Austin Nguyen/Marquez Family Vacay!

yea so my attempt to keep up with this on a weekly basis, kind of fell short, lol. i forgot to mention in my last post that the hubby and i are in school again, i found a great program thru HCC called the HITECH certification and signed us up, hopefully it will open more doors for us in the future. i was always amazed at my classmates who had kids and went to school FT how did they do it, let me tell you...its rough, we are taking a highly intensive program courses, quizzes daily with assignments, we take a study hour after work and then head home to be with gio, play, dinner, bath, read, sleep, then test time, yea. we have been staying up very late and not working out, so i need to find a balance, today i finished my 3rd course, woohoo, so elated! only 7 more classes to complete by december, yikes, like i said highly intensive. anywhoo, we have been able to balance out family life and school somewhat, a little stressed out here and there, but slowly but surely we are getting through. these past two weeks has been rough, i got some news regarding my father being in the hospital, we visited him and it didn't go very smoothly, enough said. i can't make the situation a positive image so we will leave it at that. then gio got a stomach virus who knows where and woke up monday vomiting up until lunchtime, he finally stopped and then refused to eat solids except for nursing, by tuesday he was slowly eating again but had diarrhea, called pedi said things were fine kids get stomach viruses, i know, but we just got over something, so you know how i get. we were scheduled for a family vacay with the marquez family in austin and i was debating on whether we would go depending on how gio was feeling. by wed he was running all over the place screaming and hollering (in a good way, not sick). i figured ok even if we stay in the hotel, we can just go for a fun wknd getaway and chill. friday rolled around, hubby and i had miscommunication on departure time, but by 5pm we finally left for austin, we stopped at a bbq place in columbus that i have passed for years, omg i was missing out, so good! as i was driving it finally hit me...so many years i have taken the roads to SA/Austin for family vacay with my parents, then off to college and now its my time to take my family on vacations, its just surreal, seriously its still shocking to be a parent, love it. we arrive at the hotel and settle in for the nite. sat we meet up with the marquez family and head to yummy Juan in a Million taco place, so good. let me tell you this up front...partygirl Samantha can hang with the adults, she was there to party not sleep. Gio would get a morsel in and then conk out, naptime! Not Sam, eating it up and making funny faces at us, love it. it was not as hot as houston, but as the day got longer the heat escalated, we went to soco, but too hot so decided on umlauf sculpture garden thinking it was shady maybe cooler, yea no, in and out, got raspas and headed to Saltlick for dinner, awesome ribs. Gio and Sam were both mocosos something in the air and coughing, so we headed home. Austin is known for it's nightlife and let me tell you, we partied it up! We had fun bath-time, gio hung out with daddy and tio danny at the gym, while mommy and madrina caught up quietly while sam slept, lol. Then while gio slept, hubby and i had movienite thanks to the laptop and headphones, told u, partying it up!!! Sunday we had an awesome brunch at Moonshine restaurant, a must if in austin, so good. Gio of course ate, then slept while we all caught up and Samantha kept us entertained by talking to people and slapping our waitress on the butt, lol, she is funny! Had to hold her as much as possible, she is turning 1 in 3 weeks, umm hello way too fast. We left home after brunch, gio was coughing alot and i started to panic especially after our last incident, it all started with a cough..gio slept on and off and finally he couldn't handle the trip any longer but he lasted till Katy Mills, we stopped to walk and stretch out, we ate at Rainforest cafe, never been it was interesting, food ok, no wait for the first time ever, gio was ok ate...then slept of course....headed home and gave him a breathing treatment just to make sure...coughing has subsided, thank u jesus. u know we fell bad and keep on going and kiddos do the same, but sometimes its too much for them, i was happy we went but at the same time, i felt awful when gio started coughing, but i know its not a cold or worse, he just has allergies that present themselves as a cold and i can't do anything to stop it from happening except for that bubble idea, see i told u it would come in handy, no kid would have allergies be germ free, but probably no social skills or motor since they aren't moving much...hmm still got to work on the concept more, i'll get back to you on that. today i got home from work, gio was napping and when he finally woke up we played and played, i studied next to him, he was in great spirits, always rests my heart, i hate seeing him sick or not feeling well, not one parent does, but we have to stay positive for our kiddos! it was a great wknd, my little one will be 19 months next week, crazy, we will hopefully see partygirl soon for her bday and in the meantime, keeping busy as usual. hey with a 18.5 month old, u r running everywhere because he is climbing and running off, need some new running shoes by the way, this boy is active.... and I LOVE IT!!!!
.....things are changing and we are excited for new opportunities to grow and evolve.....staying positive!!