Cow Appreciation Day 2011

Of course we participated in this wonderful and lesser known holiday for the second year in a row. We are the Gonzalez family and we love free food. We are proud of our efforts. Once again we all got dressed up as cows, and once again we each got a free meal at Chick-fil-a. People looked at us like we were crazy (our Chick-fil-a is in the mall), but really I think they're crazy for paying for their lunch.

This was one cute cow I must say. And this picture below I thought was just perfect and cow-y with his mouth all full of chicken nuggets.

And, yes, I brought out the udder once again:

Addie, for some reason, did not want to cooperate and get her picture taken but here's the whole gang with the real Eat Mor Chikin cow. Andres is patiently waiting for his high five.

Andres is Eighteen Months!

Our little man is not so little anymore. Well, he hasn't really been little for a long time, but now he's starting to act like a big kid too instead of just a giant baby. It amazes me how fast they learn things at this point - at least something everyday. Just for an example, here is the conversation in the back of the car on the way to church today (and I just listened and smiled):

Andres: Da (dog - pointing to the stuffed animal Addie was holding)

Addie: No, Andres, this is not a dog. It's a PUPPY.

Andres: Da

Addie: No, Andres, PUPPY. Can you say puppy? PUPPY.

Andres: Puppy.

Addie: Yes, Andres, very good, puppy!

Andres (pointing out the window): wah-da?

Addie: That's a TREE, Andres. Can you say tree?

Andres: Tee.

Addie: Good job, Andres, tree!

2 minutes later he was asleep, but it was adorable while it lasted.

When we got home I took some pictures and caught some pretty good Andres faces. In each one of these I'm telling him to say cheese for the picture and this is what I got.

Here's a little more info on our Andres at 18 months:

• He loves to read books, both by himself and to be read to.
• He loves cars, and will make car noises all over the house with his cars or his little firetruck.
• He loves balls and will point them out everywhere.
• He also will point out any flowers that he sees; he loves them.
• He likes to throw things (we've been working on this and have made progress in that he at least doesn't throw things AT people as often).
• He likes to eat most things, and he still loves milk in his sippy cup.
• He sleeps well at night, but his napping is somewhat sporadic.
• He loves his sister Addie (one of his favorite words); to play with her, and to tease her.
• He is somewhat of a Mama's boy and is a really good cuddler.
• He always wants to call Grandpa on the phone. He'll pick up any phone he sees and says "a-yo! Papa!".
• He will sing along with Addie sometimes and his favorites are popcorn popping and the ants go marching.
  

Nauvoo

I've been waiting for a great desire to say something wonderful about the pictures that I have had uploaded for this post for quite some time. So I'm sorry if my ramblings aren't very enthusiastic. I wanted to just say "We went to Nauvoo, here are some pictures", but I know I'll be mad at myself when it comes time to publish the blog again and I have to remember what happened. It really was a wonderful trip that we had with Grandma and Grandpa Gonzalez. It was a very hot day, but the kids did great. The first order of business was the temple. First Jason and I were able to go, and then we switched off with the kids and they went. So, we decided that while we waited for them to get out, we would start exploring.

We had to walk down the hill and pretty far (the whole time wishing there were more trees to provide some much needed shade) and didn't make it to our desired destination, but we did find a very cool place set up for kids to play pioneer games and dress up. And there were picnic tables in the shade for us to sit at. The picture below shows Jason's reaction when we realized that someone would have to walk all the way back up to the temple because we had the only keys to the rental car.

Andres had fallen asleep in the stroller during our journey, so we parked him under a tree and Addie and I explored while Dad very generously offered to walk back up the hill.

Is this a cute little pioneer girl, or what?

She watched the older kids with these and wanted to try to carry the water too. We didn't have much water in there, but this second that it took to take the picture was about all she could handle.

These little cabins they had set up were her favorite, though. One was set up like a schoolhouse and the other like cabin complete with little cradles and dolls. Addie had SOOO much fun.

When Andres woke up he joined in the fun as well. He mostly just liked the little chairs that were his perfect size.

I'm not really sure what the sheep were all about, but Andres thought they were fun.

Grandpa and Andres:

Grandma dancing with Andres and Jason dancing with Addie.

Some of the games set up at the Pagaent:

The temple as seen from our seats at the pageant. It was really good, but both of the kids were so tired that I was thinking it was too long more than I was thinking it was entertaining or uplifting. But I sure am glad that we had a chance to see it while we are here.

Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa Gonzalez just finished thier mission and so they came for a visit - we were so excited! Their plane didn't arrive until late so we didn't even tell the the kids that they were coming that day. So when they woke up in the morning they had no idea who was downstairs. The looks on thier faces when they heard someone coming up the stairs were pretty funny. At first they were scared (who is down there?) and then they saw Grandpa coming up the stairs and they just stared. Then they realized it was the guy from the computer! They didn't really know what to do. It was priceless.

We had a lot of fun and forced them to do the same. We introduced them to the Wii and were surprised how much Grandma enjoyed some of the games. Here they are sword fighting each other.

After church Grandpa was snacking on some chips and Andres knew exactly what to do. He crawled up right next to him and smiled. Sharing a favorite Gonzalez snack. Andres really likes his Grandpa and didn't appreciate the times he would try to take a nap on the couch. We didn't get a picture of it, but Andres would try to wake him up by climbing up and giving him a kiss. It was pretty funny.

We went to the zoo and had lots of fun despite the heat. The had these awesome fans throughout the park that sprayed a light mist as you walked by. There were also animals there, but most of them were hiding inside or where we couldn't see because it was so hot.

On the way home we got some ice cream - yum!

Here's a special treat for anyone who knows this guy. He tried on Jason's blue suit and was excited that it fit so he was acting all sorts of cool.

Vacation Day 4 - Texas Roadhouse

The highlight of the day was actually not the food, which wasn't very good. We did however splurge and buy a $9 slip 'n' slide. And it was sooo much fun. For everyone. It was a really hot and humid day and I was particularly ready to play in the cold water after having run an errand in the car with no a/c. So here are a few pictures of our fun time outside trying to cool off.

After our fun, Jason was reading the instructions for our new purchase and we found out that none of us were technically supposed to be using the slip 'n' slide. "Not intended for adult use or for anyone under the age of 5." We still enjoyed it. We did use it again a few days later and it broke while no one was even on it. Oh, well. We got some good use out of it.

We tried to recreate a Texas Roadhouse meal that Jason likes. The rolls and cinnamon-butter were pretty good even though the butter was too sweet despite having put in only half of the honey and sugar that the recipe called for.

Country Fried Steak and Mashed potatoes. The only thing on this plate that was even worth eating was the mashed potatoes and that recipe was actually a copy of Applebees Garlic Mashed Potatoes. The gravy was OK. I had found a recipe for a cream gravy and it was so bland, that we ended up making a peppered gravy mix we happened to have. Like I said, it was OK; the taste was better than the other one I made, but the packet was a 'just add water' type thing and all I could taste was our nasty water (for some reason it tastes worse sometimes than others). And the steak was just not good. Which is alright because this was the most unhealthy of our vacation meals and now we'll never be tempted to make it again.