Weekly Happenings: On Monday, I had one last day with Tracie before she had to fly back to Utah that evening. We got up early and drove out to Fredericksburg to hike Enchanted Rock. It’s a huge rock that, if you hike up to the top of it, you get really beautiful views of the Hill Country that surrounds it. After we hiked the rock, we walked around Fredericksburg (Main Street is full of historic buildings, cute shops, and yummy restaurants) and also checked out the area around the Pacific War Museum (the inside of the museum was closed for cleaning) which also included a Garden of Peace that was donated by the Japanese people to the people of the United States. Oh, and we stumbled across one area that had an old water wheel that had been restored with the help of funds from our church (as well as a plaque that commemorated the memory of the Zodiac Colony which was a colony of pioneers from our church that apparently settled in the area in 1846). It was neat to see that bit of history that I wasn’t aware of. We grabbed lunch at a yummy Italian place and then headed home. On the way home, we stopped by a roadside stand. It’s normally only open during peach season, but they decided to stay open a little longer and sell some melons, apples, and pumpkins. We didn’t buy any produce, but I bought some homemade peach preserve and Tracie went home with some goat’s milk lotion and a really good smelling candle. After I took Tracie to the airport, life kind of returned to normal: work, school, errands, piano teaching, etc.
The Weekly Weather: Our mornings have been cool and pleasant with it warming up in the afternoons. Not much rain to mention (I think it might have sprinkled this morning). Hopefully it’ll start cooling down some more. It doesn’t feel much like fall when it’s 80-90 degrees outside.
What Paul’s Been Up To: He worked at work this past week (except Monday) and will work from home this next week. He’s also been busy with HOA stuff (trying to get ready for the annual meeting) and stuff for the Libertarian party (since election day is swiftly approaching).
What Sarah’s Been Up To: Other than playing on Monday, I didn’t do too much out of the ordinary…oh, except I did also get to go to book club, which was fun as always.
What Joseph’s Been Up To: He had another good week at school. I don’t see much of him after school because he makes a bee-line for his room. I figure he probably needs a bit of time to unwind after school, so I let him be.
What Abigail’s Been Up To: She’s been busy as usual. She still tells me on a regular basis that she’s ready to put on her costume and go get candy. 😉 She is slowly adjusting to having to leave Joseph at school (but still tries to latch onto him as soon as he gets home…maybe that’s why he heads for the hills, haha).
This Week in Pictures:
Enchanted Rock!The beginning trail was dirt, but luckily (for my footing) the rest of it was rock.The view from the top.There was a lake down there, which was really pretty. I just wish it was a little less hazy. The view got clearer as the day progressed, but it was also quickly getting hotter. We made it to the top! I want to say that the elevation change from the bottom to the top is 485 feet…and the entire hike was a little shy of two miles…so that tells you how steep the incline was at some points.Paul sent me a picture of the lunch he made for Abigail: a cheese sandwich shaped like Texas and some Pirate’s Booty (a cheesy puffed corn snack that she loves). Such a good Daddy!This is the National Museum of the Pacific War.It was first owned by Charles Nimitz and then was turned into a hotel. In the mid-60s, it was turned into the museum.One of the guns that was on display.The Japanese Garden of Peace.I loved the raked rocks.The plaque explaining the garden.One last selfie!Fredericksburg had cool things tucked around everywhere. This fountain was tucked back in an alley we walked by.This is the water wheel I was talking about earlier. There was a plaque near it that mentioned that our church helped provide funds to help restore it.This is a statue John O. Meusebach who was one of the founders of Fredericksburg and the Penatuka Comanche Chief Santanna smoking a peace pipe after making a treaty between the settlers in Fredericksburg and the Comanche. It’s believed that this treaty is the only one that has never been broken by one side or the other.I’m sure this is a replication (because it wasn’t blocked off or protected from the elements), but it was still cool to see this representation of native life.I can’t remember what building this is (I think it’s a small museum of some sort), but I thought it was a cool shape.New nails! Oh, and guess what?They glow in the dark! 😀Walking home from taking Joseph to school, I noticed the radio tower looked…different.When zooming in, I realized that there were actually a ton of birds up there. They looked too big to be hawks…I think they were vultures. :/She needed to cuddle with Minnie.This was a fun shot that I got of the two of them swinging.Never a dull moment…she was walking around, singing at the top of her lungs (some little song she made up), with this bucket on her head, haha.
