My man-child...

Grant & I were invited to Lake Travis this weekend on a party barge. What do you think Grant's favorite part was? Hmmmmm?

More from those funny kiddos...

• A few weeks ago, I was talking to one of our 8 year old swimmers. We were talking about how breaststroke is a lot like driving a car. There are lots of things to think about and you have to get to the point where it's second nature. I said, "You know Lucas, seeing as how you're a driver and all, right?" Lucas replied, "Not yet". Just for fun I said, "Well, when you get your license, what kind of car will you get?". Lucas replied, "Some kind of truck, hopefully with a king cab". "Lucas!", I said, "I'm a big fan of trucks! Something to put the dogs in the back of, huh?". To which Lucas responded, "Well, not me, I just want to make sure it's something big enough to put the wife and kids in".

• Last week one of my favorite two-year old classes was quickly falling apart. Henry had taken a big fall before swim class and skinned his elbow. Every time Henry climbed out of the water or climbed in, he cried about his hurt elbow. It was breaking my heart. I finally said, "Henry, if I gave you a gummy, would it help your elbow?". Henry nodded, so I opened up my little cup of gummy bears and offered it to Henry. Henry took the cup of candy and put his elbow in it. SO adorable! "Oh no, Henry, that's not what I meant", I said. I took out one red gummy bear and gave it to him. He proceeded to put the gummy on his hurt elbow. I couldn't help laughing and gave him another gummy bear to eat.

• I actually have another two-year old named Henry. Recently we were about to sing our "Pancake Song" and float on our back in the water. I asked Henry what kind of pancake he wanted to be. He decided he wanted to be an icecream pancake. I told Henry how yummy that sounded. We climbed in the water, sang our song, and then rolled back over onto our tummies to go back to the wall. I said, "Henry, you'd better swim to that wall because I want to eat your icecream toes!". With a piercing scream that left my ears ringing, Henry yelled, "No! PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE! Please don't eat my toes!". He was completely serious. I said, "Ok, Henry, you're safe this time." Sometimes I just can't help it.

Hurrican Ike blows in some company...

Usually hurricanes aren't known for the good things they produce. Houston, just having experienced Hurricane Ike, can attest to this. And while my heart broke for my neighbors to the east, Ike did bring a little fun my way.

Due to the sheer force that Ike seemed to be using to head towards the Texas coast, more Houstonians ended up evacuating than were originally predicted. Three of the thousands of evacuees came to my house! Sarah, Terry, and the little busy-body Micah rode out Ike at the Qualley apartment. Where I thought it would be a slightly boring weekend, came a couple of days spent with some best friends and one funny little boy. :)

The funniest part of the time spent with the Dominos was what I like to call Dogs vs. Micah. Poor Micah had only recently encountered his first dog and from what Sarah said, it wasn't a great experience. I, very ignorantly, thought that my two dogs would immediately love Micah and vice versa. That's not really how it happened. The dogs met Micah and barked...a lot. I don't know if they were scared of him and his busy-body ways but it got to the point that I asked Grant's brother to take them for the night. Even if Micah was interested in Maggie & Tex, those two were making it very difficult to form a friendship.

This was how most of the first day went until it was time for the dogs to spend the night at Uncle Duke's.

The dogs would slowly approach Micah, he'd get nervous. He's scream, the dogs would get nervous.

Grant, thankfully, took it upon himself to make life between the dogs and Micah a peaceful one.

By the second night, Micah and the dogs were old pals. Maggie still kept her distance a little bit, but she'd stopped barking at him. And Micah quickly learned that the way to Maggie's heart was through her toys.

Micah really liked Maggie's little red cone toy. He'd wear it on his head like a little shriner and then throw it for one happy little girl.

Micah quickly became very comfortable with the pups. Even to the point of growling with them while playing. I think this picture is Micah's way of showing his great power over the dogs. (Maggie's in the act of running because he's just thrown another toy.)

Surrounded by his new pals. :) Maggie's even smiling!

By the end of the weekend, Micah was giving hugs to the dogs...well, mainly Tex. I'm glad they finally came to an understanding. But more than that, they gave us a few days full of entertainment.

Safety Fair Fiasco...

Tuesday night, our swim school joined several other organizations at Fern Bluff Elementary School for a Safety Fair. The entire night seemed a little nuts and I think my personal experiences more than proved it.

First off, I had to drive to the elementary school straight from work. I quickly printed up directions and crossed my fingers that I'd get to my destination without any "hitch". (Those of you who really know me know that my strengths do not lie in directions. In fact...I'm what you'd call directionally deficient.) Thankfully, the directions were great. The problem ended up being the toll-roads. As I saw the first signs that the toll was approaching, I began digging around in my purse for a few quarters. I couldn't get to them since they were at the bottom of my immensely giant purse. When I looked up, I realized that I'd passed the lane for cash only and was in the Toll Tag lane. I threw my purse back into the passenger seat, looked up at the camera on top of the Toll Tag sign, held up my hands, and made a face as if to say, "Does this look like a face who's trying to rip off the Texas State Government?" I've hoped upon hopes that I might get a bill for the $.75, as ridiculous as that sounds.

