Playing catch up and apologizing...again.

So again, I'm a bad blogger because I've broken the first and most important rule of blogging....NOT BLOGGING. Saying I've been busy isn't really an excuse, because it gives you lots to blog about, especially when your blog is your journal/scrapbook. So, here are some of the things we've been busy with. I'm hoping that including photos will buy me some forgiveness.

First, we got a fish tank...yeah!? As most of you know, we're not a cat or dog family. We love them, but we love breathing more. For me, it's an occasional runny nose and itchy eyes. Reily does great with both cats and dogs. Ron and Jacklyn however don't do so well. So, after Jacklyn came to us very distraught because she doesn't have a pet "like everyone else", we went and bought this. It's not a very good picture (you can't even see the fish), but you get the idea.

Jacklyn had her first school dance. They originally had a sixth grade only dance planned, but with hurricane Ike (something I should have blogged about), it was cancelled. This was an all school dance which meant sixth, seventh and eighth graders. We were just a little anxious;). Jacklyn went to the dance with her good friends Ally and Karly. She had a great time and when an eighth grade boy asked her to dance she did the right thing...she said "sorry, I've got to go" smiled, waved goodbye and ran away. Good girl!

Reily started lacrosse this summer. I'm still learning about the sport, but what I do know about it is that it's really rough. There's a lot of plowing into each other and hitting with the sticks. Things that I think should be illegal aren't and it makes me nervous to watch. Anyway, you can imagine my fear watching Reily's high school team scrimmage against South Western University's team. They were all so big! I was convinced that they were thinking how much fun it was going to be to beat up on a high school team. Our boys did come home with their fair share of bumps and bruises, but the college boys really took the time to teach and have fun with them. I thought I'd include a photo of Reily and the guy he was positioned against. This kid/man had to have been 6'3".

This past Saturday, my girlfriend called to ask if I wanted to go with her to Austin City Limits. Of course I did! We took the kids and went the first year we were here and it was fantastic. If you love live music it's for you. If you hate large crowds more than you love live music, it's best to stay home. For those of you who don't know about Austin City Limits, it's a three day concert at Zilker Park with eight stages and 130 bands. Everyone brings chairs and blankets and crashes in front of the different stages to see the musicians they want to see. In between all the stages there are activity centers for the little kids, food and drink stands and lots of merchandise for sale. Reily went with a friend and his family, so while I was dancing to Robert Plant at the AMD (Advanced Micros Devices) stage, Reily was rocking out to Beck at the AT&T stage. We both had a great time and we'll for sure go again as a family next year.