A little late

Tyler's Winning 1 Year Old Photos

The landslide favorite was this photo:



And my personal favorite (and the photo we decided to put on the wall as his official 1 year old photo):



I ordered prints of both of these - thanks for voting!

Want to swing?

Here is a photo of Andrew playing outside today on the swingset:



... and that is going to have to hold you over for one more day until I finish my update on the boys!

Iron Dreams

I have mentioned before in this blog that one of my life goals is to complete an Ironman, and while I am a gutsy girl, I am not crazy enough to just sign up for a full Ironman without first testing the waters, so to speak. My plan has always been to try a Half Ironman first, just to see ...

Anyhow, I picked up a free magazine at the MS 150 Expo that was spotlighting triathlons and I stumbled across a half Ironman with a name that I could not resist -- the Longhorn Half Ironman! It is in Austin - of course - and is in October. I was planning on waiting until March for a half Ironman in Galveston, but I think this just might be the race for me.

I have also learned that half Iron races are simply called Ironman 70.3, just in case your were wondering.

Let the training begin ...

http://www.ironmanlonghorn.com/

MS 150

What happens the third weekend in April every year? That's right - the MS 150! This was our first ride in 5 years and it was also the first time for us to ride with a group of friends and on a large team. The team provided lots of creature comforts and the friends provided lots of entertainment! Who knew that boys could whine so much! ;)

Despite the strong headwind and cold temps Sunday morning, we survived!

Ryan on his 34th Birthday!


The bathroom line at the second stop


Team Mountain Bike (Doug, Anne, Ron, Ryan and Joe)


Morning - Day 2 (Ron and Joe showing off their ultra-slick gear - check out the duct tape on the pants!)


Team Mountain Bike - Take 2 (Ryan, Joe, Anne, Ron and Doug)


Anne & Doug


Ron - taking a break


... the tape survives


Ryan


Joe


Last stop before Austin

Snow in April!

Last week I had the opportunity to go to Calgary on business and had the good fortune to ski Sunshine in Banff. That's right -- skiing in April! Since this was only my second time to ski ever I was a bit nervous that I would have forgotten everything I learned in Tahoe in March, but much to my surprise not only had I not forgotten how to ski, but it seemed to come even easier this time. I started the day with a morning lesson (which I highly recommend) and by the end of my lesson I was skiing down a blue run! Whoo Hoo!

After lunch I was convniced by the group that I was with to go to the top of the mountain to check out some killer views via a couple of blue runs. The view was totally worth it and I made it down the mountian ok, albeit slowly. I still much prefer the green runs, but it is good to know that I can fake my way down a blue if I have to.

We went to the top of the mountain to check out the viewing deck of a very challenging section of the mountain called Delerium Dive. You have to ski in pairs and each person has to have an avalanche signal device on so that you can be easily found if you cause an avalanche and get buried -- yikes! As we were taking in the view it started to snow a bit which was neat, I am a Texan after all. As we were heading down we saw a couple about to take the dive and I kid you not the woman was in her late 50s! I can only that I am in that good of shape and have that little fear when I get there. Crazy!

Anne in Banff


View from Delerium Dive


Anne & Leah at Delerium Dive


Banff


Thursday morning I woke up early hoping to run the Bow River before catching my flight home and I woke up to this (view from my hotel room):



That's right -- "heavy snow" hit Calrgary Thursday morning. Despite the fact that it slowed down traffic and the airport was congested, it was neat to see all of that snow! In case you were wondering, I hit the treadmill at the gym instead of running by the river. It was much warmer to see the snow through the window than to be running in it! :)







I missed my boys, but Daddy did a great job taking care of them!

The suitcase on the stairs

The title of this post is another reference to Everybody Loves Raymond. There was an episode where Ray and Debra got back from a trip and a piece of luggage was left on the stairs. After a week of stepping over it, they get into a huge fight about the luggage on the stairs. Doug and I often reference something becoming "luggage" when we put something off or one of us is waiting for the other to do something like the dishes, etc.

All of this is to say, that the post has become luggage for me. The longer I wait to post, the more information I have to post about, the less I want to post because I know the update is going to take FOREVER ... those of you with blogs know that I am talking about!

Thanks for bearing with me with that long intro, and now for what you have been waiting for - the long overdue update:

Easter

The Easter Bunny came to our house (and to that of my parents and Doug's parents) this year and left some pretty cool stuff for the boys. Andrew thoroughly loved collecting eggs (filled with all sorts of yummy goodies) and Tyler enjoyed watching. He was still feeling sick so he was happy just to sit back and watch the action.