At the Safety Fair, there were around twenty booths set up for the students and families of that particular school. One booth, which I thought was odd, was serving smoothies. I couldn't figure out how tropical smoothies tied into safety for young children, but hey...free smoothies! I was eyeing the tasty treats all night as I worked at our own booth. At one point, a mom approached me and began asking questions about the swim school. She was juggling several pamphlets and other material from past booths when suddenly she dropped her smoothie cup. It fell to the ground and landed right-side up. The only catch is that the fall made the smoothie practically EXPLODE from the cup. ONTO ME. I actually let out something that sounded like "Oh my!", as I felt smoothie hit my face, hair, shirt, shorts, and flip flops. It was literally dripping from my eyes and nose. The mom was mortified but I couldn't help laughing. How can you seriously expect to get mad when there's smoothie in your HAIR? I tried to calm the mom and tell her that it really did seem quite funny, but by the time I came back with papertowels, she was nowhere in sight. At least one of us got a good laugh over it. That's not true, my boss and several co-workers also seemed to find it pretty funny.

The final straw in declaring the night a strange and wacky one was actually my own goof. At times, I can only describe myself as an idiot and this was one of those times. At our own booth, we had a kiddie pool filled with plastic balls. Underneath the balls were small prizes that the kids could take home. Cute idea, huh? You'd think so until you find yourself asking a little girl, "Do you want to hunt for a prize in my balls?". Hearing my co-workers snicker and watching them shake their heads in amazement definitely declared Safety Fair night as the most ridiculous night I've had in a long time.

Nike Human Race...

On Sunday August 31st, Nike hosted the first ever Nike Human Race. The basic idea was to have 25 cities all over the world join together and run a 10k. Grant thought the concept was a really cool one and got even more interested when he found out that Austin was one of the 25 cities involved. He'd been running in preparation for races later on down the line but decided that he wanted to be part of this world-wide race.

There were 15,000 people who participated in Austin's race alone. Downtown Austin was PACKED with runners all wearing the red running shirt that Nike provided for the race. In addition to the runners, there were tons of family and friends there as support. I went with Grant to the race solely as cheerleader. I did not run...seeing as how I really actually hate running and have a tendency to get what my dad calls "wooby" when it's too hot outside. Sunday was especially hot and I could tell poor Grant was a little nervous about this factor as the time got closer for him to run.

As Grant and I walked to Congress Avenue and came up to the starting/finish line, we could hear Aaron Pearsol, one of the U.S. Men's Olympic swimmers, being interviewed by the hosts of the event. I think I swooned a little bit and then came to in time to hear him talk about his experience and his pride in Austin and what the city was accomplishing with the run. The hosts also announced that Lance Armstrong and Matthew McConaughey were running the race. I might've blacked out a little at that point from sheer celebrity bliss, but then snapped back into my wifely duties of encouraging Grant, giving him a big hug, and sending him on his way to find his place at the starting line. As easy as that can possibly be with 15,000 runners. I'm telling you, between Grant running this race and me possibly seeing some A-listers, it was an exciting Sunday!

Before the race started, the hosts talked about how a portion of the race was being donated to the Lance Armstrong Foundating, an organization that fights cancer. It was so inspiring to hear about what they're doing to help and I'll admit, I might've shed a tear or two solely out of pride. For all the bad that goes on in this world, it's nice to hear about the ways that people are trying to help and make a difference. Especially in areas where I've lost some very close loved ones. For those who are working to make cancer a thing of the past, I am thankful.

Back to the race...it started at 6:30pm and the first runner to cross the finish line came in at 34 minutes! 6.2 miles in 34 minutes! Believe me, all of the on-lookers were more than impressed. (It took me closer to 45 minutes to run HALF of that at the Race for the Cure last year. That's just embarassing.)

I was VERY excitied for the sixth runner to cross the finish line. LANCE! I got to see him! It was a very cool moment for me to be able to see one of the best athletes in the world. Wow...still can't get over that one.

Followed very closely was THE Matthew McConaughey. I could barely see him through a crowd of photographers but I was able to snap a few myself. My sister called shortly after I saw him and she was dissapointed to hear that no...his shirt was still on. Poor Erin, no shirtless picture of Matthew. ;)

The absolute best moment of the night, however, was when I got the call from Grant saying, "I'm near the finish line!". (Yes, he'd taken his cell phone in his Camel Pak. Just a safe idea with 15,000 people. How would he find me otherwise?) The host was at the finish line reading off some of the runners' names as they came across the finish line (via microchip on their shoe) and I was so proud when I heard "Grant Qualley" across the loudspeaker. He did it! A 10k in the hottest part of August...in Texas. AMAZING! It was one of my proudest moments. And what was the first thing he said on the way home?

"I sure could use some dinner from Wendy's".