I have several nieces and nephews. My brother-in-law & sister-in-law have four boys. My other brother-in-law and sister-in-law have a boy and a girl and my sister has a boy and a girl.
I always wanted to be one of those aunts that the kids wanted to hang out with. I find it difficult to cultivate that kind of relationship because we live far away from all of them.
When they are small, they are all so sweet. The little things they do really make your day. Below are some of my fondest memories - the ones that really made my day.
Moment 1 -
My sister lives in Arizona so we don't see her often. My nephew, Atticus, is all about Grandma. I think she is his favorite person - EVER. My mom & I went out there when he turned 2. We were walking out to the car and Atticus stopped and turned around and started walking to us (me & mom). My mom didn't want to carry him because he was too heavy for her to lift so she kind of hid behind my sister. Not to worry - he walked straight to me and said 'up, up, up?'.
Moment 2 -
My brother-in-law & sister-in-law live in Houston so we don't see them often. My niece, Mia, is kind of shy. The shyness coupled with the fact that we don't see her often means that she doesn't come and sit with us (John & I) often. One Thanksgiving, they came up to spend the holiday with us. They stayed at our house so we got so spend some time with Mia. One evening, i had a small bowl of ice cream. Mia promptly came over and sat in my lap and shared my ice cream with me. You gotta love that.
Moment 3 -
My niece, Harper, also lives in Arizona. She's another one that I don't see near enough. When she turned 2, my mom & I went out there for her birthday. We spent a lot of quality time together. John & I went back to Arizona in July. When we pulled up in front of the house, Harper ran out of the house right up to me and stopped short. I think she wasn't sure what my reaction would be. I opened my arms and said "Well come on" and she jumped into my arms and gave me a big hug. How can you not love it when they come and jump into your arms that way.
Moment 4 -
When John & I first started dating, I went to dinner with his family at a Chinese buffet. We met his family there. When we got there, Paul, who was about 2 or 3 at time, ran to John yelling "Uncle John!" and jumped into his arms. I think that was the the sealing of the deal for me.
Moment 5 -
My dad recently passed away. My sister brought her kids with her to the service. My step-mother & I picked them up at the bus stop. Harper was asleep but was kind of waking up. My sister told her, "Sister's here to pick us up" or something like that. She promptly jumped out of the car and came straight to me.
Moment 6 -
I was going to take my final test for the CPA exam. John had gone to Houston to see a concert with his brother. The next day they were taking my niece to the zoo. John had called to wish me good luck on the exam. Mia got on the phone and told me they were going to the zoo. She told me they were going to see the meer cats. According to John, she wanted to talk to me.
John & I don't have kids so we relish the times when our nieces and nephews glom on to us for any reason. We love all of our nieces and nephews. But we both have one of these special memories with each of them.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Texas Longhorns vs OSU Cowboys
A few months ago, John & I were watching the Longhorn game on tv and we thought - wouldn't it be cool to go down to Austin for a weekend and see a game at UT? We thought it over for about 10- minutes then I had credit card in hand and I was buying tickets. Because of work schedules, etc, the only game that we could actually go to was the game this weekend.
Since the time we actually bought the tickets and game time, the Longhorns have decided that this is a 'rebuilding' year - meaning, they aren't doing very well. But, it's still a weekend getaway so....
We got on the road about 11 and headed out. It was a beautiful day.
We're always looking for a weekend getaway. When driving at home, we're in a hurry to get where we're going. I rarely pay attention to the Dallas skyline. This is downtown Dallas as we are heading South on I-35. One of these days, I'm going get my camera and my tri-pod and just drive around and take pictures. It's hard to get a nice photo in a moving car.
Fall foliage - Texas-style. Sitting in the passenger's seat going from Dallas to Austin, I noticed that we have some fall colors this year in our own home state. I saw some really pretty reds and yellows.
Lots of farmland between here and there.
As we get closer to Austin (or farther from Dallas), the landscape becomes very hilly and green. I thought this was a very nice view. (Pretend the cars aren't there and it becomes a nicer view).
