Helene really likes to read out loud by herself. As you can imagine some funny moments come about, especially when she is making up a story or poem on the fly. Below is a recent excerpt from one of her most lauded poems.
‘…”Mommy, can I have a piece of camomile tea?”
“Oh, sure, sure, sure, but first you have to pee!”…’
Be on the look out for the complete works on Amazon soon.
Helene finished her first swimming lessons two weeks ago at Houston Swim Club. She was promoted from a Guppy to a Goldfish, which is great, but I was just thrilled at the fact that she was relaxed and enjoying herself at the end of the 2-week session.
Here’s the back of Anna’s head, in the observation room. That’s Helene about to go down the slide.
The girls really know how to have a good time with a little pool, a little water, and a little slide to go with it!
We went to the Magnuson Family Reunion this past Saturday, at New Sweden Lutheran Church (where Aurélie and I were married). It was great to catch up with family we haven’t seen in a long time. We stayed around after the reunion and crashed at my cousin Kim’s house while the girls took a nap. Then we went to the Good Luck Grill for dinner and had a great time with washers and live music from Miss Lauren Marie.
The church
Down the tall tin slide
On the Merry-Go-Round
Trampoline at Kim’s house (church in the background)
Jaden picking up his washers
Helene working on her form
Typical near-Austin scene
Believe it or not, Helene just got her first haircut two Saturdays ago. She did very well, it was her mother that was the one almost to tears. Something about the ends never being the same. Oh well, must be a girl thing.
Before
After
Thank goodness they didn’t cut the cuteness off!
Went to the Miller Ranch on Saturday before Memorial Day and had a great time with the Millers, Detros, and the Fox’s. The horses were the favorite attraction, but picking dewberrys and playing in the water were a close second.
On Memorial Day we had a cookout at our house with some of the neighbors we’ve met since we moved in. We held it in the front yard which gave it a real community feel.
Two weekends ago Aurélie and I took a mini-vacation to visit our friends Matt and Kara in San Francisco. It was a wonderful trip thanks to some beautiful weather and our very gracious hosts.
We met up at San Francisco Airport and went for lunch at the De Young Museum. Afterwards we went up to the tower and looked down on the new building for the California Academy of Sciences, Golden Gate Park and a 360º view of San Francisco. We also took a nice stroll through the botanical gardens nearby.
In the James Turrell Sky Space
The canopy at the De Young
After that we went by the Cathedral of St. Mary’s of the Assumption. This is my favorite SF building, hands down. If you go to SF it’s a must see. I also had to drag everybody by a well known architectural bookstore: Stout Books. They have hard-to-find, rare and out-of-print books. I could have spent hours, but we wanted to grab dinner at Ghirardelli Square. When we got there we decided that we were still very full from lunch but not too full to have some Ghirardelli ice cream. This was quite possibly Aurélie’s favorite part of the trip.
After that we went to a lookout across the Bay near the lighthouse and watched the sunset. All around the area were abandoned bunkers and missile silos that made me want to poke around. Probably not a good idea though.
Sunday afternoon we went hiking in Tilden Park up to Wildcat Peak. From there we saw an amazing vista of the Bay Area. We had a very nice Mother’s Day dinner at an italian restaurant nearby, and we finished up the day with a few rounds of Settlers of Catan.
We took it pretty easy on Monday. The girls went shopping in downtown Walnut Creek (where Matt and Kara live) and I took the BART in to SF to see a few more sites. Like most vacations it was too short. But it was great to see our good friends and experience a great area of California.
