Thursday, October 28, 2010
Pumpkin patch
On Monday we went to a little pumpkin patch at a local church. A lot of churches around here use pumpkin patches as fundraisers for their youth groups. Who knew? I still remember when I was 17 and moved to a city after growing up in a little rural town and having no idea at all where people got their pumpkins. Where do you get a pumpkin if there isn't a farm near by. Where I grew up, grocery stores did not sell pumpkins. I'd never seen a pumpkin in a grocery store, ever. And now, we go to a church fundraiser to get them. Weird.
Anyway, we got some pumpkins. (Sorry about the crappy picture quality. Turns out there were finger prints all over the camera lens. I can't imagine why.)
Anyway, we got some pumpkins. (Sorry about the crappy picture quality. Turns out there were finger prints all over the camera lens. I can't imagine why.)
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Date night reports
We haven't stopped date nights, although G ha been away for a few. We have tried a few new places (and went back to Sago because it was so good the first time.)
Two weeks ago we went to DK Sushi, which is a little hole in the wall on Lamar just south of 2222. I've been wanting to try it for awhile and the stars aligned since we were at the DMV office across the street. It was refreshingly casual and mellow. And the food was good. Nothing fancy, just pretty straight up nigiri and rolls. But it was fresh and delicious.
Yesterday, we went to Foreign and Domestic, which I kept hearing about. It's just around the corner from us, so we decided to try it. If you look at the menu at that link, you'll see they are doing the trendy thing of just listing the ingredients but not telling you the preparation method. And, unfortunately, every entree had one thing that didn't sound good to us. We did get a couple of items from the happy hour menu and they were delicious, as was the white wine sangria. But, we didn't see anything else we wanted to try. So, we did what any Austinite would do. We headed from the upscale trendy restaurant to the taco place.
Torchy's just opened a new location near us. It was perfect. Trailer park, trashy. That's more our speed. Great date night.
Two weeks ago we went to DK Sushi, which is a little hole in the wall on Lamar just south of 2222. I've been wanting to try it for awhile and the stars aligned since we were at the DMV office across the street. It was refreshingly casual and mellow. And the food was good. Nothing fancy, just pretty straight up nigiri and rolls. But it was fresh and delicious.
Yesterday, we went to Foreign and Domestic, which I kept hearing about. It's just around the corner from us, so we decided to try it. If you look at the menu at that link, you'll see they are doing the trendy thing of just listing the ingredients but not telling you the preparation method. And, unfortunately, every entree had one thing that didn't sound good to us. We did get a couple of items from the happy hour menu and they were delicious, as was the white wine sangria. But, we didn't see anything else we wanted to try. So, we did what any Austinite would do. We headed from the upscale trendy restaurant to the taco place.
Torchy's just opened a new location near us. It was perfect. Trailer park, trashy. That's more our speed. Great date night.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
8 months
Owen turned eight months old yesterday. It's been a big month for development. His personality is really starting to show and he's a happy, flirty, funny, mellow kid. He's learned to bum scoot so now he can get to where he wants to go, although slowly and with a lot of frustration. I predict he will be crawling in some fashion by the next monthly update. He also got a new tooth, which brings him up to five.
He still adores his sister but now that he can get to her and to her stuff, she is slightly less enamoured with him. He also adores food and may soon be eating us out of house and home. He loves the bath, gravel, being outside and eating leaves and his dad.
He's not sleeping through the night - we are usually up twice. We've done some sleep training which has helped, but it may almost be time to make a concerted effort to drop the 2 am feeding. He certainly doesn't need it, since the boy is wearing 18 month clothes.
He still adores his sister but now that he can get to her and to her stuff, she is slightly less enamoured with him. He also adores food and may soon be eating us out of house and home. He loves the bath, gravel, being outside and eating leaves and his dad.
He's not sleeping through the night - we are usually up twice. We've done some sleep training which has helped, but it may almost be time to make a concerted effort to drop the 2 am feeding. He certainly doesn't need it, since the boy is wearing 18 month clothes.
Friday, September 24, 2010
My life list
I've been working on this for a little while and I have to give up making it perfect or complete. Because that is not the point of a life list. It is also not a to do list. It's a list of things I want to do someday somehow. Things will be added and erased and crossed off. Here is it:
1. Sail in the Greek Islands
2. Learn how to can fruits and veggies
3. Successfully grow vegetables
4. Learn to hula hoop
5. Visit the Grand Canyon
6. Visit all the National Parks in Utah
7. Learn to meditate
8. Take the kids on a canoe trip
9. Do another adventure race
10. Have a plot at a community garden
11. Take a multiday bike trip with the kids
12. Cook dinner every night for a week
13. Decide on a Monday to take a fabulous vacation on Friday
14. Go back to Paris
15. Go to Spain
16. Rent a house in Italy for at least two weeks
17.Go to the full moon swim at Barton Creek pool again
18. Own a piano and learn to play again
19. Restore an old house
20. Own (and wear) cowboy boots
21. Cook at camp with my sister
22. Take my nieces on a trip
23. Go to Africa
24. Wax
25. Pose nude
26. Go on a trip with Ada, Mel, Tasha and Sara
27. Get a massage once a month for a year
28. Run an off road half marathon
29. Have a family portrait taken
30. Visit Stonehenge
31. Try stand up paddleboarding
32. Host an over-the-top dinner party
33. Eat at all the (non-mexican) food trailers in Austin (This is not to be food-ist. It's just that there are hundreds of taco trucks. I don't want to try all of them.)
