San Antonio/Austin

This is a little out of order from the other posts, but oh well.
The week before my mom and little sisters got here, the boys were in San Antonio for EFY. [It was their first time!]
David and I left Friday at lunchtime and had Friday night to walk around San Antonio/the Riverwalk by ourselves. Then we picked them up Saturday morning. It was so fun to just hang out with them for the weekend!   [David was kind enough to pause his diet so we could have some delicious food on the trip. ]

The Alamo is surprisingly smaller than you think.

 The Riverwalk was super touristy (read: expensive and crowded) but it is really pretty to just walk around.

We found a great Thai place for dinner instead of eating on the river. [Our philosophy for eating on vacation is to eat at a place you can't go to anywhere else.]

This place was called Thai Dee - super affordable and you get so.much. food. 

We got the tom kha gai, massaman curry, and spicy basil pork. YUM.

 Of course, we made the boys see the local historic site as well. 

They were all good sports about me constantly taking their picture.

  Plus we took them to some awesome places for food, so they couldn't really complain about me taking pictures.

Best buds. Seriously, they share everything.

on the grounds of the Alamo

Saturday morning after picking them up, we all went to Magnolia Pancake Haus.

We got there around 7:45 and just barely missed the morning rush. Great food, big portions and decent prices. I had a  very delicious HUGE omelette and I think everyone else got french toast or pancakes. 

After we forced them to see the tourist spots, we went to the ginormous outlet malls a little ways north out of San Antonio. So many stores, but it is really good exercise. I got my belated birthday shoes, but no one else bought anything.  Then we started on our way to Austin.

 We stopped at a great place outside of Austin for some barbecue at a place called The Salt Lick.

We all got their plates of meat. We had brisket, ribs, sausage and turkey. All were delicious. The brisket was my favorite though.

So excited for some bbq!

Their meat pit.

 They also sell fresh lemonade outside while you wait. [And by fresh, I mean, the minute you order it they start squeezing a bowl of lemons into your cup and then add the sugar/water mixture.]

 Funniest picture of the whole trip.

After we got to Austin, we went swimming, rented a redbox, fell asleep.

The next day we got up and went to Barton Springs - a natural, spring-fed pool that is natural rock and freezing cold. 

photo credit

Then we went to lunch at a burger place called Hopdoddy Burger Bar.

They have a different way of taking your order/seating you that was kind of interesting.

Really good burgers and chili cheese fries.

Then we went to the capitol building in Austin.

It is quite, quite large.

Overall, we loved our weekend. 

I think we decided that we liked San Antonio better than Austin, but both were fun.

And now I want to go on a vacation again...

The Zoo

David and I went to the zoo one Saturday in June and were really impressed. Then when everyone came to visit, I got to go again! I think it is a great zoo. (Plus Wednesday are half-price days......)

These first 5 pictures are from when David and I went.

An Asian Rhino - not a hippo like we originally thought....

Creepy sloth bear. Paced around almost the entire time.

This crocodile is seriously big. And now the song from Peter Pan is in my head....

I submit that a baby anything is cute.

 Thomas liked to mess around on our camera. David taught him how to adjust the focus etc etc.

He took these next 2 shots.

 You can pay $1 and get a "feeding stick". Everyone was going crazy trying to get birds to eat off of their sticks.

Kayaking

You guys already know how much we love White Rock Lake.  My family got to experience it too!

There is a company that lets you rent kayaks, canoes, or stand-up paddle boards for a few hours at a time.

They decided to all try kayaking one evening.

Happy Birthday!

happy birthday, Mom!

you are always such a great example to me of giving service to everyone - especially in your calling

i'm so glad you decided to come visit us and i can't wait til you retire and come live close to me ;)

hope you have the greatest day ever!

thanks for being my mom.

Ham's Orchard

When the family was here, we drove out to Ham's Orchard thinking we would be able to pick peaches. Nope. They don't let you pick them there. BUT, they do have delicious peach (made from their peaches!) and strawberry ice cream (and jalapeno fudge).

  

Black Bean Soup

My awesome cousin, Rachel, just happens to love creating weekly menus and is nice enough to email them out to a few people. Bonus for me, right?

BUT now that we are spending our summer here with most of our kitchen being hundreds of miles from us, dinners have to be super simplified. (Not joking, I think we rotate through maybe 10 simple meals here.) One reason I'm excited to have a full-time job someday is because I will finally get to make some of the meals she has sent me. Meals that include more than 4 or 5 ingredients!

Anyways, she sent out this week's menu and it had this black bean soup recipe on it. Black bean soup is one of those meals that I like. It is super cheap, very filling, and I could (and have) eat it for days in a row.
My lack of any complex ingredients here means I use this go-to, simple version from my mom:

2 cans of black beans (not drained)
1 can chicken broth
1/2 cup (or more depending on how you like it) of salsa [I use medium]
1 can of corn (with or without draining) [or 1 cup of frozen corn]


Heat over the stove. Eat with whichever toppings you want.
Possible toppings: cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips, tomatoes, olives, green onions, cilantro


We think chips, tomatoes, cilantro, and the oxford comma are must-haves. :)
And I would put a picture up, but I literally just ate the last bowl.

A trip to the pool with the family....

Before Anna learned the proper way to drive....

June

The month of June seems to have slipped by - the days slowly, the weekends faster, the month in a flash. It is crazy to think that we are pretty much halfway done with our internship here.


Here is what we loved in June:

* Being surprised by everything when we got here - the unpredictable weather (a hailstorm of golf ball sized hail), how decent our apartment is, how much we love the lake.

*Cigarz pizza. With a Z. Don't let the Z throw you. We were pleasantly surprised with how awesome their pizza is. They only do takeout/delivery. Good thing we only live around the corner from them.

*Bluebell ice cream. We've only purchased this in pint containers because we like ice cream too much (plus the word 'diet' is now in our vocabulary).

* The activities David's work does. Sand volleyball games every week at this outdoor grill with a great view of downtown. Going to the horse races = hilarious. We've both never been and it was  fun experience. The go-kart place had some fun rides - David's favorite was the dragster ride. 

* The Rangers game! Seriously, it is something every week with David's company.

 

Dollar hot dog night? Yes, please....

* The Fort Worth zoo! Seriously, it was really awesome. They have really good habitats for their animals (which they have tons of!), we were quite impressed. It is really walk-able...they put up canopies and have lots of shade to keep you cool, plus some fans blowing mist that sort of cools you down for a second.

*Trying to make our apartment feel like a home, i.e. the case for purchasing a couch for 3 months.

*Mother's group when you don't have a child. Oh yes. You definitely are the one having the most relaxing time.

*The Walking Dead. This is what David loved. Me? Not so much. I loved the story but not how much I jump in surprise/anticipation. David laughs every time.

Pretty much we are loving Dallas.