Synopsis

The last couple of months of summer went by so fast.  Technically we are definitely still in summer, especially given those 100+ temps daily with no rain in sight.  However, Benjamin is already back in school!  Now that that he is back in school, and I have a little time on Tuesdays and Thursdays (yes!!!!), I have more space to do things like update blogs.

So let's go back a month or so...  Fourth of July was great.  It wasn't even that hot, and we were enjoying the delicious Black Krimm tomatoes that I grew from seed in the Spring.  We did the Westlake parade again and the boys were a hit.  We were also happy to find out that we get three days of fireworks, as the two country clubs near our house do fireworks on the 3rd and 5th of July.  Now that we know this we can plan to view them all next year!

Lance decided that we were ready to do some of our own fireworks this year.  That was scary for me but it turned out ok! Phew!

We had both sets of grandparents over for a Par-tay and Lance decided to have a little fun with the beverage options.  Amma and I enjoyed a nice watermelon martini with basil.  Next year we'll use our own watermelons, thank you!

A Most Delicious Evening

Lance and I enjoyed a beautiful evening at a new restaurant on the East side.  We ate at Eden East, which is a casual garden side eatery underneath the pecan trees and christmas lights.  The feature local fare, much of which involves produce coming directly from the garden surrounding you.  Just look at the beautiful food and surroundings!  By the way, watermelon goes really well with lamb. Yum!

To put a final romantic touch on the evening, you have to love heart-shaped peppers!

Random Summer Time Fun

Evan finally got to go on some field trips at school.  He was so sad last year when Benjamin got to go and he did not!

We haven't gone out to dinner with the boys as much since we moved further away from restaurants.  But we sure did have fun one night at Tres Amigos.

I was blessed with a visit from my good graduate school friend, Becky. We spent some quality pool time together and then attended our friend Kim's engagement party.

New Mexico Trip

We took our annual trip to New Mexico this August.  I keep thinking this will be our last year but my parents still haven't sold the house in over 6 years!  Maybe we'll be back.... This was the first time that we have driven with the kids.  I think it went pretty well given that we are all still alive and in relatively good mental health.  I'm so thankful for DVD players and I Pads for these type of occasions.

We saw a lot of "windmills", which is about all there is to see on this trip.

The boys were thrilled to see each other after a brief separation.  Benjamin had gone ahead with Papa a few days earlier.  

"Reunited and it Feels so Good!"

Lance thought this shot of all of the shoes represented the concept of being reunited.  Sweet!

New Mexico is a beautiful place, and we totally loved being spoiled by my parents while we enjoyed the much cooler and wetter weather.  I need my reprieve from August in Texas!  Little boys seem to love playing among rocks, which New Mexico seems to have plenty of.

We were generally lazy while at my parents' house, but we did make it to the "zoo" nearby.  When I say lazy, that includes photography, so we only got one pic on my phone!  Benjamin was lucky enough to come face-to-face with a Cara Cara that used to be kept as a pet.

Taos Getaway

I'm putting our Taos trip under a separate header because it was our big "date trip" of the year.  It worked great to leave the boys with my parents while we drove two hours north for a 2-day stay in Taos.  We started with a 4 mile hike in the Taos ski area.  It would have been much more awesome had we not struggled with the altitude change and had it not been raining and lightening for most of the hike!  It sure was gorgeous though.

I was much happier when we got to the hotel.  I absolutely loved our balcony with a view of the pond, waterfalls, and towering Aspen trees.

But let's face it, the most important thing about a trip to New Mexico is the food.  Ahhhh the food!!  The bad news is that we only one good food pic.  The good news is that it is a really great one!  Blue corn chile relleno with fried egg at Doc Martin's.

So it was a great summer overall.  It was pretty short since Benjamin started school on August 19th!  This time next year we'll be excited for Evan to start Kindergarten!