Especially for Allen to see his wife- what a party you missed!!!

here are more pictures from the party, have been asked to put more on, so enjoy!!

My birthday party

I need to learn restraint once I have been drinking!!!

More corrupted children!!!
The casino area was used by Ben and Jamie, it did seem to be the children who were fascinated by the cards and chips out in this area!!! I hope I am not corrupting the next generation.

Solitaire came to my party

I do like Allan in a DJ

Plenty O'Toole came as well

Jaws, his girlfriend Dolly and a helper for Q

Q is so lucky to be surrounded by such beauties as these bond girls

And more Bond girls

Now that is commitment, she actually made the gun- fantastic

More Bonds the better I say, this one has caught an exotic beauty.

'Shaken not stirred', and gold finger also came.

What fun we had, thank you to everyone who helped make it so special last night. The theme was James Bond and we had a fantastic range of costumes , everyone was so great at joining in the fun and made it a GREAT night.
It is funny today, as even Tex is shattered, that puppy is obviously not old enough to party. She has gone out side once to do her business then has been sleeping ever since on the sofa, now and again wagging her tail to passers by, so funny. Last night, Ben was tired, so lay down on the sofa and used Tex as a pillow, and they lay like that for about an hour, it was sweet, a photo opportunity I missed.

Monday, alisons last shopping day

So the end of Alison's holiday is near, and we need to get some shopping completed before the day is out. Alison and I went of first thing and I introduced her to Khols, a shop I love, and then we went to Target and finished off with a food shop at HEB. This all took much longer than we expected- heaven knows why. You would think years of shopping together would teach us we take out time.
When we got home I stayed and sorted dinner, collecting the children from school and homework, and Alison and Cara took on the Mall, Barton Creek Mall. You need energy and stamina to go there and they achieved that. When they got home we had a lovely evening meal and wine to say goodbye to Alison.

Alison helped with bed and bath time, she seems to have a lot more patience with my children at night then I do!!!

Alison and Sunday

We went to the Iguana with friends on Sunday and Alison and I had margarita's (again) it has become Alison's new favourite drink.

The Lake -Lake Travis, is very low as we are in the middle of a drought, but the views from the restaurant are still spectacular .
All my brood enjoying the sun, meal and company
This is the lot of us, so we had Alan and Jo Hunter, who bought along a friend from UK who had only flown in the previous night for a two week holiday, Diane and the Nokes, John, Diana, Beth and Sammy , Alison and all of us. It was great fun although the temperature was hot and the children enjoyed the well( especially trying to get the pennies out!!!!). Alison had the pleasure of enjoying some more margarita's, a drink I have come to love and she is well on her way to as well.

Alison's visit continued

We went out on Saturday night to a 'goodbye and hello' party, a friend of mine from jazzercise, Sandi McMinn was in the final stages of selling her ranch out at Buda, and we went along to join in with friends and family of the new owners-to-be and Sandi's, the boys had an amazing time, as there was a zip wire, tree house, food and fireworks, with plenty of children to play and run around with. Alison, Allan and I enjoyed lovely company, wine and some amazing cheeses. Cara had to miss the party as she was out babysitting, earning pennies for all the things she wants

More on Alison's visit

Alison on the Zilker Zelpher with the younger two. She had to spend time with them, they were complaining they had not seen aunty Alison, so we rectified that before the shopping in the afternoon.


On Saturday we had a busy day, which involved, going down to Zilker park, shopping and going out in the evening.
The Zilker park experience was great,a s it is a wonderful expanse of natural land in the middle of Austin, that Allan and I love to run around, it has a path that the kids can ride their bikes on, we can run and Jack can walk Tex, so a lot can be achieved from a trip to Zilker.
In the afternoon,we went to South Park meadows, a huge area of shops and restaurants far too close to our house!! Alison treid her first margarita here, in the Texas Roadhouse, a great place to get a steak or ribs, Cara has steak, Alison had a half a slab of ribs, and I was the boring who had the chicken ceasar salad. and of course maragrita's, it is great that Cara can not drink out here, a drive is always present if you should indulge. Alison and I did!!

I have got to go now, Alison is ready, so will update the blog later....

Alison has arrived

we are on the river walk in Sa Antonio, this is the statue of San Antonio, who the city was named after.
Alison and Cara out the front of the Alamo's church. it is now a shrine to those that fought and died. it has David Crocketts riffle in it!!
This is Alison in Frederricksburg, we were heading back to the car and I decided to take a picture of her next to a huge Cactus, for some unknow erason Alison thought it looked pruned, so touched it. This is her woth a sore finger!!!
This si her trying to get the needle out!!
And this is us in the Wine bar in lincoln St, just before we learnt we were 50 years old!!!!!!!!

