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.

   

Super Saturday

This is the first Saturday since late August that we haven't had a kid's sporting event to attend. We enjoyed sleeping in, and since we aren't all going to be together on Weston's birthday in a couple of weeks (or on his birthday party day a couple of weeks after that), we decided to go ahead and celebrate his birthday today. His main request was Krispy Kreme doughnuts, which we don't have in Flower Mound. So, the men headed over to Roanoke to pick up the doughnuts, while Ruth and I went to workout. (For me, this is working out in the very loosest sense of the word, but I'm thrilled to be cleared to do anything that even resembles exercising!)

All the doughnuts!

Later, we gave Weston his birthday gifts, which included tickets to the OU/TCU football game in Norman, OK this evening. He did not see this coming and was thrilled about every part of it: football, TCU, two top-ten teams, going to another state for the game, and the fact that it was happening this very day. It was awesome to watch his face light up! I just love to give gifts that truly make the recipient happy! And, experience gifts are the best!

A new "Saturday shirt"

I can't tell you how happy this face makes me!

After that excitement, we headed over to Denton for the Pistons and Paint Car Show. It was so fun to see so many cool cars! But our favorite part was seeing Junior Brown, who is one of our all-time favorite musicians, perform live. Jeff and I have been trying to catch him live for more than a decade, but it just never worked out until today.

Max's favorite!

Clay asked several times how someone could get up in this

Weston's dream vehicle

I loved the pink Cadillac!

Junior Brown doing his thing

When we left the car show, Jeff and Weston took off for Oklahoma, and the rest of us came home for Clay's first Star Wars movie viewing. For all the other kids, we had decided they could see the movies when they turned seven, but since the new movie is coming out in December, the older kids voted unanimously to let Clay into the Star Wars Club at 6 1/2. And, they want him to get all caught up with the previous movies before the new one hits theaters next month. Clay was ecstatic!

The last thing on our Super Saturday agenda is tacos from Taco Ocho, and you can't ever go wrong with that! I'm so thankful for this happy day and the time spent with my people doing things that make us smile. 

La Duni and The Perot

This morning we had brunch at La Duni in Dallas. The food was wonderful, and it's always fun to try a place we've never been! After filling our tummies, we headed over to The Perot Museum, because Clay had some important business to conduct (and because we really love science museums). One of Clay's scouting requirements was to write down two questions about space to ask an expert, and then track down an expert at a museum or planetarium and ask the questions. Clay wanted to know, "Why does the moon appear smooth when you look at it, but if you go to it, it appears rough?" and "Why do the planets appear to be brighter than the stars?" He found his expert in the Expanding Universe Hall and did a great job of asking his questions and gathering the information! Once the business was taken care of, we were free to explore and enjoy the rest of the museum, and we had a great time.

La Duni Latin Cafe

Musical brothers

Fun in the Leap Frog Forest

Making silly Math jokes at the museum enterance

Asking an expert about space

T-Rex

Soaring with eagles

Learning about tornadoes

Total concentration

Revenge of the Robots

Nashville

On Saturday, we hit the road and headed to Nashville in pursuit of the Great American Eclipse, a trip we have been planning for two or three years. Before we left Dallas, we stopped at Chick-fil-A and bought a 200-piece party tray to nourish us for the journey. We had never catered a meal through the drive-through, to be wholly consumed in the car, so it felt like a pretty big deal. Ten hours later, with the nuggets long gone, we arrived, road weary but excited.

Road Trip!

On Sunday morning, we decided to explore Andrew Jackson's Hermitage, where I had my first true handicapped experience. The kids were pleased that, because of my situation, we were able to catch a golf cart out to the mansion rather than having to walk. Then, I transferred to a wheelchair for the actual tour but was only able to see the first floor of the mansion, since there wasn't an elevator. The mansion and grounds were very beautiful, but it was a hot, humid day and the crowd was great, so we didn't hang around too long after we had seen the main house. Later in the day, my parents, who were also in the area for the eclipse, came over to our hotel to hang out. We all thought it was pretty funny to meet up in Nashville, since we all live in the same state.

Andrew Jackson's Hermitage

How would you look on the 20?

Monday was the day of the Big Event, and we drove a little north of Nashville to the small town of Gallatin so we could be in the true center of the path of totality. We found a nice park with a playground where the kids could play and burn off some energy while we waited for the celestial show. It was such an amazing experience to see the sky darken and dusk fall in the middle of the day! The sky presented its sunset colors, the streetlights sparked to life, some stars and planets became visible, and the cicadas fired up their evening songs. And the vision of the moon blocking out all but the sun's corona is not one we will soon forget, even though my inadequate phone camera was powerless to capture the image. The entire event lasted no more than a few minutes, but it was powerful, and we were thankful to be a part of it. Back at the hotel, we rested for a while before heading out to dinner at Cock of the Walk, a fun place, with plenty of atmosphere, serving good ol' Southern food.

The Big Event
(The bottom left shows the streetlights coming on and the sunset colors;
The bottom right shows a star or planet just to the lower right of the sun)

Cock of the Walk

Tuesday was Jeff's and my 19th anniversary, which just doesn't even seem possible. I can tell you, it just gets better and better all the time! I'm so thankful that we chose each other to do life with. We spent the early part of the day hanging out around the hotel and lounging around the pool. Later in the day, we headed over to the Gaylord Opryland to look around and to have enjoy a nice anniversary dinner at Ravello. After dinner, we were off to the Grand Ole Opry. The boys sat in the balcony in the seats we had originally booked, while Ruth and I, making a last minute change, sat on the lower floor, in the handicapped section. It was such a fun show and so neat to be a part of something with such a long history.

Fun at the hotel pool

Anniversary dinner at the Gaylord Opryland

The Grand Ole Opry
(Clay was fascinated with the bass player and tried to imitate him.)

Yesterday, we made the long trek back to Flower Mound, though it seemed an easier trip than going, even with the absence of a large tray of chicken nuggets to keep us occupied. We had such a great time in Nashville and hope we will have occasion to return in the future.

And now we're in Wyoming

We drove all morning through snow covered landscapes and had to keep reminding ourselves that it's the middle of May. We stopped in Scottsbluff, Nebraska for lunch at a cute little place called The Tangled Tumbleweed that serves only small plate dishes. We sampled lots of items from the menu and had a wonderful time.

After lunch, we drove through more snow covered landscapes, and we ultimately ended up in Cheyenne, Wyoming. We popped in to the Children's Village, a section of the botanical garden for younger visitors and found many entertaining things to do, even though most of the plants were covered with snow.

After that, we walked over to the Old West Museum, where we got to learn about the history of the Cheyenne Frontier Days, see an impressive collection of old buggies, carts, wagons, and stagecoaches, and play with all kinds of fun stuff in the kid's area.

Finally, we got to what the boys had been most interested in doing all day: a snowball fight at the playground. Now, our kids have seen snow plenty of times, but you would not have thought so to see them. They were just plain silly about it, but they did have a fantastic time!

The Tangled Tumbleweed

At this moment in the trip, the boys simultaneously exclaimed, "Ah! This is paradise!" And at that moment, I began to wonder if these were even my children.

Crossing the pond in Children's Village

Snow + Teepee = Big Fun

Rock Checkers

Making Music

Old West Museum

One boot requires only one foot

A precursor to the vehicle that brought us here

Cowboy Clay

Yeehaw!

Best summer vacation ever!