So we stayed at the Marriot Renaissance Hotel over by the Arboretum. Not the location we were looking for but when I looked on line to book a hotel a few months ago, everything downtown was booked! Since we were only staying for one night, it would do. Our room had a view of the hotel atrium. Again, not great but - it beat sleeping in the truck.
Once we dropped off our stuff, we headed out toward the stadium. Rumor had it that if we didn't get there early, we were going to have a hard time parking. So, the plan was to head over there, find a place to park and then find a place to eat. Luckily, we found a great parking spot not far from the capital. Unfortunately, we discovered that the only thing college kids want to eat is pizza from chain restaurants.
We found a sandwich place and grabbed a bite and then went walking around the campus. Here's the University of Texas Tower. I didn't realize that you could go up. It's mesmerizing.
I thought the only place they actually printed the Onion was in Madison.
We decided to head over to the stadium and hang around there until kickoff. When we got to the top there was a beautiful view of the campus. The sun was beginning to go down.
Depending on the angle of the camera, you could get a really pretty glow of the sunset.
Hanging out before the game.
This was one of my favorite pictures. This was right before the sun fully set.
We were way the heck up in the nosebleed section. Overall, not really bad seats. We could see just fine but it was pretty cold up there.
In some cases, it was hard to distinguish the Texas fans from the OSU fans because the colors were so similar. The only way that you could really tell them apart was because the OSU fans kept standing up and cheering. (Their team was winning.....)
It was pretty windy up in the stands too. Still, it was fun.
Right before kickoff.
We stayed through the half-time show. It was just pitiful! The game, not the band. At half-time, the score was 26-3 OSU. When we left our seats, this is what we saw. This picture does NOT do it justice. Taking pictures at night requires a tri-pod or a really steady hand, neither of which I had. This was the best one out of the 20 shots I took.
This one wasn't too bad. A little un-crisp but did I mention how cold it was?
Walking back to the car, you could see the capital building all lit up. There was one picture that I tried to get but it just didn't come out. I was walking past a glass building and there was the reflection of the capital in the glass. It looked really cool.
I kept trying to get a picture like this but my hands kept moving and I was getting junk - plus I was standing in the middle of the street so I eventually had to move when traffic started up. John drove me around to the other side of the building so that I was able to get this photo. Still, the picture does not do justice to reality.
The next morning after breakfast, we went back downtown to look around. I had never been to the capital so we decided to walk around there. It really is a beautiful building.
The cupola - looking up from the bottom floor.
So we were wandering around and found this room. This is where the state representatives meet.
The Texas Senate Chamber.
Sam Houston. So they had portraits of all the past Governors of Texas. No portrait of Rick Perry. We realized it was because he was still in office. You'd think that would be incentive for him to let someone else have a chance. As soon as he goes away, he gets a nice portrait on the wall.
I thought this was a nice view. I was on the second level up.
The Texas Supreme Court.
The library. You could look down into the room but you couldn't actually go in the room. Awe inspiring. John was saying that he wanted to get a law degree...
There are tours that you can take of the capital. They are about 45 minutes long. We were going to take one but we realized that we didn't have enough money in the parking meter. After we walked around the capital, we decided to head back home.
We are definitely going back. I hope the next time we go, we can stay a couple of days and we can stay downtown. I want to bring my tri-pod with me so that I can take pictures at night. The city is beautiful when it's all lit up.
Aside from the fact that the Longhorns lost, it was a pretty nice little get away.
Last thing: I love the Texas Marching Band. Here's the show they did before the game. It's about 2 minutes.
Since the time we actually bought the tickets and game time, the Longhorns have decided that this is a 'rebuilding' year - meaning, they aren't doing very well. But, it's still a weekend getaway so....
We got on the road about 11 and headed out. It was a beautiful day.
We're always looking for a weekend getaway. When driving at home, we're in a hurry to get where we're going. I rarely pay attention to the Dallas skyline. This is downtown Dallas as we are heading South on I-35. One of these days, I'm going get my camera and my tri-pod and just drive around and take pictures. It's hard to get a nice photo in a moving car.
