today.


He kind of looks like a Mexican lucha libre wrestler.


Truman insisted on wearing his mask to see the doctor. He was a big hit in the waiting room. He wouldn't reveal his superhero name or special power, but he seemed at least to consider our suggestion: Paci(fier) Man.


The transformation begins...


...and he's back to being ordinary citizen, Mr. Adorable.

Sharks!

We went up to Dallas last weekend for Uncle Harvey's birthday. (Technically, I guess this post should be entitled "Uncle Harvey and Sharks." But I digress.) Grandmommy and Granddad took Truman on the DART train to the aquarium, where we met up with the intrepid travelers. Uncle Harvey graciously joined us for a couple of hours on his birthday. It was a lot of fun.


The flamingo "exhibit" is one of the first stops we made. They're more orange than pink. Who knew? And they eat something that looks a lot like Purina dog chow.



Best part of the aquarium hands down was the shark and other big fish tank, which you could actually walk underneath. Check out this shark swimming right over their heads!


Seemingly oblivious to the stingray just overhead.



Sh-sh-sh-shark!


Okay, NOW he's interested.



Truman posing with the birthday boy.



The Mitchell boys outside the aquarium.


The grandparents and Uncle Harvey with Mr. Adorable. A quick but very fun and eventful trip. Thanks, everyone!

Yeah, America!

Everyone's celebrating in our house, even the Sesame Street gang. Truman arranged this firetruck tableau this morning.

Happy Fourth!

Hope everyone's enjoying a great holiday weekend. Here's Truman modeling his new Target t-shirt (Paul's tired of supporting the Paul Frank empire, but our fashion options are limited). And yes, Truman has been wearing this shirt for three days straight (laundered at night). As Paul said, "It's got a limited shelf life, so we might as well milk it."



Close-up of festive July 4th crown that Truman made at daycare.



Another angle.



Swimming at Deep Eddy.*



First corn on the cob!* (Thanks to Uncle Harvey and Aunt Linda for the pig corn holders. But very confusing to Truman.)



An older, random shot, but too good to pass up.


*In the interest of full disclosure, these shots were taken on Memorial Day. But chances are we'll be doing similar things on the 4th. Enjoy.