Funny Photos on the Road

I just got some pictures from my sister (thanks, Lauren!) from our family reunions this year. (Most of these are a result of me saying "Hey, could I use your camera real quick" or "Can you take a picture of that?") These aren't actually of family, just fun things on the road or while we were there.

First, from the drive from our Jasper Family reunion (my dad's mom's family)... (I was going to link to the blog about it, but I just realized I must not have blogged about it! We have a reunion every year near the fourth of July. It's the families of my grandmother and her three sisters. It's BIG! It was in Leakey, TX this year on the beautiful Frio River.)

First (and my favorite), the sign welcoming you to Hondo, TX:


Next, a sad sight. On the left is a shut-down Wal-Mart. What is that behind there? Oh! A new Wal-Mart Supercenter!


I think they had such a catchy slogan here that it should become a more wide-spread campaign. "Turn around! Don't drown!"

Bouncing Family!

The place we stayed at on Lake Conroe (for the family reunion I mentioned before) had two bouncy things (yes, the technical name) that adults could use! My sister, Joe and I all got to play in them. My sister's husband had a hurt foot, so he took pictures instead. My dad didn't have a hurt foot, but for some reason chose to just wait on us instead of jumping.

My sister and I

Joe flipping out

In Our Free Time

I haven't written in a week and a half! Sorry - I've been really busy. At the end of the blog, I'll make up for it, I promise.

Here's what we've been up to...

The weekend of the 14-16 we went to a family reunion (my maternal grandmother's side) at Lake Conroe. It turned out that everyone (other than my grandmother, parents, and my sister and her husband) was just coming for Saturday afternoon, but we were there the whole weekend. We ate barbeque, played putt-putt, swam, and even tried archery. I met a lot of extended family for the first time, which was neat.

Last week marked the half-way point for our 12 week challenge. We took measurements and weight. Neither Joe nor I were very happy with the results, which is disappointing. We didn't gain weight (even though we can tell we've added muscle), so we must have lost some fat... but it'd be nice to be able to tell it more.

We had the first meeting with our new small group from church (called ComGroup for Community Group) on Wednesday, minus three people. I'm excited about the group this year.

Joe spend this past Saturday in Nacogdoches at a Conflab (I'll let you ask him what that means) with some men from the type of church he grew up in. So I had a project day! I pretty much cleaned all day, but I did get started on the embroidery for a bedcover (half quilt half comforter) I'm making for us. I also experimented with drying our clothes outside. It was a hot, sunny day and our dryer doesn't work well, so they actually dried faster than if I had used the machine. I still fluffed the clothes with a dryer sheet (but no heat) for a little bit after they were dry. Wow, that sentence makes my life sound really boring. On Sunday we were given the first fruits of a friend's chicken (the first eggs they have laid since my friends got the hens), which was very neat. (See, that's not so boring!)

Okay, now for the reward I promised...

Sunday night Joe and I set aside some time to record music together. After a while, we decided we needed to take a break from the song we were working on and get back to our roots. Please enjoy this work of art.

Kolache Festival and Joe Gets Another Weird Fortune

I'm sorry for three things: (1) I'm a week behind in my blog (2) I didn't take any pictures of the fun we had last weekend (3) Joe got dibs on a blog topic.

Last Friday night we stopped by First Fridays at the Frame Gallery in downtown Bryan. There is new art, live jazz, and a hands-on art project. It was fun (as always), and we ran into several people we knew.

We then drove to Caldwell for the street dance that was kicking off the Kolache Festival. A man with cowboy boots, tight jeans, a plaid shirt, a cowboy hat, and a boom mic was the entertainment. Oh, and he had an accordion. He was only one of many who looked like a cowboy but spoke Czech. He played and sang many Czech polkas and waltzes. Though we did not brave the dance floor (or street, as the case may be), we enjoyed the music and dancing.

Saturday morning we drove back out to Caldwell and made our way to the kolache stands (we had heard that they were known to sell out early). In line, we saw Julia (our friend Wes' sister) who was helping out some of her in-laws at an award-winning kolache stand. We tried some of their kolaches, and they were VERY good. I also found a chocolate kolache... so dangerous. It was very good, and it is very good I only bought one. They remind me of the chocolate croissants at La Madeline, only with a little sweeter chocolate. Joe tried a pumpkin pie kolache that was good, too.

We ran into Wes' mom, too! And Wes' friend's wife Christie with her tiny little baby boy. He was very cute. And we got to beat Wes and Heather to meeting him. We saw a few more people we knew, which was somewhat surprising given that there was an afternoon Aggie football game that day. We left the Kolache Festival about 11:30 or noon.

We next went to visit our friends April and Michael (and baby Joel) and their 3 baby chickens! Very cute. I got to hold one, and she was soft.

We went back to our place to shower (it was a very HOT Kolache Festival) and relax in the air conditioning a few minutes. Then we headed over to some new friend's place. Not only did they feed us a fabulous dinner, but they also let me ride their horse! Though Joe knew the husband, I didn't know anyone in the family ahead of time , but we had a great time and I think got to know them a lot better!

Changing the topic entirely....

Joe said he had dibs on this topic, but I kept the fortune, so of course I have to scan it and put that in my blog! I'll link to his as soon as he blogs about it. Today we had Chinese food at Joe's favorite local place - China King Buffet. Remember Joe's bad fortune he got there last time? Well the one he got today was just confusing! Any ideas on what this means?


(In case you can't read it, it says "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Wonton or Dumpling?)

H-town last weekend

Last weekend we went to Houston to celebrate Joe's mom's birthday! No, I won't tell you how old she is. (In this picture are: Emily (Joe's sister), Joe, Kat, Tom (Joe's dad), Gloria (Joe's mom). Rabi was also there and he took this picture!)


Joe sang for a few years with Bryan, who is now a daddy! We had not yet met baby Hudson, and were excited to do so this past weekend. Here are Stephanie, Hudson, and Bryan! They have a nice place in the League City area with a beautiful baby room. It was good to catch up with them.

Birthday photos (a few weeks old)

I realized I didn't post any pictures along with my birthday post. Here is Joe wishing me a happy birthday at Gattiland.

I like to call this one "Joe Misses His Sister." (The cools toys were courtesy of Emily - she one the jackpot - over 600 tickets!)

Bee in My Bonnet

After some of the rain we've had, I found this bee in a bucket we had sitting outside. He wasn't moving, but I'd thought I'd take a picture of him.

After I had taken the picture, I saw him move his wings a little bit (in the water). I used a branch to fish him out, and he was able to hold onto it! I took one picture of the rescued bee and was about to get a lot closer. Now, I know moths and ladybugs with wet wings can't fly until they dry out, and I assumed bees were the same way. They are not. He zoomed away.


P.S. I have no idea why everything is underlined - sorry!

Garden update

As of 8/30, we've harvested 59 cucumbers! We've also had a few cantaloupes that have made my taste buds happy. We've still got tons of peppers coming, though the banana peppers (the first to give fruit) have slowed down. If you live nearby and want any peppers or cucumbers, be sure to let us know! Here's some pictures. I think the cantaloupe is interesting because the rind is VERY thin. I just cut a little off the outside to get to the fruit (instead of scooping out the fruit). It also looks different - the orange can be seen through the rind. I used up three cucumbers to make cucumber dip, and still have plenty left over... again, if you live close you should come take some!