Google Maps

Long-time readers of my blog may remember this post where I introduced a Google Maps mashup that showed city and CDP boundaries for Texas, and this post where I expanded it to the rest of the US and added ZIP codes. Well big brother was watching.

Earlier this year, Google upgraded its maps to show city and CDP boundaries, as well as ZIP code boundaries (without sending even a penny my way, I might add). Very suspicious, don't you think?? You can expect to hear about the lawsuit in the news.

Catch up

I've been off the blog train the last month, so it's time to play catch up.

Olivia "graduated" from preschool (I'm sure the final exams were intense).

She'll be going into kindergarten in just a few months. It's hard for me to believe until I see how grown up she looks.

Summer sneaked up on us like a ton of bricks and we're fully into the hot and humid. We haven't spent a lot of time outdoors unless it involves water.

Olivia and Carmen are taking swim lessons, so we've been spending a lot of time at the pool (including today). They're doing really well and are comfortable going under the water to get things and floating on their backs. They are learning to kick properly now.

Amber also signed them up for a twice a week dance class where they "learn" ballet and tap. I went with them to watch during their last session. I can't imagine they're getting anything practical out of it (although they do teach real dance moves), but the girls seem to enjoy it.

Olivia and Carmen are quite the dynamic duo. Olivia is always coming up with something creative for the two of them to do and they will play for hours together. Currently, they're usually either playing ponies or making things out of paper, like envelopes, rainbows, and purses.

Olivia's been more into playing the piano lately and has even gotten into "composing". Here you can see her playing her hand-written piano music (click for bigger view).

Carmen loves to help her mommy by putting on lotion, combing her hair, and of course, helping her with her make-up.

Damon is quickly growing up. He's still as happy as ever and loves to walk and talk and pester his sisters. He eats everything we give him (except honey dew and hot dog, go figure). He finally figured out how to get down the stairs on his own, which is a relief. He hadn't taken any spills, but he loved to climb up then whine until we came to take him back down (then repeat).

And life goes by. I'm sure I forgot a few things (we got put into a brand-new stake, we went for a drive to one of the smaller country towns east of here one Saturday, went to a pool birthday party another, etc) but the gist of it is we're happy and doing well and our kids are super cute.

My birthday

It was my birthday last week. I didn't want to do anything big, but I had a fun time opening presents from my family. Carmen and Olivia were very excited about my birthday and made sure to buy me presents. Amber took them to the dollar store and Carmen chose the orange guy in the picture, while Olivia decided on a badminton racquet.

I also got some new books and puzzles, and a easy-set-up canopy for some quick shade in the backyard, among other things. Amber made me a yummy Czech dinner, too. A few days later we finally* went to see The Avengers, which we thoroughly enjoyed.

I don't feel much older, but everyone on TV seems to be getting younger. I started running again, two days a week in the morning before work, for the first time in months. It's only been a couple weeks and I'm already over 2 miles each morning, so I can't be that old yet, right?

* We had to redbox Thor and Captain America beforehand to make sure we were all caught up. We're not very good about keeping up with movies.