Sometimes...

you just have to scratch!

 And say a big "Cheese!" when you get caught!

When Mom and Dad are sick...

there's a bed in the living room and lots of movie watching!  This mattress also saw a lot of jumping and gymnastics that week!

Trip to Conroe

A few weeks ago, we visited Conroe to see my family since we haven't seen them since....I don't know when!  Troy was already in Houston, so he took the van and I flew to Houston with the boys.  It was fine, an adventure, but fine.  Security on my own was the worst part, with the removal of all shoes and jackets and the folding of the stroller that no one wanted to ride in anyway.  We were actually a little worried we wouldn't make it all since the weather was horrible and all other flights that day, before and after, were cancelled!
We stayed at my grandparents house, which the boys always love.  Friday morning Troy got a surprise day off since the roads were icy.  It snowed at our house in San Antonio but none in Conroe; the boys were bummed but recovered with the promise of watching the Bubble Guppies on TV with Grandma.  Troy and I even got a mini "date" to Target all by ourselves.  Staying with the grandparents always lends itself to lots of time to visit with all the fam, including Mom and Don, Taylor and Jacob, and Aunt Cathy.  This visit, we even got to see Charlie and Jennifer, a rare treat!  We were also able to have breakfast with my dad; I'm glad the weather didn't prevent us getting to see him.
On Saturday, Gigi and Mr. Don planned a day for us at the Woodlands Children Museum. It was crazy crowded but the boys didn't seem to mind.  Jacob got to join us too.  Only 2 pictures since keeping up with all 4 of them was hard in the crowd.

We cut our trip a little short and travelled back to SA on Saturday night.  The boys just weren't sleeping well, and we realized we had a lot to do to prepare for our Super Bowl party (and the flu week that followed.)

An update on life...

Now that I'm finally finished with our Austrlia posts, I guess I should update what we've been up to since we got home.  The last 6 weeks have flown by and the camera has not seen much love...Troy has spent 2 weeks working with a client in Houston, which has made days long and tiring for me.  Thankfully, our church family jumped in to help out and give me a break when I needed.  We think Troy's home until mid-March and then may have to go again.
The week after we got back, we found out that baby #4 is a GIRL!  I've struggled through 3 name books and we're working (slowly) on narrowing down the name list.  It's been kind of stressful, honestly!  I went baby to the baby dr last week, and she's still measuring on the large side.  We'll do an ultrasound in early April and then make a tentative birth plan after that.  I took my gestational diabetes test early and passed, thank goodness.  I also gained 8 lbs last month to make up for my early weight loss.  There was a lot of junk food and stress eating while Troy was away!
Lachlan had his 18 month appt last week.  We also saw Dr. Gulde early in January, when we learned he had another ear infection and one his tubes fell out on our trip.  Let's hope we don't have to replace it!  Lachlan weighed in at 24lb 4oz (25th %), 33 1/4 inches long (75th %) and his head's in the 90th%.
Another big milestone at the Gibbins house is we started potty training Jonas.  Now, this journey has been very different from Reef.  Jonas is a much different guy and is VERY stubborn.  That being said, he's done amazingly well.  I was ready to throw in the towel on day 2, when he was still refusing to wear underwear at all!  Troy carried us through and we're pretty much trained during the day.  He doesn't like to be made to go and really doesn't go that often, but we haven't had an accident in almost 3 weeks.  Nights and naps will come later though; he's just not there yet...
Last week, Troy and I both had the flu and were miserable.  Luckily it hit us on different days, so he was over the REALLY bad day when it got me.  We suffered through and are enjoying getting back to normal this week...
Pictures of something soon, I promise.

Australia Wrap up

I feel like I've dragged out the Australia trip for WAY too long, so I'm just throwing in all the other cute pics of things we want to remember about the trip.
This AMAZING pool was walking distance from Troy's parents' house.  I only wish we had visited more often.  It's indoors and fully heated too!
Jonas liked to stick to the little kid side.

 Reef enjoyed the "deeper" side more.  It wasn't really deep though, had a very gradual slope.  He was sad that he was too short for the big slide, though.  He made some great progress in going under water on our last day.  With just one more day, I think he would've been swimming.  Hopefully a sign of good things to come in swimming lessons in June.

 Troy got to spend a guys' day hiking after my girls only shopping day.  He had a great time and they saw some beautiful beaches.  The guy in the red shirt is Troy's cousin Greg who stayed with us a couple years ago, minus some of his big hair.

