Hacienda Piesman: April 2011

Clearly there are a lot more animals than just snakes at the snake farm. The boys loved the peacock, and of course, the tarantula, YUCK! I am just glad that Martha enjoys taking them there and not me.

The Snake Farm

The boys are out of school this week to celebrate Passover and they visited the Snake Farm where they fed some lamas, chickens and pigs (Sam said "they liked our matzah"). Not sure they were keeping Passover, but at least Tyler and Sam made sure that they tried.

Stowed Luggage

If you have ever wondered if your small child could fit in the overhead compartment of a regular American Airlines jet, think no more, if he is less than 4 feet, he will undoubtedly fit (thanks, Mike, for conducting that experiment).

Practicing Again...

Tyler was really working hard practicing for the four questions. He and Sam worked hard together. Here you can see he is ready for seder, the first one to the table, and already getting his lines in order.

Passover Seder, 2011

It was great being in Boston with family and friends. We had two nice seders, the first night at Gema and Grandpa's house and the second at Charlie, Robyn and Jason's house. Tyler clearly loved his soup...

Tyler Practicing the Four Questions

Tyler and a microphone, who knew they would be such a match?

The Bandit

Did this man run the race???? You be the judge....

A Quick Snapshot of the Thressome

I ran a bit with Melissa, Mike and Mike from Heartbreak Hill to BC and they looked great! Here they are in all of their glory!

The Boston Marathon

We are so proud of Mike who expertly finished his first marathon run ever, the 115th Boston Marathon! He did great and the best part, was when he was in the middle of the dreaded Heartbreak Hill, he was smiling from ear to ear, looking healthy and ready for the next 6 miles! He did great and we were so happy to be able to support he and Melissa and Mike. The boys and I had a great time handing out orange slices to the runners as well...good job all around!

Our Day at Fenway Park

I got the call early Sunday morning, "two extra seats to the Red Sox vs. Blue Jays game today, do you want them??" So Sam and I jumped at the opportunity and we went to the game with our friends, Heidi and Mark. What a great experience that was!!! We even ran into Jon, Alysha and Hannah, who was also at her first Red Sox game (just like big cousin, Sam). It was very memorable for me to be able to take Sam to see his first game in Fenway, can't wait to take Tyler next time around!

Getting Ready for Boston

Here we are ready for Boston. I am painting Mike's name on his marathon shirt so that every fan on the course can cheer for him and help him get to the finish line. And the shots of the boys are at the airport, where fiesta is in full bloom, go San Antonio!

Battle of the Flowers Parade, LIVE

The parade was full of patriotism, big flags, marching bands, high school ROTC groups, Air Force bands, floats, dutchesses, kings, princes, cowboy boots, horses and big balloons (which was obviously the boys' favorites). As you can see, my lady friends were dressed for a real Kentucky derby style race with the large hats, but fiesta shirts and flowers topped off the outfits.

Battle of The Flowers Parade

The boys and I went one of the largest fiesta parades, The Battle of the Flowers. We had front row seats and the weather was just perfect. What a great time we had, our first real parade in San Antonio. And it is quite historic, the longest parade run solely by women in the country.

Bike Show

Tyler is a pro on his balance bike these days, almost ready for a two-wheeler. He loves to perform little shows for us all in the garage and driveway, here is one of his shows...

Purim Carnival and the Snake show

We had a great Purim carnival at our temple. I desperately tried to dress everyone up as I had done in years past, as Purim characters, like Mordechai, King Achashvaros, hamantaschen...but no, this year the boys revolted! So here you see pirate Tyler and skeleton Sam. We are also very snake obsessed here in South Texas, we went to a local playground to see a snake demonstration (would that ever even happen in Boston???), as you can imagine, the boys LOVED it!!!

Sam's Tennis Lesson

We signed Sam up for a few tennis lessons this spring and although he was one of the youngest in the class, he seemed to pick it up very quickly (once he figured out it was a racquet and not a baseball bat).

One More Birthday Celebration

On his actual birthday, we shared an ice cream cake at home, which Tyler absolutely loved! And now we are truly a big 3 year old!

Sharing a bed

Sam and Tyler are in the same room now since our trip to Utah, they loved it so much that they begged us to let them share a room. But what we found to be happening was that in the middle of the night, Tyler would find his way to the foot of Sam's bed and fall asleep there for hours until we moved him back to his own bed. To solve this, we put the beds into a bunk bed formation and, at least for now, Tyler has not figured out how to climb up the ladder into Sam's bed.