Last Day of Kindergarten Poem

Last Day of Kindergarten

When I started kindergarten

I was very, very small

I have grown so much bigger now

Can't you see how tall?

I've learned to read and write

and to try my best with all my might.

Like a seed that was planted

with a gentle hand and spade

I've bloomed and I'm ready

to move on to first grade!!

 2011/2012

Wine Country Vacation 2012

April 5th-April 8th

So, I decided to surprise Chuck with a little getaway for the two of us.  He has been traveling for work so much, we rarely have any time together.  In February I emailed his boss and asked for those days off.  Once that was cleared, I booked the flights, B& B and then I just waited.  I held off until about 2 weeks before and I finally told him.  I'm pretty sure he was in shock when I told him.  As it sunk in more and the days went on, we both started getting really excited.

Finally, the day was here for us to go.  Before my alarm went off, I was awoken by my baby girl telling me she is about to throw up.  I get up with her and rush to the bathroom.  Apparently she had been throwing up before she came to get me and didn't want to wake me up.  Poor baby girl. 

I called my Mom and told her what was going on.  She asked what time we needed to leave for the airport and I said 9am.  She came right over to get Emma.  I felt horrible putting her in the car with a trash can in her lap.  My wonderful mom kept reassuring me it was ok and to have a great trip.  Easier said than done, but I tried my best and knew she was in good hands.

Off we go to the airport.  We get there, board the plane and are about ready to go, when I find out Luke is now sick too.  I looked at Chuck and said, Now they are both sick.  His response was, it's not too late to get off the plane.  We can get off if you want too.  I debated in my head and went back to what my Mom said and we proceeded on. 

We finally land in San Fransisco, get our rental car and begin our journey.  First stop...Fisherman's Wharf for some Dungenous King Crab Legs.  Then I wanted to go to Lombard street.  We were driving around these crazy streets trying to find it (I'm pretty sure Chuck thought I was crazy.)  We finally find it and get out to take pictures.  This is where he informs me that he didn't even know Lombard Street existed. ( No wonder he thought I was nuts....haha)
After taking numerous pictures and hiking up that insanely steep street, we make our way back to the car and head towards Sonoma.    Unfortunately, we got stuckin rush hour traffic and it took us double the time to get there.    We finally made it and checked in and were given some suggestions for dinner.  The first night we went to The Red Grape.  The pizza was to die for.  After that we strolled in the town square of  Sonoma. 
The next morning we started out with our Winery plan in hand.  Our first stop was a Winery called Kunde.  the guy  that did our tasting was from Dallas and knew all of the places we mentioned.  Such a small world.  Not only did we get that tasting (for both of us) for free, we also got a free cave tour as well.  It was awesome and a great way to start out the day.
Next we moved on to Ledson Winery which was gorgeous.  We got some lunch and ate outside on the picnic tables and enjoyed the beautiful weather.  Then we went in and had our tastings.  Once again excellent mix of wines.  We hit a one , maybe two more on the way back and decided to take a nap.  that night for dinner we ate at The Girl and the Fig (Country food with a French Passion).  Thank goodness we made reservations or all of the recommendations to eat there wouldn't have happened.  We both got a three course meal that they paired wines with.  The food was very different, but at the same time very good.
The next day we went to the wineries that were further away.  Our first stop of the day was Chateau Montelena Winery,  gorgeous property and very well kept.  We took lots of pictures there and had some more tasty wine.   After that we headed to Castillo Di Amorosa.  Amazing amazing castle.  this place was awesome.  They had crazy roosters outside that looked like they were on steroids, sheep and peacocks.  The property was breath taking.  We probably took more pictures here than anywhere else.

After that we went to eat lunch in the town of Castiloga.  Enjoyed a nice lunch on the patio.  by the way, the weather was in the mid 60's every say we were there.  We felt so blessed to have such great weather.  After lunch we made our way back to Sonoma to check out Gunlach Bundschu Winery.  They are supposed to have really cool Cave tours.  By the time we got there, they cave tours we over.   We still had a wine tasting and we ended up finding one of the best wines there.  so good in fact, we bought a bottle, went back to The Red Grape again, and ate dinner and drank the wine.

It was a quick little weekend getaway, but we packed so much into that short amount of time that we felt like we didn't miss a thing.  Already looking forward to going back again sometime for the Harvest Season.   See ya next time!!

Wildcats Football Here we go.

Well, here we go again with yet another season of spring football.  Honestly, if Luke could play year round he would.  Luke has always played for the Cowboys, but has moved on to join the Wildcat Team.  We are really looking forward to a great season.

60 Years of Memories

For my dad's 60th birthday this week, I wanted to do something really fun. What if I could get everyone from my dad's past to contribute a memory they had of him? What if I had all those people send their memories to me, and then I put each one into an envelope---sixty total, of course---and had him open them, one by one, on his birthday?
That would be a lot of memories, right?

So I wrote an email. I sent it to family and friends. This is what I said:

Hello everyone!
If you're receiving this email, you probably know that my dad, Mike Dodson, is turning 60 next month (much as he would hate us to be reminding everyone, I'm sure.) To celebrate his birthday, we'd like to put together a little surprise to let him know that his nearest and dearest are thinking of him. We're going to try and create "60 Years of Memories" by filling 60 envelopes with a memory his friends and family have of him.

 And this is where you come in!

 If you have a spare moment in the next few days, we would be so grateful if you'd jot down a favorite memory you have of our dad and send it in an email to me. It doesn't have to be anything fancy -- you can just write it down on a piece of paper and sign your name. You can mention anything you like -- although the more nostalgic the better! Please absolutely feel free to send more than one memory (in fact, we welcome it -- we've got 60 envelopes to fill!), but make sure you write them on different pieces of paper (and sign your name to each) so we can split them up.