 Troy's parents' house is right on the water.  From their yard, you can see (and smell) an island with tons of pelicans on it.  Jonas became obsessed with going to that island.  Luckily the neighbors let us borrow their kayak.

 They were definitely not thrilled with us invading their territory.  Look at the babies!

 Lachlan didn't get to go on the trip and wasn't happy about it.  He did get to sit on the boat when we got back, though.

 For our anniversary, Troy and I spent one night in a nice hotel in the city.  We caught the train in early one morning and came back the next afternoon.  It was a great get away; thanks for keeping the boys, John and Daphne!  This is the view from our hotel room.

 Obviously, one of our main priorities was seeing family during our trip.  We got to spend a lot of time with Tanya and Bernie and their boys.  We also got to visit Troy's cousin Yvonne, her (American) husband Eric and their 4 kids.  No pictures of that visit, but we had a great time.
We also enjoyed seeing the Mullins cousins on various occasions.
The Potters came to J&D's house for a sausage sizzle.  The kids all had a great time eating and playing outside together.  I thought this group pic turned out pretty good.

 As many of you know, Troy promised the big boys ice cream every day in Austrlia.  They did NOT let him forget this promise and ate way more ice cream that I really wanted them to.  Lachlan caught on after about a week and made sure to get his fair share. 

 Just a fun morning of playing at home.

 Reef loved climbing the trees at Oma and Opa's house.

 Saying "cheese" and eating his first ice cream cone at the same time.  He was IN LOVE.

Christmas 2010

We really enjoyed our Aussie Christmas this year.  On Christmas eve, Santa rode through town on his motor cycle.  The kids didn't get to talk to him but enjoyed waving at him.

Later that night, Reef and Jonas left their traditional lamingtons and milk for Santa.  They were careful to leave just 2, so they could have one the next day!

Christmas morning was a little chaotic with 3 guys to open presents.  After a breakfast of fruit loops, they were itching to see what was in Santa's sack.  This is by far Reef's favorite present.  It's a game and lego rolled into one.  He played with it forever before even worrying about his other stuff.

 Lachlan wasn't sure about it all but did like opening his presents with Oma.

For some reason, there aren't any good pictures of Jonas.  HIs favorite present was a new train, Rhenaus.
After present opening and a short nap for Lachlan, we all headed down to the beach.  I loved it and thought it was a great way to spend Christmas, but the boys were anxious to cut the trip short and get home to play with their new stuff.  Oh well...
That afternoon/evening, we headed to Tanya's for a big family gathering.  It was fun for the boys to be with their cousins and also to see the grown-up cousins that we haven't seen for a while.  The food was different from American Christmas food, but still really good.  I don't think I'll ever be a fan of the Christmas pudding though...

Parks

We spent a lot of our time at the area parks during our trip.  Australia doesn't seem as concerned about being sued for playground injuries so a lot of their equipment was cooler than what we have in the states.

This park was about a mile walk down the waterfront from Troy's parents house, so we were able to walk instead of loading up the car.

While at the park the first time, we saw some people cutting up their catch of the day.  The pelicans were interested too.  The big boys even got to feed them the fish heads!  Look how huge that bird is, it looks like it could eat Lachlan!

This park required a drive but was brand new; they had the grand opening while we were there.  The first visit was in the afternoon but we quickly learned that the morning would mean less crowds.  Since Lachlan was waking up so early, there was plenty of time for a quick trip to the park before his morning nap.  I'd say we visited it at least 5 times, with Reef asking everyday if we could go to the space net park.

  There was so much to do!  Lachlan and Jonas preferred the preschool section with sandboxes, swings, and pirate ship.  They also enjoyed the music section, rock climbing wall, trails, and bumpy bike bridge.

This is a space net, in case you were wondering.  That tiny red spot in the middle is Reef.  He LOVED climbing on this thing.  There were trampoline sections throughout and a tall slide on one end.  We need these things in American parks!  This one is the largest in Australia.

On his way up to the slide.  I even got Jonas to try climbing up there, but he only did that once.  It was hard work.



This park also had grown up exercise equipment around it so that adults could work out while their children played.  Jonas didn't care that it was for adults.  He liked this one and one that he likes to call the "bum smacker".

Reef even tried out this zip line and loved it.  He's usually a little scared of trying new/scary things like this, so we were really proud he gave it a try.  And he loved it!

Sorry about the formatting this time.  Blogger has an upgrade that I'm not thrilled with and don't know how to fix it like I want...A few more Australia posts to come later...