Things that I've already done that were on my (not written down yet) list:
Run a marathon
Do an expedition adventure race
Make cheese
Go to NYC
Knit myself a sweater
Do a multiday sailing trip
Own a beautiful house
Have a dog
Take a french cooking class
Take a painting class
1. Sail in the Greek Islands
2. Learn how to can fruits and veggies
3. Successfully grow vegetables
4. Learn to hula hoop
5. Visit the Grand Canyon
6. Visit all the National Parks in Utah
7. Learn to meditate
8. Take the kids on a canoe trip
9. Do another adventure race
10. Have a plot at a community garden
11. Take a multiday bike trip with the kids
12. Cook dinner every night for a week
13. Decide on a Monday to take a fabulous vacation on Friday
14. Go back to Paris
15. Go to Spain
16. Rent a house in Italy for at least two weeks
17.Go to the full moon swim at Barton Creek pool again
18. Own a piano and learn to play again
19. Restore an old house
20. Own (and wear) cowboy boots
21. Cook at camp with my sister
22. Take my nieces on a trip
23. Go to Africa
24. Wax
25. Pose nude
26. Go on a trip with Ada, Mel, Tasha and Sara
27. Get a massage once a month for a year
28. Run an off road half marathon
29. Have a family portrait taken
30. Visit Stonehenge
31. Try stand up paddleboarding
32. Host an over-the-top dinner party
33. Eat at all the (non-mexican) food trailers in Austin (This is not to be food-ist. It's just that there are hundreds of taco trucks. I don't want to try all of them.)
Things that I've already done that were on my (not written down yet) list:
Run a marathon
Do an expedition adventure race
Make cheese
Go to NYC
Knit myself a sweater
Do a multiday sailing trip
Own a beautiful house
Have a dog
Take a french cooking class
Take a painting class
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Seven months
Owen turned seven months old two days ago, but it took me awhile to get around to writing. Graeme has been away for over a week so my chances to sit and write are very few.
It's been a month of big changes, as all months are at this point. New teeth (he now has four. The first top one came in on the 11th and the second one yesterday. The bottom two arrived four days after he turned five months old.), new sounds, food.
He loves food. He mostly has pureed fruits and veggies but also enjoys Cheerios and small pieces of fruit and meat. He hasn't tried a food that he doesn't like. He eats a lot and enthusiastically. It's very fun. I think it's more fun that when we did it with Kate because the first time we were a bit worried about it. Now it's just fun and no stress at all.
Owen has also started to express frustration and anger if he loses a toy (usually because *someone* takes it). He has developed an intense love of the bath. He is 95% of the time a happy, smiling baby. He makes everyone else smile too. He loves loves loves his sister. She thinks he's ok.
It's been a month of big changes, as all months are at this point. New teeth (he now has four. The first top one came in on the 11th and the second one yesterday. The bottom two arrived four days after he turned five months old.), new sounds, food.
He loves food. He mostly has pureed fruits and veggies but also enjoys Cheerios and small pieces of fruit and meat. He hasn't tried a food that he doesn't like. He eats a lot and enthusiastically. It's very fun. I think it's more fun that when we did it with Kate because the first time we were a bit worried about it. Now it's just fun and no stress at all.
Owen has also started to express frustration and anger if he loses a toy (usually because *someone* takes it). He has developed an intense love of the bath. He is 95% of the time a happy, smiling baby. He makes everyone else smile too. He loves loves loves his sister. She thinks he's ok.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Date nights
We decided that this fall we would start having weekly date nights. We haven't done this before and now that we have two kids, it seems really necessary. We arranged to have a sitter every Tuesday from 5-7:30. That means we can have an early dinner (at happy hour prices), Ashley will feed the kids and we will be home for bedtime. Today was our second week, and it's been great.
We have also decided to try a new place each week since we intend to go back to our favourite places. I'll be posting about where we go here, mostly so that I can remember.
Last week we went to Sago which is very near by in the Triangle development. We actually got takeout from there once, but that was awhile ago. They have apparently recently changed the menu, although since we didn't know the old menu, that didn't mean much to us. We had a selection of appetizers, which were all really good. Our favourites were the mexican chicken wings and something I've forgotten the name of (the website doesn't have the new menu) but it was seafood in a lemon-grass/coconut broth. Vaguely thai and delicious.
Tonight we went to Simplicity Wine and Eats. It is a new place where the schick is that it is an unpretentious wine bar and it produces less non-compostable, non-recyclable garbage than a family of four. Their menu is tapas and we had a few good things. The samosas were great (although not Spanish by any stretch). The food wasn't as good as Sago, but the happy hour special of $4 glasses of Malbec made up for it.
The next two weeks G will be out of town, so no date night. I will still get a sitter and go run or bike, but no reports of new restaurants for a few weeks.
We have also decided to try a new place each week since we intend to go back to our favourite places. I'll be posting about where we go here, mostly so that I can remember.
Last week we went to Sago which is very near by in the Triangle development. We actually got takeout from there once, but that was awhile ago. They have apparently recently changed the menu, although since we didn't know the old menu, that didn't mean much to us. We had a selection of appetizers, which were all really good. Our favourites were the mexican chicken wings and something I've forgotten the name of (the website doesn't have the new menu) but it was seafood in a lemon-grass/coconut broth. Vaguely thai and delicious.
Tonight we went to Simplicity Wine and Eats. It is a new place where the schick is that it is an unpretentious wine bar and it produces less non-compostable, non-recyclable garbage than a family of four. Their menu is tapas and we had a few good things. The samosas were great (although not Spanish by any stretch). The food wasn't as good as Sago, but the happy hour special of $4 glasses of Malbec made up for it.
The next two weeks G will be out of town, so no date night. I will still get a sitter and go run or bike, but no reports of new restaurants for a few weeks.
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