Fredericksburg: Gazeworthy

Some of the prettier scenes from our trip:

Fredericksburg on a summer evening.

Meandering along the Pedernales River by LBJ's ranch.

The view from the front porch of our inn.

The place we stayed is called Rose Hill Manor, and we would definitely recommend it. Not only were the rooms nice, but the people were friendly and helpful, the grounds were nice, it was quiet, and the food was awesome. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed breakfast so much. It's also right next to a winery, and you can actually walk over there from the inn to have a glass of wine.

Texas, our Texas.

Next trip: way, way outside of Texas.

Fredericksburg: Enchanted Rock

Nathan has wanted to take me to Enchanted Rock for a long time. Whenever we've kicked around the idea of going to the Hill Country, he always brings it up, so we made a point to go out there when we were in the area. Because of thunderstorms the night before, the day was much cooler than it had been over the previous several triple-digit days, which meant the short hike was much more comfortable.

Before we began our hike, my geologist husband began explaining how an outcropping like Enchanted Rock formed, the exfoliation process, etc. The timing was funny, since I had just read part of what he said on an informational display, except in less detail. I guess he is kind of well informed. That sort of thing happens when you get your doctorate, I suppose. ;)

Nathan near the top. What a blue sky.

The two of us at the top.
Not our best picture, but the background is pretty cool.

A view of the surrounding Hill Country.

Nathan made me crawl through this tunnel. Just to be clear, this is NOT something I would do on my own.

My husband at the other end.
Is it just me, or does he look like he's glowingly happy?
Nathan told me on our way back down that he loves this sort of country because it feels like a giant playground to him: lots of boulders to climb, animals to spot, tunnels to go through, etc. It made me really glad that we got to go on this particular outing. (Also, I told him that my playground is a good yarn store or an antique store. Ha!)

On our way back to our car, we saw a bunch of deer that were not afraid of us at all, so we got a few pictures. There were two or three mamas with their babies.


A good morning at Enchanted Rock!

Fredericksburg: Window Shopping

This summer represents the culmination of a many-years' wish of mine: Vacations!

When we first got married, Nathan and I decided that instead of giving each other anniversary gifts, we'd travel instead. One reason for this is because our anniversary is only two weeks before Christmas, and there are plenty of gifts flying around that time of year. And another reason is because we really like to travel (especially me). For our first anniversary, we went to New Hampshire, and for our second anniversary, we went to Montreal. And that's when the traveling stopped. I think Nathan had a conference or something on our third anniversary, and by our fourth, I was heavily pregnant with Noah. After that, it was just too hard to get away from our kids--either they were too small and still nursing or we didn't have grandparents nearby who could keep them for several days.

Not only did we not travel for our anniversaries anymore, but we simply didn't travel at all. Well, we did go on two weekend jaunts, but nothing significant, and nothing without the kids. Looking back, I think we should have made it more of a priority to take a little vacation here and there, but it's understandable that we didn't, since we were on a grad student budget and especially after Nathan got busy finishing his dissertation.

However, from time to time, I felt a nagging near-desperation to get out of town, see something I've never seen before, and bond as a family or with my husband alone over shared experiences, good (or bad) food, and inside jokes. In fact, I talked about it so much that there was a while when Nathan was heartily sick of the word "vacation." I think I have more wanderlust than he does, for one thing, but I was/am also a stay-at-home mom, so I was not able to get out and do things and see people as much as he did on a daily basis. Also, as a mom, you are just on the clock nearly all the time. And since my kids were born, I've only been away from them overnight two times and for no longer than 18 hours. I love being with my kids, but everybody needs a little balance.

So this summer is significant for us, because we are taking not one but TWO vacations, and they are both WITHOUT THE CHILDREN. Whoa, y'all. This is a big deal. These our first trips away as a couple in nearly six years. So before I say anything else, I have to say THANK YOU to our parents, who are taking turns keeping the kids for us over our two trips.

For our first trip, we just wanted to go somewhere fairly local and for only about three days. Our next vacation will be longer and further away, so in addition to having some fun, this first trip was meant to test the waters for all of us and acclimate the kids to the idea that Mom and Dad can go away for a few days, and they will still be okay.