Fall foliage - Texas-style. Sitting in the passenger's seat going from Dallas to Austin, I noticed that we have some fall colors this year in our own home state. I saw some really pretty reds and yellows.
Lots of farmland between here and there.
As we get closer to Austin (or farther from Dallas), the landscape becomes very hilly and green. I thought this was a very nice view. (Pretend the cars aren't there and it becomes a nicer view).
So we stayed at the Marriot Renaissance Hotel over by the Arboretum. Not the location we were looking for but when I looked on line to book a hotel a few months ago, everything downtown was booked! Since we were only staying for one night, it would do. Our room had a view of the hotel atrium. Again, not great but - it beat sleeping in the truck.
Once we dropped off our stuff, we headed out toward the stadium. Rumor had it that if we didn't get there early, we were going to have a hard time parking. So, the plan was to head over there, find a place to park and then find a place to eat. Luckily, we found a great parking spot not far from the capital. Unfortunately, we discovered that the only thing college kids want to eat is pizza from chain restaurants.
We found a sandwich place and grabbed a bite and then went walking around the campus. Here's the University of Texas Tower. I didn't realize that you could go up. It's mesmerizing.
I thought the only place they actually printed the Onion was in Madison.
We decided to head over to the stadium and hang around there until kickoff. When we got to the top there was a beautiful view of the campus. The sun was beginning to go down.
Depending on the angle of the camera, you could get a really pretty glow of the sunset.
Hanging out before the game.
This was one of my favorite pictures. This was right before the sun fully set.
We were way the heck up in the nosebleed section. Overall, not really bad seats. We could see just fine but it was pretty cold up there.
In some cases, it was hard to distinguish the Texas fans from the OSU fans because the colors were so similar. The only way that you could really tell them apart was because the OSU fans kept standing up and cheering. (Their team was winning.....)
It was pretty windy up in the stands too. Still, it was fun.
Right before kickoff.
We stayed through the half-time show. It was just pitiful! The game, not the band. At half-time, the score was 26-3 OSU. When we left our seats, this is what we saw. This picture does NOT do it justice. Taking pictures at night requires a tri-pod or a really steady hand, neither of which I had. This was the best one out of the 20 shots I took.
This one wasn't too bad. A little un-crisp but did I mention how cold it was?
Walking back to the car, you could see the capital building all lit up. There was one picture that I tried to get but it just didn't come out. I was walking past a glass building and there was the reflection of the capital in the glass. It looked really cool.
I kept trying to get a picture like this but my hands kept moving and I was getting junk - plus I was standing in the middle of the street so I eventually had to move when traffic started up. John drove me around to the other side of the building so that I was able to get this photo. Still, the picture does not do justice to reality.
The next morning after breakfast, we went back downtown to look around. I had never been to the capital so we decided to walk around there. It really is a beautiful building.
The cupola - looking up from the bottom floor.
So we were wandering around and found this room. This is where the state representatives meet.
The Texas Senate Chamber.
Sam Houston. So they had portraits of all the past Governors of Texas. No portrait of Rick Perry. We realized it was because he was still in office. You'd think that would be incentive for him to let someone else have a chance. As soon as he goes away, he gets a nice portrait on the wall.
I thought this was a nice view. I was on the second level up.
The Texas Supreme Court.
The library. You could look down into the room but you couldn't actually go in the room. Awe inspiring. John was saying that he wanted to get a law degree...There are tours that you can take of the capital. They are about 45 minutes long. We were going to take one but we realized that we didn't have enough money in the parking meter. After we walked around the capital, we decided to head back home.
We are definitely going back. I hope the next time we go, we can stay a couple of days and we can stay downtown. I want to bring my tri-pod with me so that I can take pictures at night. The city is beautiful when it's all lit up.
Aside from the fact that the Longhorns lost, it was a pretty nice little get away.
Last thing: I love the Texas Marching Band. Here's the show they did before the game. It's about 2 minutes.
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