May 2011

Here's the wrap of the major May events!

OneLUV
On May 2nd, Southwest acquired AirTran and we celebrated in true SWA fashion. Despite the rain, we headed out to the Dallas maintenance hanger for speeches, photo-ops, and of course, decorated sugar cookies!!

Not long after, we headed to the deck to watch the first AirTran plane takeoff from Love Field.


*Note: In re-reading this one, I realized it is quite possible this was the last time (until a week ago) we had rain in Dallas.


10 Days in Peru!
This being a major trip, it deserved it's own post. Check it out here: A(nother) International Birthday


Graffiti of baseball decor
Upon return from vacation, I found my Team had decorated my work cube for my birthday. I should say decimate, as my current baseball theme was tainted a bit. Imagine coming back to these "players" on your walls!

At first, it appears harmless...

until you see this...

and these...


My pennants were even turned around AND one was suspiciously missing! (Don't worry - I quickly located the tomahawk in one of my desk drawers.)

The funniest thing was everyone else's reaction - I must have had a half dozen people say "It wasn't my idea...we told them you'd be mad." But I actually thought it was rather clever!

Memorial Day

This weekend included an almost 24 hour traveling day to attend Mandy’s wedding in Carlsbad, NM. As Jacinda was in the wedding, she and Evan got there on Thursday. Mom and I started Saturday on an early morning flight to Houston, then to Midland (the closest SWA airport) where we rented a car to drive to Carlsbad. Hours later after the wedding, the four of us drove back to Abilene (via Midland to return the car) pulling in around 2am. Long day!

Besides the beautiful wedding – which Mandy has documented on their new blog – here are some of the notable points of the day:

• Getting Taco Villa for lunch - always a rare and happy thing :)
  
• A reminder of how flat and blank West Texas can be. I always thought the drives out from Snyder were long; but they are nothing compared to Highway 176 west of Midland!
• A Route 44 (strawberry slush for me) to help stay awake on the drive. When we were in Peru, Evan enjoyed telling our Dutch friends how big all the food was in the US. I don’t think they believed it when he said a 44 oz. drink.

• Making it to the oasis in the desert – literally! The wedding location was at the beautiful Washington Ranch, after miles of flat nothingness.

Along with some extra sleep, the rest of the weekend was all about eating…and Mom cooking all of our favorites!

April 2011

I just discovered that a couple of post I'd written awhile back (just after this one) never got published. Whoops! Better late than never, I suppose.


Here's a round-up of the April fun. Sadly, most of these were undocumented via camera. So you'll have to read through my colorful descriptions instead!

Opening Night Rangers game and cookout
My streak of Opening Day attendance had to end sometime. And this was the year. The combination of an American League championship and facing the always popular Boston Red Sox made the tickets too difficult and too pricey to obtain. So, we invited friends and family for the next best thing - pregame cookout and Opening Night game!

Highlights of the day included:

• Introducing Evan to ALDI - greatest grocery store ever
• Getting to use both of mom's tailgating tents (Christmas gifts - clearly we think alike in our family)
• Trying to keep the tents from flying away!
• Great hotdogs and brats grilled by Evan
• Fun cookie treats
• Seeing the presentation of the American League championship rings
  
• A Rangers WIN!
  

Yard updating and new garden planting
Last summer I was doing good to get a small garden planted, with lots of shoveling work by Dad. This summer, I did a little updating of the front yard flower beds and added to the backyard garden.

Front yard - After

2011 Garden
While the okra crop exceeded expectations last year, the rest of the garden was less than impressive. This year we (again, Dad's help as the adviser of all things agricultural) made the rows perpendicular from prior and added watering trough rows to ease the frequently late-night waterings. So far it's making a great start - lots of early produce in June!

Tomatoes were first again! -

Squash and zucchini -


*Note - this post was originally composed in late June, before the almost record number of 100+ degree days. Needless to say, the squash plants are no more, although the okra and tomatoes are still going strong!


Good Friday in Corpus Christi
With my family in three different places during the Good Friday/Easter weekend, my plans for the long weekend started out minimal, but expanded greatly at the last minute. First off, a day trip to Corpus Christi with Katie and Sarah. I think we may have been on the first flight in and last flight out from Dallas, and we sure make good use of those hours!

First, while Katie picked up the rental car, Sarah and I consulted the brochure and map racks at the airport and were given lots of advice from the all-to-willing-to-help volunteer. His lay of the land explanation was helpful, though we promptly went the opposite direction he suggested and ate elsewhere :)

Hoping in our sporty little SUV, we headed due East - to the island of course! It does take two flights from Dallas to get to Corpus, so by this time it was close to lunch and we were ready for seafood. I can't quite recall whether it was a suggestion by someone or an urbanspoon find, but Snoopy's Pier on the bay side of the island was perfect! Great fried shrimp, seafood shack feel (and smells :), and waterside seating.

We were now ready for the main adventure of the day - the ocean! After grabbing some essentials at HEB, we scouted the different beach areas for our perfect spot. Parked in the sand (with some tips by a passerby on how to park without getting stuck - thanks!) and we hit the waves. Boy, were they high, too! Lots of wind created some really fun waves to ride!

On the way out of town, we stopped at Rudy's for some great BBQ and made it back to the airport just in time for our flight. Another great day trip!


Easter in Austin
Two days later, I headed down to Austin to spend Easter Sunday with the Toole side of the family. Chef Diane cooked an incredible dinner, with everything you can imagine for traditional Easter. A bonus for me, since most of them do not eat meat often (or at all) I went home with the leftover ham - perfect for ham & potato skillet casserole!

I got the fun of both filling and 'hiding' Easter eggs for the kids (in quotes because evidently for a 3 and 1 year old, they still need to be in plain sight!) And after helping to play with the prizes inside the eggs, Cailyn let me watch her Strawberry Shortcake movie with her. I still have the Strawberry Shortcake board book that I got when I was probably her age. It is fun to see that they are bringing it back for this generation of kids, although I noted that Strawberry and her friends were a little more stylish than in my book : )

A fun day with family which brings an end to April!