Weekly Happenings: This past week held some fun times for a few people in our household. We had General Conference (a worldwide conference for our church) last weekend, which was wonderful as ever. It’s still weird to see it being broadcast from a smaller room with just a few people in attendance, but I’m grateful that it could still happen. I’m so grateful for technology! Monday, Joseph was able to go back to school in-person. He said that it was a bit weird wearing a mask all day, but he’s really glad he gets to see his teacher in person and see all his friends (and recess with friends is good, too). AND. On Thursday, I got to pick up my best friend, Tracie, from the airport. She has come down for a short trip (she goes back to Utah tomorrow evening), so we’re soaking in as much San Antonio and Texas sights as we can. So far, we’ve been up to Waco (the Silos, Magnolia shop, Harp Design Co., the suspension bridge, and the Dr. Pepper museum) and have seen some of the Downtown sights (the Japanese Tea Gardens, the Riverwalk, the Alamo, and La Villita (and the Arneson River Theater). Tomorrow, we’re going to hike Enchanted Rock and check out Fredericksburg (so those pictures will be on next week’s blog). Paul was able to take a couple of days off so that Tracie and I could have a lot of time together. I’m so grateful for him!
The Weekly Weather: I wish I could say that the cooler temps have been hanging around, but they haven’t. At least the mornings have been cool, though. I think we’re supposed to have a cool front move in soon…so that will be nice.
What Paul’s Been Up To: The poor guy got a sinus infection the day before I picked Tracie up from the airport. He was pretty sure that’s what it was, but he still went in to urgent care to be sure (and to get some antibiotics). They did a chest x-ray and a COVID test (which came back negative, thank goodness) and then gave him some antibiotics. He’s starting to feel a bit better now that he has a couple of days of antibiotics in his system.
What Sarah’s Been Up To: As was already mentioned, I’ve been traipsing around town and around Texas. 😀 I’ll go into more detail with the captions for the pictures.
What Joseph’s Been Up To: He really enjoyed getting to go back to school. He comes home happy every day. It’s so great!
What Abigail’s Been Up To: She doesn’t like leaving Joseph at school, but she sure is happy when he comes home! She does like having more “Mom time” now that I don’t need to be helping Joseph with school.
This Week in Pictures:
He was pretty excited to go back to school.She wasn’t sure about needing to be up so early. This was her mid-day.This has been her reaction every time he’s come home, though. She misses him while he’s at school.Ah, Texas sunset!It’s been three years since we last saw one another. This weekend has been so great!She wanted me to put a clover behind her ear…“Cheese!”She turned her head because she wanted to be sure I could see the clover.Dr. Pepper museum. I thought the differently shaped bottles were neat.An info page on a little history of Dr. Pepper.I love the vintage signs.See? Even Godzilla prefers Dr. Pepper. 😉 This was a funny sign that was in the museum.Outside.At one end of the suspension bridge were these bronze statues. They used to drive cattle over the bridge back in the day. This is the vaquero……and this is the trail boss.I’ve seen shots of this bridge on Fixer Upper, so it was cool to see it in person.On the suspension bridge.Selfie!Another selfie!It was cool to get to go to Harp Design Company. Clint Harp is the man who would do a lot of the woodwork on Fixer Upper. He now has a company and a shop front. I bought some cool candlesticks from there.Silos!A lot of it was still under construction (they’re doing some expansion), but it was still fun to get to walk around what was still open.Japanese Tea Gardens.I love that waterfall!I thought these blue flowers were beautiful.So, this heron was sitting on this little island in the water…which doesn’t look like water because of the reflection of all of the greenery.I promise it’s water, though. In this one, you can see the heron’s reflection in the water.A close up of the waterfall.I loved getting to traipse around the gardens with Tracie!I thought the social distancing suggestion on this sign at the Alamo was funny.The Alamo!Had to get one with both of us, for sure.Right now, you have to set up a tour time in advance, which is nice. It means it isn’t as crowded…which means more opportunity for shots like this.The Arneson River Theater. Pre-COVID, they would do plays here and people taking the riverboat tours could even catch part of the show. The grassy part is actually seating.Walking the Riverwalk.Paul took this picture and sent it to me. She sure has loved getting to spend time with “the boys”.
Weekly Happenings: This week, we welcomed October. Yay! We didn’t really do too much out of the ordinary aside from pulling out the Halloween decorations, which made Abigail ridiculously excited. She probably asked me fifty times that day if it was time to go trick-or-treating. 😀 Oh! We did get to go to church in person for the first time since March. Even though we were all spread out and wearing masks, it was still nice to get to go and worship at church.
The Weekly Weather: It’s been really nice this week. Monday, a cold front moved in and dropped the temperature. I think the high was only in the 70s. It did warm up during the rest of the week, but the mornings have still been nice and cool.
