Juror Paul interviewed by local TV station!

Paul was selected last week to sit on a jury here in San Antonio. I just had a feeling he would get picked. He's the most logical and fair person I know! He didn't have to go to work at Southwest and ended up being home all week. It was nice having him home everynight, but tough having him gone 9-5 everyday. Now, I know what most housewives deal with. I'm not sure I liked it!

The trial ended up lasting 5 days and 2 days of deliberation/sentencing. It involved a football coach who molested one of the 13 year old boys on his team. It was stressful and trying for Paul. Plus, he couldn't tell anyone about it. He volunteered to be the jury foreman and had to help the other jurors go through all of the evidence piece by piece. They found the coach guilty and sentenced him to 99 years.

There were reporters everywhere, since day one. One of the reporters stopped Paul on the way out of the courtroom after sentencing. He asked him a few questions. When Paul got home today, we watched the news and there he was. I'm so very proud of him!

Here's the link to the video clip Paul was in: http://www.kens5.com/latestnews/stories/KENS20090323-SotoSentencing.6315e4ee.html

Billy Joel & Elton John: 2009 Face 2 Face Tour

Only my closest friends know about my love of Billy Joel. It all started when I was about 4 years old back in 1977. We had a family friend's sister who was dating Billy Joel's saxophone player. They met in El Paso, TX (where we lived at the time) during a tour stop. Our family friend passed along an album to my dad. My dad was hooked at that moment and we listened to Billy a lot in our house over the years.

Listening to Billy Joel has always been something my dad and I have loved. We use to sing his songs in the car on long road trips. To this day, I always think of dad when I hear Billy Joel. Infact, my daddy/daugther dance at my wedding was to "Just the Way You Are". My dad also played a lot of Elton in the house, too. My dad loves to rock out and played drums for a rock n roll band when he was younger.

So, when I heard Billy Joel and Elton John were passing through San Antonio, I had to get tickets. The show is this coming Saturday night. This will be my 4th time to see Billy and my 3rd time to see Elton. Infact, the last time I saw Elton, I was 5 months pregnant with Sofia. Paul and I also saw them together when they did the Face to Face tour in Philadelphia back in 2001. It was so cool to hear Elton sing "Philadelphia Freedom" while we were in Philly and then Billy play "Allentown" just minutes down the road from the actual town. It was priceless to me and something I won't forget.

UPDATE: The concert was great! They played for over 3 1/2 hours. The songs really took me back to my childhood. Elton John had a great set, but Billy Joel was really the showman. Billy played a couple of real old hits that were a treat for me. He even did a few moves from his younger days. Paul and I just love hearing the Billy Joel songs that have references to New York and New Jersey. After living there, I now understand the places Billy Joel has been singing about for all of these years. Since I'm such a big Billy fan, I guess I was destined to marry someone from the Northeast. I hope we can see Billy Joel again in the future!

New Season at Fiesta Texas

We got our new season passes for this year at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. It's Spring Break here and it is one of our favorite things to do as a famiy. So, we went this past Sunday and Monday. There was hardly anyone there and the weather was nice.

It was so much fun! They tore down the old children's area and added a new one called Wiggles World. Sofia enjoys the Wiggles every now and then, so it was fun for her. They have a few new rides and a Wiggles show. We were glad to see they kept her old favorites, the roller coaster and carousel.

Of course, Paul and Jessica rode the big roller coasters. They were able to ride them several times, since there were no lines. They really enjoyed it! Paul even found where the camera was located on the rides, so he could make crazy faces. It's so funny because Paul and Jessica have the same sense of humor. They were cracking each other up all day! We'll definitely be enjoying Fiesta Texas until they close again in January.

Sofia on the Kiddie Ferris Wheel

Captain Feathersword and Henry the Octopus

Sofia "riding" the Goliath

Sofia with Wags the Dog

Riding the tea cups

Sofia and Scooby Doo

Sofia on the Wiggly Trail

Third and Fourth Day at Disney World

Okay, here are the last of our Disney pictures! We had a great time the last two days there. On the third day, we spent the morning at Animal Kingdom. We got to do the safari ride and Sofia loved seeing all of the animals. Right before we left there, we found Winnie the Pooh & Friends taking pictures. It was so much fun taking photos with this group of characters! After that, we spent the rest of the day back at Magic Kingdom. We had a blast, since it was extra magic hours that night and people started leaving once it got dark. So, we got to ride a bunch of rides and see the Disney princesses.

The last day was spent at Hollywood Studios in the morning. We got there early so we could get fastpasses for the Toy Story Mania ride. It was really worth it! It was a cool ride where you shoot pellets at screens and it is all in 3-D. We went back to Epcot in the middle of the day, so we could ride Test Track and Finding Nemo again. We ended the evening at Hollywood Studios and bought some more souvenirs. It was hard to leave, but we hope to go back before too long! It was a great family vacation!

Sofia and Baby Dumbo

Ballou and King Louie

Winnie the Pooh

The girls with Eeyore

Sofia hugging Tigger

The girls with Ariel, The Little Mermaid

Sleeping Beauty

Cinderella and Sofia

Sofia and Belle

Chip N' Dale at Epcot

Last night at Disney

Second Day at Disney World

The second day we started off at Hollywood Studios. We had a great time there. We saw the High School Musical 3 show right when we entered the park. Jessica loved it! Paul and Jessica always enjoy the Rock N' Roller Coaster. They also rode Tower of Terror for the first time. While they were checking out the rides, Sofia and I headed over to the Playhouse Disney show. It was so much fun and Sofia loved seeing all of the characters from her favorite shows. I couldn't help but remember taking Jessica to see the same show when she was little. We also tried riding the newest ride Toy Story Mania, but all of the fastpasses were gone by noon. So, we decided we would try it again on our last day.

The highlight of the day was seeing Lightening McQueen. Paul found where he was while Sofia and I were at Playhouse Disney. Sofia loves the movie Cars and talks about the characters all of the time. Just seeing her face made us all excited. The photographer had a hard time getting Sofia to look at the camera, since she was in awe looking at Lightening McQueen. It was so cute!

Then, Sofia took a nap in her stroller after all of the excitement. So, it was a good time to take a break. We got a snack at the coffee shop there. It was enjoyable and Jessica thought we should take some pictures of Sofia sleeping. It was funny because she fell asleep with her head in the canopy. The naps were great, though. She was in a much better mood and able to keep going all evening.

We had dinner scheduled at Chef Mickey's that night, so we decided to go to Downtown Disney afterwards. It's a shopping and eating area nearby. We always try to spend time there when we go. Jessica and Sofia found some fun souvenirs. This is where Sofia picked up Baby Dumbo. She just loves elephants. Jessica loves collecting pins and they have the biggest pin shop at Disney there. Paul and I love going to The Art of Disney store. We bought some matted pictures and a poster for the playroom. It was a fun and relaxing night!

HSM3 show

Sofia's favorite, Lightening McQueen

Sofia asleep in the canopy!

The girls at the pin store at Downtown Disney

Sofia hugging Daisy

Daddy and Sofia riding the carousel at Downtown Disney