The twins have a fight

Nathaniel reads to us his new book from the library. Reading is a RARE occasion for Nathaniel so we had to get pictures of this event. BTW - he was careful to show us the pictures of each page.

Dinner at County Line and Good bye

We spent our last night with our friends the Kazis at County Line in Austin. Below are the Kazi's with our kids followed by pics inside the restaurant. Fara's not happy that we are leaving.

Children's Museum and Todd's return

On Friday, Dan and I took the kids to the Austin Children's museum. The plan was that the Kazi's would be with us. Todd would meet us at County Line for dinner. But the Kazi's opted not to join us.

Here Nathaniel work with screws, bolts, gears... to build... whatever one builds with them.


Rebekah made a shadow puppet


Nathaniel made a paper helicopter



Later, when Todd arrived from Dallas and we all went to a pizza place for dinner and beer. Except the kids didn't have any beer.

2 peas in a pod

Uncle Dan spent alot of time teaching Nathaniel all the nuances of Xbox 360 Star Wars legos.

Is Texas a country??

Yes - believe it or not... this is a STATE capitol building. The capital building for Texas (which is in Austin) So apparently, it's not just the sky that's big in Texas. Impressive isn't it? You should see the inside, too.


This picture is from the 3rd level which is equivalent to being on the fifth floor. There is another level you can't see in this picture. So you can imagine just how high up this dome goes



One of these chambers is House of Representatives and the other is the Senate. Don't ask me which one is which, please.




A building near the capitol had displays of Texas history and a history of the capitol building itself. Did you know an Ohio company was involved in the design or construction of this impressive building? Boy! Did C-bus get gypped!

I'm in this picture, too. I'm holding N up on my back.

Uncle Dan's FAST car

Uncle Dan is not only handsome... but he has a pretty and fast car. Of course, everyone got a ride and we had to take pictures of the kids in the vette with Uncle Dan.

Whittaker Family Reunion - Texas style

On Sunday, July 5th we drove out to see Libby (Todd/Dan's 2nd cousin once removed) and her new husband, Jeff. It was so great to see Libby again after not seeing her for 2-3 years. She is happily married with step kids. Her husband is a great man and loves God. Can't ask for more! It was so wonderful to see them.

Dan, the kids and I swam with them at their pool while Todd did the long drive to Dallas for his week long conference. It was sitting in the pool that I noticed for the first time how FREAKIN' BIG the sky is in Texas. Isn't it the same sky? Words cannot describe it. Beautiful just doesn't come close.

4th of July in Austin, Texas

On the 4th of July Aamir, Samina, and Farah met us at Dan's and we headed out to Hula Hut (at least I think that's the name). It was about an hour wait. While we wilting lilies (Samina and I) waited in the AC, the men took the kids out to see the view and take some pictures. Wish I had Aamir's pics. He took more and they were much, much better. He has a great eye, a fast camera and finger.





Babushka girls


Kids and Todd play while we wait for dark and fireworks.

Our day in San Antonio with Uncle Dan

Here we are melting in front of The Alamo. Very cool place on a very hot day. It was about 105 degrees when this was taken. You could feel the sun beating down on you. There was a long line to get into The Alamo's mission so we opted to walk through the grounds, watch the historical film (in AC), and then head for the River Walk across the street.

The Riverwalk is about 15` down making it cooler as well as shaded. There are many, many shops and restaurants there. I got cranky wandering around until we finally found County Line which is known for their ribs. It was spectacular! This is a picture of us after lunch (note the smiles). I believe it was somewhere on the Riverwalk that someone said, 'O-H...' We were caught off guard but quickly recovered with 'I-O'.