Foodie Staycation

We decided to take a break from school this week to spend a couple of days exploring Dallas before heading out of town for the long Thanksgiving weekend. Today's adventure was a fun food hop at Trinity Groves. With views of downtown Dallas and the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, the group of interconnected restaurants, offering a wide variety of international and local food choices, provides a feast for all the senses. Our plan was to visit as many of the restaurants as we could (without making ourselves sick), sticking to small appetizers or shared dishes. We started at Resto Gastro Bistro, where we ordered several dishes that weren't bad but definitely sounded more delicious on the menu than they actually were. Our next stop was Sushi Bayashi, which was probably the favorite of the day for most of our group. We had the Philadelphia Roll and the Spicy Salmon Tower, and every bite was like a little burst of happiness in our mouths. Finally, we hit Beto & Son for some fresh guacamole, queso fundido, and loaded nachos. It was a very fun outing, and we feel sure we will visit again, as there are still many restaurants that we need to try!

Experiencing Dallas

Trinity Groves restaurants with connected patios
(The top pic is not mine; I borrowed it from their website)

First stop: Resto Gastro Bistro

Sushi Bayashi was our favorite

The lighting was super weird at Beto & Son, but the food was delicious!

Winning Day

Ruth had her second IEA horse show today in Ft. Worth. Despite the coolness of the weather, Ruth was on fire. She won 3rd place in her walk/trot class and 4th in her walk/trot/canter class. And, her team won 1st place overall. It was a great day!

Ruth and Nick looked beautiful in the Walk/Trot class

Ruth and Jupiter were out of this world in the Walk/Trot/Canter class

Ruth's hard work and determination definitely paid off today!

The Summer Hill Farms high school team with some new decor for the barn

Celebrating 11

We spent the day in party mode, celebrating our soon-to-be 11-year-old. We started with breakfast at the fancy eat-in movie theater and a viewing of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Then we moved on to paintball. (And, by "we" I mean Weston and his buddy. The rest of us did not play but only observed, or, in the case of the little boys, spent the day with Nana.) After that, we needed sustenance and headed over to Firehouse Subs for a bite to eat. Finally, we headed back to the house for homemade cheesecake with strawberry sauce. Weston enjoyed the day immensely, and I'm so glad we had the opportunity to celebrate one of my favorite people on the planet!

Movie theater breakfast

Ready for combat

Celebrating my favorite almost-11-year-old

Homemade strawberry cheesecake, courtesy of Jeff

Feel Good Friday: How panda zookeepers and moms of toddlers are the same

Feel Good Friday, uh Sunday: See the greatness

Do you see it? The greatness that is in you? 

Look closer. It's there. I know it is. 

You may not have found it yet, but keep looking. Don't settle. Don't make excuses. You can be better than you were, and even better than you are. You are a life filled with potential. See the greatness, and rise to it. I believe in you. 

How is my baby 5 1/2 already?

Donuts and strawberry milk for breakfast

Half-birthday party

New cowboy boots

Ending the day with gelato

Feel Good Friday: Beauty from Ashes

On October 30, 2015, my sister's home was destroyed by a tornado, while she and two of her kids hunkered down inside. Thankfully, they walked away from the event with only a few minor scrapes and bruises. Their community turned out in droves to support her and her family (you can read about that here), which was a blessing in and of itself. But last weekend, exactly a year later, they got to move into their dream home, designed by them and built from the ground up on the same slab the other house was removed from. It is not the way they would have chosen to get their dream house. But they readily acknowledge that the beautiful place they have now would not have been possible without the trial of that storm. Sometimes, friends, the struggle is the very vehicle of the beautiful life we long for, and we must force our eyes to look past the storm and try to find the rainbow.

October 30, 2015

October 30, 2016

I Am

My friend Kathy posted an "I Am" poem challenge on her blog a few days ago, and I felt like this would be a good exercise for me, as a writer with a serious case of writer's block and as a person who has a tendency to bottle up her feelings.

I Am

I am a nomad and an adventurer.

I wonder where I will go next. 

I hear the world calling my name. 

I see beauty in every corner of the globe. 

I want the freedom to go and to keep on going. 

I am a nomad and an adventurer. 

I pretend I can leave on a whim. 

I feel enamored with locations I have never seen.

I touch the land, the sky, and the sea.

I worry about unchanging scenery. 

I cry when mundanity stretches before me. 

I am a nomad and an adventurer. 