Easter Baskets


Side note: Andrew was really excited about his bucket and immediately started asking us if we remembered the beach. He REALLY wants to go back. He asked to go repeatedly all morning long. Mommy, I remember California, the beach, the zoo, Disneyland, the River ... hmmm, what else, Mommy? Can we go to the beach? We are planning a beach / Disney vacation to Florida in August, but it looks like we will be taking a side trip to Galveston soon too!

Easter Goodies


Andrew collecting eggs


Tyler playing with his big present from the Easter Bunny (note the long hair)


Tyler is still fighting a cough and we got confirmation on Thursday that his ear infection has not gone away (that is what he was diagnosed with the Saturday after Good Friday when he was really sick). I was actually taking him to the doctor to get his 1 year old immunizations on Thursday last week(since he was sick at his 1 year old well baby visit) and we found out the his ear infection had not improved and now it is in both ears. We think this is why is has been favoring his pacifier lately which he had pretty much given up until he got sick at Easter. Needless to say, he still has not gotten his immunizations.

Tyler had a big first last weekend -- his first haircut! He was such a good boy for the stylist at Sports Clips. He didn't fuss at all - in fact, as you can see from the photos below, he looks like he is in a state of shock. He kept an eye on Andrew who was getting his haircut at the same time and he seemed to think, if Andrew can do this, so can I! He looks like such a big boy with his new haircut!

Tyler making his "Meet the Fokers" face


Tyler getting ready for his first haircut -- of course, we kept some hair for his scrapbook!


Mid-cut


Tyler pointing at his big brother


Post hair cut photo


In other exciting news, Doug sold his Explorer and bought a Suburban! He has been coveting a 2006 Suburban or Tahoe for a couple of years now (before the changed the body style) and we did an extensive search to find what he was looking for. It had to be a Z71 four wheel drive Suburban in white, silver or black with less than 25,000miles and it had to have the DVD, sunroof, On Star, heated seats, dual climate AC package. After searching the entire country we found 2 cars that fit his criteria, one in California and one in Louisiana. The one in CA had a bench for the second row instead of captain chairs, so it was never really in contention ...

Anyhow, we drove to La Fayette, LA and bought the Suburban last weekend and we have been loving it every day since!

Ta da!


I have good news and bad news to share about Major. Since my last update, Major ate dog food (instead of table scraps for 2 or 3 weeks straight). He ate with the excitement he used to and he was even finishing his food faster than Indy finishes hers. In one week he gained 6 pounds! The bad news is that despite eating well the next week his weight gain has stopped, so he is now at 51 pounds. The last couple of days have been hit or miss for food for him, so we are somewhat back to where we started, not knowing if he is going to eat at a given meal. He and Indy are going to be staying at my in-laws this weekend while Doug and I ride the MS 150, and he always eats well there (they don't spoil him at all ;) ...) so we'll see how the week goes.

Finally, this weekend was the annual bluebonnet excursion. With much bribery, we were able to get some pretty good shots of the boys. The flash didn't fire in some of the shots (I needed to change the batteries so the recycle time was pretty slow), so some of the photos came out dark. Oh well, what can you do, right? After bluebonnets we went to good ol' DQ for ice cream, as promised!


Awww ... one of my faves!








No good shots of me with the boys ... they were done cooperating by this point!




Phew! Now the suitcase is off the stairs!

Moore Yacht Spotting

In case you were wondering, the Apoise (the yacht that was outside our hotel in San Deigo), has found its way from Hong Kong to Australia to New Zeland to Tahiti! I have always wanted to go to Tahiti ...

Again, I would love to know who owns that yacht and what plans they have ... are they just traveling? How long have they been circling the golbe? Where is home? How do they decide where to go next?

The beaches of Tahiti sound nice right about now ...

http://www.yachtspotter.com/ysp2_ycard.php?foo=20061225

Moore Updates

My poor, sweet little Tyler is sick. He had a major stinky diaper right before bed last night and I told Doug, I bet he gets sick over night. Sure enough, around 6:00 this morning he started fussing and he didn't quiet back down like he normally does, so I went to check on him. He was sitting up in his crib surrounded by throw up and he was burning up. So, Tyler and I spent the entire day cuddled on the couch. He seemed to be comforted by sleeping on my chest, which I didn't mind at all because it was great bonding time and while I hated that he was feeling so puny, the cuddling reminded me of when he was an itty bitty baby. This bout of sickies brought back some scary memories of when Andrew was 14 months old and he spent 8 days at Texas Children's with high fever. He was originally admitted because he was throwing up and they were worried that he was dehydrated. Needless to say, I want to avoid a repeat episode.

