August

It is simply shocking that August is already over! We definitely made the most of it, and here are the highlights. Not represented in the pictures: a trip to the revolving sushi restaurant to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday, my first visit to a chiropractor because of a very sore back, a couple of visits from the plumber to install a new kitchen faucet, Jeff joined every conversational Spanish group in the DFW metro, Clay started his Ninja Warrior class, Max started his yoga class, Arrow Academy orientation, my mom came to stay with the kids for a week, Weston got to work with the Scouts at the Highland Village Balloon Festival, Ruth and Weston's first cross country meet, Weston attended Boy Scout leadership training, and Ruth started college classes at the local community college.

I took a beaded bracelet class at the library and produced this lovely piece.

We had a better-than-average time at Walmart.

Jeff finished up his bartending class and
got to do an externship at The Magnolia Hotel in Dallas.

 

We visited the Giant Eyeball in Dallas.

Max got to go to Lego Mindstorms camp while at Nana Camp.

We spent several lovely days out in the Davis Mountains.

I had an essay featured on the Art of Simple blog.

The younger boys and I got to spend a day with Granny.

We had a barn/playroom built in our backyard.

We attended a back-to-school party with Arrow Academy at a super cool splashpad.

I turned 41 and received sweet cards and drawings from the kids and
gardening supplies, including these awesome Sloggers, from Jeff.
We also ordered dessert using Door Dash and had brunch at Nico's.

Jeff and I became locally famous by making it into the Flower Mound
activities catalog, which featured a picture from the dance class we took a while back.

We successfully shopped for new school clothes.

Jeff took a motorcycle class at Harley and became a licensed motorcycle rider.

I cooked enough food to feed an army in preparation for being out of town.

The boys started their classes at Arrow, which include
things like History, Science, Art, Robotics, P.E.,
Speech and Debate, Dance, and Guitar.
Clay has been belting out Bubba Shot the Jukebox all week,
even though the only thing they are supposed to be
practicing is tuning the instrument. Such an overachiever!

Jeff and I celebrated our 20th anniversary in Costa Rica.

We started school, and I can hardly believe we have kids in each of these grades.

Max started saxophone lessons.

The entire family supported the Aggies for the first game of the football season.

   

Day Three in D.C.

We had the great privilege to visit Lincoln's Cottage this morning. It is one of the lesser known attractions and most people don't make the effort to get out there, even though it is only three miles from the capitol building. We really enjoyed the tour and museum and appreciated how our tour guide made Lincoln come alive for us.

Lincoln's Cottage

Max was so excited to "meet" his favorite president

Cannons are always a big hit with boys

After our tour of the Cottage, we headed over to Annapolis to tour the Naval Academy. The campus was lovely, and it was so interesting to learn about midshipmen life. When we finished up at the Academy, we made our way down to City Dock for lunch at Middleton Tavern.

Honoring America's first Navy hero

I loved this event building!

The Navy's first plane was built by the Wright brothers

The dorm building was designed to look like the Palace of Versailles in France

The kids really loved seeing the crypt of John Paul Jones

Clay being "Bill" the goat

Middleton Tavern

Eventually, we made our way back to D.C. and stopped by the Jefferson Memorial to pay our respects to another great man before heading back to our apartment to watch the Aggie game.

The back side of the Jefferson Memorial and the beautiful fall colors

Tribute to Thomas Jefferson

Jefferson Memorial

Catching Up

The last several days have been a whirlwind of fun and excitement! On Friday, Jeff took Ruth to Tyler to attend the College Preparatory Invitational (CPI) college fair and horse show. They were able to visit with several college recruiters and learn a little more about riding options post high school. On Saturday, Ruth rode in the show and won first place in both of her classes, high point for her division, and high point for the entire show. In addition to two blue ribbons to add to her collection, she also received a gift card to her favorite riding gear store, a beautiful bridle, and a $500 college scholarship. We are so proud of her! On Sunday, Jeff dropped her off with her veterinarian aunt in Houston, so she can spend the week working in the clinic and getting some hands-on experience.

High Point Rider, 1st Place Winner, and all-around amazing young lady

Meanwhile, I stayed behind with the boys so they could attend their weekend practices. I got a wild hair on Friday afternoon and ripped out our grape arbor, took down all the window screens, and pulled up all the dead shrubs around the house, all of which made me happy in so many ways. But it wasn't a weekend of all work. We also managed to squeeze in quite a lot of fun, with pizza and a viewing of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure on Friday evening, a trip to our favorite movie theater on Saturday to see The Batman Lego Movie, and a full day of fun on Sunday, which started with brunch at The Snooty Pig, followed by some quality time at Barnes and Noble, and ended with the library's monthly game day.  

No more arbor means more light inside my house!
(It also means I don't constantly have to worry about that rickety thing falling down on my kiddos!)

