July 2012

It is weird to think that August 1 is tomorrow. It seems like we just barely got to Dallas and now we are already getting ready to leave. We had a lot happen in July between trips and family and work events.
Here's some of the pictures off my phone from July that haven't been put up here yet.

Texas waffles from Texas hotels

From my quick 19 hour trip to San Antonio

New Sperrys!

I'm guessing this is after we went running? Nice tan lines :)

The lake on our way home.

It has been SO HOT this week. All in the 100s. 106 today and yesterday.
The pool is one of my best friends

Concert at the Dallas Arboretum (which is right next to our lake!).

The rest of these pictures are from the Chihuly sculptures at the arboretum. They were pretty cool to see. Some of the colors are unbelievable. Also, how did these not break in the hailstorm we had that smashed windshields? 

The water in the background is White Rock Lake. 

I think this one is my favorite.

This one was HUGE. 

We also have no pictures of sand volleyball, the huge outlet mall, lots of trips to the pool, running around all of White Rock Lake (a 15k!), soccer games, redbox movies, and a lot of other things I can't remember. July was pretty fun.
Now onto August!

Happy Birthday! part 2!

I remember going on daddy-daughter dates to Macey's for 10 cent ice cream cones when I was little.

And spending lots of time with my dad trying to help him fix things (even though I really just watched him do it). 

Thanks for being the best dad in the whole world!

happy birthday!

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.