So we decided to go to Fredericksburg, in the Texas Hill Country. Nathan loves the scrubby brush of the Hill Country. It's just invigorating to him. He is a Texas boy to the core. And we'd heard good things about Fredericksburg--that there are some good antique shops in town, that there are lots of good wineries in the area, and that it's just a generally nice, somewhat charming place to visit.

On our first evening there, we drove into town to have some German food. (By the way, Der Lindenbaum is the place to go for German food--the owner of our B&B told us that it lacked atmosphere but had the best food, and after trying a couple of different places, we found out that he was dead on.) After dinner, we decided to walk around town a bit and peer into the windows so that we'd know which shops we wanted to visit the following day.

. . . And we promptly found this . . .

. . . and this.

I mean, seriously, who does that?! Who paints gold on the teeth of an alligator and a saber-toothed cat? And--perhaps the more disturbing question--who would want to buy it and put it in their home?!

I have to be honest. After our evening of window shopping, I was not too enthused about the shopping the next day. Gold-toothed skulls aside, there were a lot of shops with what I call "Texas fashions": bright, ruffled, crazy bedangled and bedazzled clothes, or else clothes with a western theme. Not clothes Lauren would wear. There were a couple of shops we were interested in, but there didn't seem to be a lot with potential.

However, thankfully, I was wrong. We did bypass the Texas fashion shops and the furniture store that was 100% leather & iron and the home decor store with the aforementioned gold-saber-toothed skull, but amongst these oddities, we did find some fun places to browse. Especially in this antique shop, which had lots of interesting things, the first of which was this amazing wardrobe. When I pointed it out to Nathan, he said, "Whoa. If we walked in there, we might find ourselves in Narnia." Ha!

I also thought this church bench was cool.

And that perhaps this picture would go nicely in someone's bathroom.

The entire basement was full of books. Lovely! This was a shelf devoted only to Kipling.

We didn't buy anything there in the end, even though I found something that caught my fancy: an antique French shelf that was carved to look like a music stand. Nathan didn't love it, though, and I ended up deciding that he was right about it being too fragile to stand up for long. One thing we learned, though, after visiting a couple of antique shops, is that Fredericksburg is a good place to shop if you want antiques from England, France, or Belgium. Who'd have thunk it?

We enjoyed shopping in a Christmas shop, too. This little nativity scene caught my eye and my imagination. My Grandma Marge had one, and it charmed me as a child. You put tapers in it, and the heat from the flames makes the fan turn, which then turns the entire scene. Quite enchanting. Quite expensive, too, which is why we didn't buy one.

I've always loved the bravado of this flag from the Battle of Gonzales. The Texans had a Mexican cannon and flew this flag to dare them to fight.

This is a picture of one room of a large store that sold only Texas foods. It was really fun to walk around and taste all of the jellies, salsas, etc.

But they did have their oddities, too.

And, really, who doesn't need a rattlesnake cane, I ask you?

More pictures to come!

All-Purpose Words

When Noah was around Jane's age, he had a word that meant three different things. The only way you knew what he was talking about was context, and even that didn't always clear things up. This word was "zhoos," which could mean "juice," "shoes," or "choo-choo," three things which he was ever fond of.

I remember having to explain this to a friends who came over to babysit, knowing that if he was fussy at bedtime, it could be that he wanted a drink or perhaps wanted his train, and it wasn't even entirely out of the question that he wanted to hold his shoes.

Recently, Jane's vocabulary has increased a lot, and she is also beginning to make use of a multi-purpose word. Her word is "Ba ba," and it has a lot of meanings: bubbles, bubble bath, ball, belly button, bye bye, bread, Grandpa/Pawpaw, and probably a couple others that don't come to mind at the moment.

It's interesting to see the similar things my kids do, especially when they reveal their differences.

What Potty Training Taught This Mama

It has been the most difficult challenge thus far in my parenting experience. It has tested my mettle in ways I had no idea it had the capability to do. It has revealed some character flaws in me and brought to light some personality characteristics of my son.

It is potty training.

Little did we know when we bought a little potty and set Noah on it a couple of months before his second birthday that we were in for one long haul. It took about a year and a half, but he is now fully potty trained! [Insert fireworks here.]