The update

Alison has arrived and thankfully her journey was less traumatic than my mum's. The flight was on time AND Alison got an upgrade to club class- because she is such a classy lady!!!!

We have had a full on few days as Alison is only here for 5 days, not including her traveling ones, so we are fitting in as much as we can with out exhausting her and making sure her memories of Austin and Texas are great ones.

On Thursday- Day 1 we went to Fredericksburg. My mum had said Alison would love it, and she was right. Fun was had by us both, shopping was high on our agenda, a great lunch at the wine bar, ignoring the part when Danny the waiter said we looked like sisters( the good part) who were 50years old( the bad part!!).

On Friday -day 2, we went to the Alamo, which was beautiful and I think Alison was engrossed by the history of Texas and the reality that David Crockett was standing in the same place as we were.

Saturday day 3- today!! we have been out shopping at one of our huge shopping retail parks, lunch at a Texas steak house, Alison enjoyed a margarita for the first time( a strawberry one) and then we went to a Hello and Goodbye party at a friends ranch, who has just sold it. The new owners were there, and it was fun occasion for the boys, who loved the tree house, zip wire and general amount of children to play with.

Ben's green party

Green jelly!

Cara and Mrs Zapp chating whilst the children are eating and having seconds!!! please note we also wore green
The children were asked to wear green, this is Ben's table eating so politely.

The cookies I made- also sent some in to the school office and Allan's work- got to keep the workers happy.


Mrs Zapp held a green party for the children yesterday, because St.Patricks day is looming. We are actually all on Spring Break next weeks, so a week early they held the party.
Lots of parents sent in green food for them to taste, a plate was made up of all items and the children ahd to try everything- pistachio nuts, spinach, celery, roasted salted peas, broccoli, green peeps, cookies( I actually made the cookies green- green dough and green icing!!!) green grapes, kiwi fruit, green jelly(or Jello), avacardo, apple, green bell pepper, sugar snap peas and i am sure I am missing some things!!
Fun was had by all, then they made a St.patricks day card with Cara and I that I took all the bits in for. The class is so creative and delightful to work with you don't mind going in and doing things.

Zilker Park

Benjamin having loads of fun
Alex running through all the water, making an awful lot of noise it has to be said!

I got them all to pose for me, Tex included, she was starting to get tired now from the swimming so happy to sit and be cuddled.
Tex in Town Lake fetching sticks we were throwing in for her. It was the first time we had taken her to Town lake and let her in the actual lake, last time she stayed on the lead and went in at Barton Springs, where the dogs are allowed to go. I will write another article on Barton Springs, it is an amazing place.
Anyway, fun was had. we had gone for a walk with Tex, but as usual A and B's enthusiasm for life wins the day. They have a lot of energy- until they decide piggy backs are needed, or on the shoulders, which I have to say Alex is VERY close to not being able to go on my shoulders. I could feel the weight of him push me through to Australia- maybe Australia is not below me any more!!! Anyway the point is that boy is getting BIG. he is counting down to his birthday now big time.
They enjoyed the walk, climbing the sides of the walks( with me cringing and Allan blase), going in to the Lake as well, which was very pleasant temperature actually and then the fountains designed for the children to play in, then the play area back by the car. They have energy. This was after a sleepover at our house the night before with two friends and not going to bed until midnight.

zilker park

We went out on teh Town!

So, Victoria and I went on stage-invited with our maraca's , to help along a song. we got totally into the spirit. The men watched from the balcony above- we like to think they suitably impressed with us!

Victoria and Will
My gorgeous husband and me
We all went to the restrooms together - a real girly thing. Cara tells me this is an essential photo for when you go out on the town. we then use Diana iphone to rate the restaurants toilets!! the uses of the iphone are many!!

A great evening was had, and after eating we went to a club downtown, where they had a live band playing and the courtyard was a club. all outside so nice. They had long bars either side which were in , but on the balcony above we had a bar as well. The atmosphere was great and the ages were so mixed it was great - we were far from the oldest there!!!

Sammy's party

This is the birthday girl, her sister and Cinderella , with Alex's cheeky smile about to cut the cake.
Alex needs to work on the Limbo technique-although this worked!!
I just had to have one with both boys and Cinderella
Cara improving her tan ready to head back to UK, wants to looks fab when she turns up for her birthday.
Alex decided her wanted make up,getting into the spirit of the party, Ben went for the dinosaur tattoo!!!

We went to Sammy's 5th party on Saturday, the wind was up, but the weather was pleasant and the whole party was outside, which was great. The bouncy castle was a huge hit, and allowed A and B to make loads of noise as they bounced around!!