Catching up

I am happy to say I finally have some alone time.  Time where I can blog to my heart's content, without feeling guilty for neglecting my boys, neglecting my job, or neglecting my body for lack of sleep.  I actually was supposed to have six glorious hours of alone time yesterday, when the boys went to the UT vs. Arkansas game (thank you again Jim!), but alas, Murphy's f-ing law kicked in and I spent the entire day flat on my back feeling miserable.  Ok, not the ENTIRE day - I did get up to go get a pedicure for about 45 minutes, but then crawled back into bed immediately after, with toes barely dry.  I then proceeded to sleep the entire afternoon, only getting up to pee & check on the score of the game.  That shows you how much I love pedicures, eh?

So, since I have some alone time (Z's in bed, Aaron's at his store waiting for the carpet guys to finish cleaning their carpets, and I don't have to get up early tomorrow), I thought I'd catch everyone up on some things we've done through September.  By things, I mean a trip to the capital when it was one of the first low-humidity, gorgeous 80 degree weather of the year, our annual trip to the Pecan Street Festival, and another road-trip to a diner from that book I mentioned a few blogs ago.  Let's begin.

First, we were looking for something fun to do outside on this breezy, non-sticky day a few weeks ago, and we also wanted it to be free.  We decided to take a trip down to the capital grounds, and look around the capital, then hang out on the grounds under the big, giant trees.  We've taken Z there one time before, but he was only 3, and didn't remember a whole lot about it.  Of course, now that he's six, we heard about how "bored" he was within 15 minutes of pulling up some shady grass and relaxing.  Too bad, son!  Mommy & Daddy weren't moving for a while, so we tried to come up with games and things to keep him busy.  Besides Aaron chasing him (which got old for Aaron REAL quick), I decided to play fetch with him.  As harsh as this sounds, it worked, and he was delighted to go running after my shoes for a good while.  Then, he resorted to chasing the people-friendly squirrels, but that quickly backfired.  We saw him run up on one little furry guy, then stop dead in his tracks, and come hauling ass back towards us.  The squirrel had actually juked him, as if to act like he was going to rush Zach.  It was hysterical.  Zach came back to where we were, and described the squirrel's face as, "it was like he was saying 'WASSUP?!' ".  I wish I had taken a picture of Zach's thug face as he was imitating this tiny squirrel.  I will spare you of token capital pictures, as I'm sure you've all seen it either in photos or in person before.

The Goddess of Liberty

The squirrels will walk right up to you.

Impatients are floating in the fountain

Z thought this was dirt ... oops.

The after-math.  Oh, boys.

Lying on my back, looking up.

Alright, one capital photo, for good measure.

Running back with my shoe (ie - fetch).

A lovely blue jay.

The same lovely, but suddenly perplexed blue jay.

Leaving the capital grounds ... he saw signs and was ecstatic.

Nice.  Driving through downtown & saw this guy.  

So, he means peace but back off, bitch?

Hmmmm.  Only in Austin, I swear.

After our time at the capital, Z mentioned he would like to go see a museum or two.  Since we won't go anywhere near the Austin Children's Museum on a weekend, we took him to a Natural History museum on UT campus.  Again, it was free, but apparently everyone else had the same idea.  It was so ridiculously crowded, it was making me edgy.  You couldn't even see things close-up because of all the people around each exhibit.  We left there, asking Z what he'd like to see next, and he said an art museum.  Aaron thought it would be great to take him to the Ransom Center's Art Museum, also on campus, because he & I had been there before and loved it.  Turns out they were having a paper exhibit, so it was basically a bunch of old letters and hand-drawn pictures or notes by certain artists and authors, so it didn't do much for Z.  He did find one print though, that caught his attention, and asked me to take a picture of it:

A closer look.

The title, artist, and explanation.  Interesting.

Fast forward a week or two, and we took our second trip for the year to the Pecan Street Festival.  It always comes through in May and in September, and we always go both times.  Z loves the funnel cakes and snow cones, Daddy loves the shrimp on a stick, Mommy loves the overpriced gyros, and Mommy & Daddy both love the cheap, ice cold beer.  I took some random shots from that day, nothing family-oriented.  Guess I was feeling a bit artsy.

The pizza joint on 6th street even has a myspace page?  Seriously?

Oh, how times have changed.

Needless to say, it was a fantastic day.  It always is when we go there.  As much as crowds usually get on my nerves, there's some weird calm about this specific event.  It just feels like home ... don't know why, but I won't kill the wonderment of it all by trying to figure it out.

Lastly, we finally took another day-trip to visit one more diner in our beloved diners/cafes of Texas book.  This week we chose The Bluebonnet Cafe in Temple, TX, and wow, we were not disappointed.  I forgot to document our meals in pictures on the last few trips we've taken, so I'm happy to say I remembered on this one.  Here was our lunch:

My cheeseburger and fries.  Oh yeah.

Aaron's chicken fried steak and onion rings.

The place itself.

I have to apologize for not taking pictures of our desserts.  Aaron ordered the chocolate meringue pie, and I ordered the apple pie with ice cream.  (Z opted out of all the goodies, because he had a big breakfast.)  We tore into those pie pieces as soon as they hit our table, so they were gobbled up before I remembered the photos.  If anything, that should be testament to the yummy goodness of this joint.  Stop by, if you're ever on your way to or from Austin.  It's worth it.

Other than the things I've posted here, we've been staying busy with school, work, and allergies.  We're all full of snot and antihistamines these days, and praying for cold weather, like everyone else.  This round has hit everyone particularly hard lately, even co-workers and my two best friends & their families.  Seems like no one can escape the mucus.  I've also been busy being "room parent" for Z's class, which includes working on an auction project for our biggest fundraiser of the year in November.  Z's teacher, one other Mom, and I all decided we should do a photo collage of the kids, then have it framed and labeled with our school crest & monogram.  I think it'll turn out beautiful, but we have a lot of work ahead of us before it will be done.  I photographed all the children last week, and will be doing a few re-takes this week, so I can get the pictures off to the magical person who'll be putting them into collage form.  I'll show you the end result, once we finally get there.

Hope everyone has been doing well & taking care of each other.  October starts this Wednesday.  What the ... ??  Wanna really freak out?

Yeah, chew on that one for a while.  eek!  Hugs to all, until next time ...