I understand that travel changes me for the better. 

I say life's too short to be lived in one place. 

I dream of having new experiences.

I try to keep a trip on the calendar.

I hope to see more of this amazing world. 

I am a nomad and an adventurer. 

If you want to try your hand at introspection and self-expression, I am including the template for the poem below. I encourage you to think about putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and explore the depths of who you are. Make it a family exercise and a topic for discussion around the dinner table. Try it multiple times, changing your roles each time. Play around with it, and have fun. Keep it private if you want, or be bold and share it in the comments here or in your own public space. 

Feel Good Friday: Best Political Ad Ever

Minimalistic Mindset

A friend asked me to share about how we have adjusted to fixed-location living, particularly with regard to minimalism. Maybe you've been wondering about this, too. (Or, maybe not. Which is cool. Just carry on with your regularly scheduled activities.)

As most of you know, when we were traveling full-time, we lived out of carry-on sized suitcases, filled with appropriate clothing for every season and most occasions and activities. We had what we needed, but there wasn't a great deal of diversity, and items were limited. We mostly loved it, though the girls did dream of variety from time to time. But, because we were moving often and interacting with people we would most likely not see again, many of the social pressures of our outer wrappers disappeared, and we rarely lamented our sparse wardrobes. It was the ultimate in minimalistic living.

By the end of our trip, our travel clothes were in pretty dire need of upgrades, as many of the items were worn out or no longer fit. Plus, we now live in a place with closets and dressers (which was so weird to me when we first moved in!), so the need for extreme minimalism has passed. Truthfully, there has been a fair amount of both rejoicing and weeping at letting go of some of the pieces that went around the world with us. (I still have not replaced my tennis shoes, even though I desperately need to, but I happily said good-bye to a pair of travel pants I was never really in love with)! We have replaced and/or added to our travel gear out of necessity (and social pressure, if I'm really honest), but our closets and drawers are nowhere near filled to capacity. Nor do we want them to be. We all seem to be satisfied with less these days. (Though, I'll admit, the girls are enjoying the increased variety!) And, we all still harbor a wanderlust that makes us stop and consider what is packable and what isn't. We try to be intentional about what we bring into our intentionally small house. And, we try to get rid of items we don't truly love or that don't fit properly.

As far as non-clothing items go, we try to apply the same principles, though, I confess, this seems a little harder to control. There are more toys, beauty products, knick-knacks, and miscellany around than seems necessary (but NOTHING like before our trip). And some of them are here just because they can be, because we simply have the space for them. Despite our best intentions, the clutter still builds up, and I often feel that we have more than we need. And sometimes, I sweep through the house looking for anything we can get rid of. Sure, the kids enjoy having a few more toys, but they still gravitate to simple playthings or create playthings out of whatever is around. Overall, I would say that minimalism has made itself at home in our lives. We recognize the difference between needs and wants, and we think intentionally about our possessions. In my opinion, one of the the great things to come out of our trip is knowing what we need and knowing it is enough.

First IEA Show

One of the main reasons we chose Flower Mound as a landing place was so Ruth could ride on a competitive IEA team. She has been practicing with the team since late July, and they had their first show today. IEA particularly focuses on riders' abilities, rather than the appearance or breeding of the horses. Riders often have no previous experience with the horses they ride, since the horses are selected randomly by the riders just before they ride. Riders are judged individually, but points are also collected for the team. Ruth looked beautiful, and, though she didn't win any individual prizes, she had a great time, and her team got 2nd overall. This is all new to us, and we all learned a lot and enjoyed the whole experience.

A Farm Zamboni

Our team has a dedicated hair lady. She is awesome!

So proud of this beautiful young lady!

The girls have to line up by height for the draw, because certain horses can't be used for the taller girls. 

First time to enter the show arena

Rooting for rider 120

Ruth and Bowie in the Walk/Trot Class

Ruth and Towne in the Walk/Trot/Canter Class

Feel Good Friday: On a Saturday

What are you waiting for?!

State Fair

Even though Jeff and I both grew up in Texas, neither of us had ever had the opportunity to visit the state fair. Now that we practically live in the fairground's backyard, we really had no excuse not to attend. So, yesterday we declared a school holiday and took the kids down to the fair. We avoided the crowds by going on a weekday and arriving early. We ate as many ridiculously unhealthy things as we could manage, rode rides, played games, and enjoyed gawking at all the sights. We were so thrilled to check off this Bucket List item and experience this truly iconic Texas tradition!

