Worthington Family Photoblog

I have not been very posty. I'm really jealous of my time lately, and it seems like posting takes too much of it, I guess. But I did take some photos I'd like to share.

While I'm waiting for them to upload, my Mother's Day has been very nice and calm. When I got up, the kids pounced on me like they hadn't seen me for years, and Korben told me to close my eyes because they had a present for me. I closed my eyes, and Sophie said, "That's right mom, we have a flower suprise for you!" Korben admonished her that she was not supposed to tell me, and then he said "Open your.... oops." He'd tipped the pot over and spilled the flower and soil onto the carpet. heh. They all gave me cute cards, including Ryan, and we went out for a nice lunch at a local place. Now the kids are napping and I've been working on organizing my digital photos.

First, something artsy.







The kids like to come in and wrestle and play on my inflatable bed in my office while I'm on my computer.







They played a game where Sophie would tackle Korben and pull him off the bed for about 25 minutes that day...



We have mini-recitals at the studio every other month to give the students a chance to practice performing before a small audience. Korben was in one last Saturday. He was a complete Ham, and this was the first time I've seen him realize that the applause was for him, so he played to the larger audience, instead of simply performing for me as if no one else's opinion mattered. Interesting...



Then we went to Caleb's Birthday party at the bounce playground down the road from the studio. Caleb is my neighbor and friend Star's son, who just was diagnosed with Autisum a week before his birthday. Their family lives 4 houses down the street from us, and she's a really great gal.



Sophie seems to always be slightly blurry these days, as she doesn't want to hold still for pictures.



"Who Wants Pizza?"



It's spring again, which means the annual frog orgy season has begun. This year, we have Southern Leopard Frogs, Gulf Coast Toads, and some kind of tree frog I haven't identified. I went out to see if I could ID the tree frog, and this toad was SLEEPING in the middle of the pond with his eyes wide open. He was so deeply asleep that I literally just reached in and scooped him out of the water. He is the biggest Gulf Coast toad I've ever caught. He was literally the size of my palm.



Sophie's school did a little "Spring Sing" program for the parents last Thursday. Here Sophie does the Hokey Pokey and turns herself about.





Do you like my caterpillar hat?



Presenting me with my Mother's Day present early...



Sophie with her teachers, Ms. Lily, and Ms. Jackie.



Breakfast of champions... We had the oil changed in the van on Friday, and walked across the street for breakfast and playtime while they did their thing at Jiffy Lube.







After that was done, we ran by the studio to pick up my paycheck and then went to the bank. At my bank, they give lollipops to the kids in the drive through, and both my kids know this routine by heart. However, I've been working on some new techniques to cut down on the whining around here, so I told Sophie, who was getting tired, that if she whined after I gave her her lollipop, I was going to take it away. So of course, before we even got out of the bank parking lot, she started whining. I pulled over, got out, took the sucker away, and then Korben and I endured and tried to ignore 45 minutes of solid, top-of-your-lungs, howl-until-you-gag screaming. Shortly before we got home, she quieted down to heartwrenching whimpers and then drifted into an exhausted sleep.



She hasn't whined more than once or twice since. :D

At the park, they give you buckets of feed to give the animals as you ride the tram through the enclosures. Some of the animals will eat out of the buckets, like ostriches, emus, and larger antelopes, cattle, and buffaloes. Others you throw the food to the ground for, like the deer and zebra. But the most gregarious, by far... the camels.




Sophie quite enjoyed herself.

Why are you eating my shirt?





The kids mug for photos...

Sophie waits to see the animals.




"Look, it's a BUTT!"


"I'm going to touch the butt!"


The rest of the photos are in my April Album.

April 2008

 
 
 
 


These are way late, but here are a couple of photos from the chaos of Easter morning, and two cute shots of Sophie with Daddy.

We went to Galveston Island to visit the beach today.






Can you tell they had fun?




The kids immediately made friends with a Latino family that was stationed right next to our little spot. The man's name was Simon (said like see-moan) and he was wonderful with all the kids. He built his daughter and niece a "swimming pool" and we all helped keep it shored up when the tide started to come in.


Korben helped by finding rocks and shells to decorate the pool wall with.


The beach was insanely crowded today. We had to park about 3 blocks away (1 traffic light, but it was a long walk) along the seawall next to a place that had no sandy beach, just breaker rocks. In addition to that, it took us nearly 2 hours to get from our house to the beach, which normally only takes about 45 minutes. I had no idea that Good Friday was such a big holiday for people.


There were all kinds of people there, too... the old...


And the young... (these girls are FAR too young to be in such revealing bathing suits, imho, also)


I took pictures of birds...


and Korben...


And cute dacshund puppies!


There were dozens of dogs at the beach today, too. I've always wanted to bring my pups to the beach, but I just don't think I can manage my two little monkeys and my three mutts, so that'll have to wait for a day when the kids are at grandma's or something.


This poor little puppy was swamped by even the tiniest waves.




Simon's niece didn't speak much English, but that didn't stop her and Sophie from becoming fast friends.


Sophie never ventured far into the water, becoming terrified anytime it came higher than her knees (I'll post a video later of her shrieking as a wave chases her back to shore...haha)

It amused me that all afternoon, we played in the water right next to this big sign:



The water was considerably warmer in this little pool than it was in the actual ocean, and after an hour or so, the kids started laying down in the pool to try and warm up.


I'd heard rumors that some crazy people like to try and surf in Galveston's puny waves, but I'd never actually seen it before today. Later, when we were leaving the seawall, we saw this same guy riding a bike that had been cusomized so he could carry his board on the bike. Pretty cool.


This pup was so sweet... I can't remember her name, but her owner told me a sad story about how he'd named her after his dead mother. Anyway, they moved up away from the water and made camp on the higher dunes, and the pup just was SO sad to be away from all the people, and especially the other dogs. She was doing a little dance and whining, much like Roxy does, because another dog was down in the waves, and she wanted to go play, too. :) I just like how it looks like she's smiling.

After leaving the beach, I took the kids to go for a ride on the ferry to Bolivar Peninsula, not knowing how long the wait would be...


It took an hour and a half to get on the ferry.

So I took pictures of Grackles.


and hotels.



And children with Ice Cream Sandwich on their faces.




The kids enjoyed the ferry, long though the wait was, and short the ride.






The birds always follow the boats, probably because people like these always feed them, despite signs warning them not to.


We actually rode home on the green ferry in this picture.


A big cargo ship was anchored in the bay. Watch for this same ship on the return trip.


Apparently, I like to take pictures of birds. I never knew that.


The Bolivar Lighthouse.


The sun began to set as we waited for the return ferry, so I snapped some pictures of this old truck that was sitting outside one of the bait shops/restraunts on Bolivar.


A few minutes later, there were 3 very young children playing out there by themselves.


A mobile ICU Ambulance came screaming down the road and boarded the ferry just before us, obviously carrying some precious cargo.


I liked the paint job on this car, and the light was very nice for photos....


Eventually, someone came to collect the toddlers from the old truck.


I only ever see these big white pelicans sitting on the docks, never flying. The black or brown pelicans are always flying in formation and catching food, but these big fat birds just sit around all the time.


Sophie enjoys the sunset from the upper deck of the ferry.


The Tokyo Marine with a stunning sunset behind.


A beautiful end to a lovely day.