More than anything else, potty training Noah was a learning experience for me. About parenting, it taught me not to push my kids beyond where they are developmentally. About myself, it taught me to be more patient.

But the most important things I learned were about Noah. Some of the personality traits that we saw glimpses of when he was very small became very evident and crystallized throughout the potty training process. For example, it has become clear to me that he has a fear of failure. This is a lot like me. He is also a bit of a perfectionist, like both his parents. And, also like me, he is reluctant to try things he's not certain he'll succeed at. All of this translated into potty training in really negative ways: because we started before he could have possibly succeeded, he had too many failures early on, which made him not want to try at all. And any negative feedback from Nathan and me (of which there was a fair bit, especially after we knew he knew how to use the potty and wouldn't) just made matters worse.

What we ended up doing was taking a solid two months off. I put Noah back into pull ups and didn't say a word about the potty. And, thankfully, this turned out to be exactly what we all needed. We all just needed to relax. And when we started talking about the potty again, Noah was ready and, most importantly, willing.

I suppose that all the frustration was worth it, considering what I learned about my son. I think we'll certainly have more insight into how to parent him, at the very least.

Jane's New Stats

Miss Jane had a good 15-month well baby appointment. She is healthy and TALL. Here are her new stats:

Height: 100th percentile at 35-1/4". She is way, way off the charts.
Weight: 72nd percentile at 24 lbs. 4 oz.

Ever since Jane was four months old, her height has been off the charts, so we thought perhaps she was slowing down a bit when she was only at the 99th percentile at her 12-month appointment. But there was a real wow factor when I saw her present height plotted on her chart--there was a serious jump! This girl grew a whole lot! (Which explains her incessant hunger for the past few weeks.)

She's still our sweetie and cooperated beautifully throughout the appointment. She still has a look of pained shock and violation when she gets her shots, though. It's as if she can't imagine why in the world someone would hurt her. Poor dearest Jane.

We're glad she's doing well!

Blackberry Cream Cheese Pie

The other night, as I was looking for ways to use the blackberries Noah and I picked last week, I decided to make a pie. It would be easy, I thought, because I already had a store bought pie crust in the fridge, and all I'd have to do is roll it out into a pie pan and fill it with blackberries and sugar. So that's what I did. And when I pulled it out of the oven, although it looked good as it was, it really needed something else. I wished I'd had another crust to put on top or perhaps to make into a lattice, or even that I'd had an oatmeal crisp topping or something prepared. But I didn't have time for any of those things. And, in this case, necessity was, indeed, the mother of invention, because I came up with something terribly yummy: I pulled out the cream cheese, mixed some sugar in with a spoon, put dollops on top, and baked the pie for a bit longer. Let me tell you how it tasted: YUM.

The next night, as we were to have guests again, I decided to make the pie again, except that I refined the recipe a bit. I did, indeed, put a lattice crust on top, and instead of adding dollops of cream cheese, I spread it evenly on top of the berries. I wish I had a picture, but we gobbled it up too quickly. It's a winner.

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Blackberry Cream Cheese Pie

2 store bought pie crusts (such as Pillsbury--1 box), or make your own.
20 oz. fresh or frozen blackberries
2/3 cup sugar (throw in a few extra tablespoons if your berries are very tart, as mine were)
1 Tbsp. flour
dash salt
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

On a pastry board dusted with flour, roll out the pie dough so that it is a bit larger than the pie plate. Roll the dough up onto the rolling pin and unroll into the pie plate, and arrange it into place.

In a bowl, combine the berries, 2/3 cup sugar, flour, and salt. Stir to combine. Pour into pie crust.

In a bowl, stir or beat together the cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar, and vanilla extract. Gently spread on top of the berries.

After dusting the pastry board with more flour, roll out the other disc of pie dough. Using a pizza cutter or a sharp knife, cut it into straight lines (a straight edge helps; I used the side of the pie dough box). Make all the pieces about the same width. Assemble the lattice crust.

Optional: brush with an egg wash (beaten egg white) and sprinkle with sugar. Also, I tent the edges of my crust with foil to make sure the don't get too brown.

