working out

This is what's on my fridge. It's my goal. I'm thinking it's a long-term goal. Because there's no way I'm going to look like this anytime in the near future. Especially if I hardly go to the gym. I guess there's some truth to the rumor that simply buying a membership will not get you in shape. Madison & I met with the personal trainer last Wed. night. I TOLD him I was out of shape. But he worked me too hard, no teasing either. He actually stopped out training session early because I couldn't finish. I'm a weakling. I almost collapsed during one of the reps that worked out my legs. They felt like this picture.

SERIOUS JELLO.

I suffered for days afterward. I could barely walk & stairs were out of the question. Couldn't do them. At all. But slowly I've regained functionality again.

Now ask me if I've been back to the gym.

Boating with the Cole's

I bet you're thinking by the title of this post that our family went boating. Which is true. But we went with the Cole's. Another family of Cole's. A family that is somewhat, sorta related to ours... in a round-about-non-blood-related way. The man we went boating with (James Cole) has a half-brother that is also Scott's half-brother. (The half-brother has the same dad as Scott and same mom as James...)

So we're trying to get to know this new portion of the Cole family... James' family invited us to go boating with them this weekend since we all live in Round Rock. We had a great time getting to know them & their kids. We can't wait to do more stuff with them! The lake was very, very low of water & not many boats were out since it was 104 degrees. We had fun anyways!

We have eerily-weird similarities... for example we drive the same vehicle... this is James pulling the boat in his truck. Looks like ours, huh? Minus the boat, of course. Here is Ashley swimming with Scott & I in Lake Georgetown.

I was teaching Ashley how to use the camera. I'm a great model, huh? lol

This is Madison Cole. And Madison Cole.

Big Maddie & Little Maddie.

They are very much alike. Notice the resemblance? The open mouth?!

The boat was awesome! It's a yacht-class that kicks butt!

Here we are circling around to pick up Dillon in the water, notice how

tight the turn is? Sometimes I felt like we were on

a ride at the amusement park!

There was a cliff nearby one of the shores so Dillon & Madison climbed the

rock & jumped off. Here is Dillon showing us his moves.


Ashley took the camera for some candid shots.

Here is Scott enjoying the afternoon.

Remember... this is the view from an 8-year-old.

Here we are sitting on the boat.

An eight-year-old's view of her dad getting the raft ready.

And this is what she sees when she's behind me. lol

Ashley tried to get a nice picture of her older sister, Sydney.

This is Captain James Cole.

Getting the raft ready for all of us to ride on.

(See earlier post for pics & video of the raft.)

Morgan was so patient to wait her turn to ride on the raft.

The whole Cole family was so nice to let us ride on their toys first. :)

Isaac is the littlest mate.

He holds the nickname 'boy' since he's got 4 sisters.

How cute to hear "Come here Boy!" and he comes running!

Dillon & Isaac his it off great!

Everyone had fun in the water!!

Dillon on the wake-board:
Madison on the knee-board:

Dillon on the knee-board: Morgan, Sydney & Ashley on the tube:

And believe it or not.... Shelly!! and Andrea on the tube!

quite the ride....

Happy 15th B-Day Madison!!

Madison's 15th Birthday was last Tuesday!

Scott took her & this unruly bunch (ha!) to Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio for the day.

They managed to have a terrific time & not melt away.

Happy Birthday honey! You are growing up wayyyyyyy tooooo fassssssttt!

I didn't get to go to Six Flags too, so I left her this sticky-note birthday wish.... 15 'happy' birthdays for my 15-year-old. :)

just some stuff

We finally broke down & got a family membership to a local gym, Fitness 19. It's right up the road & the kids love it. We each get a session with the personal trainer who will set us up on a work out routine. I can hardly wait. NOT. Actually I know I need it... so 'no pain - no gain' right?

Speaking of gaining - this has been the image on my kitchen countertop since Dillon's personal trainer experience. Dillon wants to 'Beef Up' for Rugby so this is the new regime. He says it tastes like crap. Why do we do this torture to ourselves??? Why???

Here is a very handsome man in the oil industry I met at the Texas History Museum. We make a cute couple, right?

Okay, so don't freak out... this guy is a cutout picture! We saw this display at the Texas History Museum last month when we went with Damon & Jill & the boys. I thought it was a good idea to show our Texas appreciation to the hard-working fella. :)

I experienced a sad milestone with my car. Yes, the 10-year/100,000 mile warranty expired. Although I've only owned the car for 4 years I am successful at racking the miles up. That's okay... I love my car & will likely buy another Hyundai next time.

With the dry conditions here (read previous post) the snakes have been really making themselves obvious. They are searching for food... this little guy showed up in my neighbor's yard... it's a Red Stripe Ribbon Snake who will get about 18 inces long & eats frogs & fish.

Don't get the idea that I actually LIKE this little snake, I just felt bad for it. For about 3 minutes. Then I ran in the house & hoped that Nick decided to put it out of its misery. Yikes!

Dillon bought a TRUCK!!

Dillon has worked full time this summer & saved almost every penny to buy himself a vehicle.

This is what he found for his money... a 1995 Dodge Ram 1500 pick-up truck.

It needs a tune-up & some tires... but what a great deal for a first-time car! I mean, truck.

It has some (okay maybe ALOT) of spots where the paint has peeled away. It could use a new paint job. But who cares?! It's a TRUCK! (this is how Texan teenage boys think)

Here's the proud owner of the Ram Truck! (If you look real close you can see a really skinny me in the rearview mirror. Looking good! heehee)

So it's been really hot here...