On a brighter note, a certain yellow dog we all know and love has regained his appetite and we can see the result in his ribs. Don't get me wrong, he is still emaciated and skeletal, but this is a move in the right direction. He weighed in at a whopping 45 pounds tonight.

Now, I am going to end this post with a funny, albeit gross story (for the record, Doug doesn't want me to share this story, but I think it is ok because all kids do stuff like this). So tonight when we were putting Andrew to bed after we turned off the lights, sang songs, and finished our good night routine, Doug leaned over to kiss Andrew and noticed something in his mouth. Doug asked Andrew what it was, but since Andrew didn't give him a straight answer right away he told me to turn on the lights (you know being the worried parents not wanting him to choke on something). As soon as I flipped on the light, Andrew said, it's just a booger Daddy! Ewwwww! We laughed and then Doug asked for his kiss on his cheek! The only other experience we have had with Andrew and boogers was when he was about 2. He was picking his nose one day and Doug told him he needed to use a tissue. Doug grabbed a tissue to get the boogers off his finger and Andrew replied, "No, Daddy, I eat it!" We still laugh about that one! Probably because it reminds Doug of his favorite Everybody Loves Raymond episode where Robert's girlfriend eats a fly. At one point in the episode Ray is retelling what he witnessed and he says, "And she ate it!" On the occasion that our Tivo picks up a Ray episode, Doug always checks to see if is that episode.

Hope you had a good laugh and you are not too grossed out by the story ...

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

I fear writing this because I don't want it to become a self fulfilling prophecy, but I think that Tyler is going to be Trouble (notice the capital T!). This weekend he decided to climb the stairs by himself and tonight he tried to climb out of the bath tub and then he tried to climb out of his crib! Here we go ...

Oh, and a cute Andrew story too. He has taken to putting his point finger on his chin and tapping his finger when he is thinking about something, or so Doug says (since I have yet to see this). Where does he get this stuff? :)

Heavenly was, well, Heavenly!

Doug and I had the opportunity to take a trip to beautiful Lake Tahoe two weeks ago for a little Spring skiing at Heavenly and some fun South Lake Tahoe night life. The boys stayed in Texas with Mom Mom and Peepaw - this was our first trip away from both boys ... actually this was our first trip away from Andrew too!

We had a great trip and skiing was a blast (it was my first trip) and to top it all off, Allie and Marc drove over from the Bay area to see us on Saturday evening! It was so great to see them, especially since it was a last minute decision / realization on Allie's part that made it all happen.

Trip highlights:

- Anne and Doug taking on the Heavenly Flyer (zip line with speeds of 50 mph - video to follow)
- Doug surpassing Anne on skis after 1 hour even though Anne had taken 2 days of lessons (we have decided that I was over thinking it a bit, not like me at all ;) )!
- Dinner and casinoing with Allie and Marc, of course!
- Building a snowman and having a pseudo snowball fight with Douglas
- Walking to the beach at sunset to enjoy the view
- Staying at the Marriott right at the base of the Gondola and on the top floor of Harvey's Casino
- Learning to play craps (sort of)
- Dinner at the Sage Room

Needless to say, we had a blast and we can't wait to take the boys. We talked to Andrew every night and he asked us every night whether we were 'skeening' -- it was so sweet. I took video on the new camera of Doug on the Heavenly Flyer and we took video of each other skiing so that Andrew could see what we were doing. Now he asks me to show him the videos any time he sees the computer out! Speaking of video, the pair that went down the Heavenly Flyer before us was a news reporter and cameraman, so they actually filmed our arrival and then interviewed both of us -- we are going to be famous on the public access channel in Lake Tahoe!

Check out that view!


Artsy shot (tree in focus and mountains out of focus in background)


Another Artsy shot (or my attempt at least)


Allie (with Homer), Doug, Anne & Marc


Anne & Allie


Sweet Homes


Look at those cool kids


Anne & Doug on the beach at Sunset


Snow on the beach - now that is an interesting phenomenon!


More snow on the beach!


The lake at sunset






Anne - attempting a blue run (photo taken by the friendly ski instructor)


Doug is sooo cool


Look at me go!


Doug getting ready for his next run


Mugging for the camera


The view from our favorite run


Our snowman