 Thank you so, so, so much for participating -- we know everyone is busy with their own lives, and we do appreciate you taking a few minutes to do this; it will be so worth it when he reads all the memories people have of him! (Please don't forget to keep it a surprise until then, though!)

Thank you so much again. --Chrysti

So I sent the email and then I waited. And then the replies started coming in and I was flabbergasted.  There were so many memories, and they were all so lovely. They came from the 50s, the 60s, the 70s, from every decade between now and the day my dad was born. They came from my mother, my sibling, my grandma, my dad's friends from high school, his sister, brothers, cousins, an old girlfriend,  from people who remembered people no longer with us, from people who hadn't seen my dad in forty years, from people I hadn't even contacted originally but who had been told about the project by someone else.  I collected them for two weeks, my heart pinging with excitement each time a new one arrived.


The night before his birthday I stayed up late, putting everything together. I had got some vintage airmail envelopes and tucked a different memory into each.








In a way, I'm sort of sad that this project is over because it was a huge amount of fun to collect and collate all of these memories, many of them occuring years before I was even born. It gave me a different picture of my dad, one woven together by all the people from his past, all those people who---weirdly, peripherally, slowly, surely---put into action the sequence of events that led to my life as I know it.

Turns out, you can make a lot of memories in sixty years. And then, if you're lucky, you can relive them all over again.

I Love you Daddy!!

Horseback Riding at Broken Bow Ranch

October 2011

I got a really great deal on horseback riding, so we decided to take all of the kids.  All the kids were very excited and as they were bringing all of the horses in the corral to get ready, one horse flipped out and started kicking all of the other horses.  All of the horses started freaking out.  Some were bleeding or had huge gashes on them.  This totally freaked out the little kids and honestly freaked Chuck and I out too.  We didn't want to put our kids or ourselves on a horse if it was gonna throw us off.  The Ranch hand ended up taking the troubled horse away and after that everything was good.  It took some convincing, but we got them to do it and we all had a great time.

First Day of Kindergarten

First Day of School poem

They started school this morning,
And they seemed so very small.
As I walked there beside them
In the Kindergarten hall.

And as they took their place beside
the others in the class,
I realized how all too soon
Those first few years can pass.

Remembering, I saw them as
They first learned how to walk.
The words that we alone made out
When they began to talk.

These little angels so much absorbed
In learning how to read and write.
It seems as though they must have grown
To childhood overnight.

My eyes were blurred by hastily
I brushed the tears away
Lest by some word or sign of mine
I mar their first big day.

Oh how I longed to stay with them
And keep them by the hand
To lead them through the places
That they couldn’t understand.

And something closely kin to fear
Was mingled with my pride.
I knew they would no longer be
The babies by my side.

But they must have her chance to live,
To work their problems out,
The privilege to grow and learn
What life is all about.

And I must share my little angels
With friends and work and play;
Their not babies  anymore –
They’re in Kindergarten today.

Galveston Family Vacation

We had a great time.  It was our First vacation together with our entire Family.  Chuck & I and all 5 kids.
We go there on a Sunday evening and started strong Monday morning.  We went to the beach and came prepared with sand pails, shovels, molds for sand animals,etc.  The kids had a blast!!  Not one of the kids had ever been to the beach before so this was a big treat.  We spent quite awhile at the beach  and then walked back to our beach house...yes it was that close.  We all showered and hung out and then headed off to do Professional Family Pictures on the beach at sunset.  That was a whole other story witihin itself.  Let's just say that even though it was a bit of a beating with sand blowing in our eyes and trying to smile for pics, it all worked out.  We even got stuck in the sand in the car on the beach, but some made it out  thanks to my patient husband.  I wanted to bust out laughing really hard when we were stuck, but I didn't want to make it worse.  I held my breath on that until the van starting moving and then I lost it. 
The next day we took the kids to Kemah Boardwalk.  It's located just 20 miles from downtown Houston, the Kemah Boardwalk is home to fabulous waterfront restaurants, amusements, charming retail stores, festivals and seaside shows every day.  My three kids had never ridden roller coasters before and they were all CHAMPS.  They even rode some they probably shouldn't of.  We all almost puked on one that looked like a Sombrero, but luckily we survived.  After that, we walked on over to the Aquarium Restaurant for Dinner.  Super Cool Place.  The kids seemed to really enjoy it.  After that we went down to feed the Sting Rays.  Also very cool and something none of them had done before.
By the time we got back to the house that night everyone was whipped, but we still made time to take them all to the beach.  We realized it was better to take them at like 7pm and stay until 9.  It wasn't too hot and no one could get sunburned.  The kids played in the sand, building sand castles, digging water pits, searching for sea shells, and two of them got completely buried in the sand, except their head of course.  I think we did everything you can do while you're at the beach.  We tried to different days to go crabbing.  It didn't work the way it was supposed too, but in the long run, Maya and I ended up catching 20 Hermit crabs.  Not exactly the yummy Blue crab you can eat, but we had a blast and that's all that matters. 
We also enjoyed the Beach Club Resort that was on the property.  They had a gorgeous infinity pool with hot tub, ping pong tables, cabanas,  and restaurant.  We spent a few days there as well, but always made sure to squeeze in some beach time too. 
The house was perfect for our family too.  It couldn't have worked out any better.  The best part, is that Chuck and I had a private balcony off of our bedroom.  When the kids went to bed at night, we would spend hours just sitting out there enjoying the awesome breeze, adult beverages and each other's company.

All in all it was a great 1st Family Vacation.  I think everyone had a great time.
Pictures will follow.  Believe me, there are plenty. :)