Movie date with my boys

Brunch at The Snooty Pig

A variety of reading positions at Barnes and Noble

Game Day at the library

On Monday, Clay realized how close he was to finishing the first book (of two) for first grade math, and he started working math problems like a crazy man. He ended up doing 14 lessons in that one day, knowing there would be a celebration held in his honor when he finished. He worked so hard, and we are so proud of him! He chose the revolving sushi restaurant for his reward, and we had a blast selecting items off the conveyor belt and trying them out. 

So proud of this hard worker for accomplishing his goal and finishing the first half of his first grade math curriculum!
(I don't know many 5-year-olds who would chose sushi for a celebration, but this kid loves it!)

As you math nerds were no doubt aware, yesterday was Pi Day, which happens to be one of our family's favorite "holidays." On the recommendation of several people, we decided to try out Mama's Daughters' Diner in Lewisville. The pies were not in the same league with my Granny's or Jeff's mom's, but the party was fun nonetheless!

Pi Day 

Finally, I'm having a big giveaway of all of my books this week, in an effort to beef up my reviews on Amazon. I still have some of the Geography books to give away, and I'd like to give them to you guys! All you have to do is leave a comment here or on Facebook stating the country--China, Hong Kong, Thailand, or Mongolia--you are interested in. Your comment is your promise to leave a review on Amazon. It's just that simple. Feel free to tell your geography loving friends. 

The trip home from Orlando

We left Orlando on the 6th and headed up to the Pensacola area for a couple of nights. Along the way we met Winter head-on, and we almost froze to death when we got to Lambert's Cafe in our short-sleeved shirts. If you aren't familiar, Lambert's is the home of "throwed rolls," meaning the softball-sized rolls are actually tossed to you, sometimes from across the dining room. This was absolutely thrilling for our group, and Weston kept trying to get the thrower to hurl the rolls from farther and farther away, which the thrower seemed delighted to do. They have their own unique way of serving good old Southern comfort food, and everything was so delicious.

We survived the freezing temperatures at our KOA and were able to enjoy a yummy breakfast at a cafe that could easily have been mistaken for a bait shop, before heading over to the National Naval Aviation Museum. It was so interesting to see all the planes and learn about the history and technology of many of them. I can tell you for certain I was not meant to be a Blue Angel! We ended the day with dinner at The Cobalt Restaurant, overlooking the Gulf.

When we woke up on the 8th, we left Pensacola knowing only that we weren't really ready to end our vacation and that we didn't want to go home. We also knew we were hungry. A quick internet search introduced us to The Biscuit King's Fun Barn: Home of the Ugly Biscuit, and there was no way we were going to pass that up! I don't think I can capture in words the experience, but everything about it was so fantastic. One reason we travel is to discover little gems like this.

After we had eaten our scrumptious ugly biscuits and collected all manner of free stuff from the Biscuit King himself, we knew we would be heading in a westerly direction, but other than that had no end point in mind. So, while Jeff drove, taking us to interesting places like LSU and the Horseshoe Casino, I searched around online until I found a little cabin outside of Jefferson, TX, on Lake O' the Pines, where we could just chill. Literally, as it turned out, because the pipes had frozen and one was busted and making a river outside the house (thankfully not inside!) when we showed up around 10:00 pm, leaving us with no hot water. (The owner came first thing in the morning and got everything patched up, so it really wasn't a big deal.) We spent our time there reading and watching football and consuming warm beverages. It was truly restful, and we were glad we decided to extend our vacation. We did eventually make it home but were only here for less than 24 hours before embracing our next adventure, which is a tale I will save for another post.

Lambert's Cafe: Home of Throwed Rolls

Breakfast at Reileigh's Cafe

National Naval Aviation Museum

The Cobalt Restaurant

The Biscuit King's Fun Barn

LSU Stadium
Geaux Tigers!

The Horseshoe Casino

The view from our little cabin in east Texas

First official college visit in the books

Have I mentioned that my daughter is amazing and responsible and very much in charge of her future?! She doesn't know that it's unusual for a 13-year-old to research universities and to think about everything from financial aid to the merits of particular academic programs, rather than contemplating only school colors, or mascots, or how well the football team has historically been (though she could tell you those things as well, because her research is thorough).

For a while she has had her heart set on becoming a equine vet, and she has been looking into a variety of schools, in the U.S. and abroad, that may be able to help her accomplish her goals. One of the schools she has been intrigued by is Massey University, here in New Zealand. So, when she found out we would be passing through the town where the university is located, she planned a visit. Completely on her own, she contacted the school, found out who to talk to, and set up a meeting. She also came up with a list of questions and articulately asked them and made sure they were answered. At the end of the meeting, the lady asked her if she would be applying next year or the following year and was rather shocked to find out that Ruth is, in fact, only 13. I am so incredibly proud of this girl and know her future will be bright, no matter what she ultimately decides to study or where she chooses to go to school! (And, I seriously can't believe I have a child that is old enough to start looking at colleges!)

The Vet Med building at Massey University