What Paul’s Been Up To: He finished up the two week course that he needed to take for work. He will also be checking in about work, because he might be approaching the end of working from home and going back to going in to work full-time.
What Sarah’s Been Up To: I’ve done my typical things (keeping up with Joseph’s schooling, the housework, keeping Abigail entertained, piano teaching, etc.).
What Joseph’s Been Up To: He’s been doing great with school. He is pretty excited, though, because he should be able to finally return to in-person learning on Monday. Hurray!
What Abigail’s Been Up To: She has really showed us just how smart she is. At church, Abigail noticed that a little boy was taken out by his dad when he was crying. She asked what was wrong and I said that he was sad, but that his dad took him out to help him feel better. She then asked if I could take her out and I told her no…so a few minutes later, she started fake-crying. When I asked her what was wrong, she told me that she was sad and that I needed to take her out. Nice try, kid. Then there was one night where I gave her some bite-sized graham crackers to eat, but cautioned her against putting too many in her mouth at once…she promptly grabbed several crackers, turned away from me (so I couldn’t “see”) and put them all in her mouth. She realized quite quickly the error of her ways, gagged a bit, and then took most of the crackers back out. She then (rather sagely) told me, “Mom, I can’t put too many crackers in my mouth…it will make me choke!” Uh, yeah. That’s exactly what I told you! She’s also done some pretty funny things. One is her desire to fake-sneeze everywhere (which, in hindsight, might not be the best thing to encourage her to do during a pandemic). The other thing happened when we got out the Halloween decorations. She picked up a spider, clutched it, gasped, and then said, “Oh! The spider got me! Now I’m Spiderman!” Silly goose.
This Week in Pictures:
She was convinced that if everyone’s shoes were on, it meant it was time to go to church…so here she is, helping Joseph put on his shoes, even though it wasn’t quite time to go yet.All ready for church!Showing me a clover.Loving the cool weather.She loves this big green ball.Soaking in the coolness. Can you tell it’s been hot for a really, really long time?She loved to feel the breeze.My tomato plant is exploding with new fruit. I think I counted 75 little green tomatoes of varying sizes.Spinning!Swinging in the cool breeze.She was excited to get to “match” me.Jeans jackets are all of a sudden back in fashion. Yay!Can’t get more Texas than this: a Buc-ee’s shirt, jeans jacket, and boots (with Texas flags on them, even).She loved it when he was pushing her.I couldn’t help but laugh when I realized her was wearing his sweatshirt…it was probably in the 70s, but he was excited to wear it, I guess. 🙂I love the window clings I found this year. They’re very “San Antonio” (as is my door hanger, which is metal and wood).I love this little Halloween house!My piano set up.This is a fun corner with the signs and my new pumpkin.Abigail really wants me to take this down so she can ride it like a witch…I’m not sure it would survive, though.Ghost lights!Pumpkin lights!It wouldn’t be Halloween if we didn’t cover the book case in spiderwebs. 😉 I did check with Joseph to make sure he didn’t need any of the books off of there before I did so, though. 😀I had a little extra web left over, so I covered this shelf, too.I think I’ve used this quote every Halloween, but I just love it so much! It’s from a song in Nightmare Before Christmas, and I feel it really captures the spookiness of Halloween.Fun Halloween centerpiece.She saw these slippers at Walmart. I was about to try to persuade her against them, but then I remembered that she had recently grown out of her unicorn slippers…so, yeah…into the cart they went. When told she couldn’t have the flying broom, she luckily accepted my Swiffer duster as a close second.She used her new pumpkin wand as a “magic wand” and turned me into a frog. She even tacked on the magic words (aba-ca-da-ba!!!!!) and an evil witch laugh (Heh, heh, heeeee!).More swinging. You’ll notice that Abigail has both her pumpkin bucket and Joseph’s bucket…you know, just in case it was all of a sudden time to go trick-or-treating. 😉October nails! If you cock your head to the right a bit, you can see the black cats peeking in.She loves plain Greek yogurt. I’m okay with it since it’s probably one of the main ways she gets protein.They went out in the back yard every day this past week (during Joseph’s recess break). I think I may end up needing to still take Abigail out for “recess” after Joseph goes back to in-person learning at the school.My piano during a different part of the day. The first picture I took was in the morning, so it was all bright. I love seeing it in the evening, when the light is casting a warm glow across the oranges, rusts, and golds.Our fun Halloween countdown board.One of Abigail’s new things is wanting to make her sandwiches different shapes. Thank goodness for cookie cutters! She didn’t exactly ask out of the blue for a Texas-shaped sandwich, but when given the choice, the answer in the affirmative was quite prompt.
