Our pumpkin collection grew this morning. We had a bunch of pumpkins and various gourds from the garden on display and then added two carefully chosen pumpkins from Carpinito's Pumpkin Patch.

Texas

Jacy, the boys and I headed to Texas last week for a dental convention and to visit our good friends from the military, the Malkowskis. We had a great week of activities and fabulous meals. Here's the timeline:

Day 1 - Fly to San Antonio, hug our friends hello! The Malkowskis were our neighbors in Japan and we missed them so much(especially Todd and Austin who are instant buddies again). Eat at a great restaurant, Chuy's, yeah TEXMEX.

Day 2 - Jacy heads to meetings and the boys and I play with Jess, Rich, Austin and Emma. We head to the Riverwalk in San Antonio for dinner (more TEXMEX and a stop for ice cream to celebrate Austin's 4th birthday) and then take a quick trip to the Alamo.

Day 3 - Jacy spends the day at the convention learning cool stuff and the rest of us head to the Witte Museum in San Antonio and to the zoo for a train ride. Then onto Rudy's for incredible Texas BBQ, brisket with creamed corn and sweet white bread.

Day 4 - The Boys and I head into downtown San Antonio with Jacy. Jacy heads to a convention breakfast where Tom Brokaw speaks. The boys and I head back to the Alamo to enjoy it to it's fullest, one of the coolest places I have ever been! We also go on a boat ride through the downtown area and then meet Jacy for more TexMex and a trip to the Texas Ranger Museum. After we eat we head over to an amazing mission, San Jose.

Day 5 - We road trip our way to Fredericksburg, a small German community with incredible food and great shopping. Our next stop is Luckenbach, population 3, home to a dance hall and a general store. Watch a wedding and motorcycle rally while we are there. Move on into the beautiful Texas Hill Country to Austin with stops along the way at the Lyndon B. Johnson homestead and museum. Onto Austin to enjoy the University of Austin spirit and get the best meal at Trudy's.

Day 6 - SEAWORLD

Day 7 - Bye bye, warm weather, great friends and yummy food.

There is some good food in Texas!

Our family came home last night from our great trip to see the Malkowskis in Texas. We spent time in San Antonio and Austin and had a great time. I will post tons of pictures later but I wanted to get to the best part (aside from our good friends) the FOOD. So, here are the highlights!!! TEXMEX (deep fried avocado stuffed with cheese and chicken with a spicy cheese sauce, heavenly) of course, German food in Fredericksburg and good ole BBQ at Rudy's. Delicious!

Little Cowboy

Wylie saddled up to watch tv this moring with his cowboy hat on. Texas rubbed off on him.

Portland

My mom and I hopped in the car on Friday night to head to Portland for the Women of Faith conference. We met my aunties and grandma for the conference, shopping and eating. The conference was amazing! Incredible music and interesting, knowledgeable and humorous women speakers. So enriching and fun. We headed back to Seattle last night and began our search for food. I mentioned to the group that I had been to Who Song and Larry's about 20 years ago and would love to go back. My memory of my first trip there is so vivid and fun (which is really amazing since I can't remember things that happened last year). I remember the food, the singing and laughing with my Uncle Greg and Aunt Darla and their friends. In fact, every time Jacy and I go to Portland or Salem, I say, "look Who Song and Larry's, we should eat there some time." So my family indulged me and we found our way. Thankfully, the food is still yummy and my trip down memory lane was a success. Yeah for a great weekend.

"Indiana Jones" goes to the Airport

Wylie will not take Todd's Indiana Jones hat off these days. He wore it to Nan's work today to check out the airplanes at the airport and eat lunch.

Todd and Wylie

I don't know why, but I am especially in love with my kids this week. They are just so funny and cute! After our scooter ride yesterday afternoon (see following post) we headed to the library to pick out some books. They looked at them all the way home and then dumped the entire pile in the floor right inside the doorway and read some more.

Scooter Kids

My kids are passionate about scooters right now. I can't get them off of them! On rainy days I have to watch the door from our house into the garage, because if Wylie sees an opening he is out in the garage grabbing his scooter for some laps around the kitchen table. I clicked away at my scooter team yesterday at the park. They had a mile of lovely pathway to scoot to their hearts content.