Icons of the fair

The boys had a blast participating in the gigantic bean bag toss! Each had his own technique.

Car Shopping

Obstacle Course

We did not, by any stretch, try all the unhealthy fair foods, but we did try several, including:
corn dogs (of course!), mango-on-a-stick, fried Twinkie, footlong corn dog, footlong hot dog, chicken and waffles, cotton candy, pretzel crusted queso pollo balls, deep-fried, bacon-wrapped chili cheese dog with tots, and fried avocados. 

The little boys tackled the New York, New York funhouse.

And the older kids tried out the swings.

The last hurrah of the day was the log ride, which all the kids thoroughly enjoyed.

Sunday Staycation

The nomads are restless, but we are not in a position to travel right now. So, we are invoking Plan B--the Staycation. Yesterday's adventure was a trip down to the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. It was a gorgeous day and a beautiful place, and we enjoyed wandering around, taking in the fall colors and participating in lots of fun activities! Afterwards, we had lunch at Off-Site Kitchen, a funky gourmet burger joint in Dallas. We ended the day by carving pumpkins and enjoying "chocolate-covered strawberry shortcake." It was a lovely day, and it really did feel like a mini vacation!

Beautiful fall colors!

Pumpkin Village

Learning about superfoods in the edible garden

A friend from the butterfly garden

Water fun in the children's garden

Gigantic kaleidoscope

Building flowers

Fun in Big D

Off-Site Kitchen

"Pumpkin Lanterns"

"Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Shortcake"

Feel Good Friday: My Happy List

Ten Things I'm Happy About Today

1. Beautiful weather

2. Homemade chicken salad

3. On Guard oil in the diffuser

4. Kids who can entertain themselves

5. A cool science experiment

6. The opportunity to homeschool my kids

7. My wooden utensil collection

8. Date Night

9. Pumpkin Spice Martinis

10. A text from my SIL saying she's coming for a visit

{The truth is, today didn't really feel like the happiest of days. And, I was discouraged because I couldn't come up with a single meaningful thing to post for Feel Good Friday, which kind of felt like a failure and only served to make me feel worse. But then, I realized that the whole point of this weekly segment is to create happiness and positivity. So, I decided that I would take a break from thinking about all the things that could make me unhappy and focus only on the things that could make me HAPPY instead. I'll admit, it took some time to get started on my list. It took even more time to finish the list. It was an exercise in mindfulness, and I was forced to deliberately sift through the data in my brain, passing up the negative thoughts and picking out the positive ones. It wasn't exactly easy, but I'm really glad I did it. I wish I would have taken the time to make the list earlier in the day because I can now see how much I have to be happy about. Negative thoughts tend to build on one another inside my head and can quickly snowball out of control. Making a happy list (in writing!) takes away the momentum of the melancholy and allows my brain to reset. In my opinion, the harder it is to make the list, the more important it is to do it. Do you have a happy list? I would love for you share, if you're willing, because I think we could both benefit from it.} 

Weekend

On Friday, we celebrated the first real fall-feeling day with lunch at La Madeleine, a place we never eat at unless the temperature outside requires outerwear. After lunch, I took Clay to the dollar store because he had some birthday money burning a hole in his pocket, and he was dying for some dress-up clothes. He bought up all the boy choices they had and left so very happy. He loves that he can be a ninja-firefighter-chef, while still maintaining his Batman persona. Plus, he has all the weapons. So, don't mess with him.

Weston had a game yesterday, which ended in another Rebel victory. Woohoo! Then, the Aggies managed to give every single one of their supporters a long, slow heart attack but ultimately put another mark in the "W" column. We are all thankful for the bye next week, so we can recover.

Today, we decided to take in some of the local culture by attending the FloMo Food Truck Fest, which was such a great way to spend a beautiful fall day. We enjoyed lobster rolls, BBQ, pizza, hot dogs, and ice cream, along with craft vendors, bouncy houses, live music, and free tchatches.

And the crowning achievement of our weekend was that, after living in this house for two whole months, we finally got some decorative things hung on the walls, put our house numbers up, and got the boys' loft beds delivered and set up. Because we can be regular, normal, non-nomadic people.

Ninja or Ninja Turtle?

#99 with the catch in the endzone for 2!

FloMo Food Truck Fest

New Beds

House Number Helper

My favorite additions to the house