We went driving on the southwest side of Austin yesterday & went across the bridge that crosses the Perdenales River.... except there was no river. It's dried up! Here is what it looks like now. See all the boat ramps sitting on the ground? The next 2 pictures are of Lake Travis. I took the first picture yesterday & the bottom one is live from from the internet today. Do you see the grassy areas out there? That is exposed lake bottom & grass is growing on it now!! The public boat ramps have all been closed on Lake Travis. Sad. It will take the lake a long time to refill.

Here is a story from the Austin American Statesman about our July:

July 2009 sets record for temperatures
By Juana SummersAMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Saturday, August 01, 2009
July 2009 goes down as the hottest month ever recorded, Lower Colorado River Authority meteorologist Bob Rose said Friday.
The previous record, with an average daily temperature of 89.1 degrees, was set in July 1860. Last month, daily temperatures averaged 89.5 degrees.
July 2009 had 26 days with temperatures over 100 degrees, and 42 days saw triple-digit highs so far this summer.
Highest temperature on a July day at Camp Mabry: 109 degrees, July 27, 1954
July 2009 rainfall total at Camp Mabry: 0.25 inches
Normal rainfall total: 1.97 inches

on the bright side

We had plans this week for my cousin & his band (she swings, she sways) to stay at our place on Monday night after they perform in Austin.
Sunday afternoon the Cole Family is doing the usual 'Guests-are-coming' cleaning, vacuuming, picking up, dishes... When I call to talk to John he announces that they'll be coming early! They'll be here after their show that night. Uh Oh. Now the Cole Family is doing the Super-Rush 'Guests-are-on-their way' cleaning.
Then we get the call. The picture below speaks for itself. Their van had a run-in with a guard rail. On the highway. On slippery roads. Behind a braking semi. In Houston. Crap.
Everyone is okay. The equipment sounds like it's going to be fine.
But they didn't make it to our house.

On the bright side we have a fantastically clean house & looks like the group found themselves a new van. :)

Cole Kids sing the Beatles

The first song on the program was 'Blackbird' where Dillon, Jared & Madison sing accapella. I think they did really well!

For those of you who are familiar with the way Scott sings... close your eyes when Jared sings the solo part... doesn't he sound JUST LIKE Scott?!

Madison sang with Amanda on the song 'Dear Prudence'. Madison had the harmony so you can't hear her quite as much, but I think they look WAY cute in their pychadelic tie-dye dresses! (jump ahead to 1:10-1:17 to hear Madison's quick solo part!)


The kids also sang 'Because' but the incorrect tape was played as their back-up music & the music had vocals on it already! The vocals completely drowned-out Dillon, Jared & Madison so it didn't turn out so good. But A+ for effort!

Come on... just one good picture?? Please??

Dillon's summer

Dillon has been busy, busy, busy.
He took a full-time summer position with a daycare - he is a 'teacher' in the after-school-aged (age 7-11) summer program. He has anywhere from 9-17 kids a day. The daycare hosts daily field trips which is where Dillon earns / enjoys his days... Movies, Bike Trip, Canoeing, Horseback riding, Swimming.... He's made really good money and has realized the influence he can have with these impressionable kids. Oh... the stories he tells.... Good & Bad....

Dillon has also been mowing yards in our neighborhood. He did some creative advertising & now takes care of 2 or 3 yards per week. He makes $35 - $40 per yard. Awesome!

His biggest goal this summer is to work on getting his driver's license (test is in November) and save money for a car. He's got ALOT of cash in the bank and looks at used cars ALL THE TIME. I'm proud of him that he's got a goal & has really worked on it. Good Job Dillon!!

Benefit concert

Our friends are hosting a benefit concert tonight; the theme is Beatles music. Jared, Dillon & Madison have been invited to perform! They have been practicing several Beatles songs and decided to sing "Because" and "Blackbird".
"Because" is a really hard song because there's not much background music. "Blackbird" won't be too hard for Dillon since he sang it for choir last year, but Jared & Madison will have to keep up.
Here's a video snipet of the kids practicing "Blackbird" last night.


I'll take some video at tonight's concert & post them soon. Wish them luck!!
The funds raised will go to a non-proft charity that will purchase school supplies for underpriviledged families.

shoe gold mine?

When I say "Salvation Army" you automatically think of the red buckets & bell-ringers at Christmas time, right? That's what I always thought until we discovered the Salvation Army Thrift Store. HOLY COW. This is a store that rocks. They sell gently used or rarely used clothing & stuff.... really GOOD stuff. At really GOOD prices...

For those of you who appreciate a geat bargain, you'll enjoy this little story:

Last Saturday: I bought a pair of almost new Salvatore Ferragamo shoes for $7.50. Big deal, right... never heard these... well, me either. I came home & looked online for these bad boys and guess what...?? RETAIL for these shoes is $670. Here's the proof... click on this link to see a similar shoe to what I bought (mine aren't red pony hair calf - mine are brown calf skin). Can you BELIEVE it?! A wide-eyed Madison told me that only celebreties buy these shoes (who else can afford them?!) and maybe they once belonged to ummm.... maybe Sandra Bullock? (she lives near Austin)

Yesterday: I was so excited about finding a really good deal on shoes last weekend that I went straight to the shoe rack. YESSSS!! I found another really good deal! I have no idea how much these cost retail, I'm just stoked about how awesomely cool they are. Check them out:

You are looking at my very own transparent pair of plastic tennis shoes. (Don't worry they're very well ventilated.) They cost me a whopping $3. I brought them home & immediately put them on with the only colored socks I could find... red Christmas socks. I'm going to have to rob some socks from Madison or invest in my own stock of colored footies. I LOVE these shoes.

Of course I had to try on several other pairs to see if there was something I overlooked. This video shows a pair of heels that were worthy of video but not to purchase.


You may not be able to tell how incredibly pointy they are. The pointy tip was a good 2-1/2 inches past my toes. I felt like Glenda the Good Witch from Wizard of Oz might have owned these once.