Time with Dad

With Mom gone, Dad fed us healthy treats!

This was a pretty different week for me and Hazel.  We had a lot of Dad-time.  Mom took Turner to Pennsylvania to visit Grandma, Grandpa, and the rest of the family, so Dad spent the whole week taking care of us.  It was pretty neat.

On Tuesday night, Mom told me that we were going to have to wake up very early to take her and Turner to the airport.  I took that very seriously, and made sure to wake everyone up at 4:30am (at least an hour before Mom and Dad had planned to wake up) by going into their room and reminding them we had to get to the airport.  After a quick breakfast, we all drove to the airport and dropped Mom and Turner off.  We were all very sad to see them go, but knew they would be back on Sunday.

After a while, we gave up and started cooking for ourselves

Dad still had to work a little bit this week, so after we dropped Mom off at the airport, he took Hazel to her school, me to my school, and then went to work for a while.  I had another great day at my new school, and even got to stay a little longer in the afternoon.  When Dad came to pick me up, he was in his car.  Mom's car was at the repair shop, which didn't matter since there were only two of us this week.  We then went and picked Hazel up - she had a great day too, since it was Splash Day at her school.  We came home and played with Dad for a while, and then Zhenya came over to watch us because Dad had a dinner meeting for work.  Zhenya let us stay up late, which was fun.

Mom's car was broken, so I drove this car all week

On Thursday, we had another swim lesson with Mr Bananahead.  Dad took us this time.  We did great!  The other mom there said she was almost crying because of how much I improved from my first lesson.  So far, we're learning to crawl along the edge of the pool, get on and off the wall, close our eyes when we get water on our heads, and how to blow bubbles and hold our breath.  Its pretty fun.  After swimming, we had lunch, nap, and quiet time, and then Zhenya came over again to watch us while Dad went to another work dinner.

On Friday, Dad took us to library story hour.  Mom had been taking Hazel to story hour, so this was the first time for me and Dad.  We all really liked it.  We danced when the lady played her autoharp, and we listed attentively when she read her story.  We even got stamps!  Afterwards, we got some great exercise by walking over to the supermarket.  On the way back home, my flip-flop broke.  Dad explained that its okay, sometimes things break.

With no Mom around, Hazel went all Lord of the Flies.

Dad had to go to work for a little bit on Friday afternoon, so Ella came over to watch us.  When Dad got back, he explained to us that Mom's car was going to be broken for a while longer.  Hazel told him that its okay, sometimes things break.  Anyway, since we needed to pick Mom and Turner up from the airport, we needed a car bigger than Dad's that could fit everyone, so Dad managed to find a suburban.  Hazel and I ran around in it and said it was the biggest car ever!  Friday night, we went to Taco Cabana for dinner and ate al fresco.

So this is what a Kolache is!

On Saturday, we woke up early to go to Houston.  Our plan was to visit the Houston Children's Museum and the Houston Zoo.  Dad had packed up the car the night before, so we were able to leave right after a delicious fruit-salad breakfast.  Hazel and I didn't mind the car ride too much, though we did make Dad stop in the middle of nowhere when I had to use the potty immediately.  It's good for Dad to be spontaneous like that.  Dad made another spontaneous stop at Chappell Hill, Texas, when a restaurant on the side of the road said it had the best Kolaches in Texas.  Hazel and I had never heard of a Kolache before, so Dad let each of us pick one out.  I got cherry and Hazel got poppy seed.  We agreed that Kolaches were really yummy.

We love Dad, but we sure miss Mom and Turner!

We told Dad that we wanted to go to the children's museum first, and it did not disappoint. First we went to the outside part and played in all of the water areas. We got pretty soaked, but it felt good since it was pretty hot outside. Then we went inside and Hazel painted her face. I played Connect Four with Dad on a giant Connect Four board (I won both times!) We played in a kitchen for a long time, and then played in a car for a while. Hazel's favorite part was probably the animal hospital, while I liked the water area the best. By the time we were ready to leave, it was almost closing time. So we missed the Zoo entirely, but it was okay since we had such a fun day. We drove back to Austin and had a quick dinner, bath, and went right to bed. We are excited to see Mom on Sunday.

All of the pictures from this post are from our day at the Children's Museum.