Last Trip to Lariat Ridge

This weekend was probably our last trip to Carol's before we head off to India. Carol made her world famous fried chicken for Friday dinner. Greta served up her amazing carne guisada and pollo guisado for Saturday brunch. And Nicolle brought in Granzin's barbecue for Saturday afternoon. And sometime in between we got donuts and kolaches from Sweeties to round out the culinary hill country weekend.

And we drank our last bottle of Avi. The funny thing is that the name came from putting together Ava and Vivian, but the label looks more like Evan and J - neither of whom were around when Nicolle and I dreamt up of Avi that day at the Dry Comal Creek Vineyards more than three years ago.

But some things never change - Nicolle and I continue to be inspired by JoMi!

Rock Band - The Children Tour

Our first Rock Band party was "a milestone event". This was our third - billed as a going-away reunion tour, but felt like The Children Tour. The party ended soon after nine when a room-full of tired parents and to-be parents and friends fell over into deep sleep while my guitar gently wept. We'd been working a hard day's night eight days a week....

Sibling Love

Evan throws himself at Vivian. And cuddles with her. And climbs all over her. And kisses her and slobbers on her. And then pulls her hair. Vivian isn't nearly as demonstrative, but she has her moments too. And they are lovely to watch when they do play together and laugh and cackle at the strangest things

Weekend

We drove down to New Braunfels on Thursday evening and hurried back to Austin on Sunday morning for neighbor Ava's third birthday. Somewhere along the way the cousins played, swam, ate watermelon, celebrated Kai's ninth birthday, and we painted the screened-in porch and moved several thousand pounds of rock and gravel to redo the front yard.

I learned that river rock is much heavier than garden soil, Grandma sings in the pool, and Evan doesn't sleep without a pack-n-play. And that I would never do another project without my wife. I don't go in for  over the top spousal praise in the social media, but I'll have to admit Jo is amazing and terrific.

Going for Soccer

Today at about 12:30 in the afternoon I got dressed for soccer. Then I sat on the couch and pulled on my socks. Evan saw this and took it to correctly mean that I was going somewhere. So he grabbed his shoes and tried to stick his feet into them. He got visibly upset when I leaned over and gave him a kiss on the head and said "Bye bye".

So Jo decided to help Evan put on his shoes and bring him outside for a bit.

Instead, he smartly walked down the path to me, and waved bye to Jo. Then he walked past me to the car and was looking for a way to get in when Jo came and scooped him up. His bottom lip quivered when I got in the car and drove away.

One day in the near future we'll go and play soccer together, big guy.

McK

We were parking at Mush when Arwin drove by with McKenzie and spotted us. The kids spent a few minutes together.

Later we went in for dinner and Evan threw rice and salmon at the couple at the next table who were clearly on a date. Much embarrassment and many apologies ensued.

Random Pictures

Vivian and Evan are playing more together. The other day they played on the couch together. And then Evan sat on Vivian's head. Later we went to Hopdoddy's with Ava and Karen and met Kelli there. Some pictures:

Holden and Soren Birthdays

We were in Houston yesterday and today for Holden's fourth and Soren's first birthday. Vivian dressed up with her moustache and top hat for the "Gentlemen's Party". And Evan and Soren pushed each other around on the sledge cart and played the piano together. A great time was had by all.