Our Trek Through Texas

Well, we recently returned from a 1 week adventure through the Southwest.  We drove into Texas to see Mary and Michael in Del Rio and Sarah, Dom, and Mia in Houston.  The driving a little excessive, but it was worth it to see the family! :)

Our first stop was in Del Rio, TX, where Mary and Michael were fabulous hosts.  We traveled around the city and saw the Del Rio sights.  We also experienced Lake Amistad and it was a blast! Barley was unsure at first, but with some coaxing he managed a little swimming. 

We also ate at some cute local spots around town, including Memo's. We had some fun and did some acro in the grass outside of Memo's, and when we went inside, the patrons gave us a round of applause for our performance (we didn't know they were watching... or could even see us!)

Tommy got into the Texas spirit and almost walked out of the store with the lasso :) See for yourself how good he is with the lasso.

 

 



Thank you Mary and Michael for a great trip!! :) You guys were great hosts and we had a blast in your small world of Del Rio! :)

After Del Rio, it was on to Houston for some more family visits.  When we arrived, Mia was VERY excited to see Barley! He was pretty excited too, at first, but eventually I think her constant "Doggie!"-ing got to him.  Our entire visit, he was very patient with Mia, which was very comforting :)

 Our first morning was spent at the Houston Zoo. It was fairly big but very well-kept! Here's a shot Tommy took of a jaguar mid-jump.

 









Tommy and I went to the climbing gym in Houston. It was pretty nice, but we are very spoiled at Rocks and Ropes in Tucson.

 Sarah made me a birthday cake. It was not just ANY birthday cake, but a Kennedy favorite... chocolate parfait cake! It was bowl-lickin' good!

Then it was off to Galveston. Barley loves the ocean!

 A little ocean yoga :)

Mia loves her uncle Tommy!

She loves him so much that she feeds him bagel chips without him even asking!

And then she stuffs them in his mouth until he can't fit anymore :)

 Sarah and Dom have these great bamboo floors but are too soft to withstand Barley's claws, so we bought him booties to wear around the house.  He actually did a great job with them! This is the face he gives me when he's practicing being patient and wants to be reassured that he's a good boy.

Thank you Sarah, Dom, and Mia for an awesome time in Houston! It was so much fun to watch Mia and Barley together! 

 What a trip! Barley was worn out by the end f it and slept for the entire 17 hour drive home. Though we decided to split the drive into two days. As we arrived in El Paso to spend the night, out poor car couldn't take the 90 mph driving anymore and overheated.  We added coolant and made it home the next day, though our head gasket was mis-shaped and it turned into an expensive repair... At least we made it back!

 Even God is bigger in Texas!

Yay! Alternative energy! There are quite a few windmills along the interstate in Texas.










"Clearly, we need more incentives to quickly increase the use of wind and solar power; they will cut costs, increase our energy independence and our national security and reduce the consequences of global warming."
~Hillary Rodham Clinton

Acro

Acro flow

Em does a front layout into back fly

I catch her butt in my feet and grab her feet with my hands

She "engages her core" as I push her butt up and pull her feet down.

I plant my elbows on the ground, and Em stands up on my hands.

She is thinking, "Flex every muscle in my body and don't try to balance."

I am thinking, "Pull feet through and don't drop my wife on my face."

Now she places my feet for folded leaf as I drop her.

I have it easy here; I just straighten my legs. 

 Em flexes every muscle in her body and tries to keep from falling on her face.

Straight through bird to folded leaf

Folded leaf is one of the easiest positions, very relaxing and therapeutic.

I can massage her shoulders, pull on her spinal cord, or twist her.

Success!

Round Two

From standing we hop to throne.

Let's hold hands...

Unhook our legs. Prepare for pop.

Em is thinking, "STRONG ARMS! ENGAGE CORE!!"

I am going to dip her before kicking my legs.

Em's hips fly up in the air, she kicks her legs back for bird, and ENGAGES!

I kick her up, wait, and try not to hurt her too much when she lands.

From bird, drop to folded leaf.

Passarita. Em begins the twist by grabbing her right leg with her left hand.

I help (marginally) by pushing her shoulder.

She locks her legs into pike as I begin the spin, pulling my right foot.

Spin!

I catch her pike with my other foot.  

I don't usually don't wear socks, but we were packing up to go a did these pics.

We have a lot of fun with this, and it's a killer workout and balance for climbing.

Awesome!!!

By the way, this is the week before Christmas at about 6pm, about 60 degrees.

Acro Yoga with Babies!

Mia and I attempted some acro yoga during her visit :)

This pose is called bird

This is a new pose, not quite as easy with 2 adults... :)

Ice Cream and other updates :)

So, Tommy and I are in the processing of preparing for my family to visit over Thanksgiving. We're trying to clean and collect items for Mia, etc.... But the most important thing that we are doing it making ice cream! We made a pumpkin ice cream with a whipped cream swirl (don't know if the whipped cream part will work out or not...), and a HOMEMADE Phish Food ice cream!! I'm extremely excited about the latter! :) 

On another note, Tommy and I have a new hobby. It's called Acro Yoga. It basically involves acrobatic moves with yoga breathing and poses. There are some elements or massage as well :) Here are some pictures of us:

 In this picture, Tommy is completely supporting me on my upper arms.

This is me trying star... it's a really tough pose! Eventually, the goal is to bring the legs up straight and bring the arms to your side.  You use your head to balance you :)

 These two pics are of us with our friends Naya and Miguel. We met them in an Intro To Acro Yoga class and have met up with them on the U of A campus to practice :) It's nice because we all need spotters for the harder poses :)

These pics are ok, but I hope to get a video of us doing a flow so you can get the whole effect :) Though it might be awhile since we are without a camera right now :)

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On another note, Tommy and I went to San Diego for my birthday! It was my first time to California. It was so beautiful there!!! Though... it felt pretty fake... We took Barley with us on his first road trip and he did great too!! :) We took him to a dog beach and he got in the ocean. He was a little leery at first, but got used to it pretty quickly. We stayed with Tommy's Aunt Amanda and Uncle Bob. They were so open to having Barley at their house too :) It worked out great!!!!  

We can't wait for the holidays!! I guess they already started with Halloween :) We went through 7 bags of candy for Halloween! Our streets were lined with cars of people who drove to our neighborhood to trick or treat. We see this as a good sign for the neighborhood :) We are definitely kid-friendly and safe :)

I hope everyone is well and will write soon! :)

Namaste :)