Bake at 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes, until the crust is golden.

Enjoy!

Time to Move the Crackers to a Higher Shelf

Over the course of two days, I swept up two such messes, consisting of four boxes of crackers.

Time for them to find a new home in the pantry!

The Heights Fun Run 5K

Last Saturday, we ran a 5K in Houston's Heights neighborhood. We ran down along Heights Blvd., which is lined with Victorian homes (some of the very few in the Houston area), so the run itself was fairly pretty. However, it was incredibly hot. (Two days later, Houston set a heat record with a high of 104. YUCK.) Nathan and I agreed that while we were running, the heat was tolerable since you kind of create your own breeze when you're moving. But oh my goodness--when I crossed that finish line, the humidity and stillness of the air made it feel so stinkin' hot. Poor Nathan really felt awful at the end of the race. And both our times were disappointing, although I don't know how Nathan can be too disappointed in a time of less than 22 minutes. As for me, I think I'm getting slower. Ha! Actually, I think I will blame it on the humidity.

Noah ran a race that morning, too! They had a 1K for kids. He is actually a good little runner, so we have been excited about signing him up for a race. Nathan ran it with him, and what was so funny was that he just wove around so much. No straight lines for Noah. He ran up onto the median, back into the street, cut across in front of a couple of people, etc. Generally, he went forward, but he did do a lot of, well, shall we call it "lateral work"? He also wore out about 2/3 of the way through, so Nathan carried him for a little bit, but it was Noah's feet that carried him across the finish line.

We did take a muscle picture of the three of us, but, alas, it didn't turn out. Boo. However, these pics of Noah are pretty great.

Go, Buddy, go! Looking good!

Working hard

Walking with Daddy

Crossing the finish line

Receiving his ribbon

Hooray for the finishers!

A Dancing Sweater and Other Various Goings On

• This morning, Jane has eaten a Nutri Grain bar, a cheese stick, 3/4 of a mango, and a bowl of oatmeal, and it's only 9:30. Obviously, there is some growing going on!
• A conversation from the other day: Noah: "What you doing, Mom?" Me: "I'm crocheting a new sweater for Jane to wear this winter." With delight and awe: "Oh!" "Do you like it?" "Yeah!" "Would you like me to make you a sweater sometime?" "Yeah! A dancing sweater!" "What?" "A dancing sweater!" "You want a sweater for you to dance in?" "Yeah!" Well, okay then. A dancing sweater it is. I'm going to have to get some more details about this dancing sweater; for example, what color should a dancing sweater be? Is a dancing sweater a pullover, or is it a cardigan (for easy removal once the dancing is done)?
  
• Jane is learning to make animal sounds. So far, she says "Hoo" for owls and "Moo" for cows. They both come out "Ooo." At this point, I think she may actually believe that every animal says "Ooo."
• Jane is a very sweet girl, but she is becoming the typical toddler. She can throw herself on the floor tantrum-style when too many discomforts have mounted, and lately she has been taking a lot of toys from Noah. She wants to do whatever he is doing, and she wants to play with whatever he is playing with. [Insert mommy sigh.]
• Ken and Meredith (my bro and sis-in-law) were in town briefly this weekend, and I forgot to get a picture. Dangit!
  
• I just cut my hand with a flying santoku knife. It isn't bad, but that'll teach me not to be so cavalier with my knives! (For those of you with wild imaginations, I wasn't juggling or anything--I just didn't have a good grip and it slipped in mid-air.)
• I planted some yellow squash plants, zucchini seeds, and watermelon seeds in my garden today.
  
• Because of the drought, our grass is getting pitifully brown. In some spots, it's starting to feel like straw under your feet. So I finally went out and bought a sprinkler, which is long overdue, and Noah has now discovered the delight of running through it--jumping over it, standing in one place and waiting for the water to wash him down, and running through the "tunnel" the water makes under its arch.
• We are having a LOT of success with potty training--FINALLY! More on that later! Hip hip hooray!
• Upon a passionate recommendation from some of my old book club peeps in Boston, I have started reading One Thousand Gifts. The task of summing this book up in a few words is daunting. My best attempt is this: A woman--farmer's wife, mother of six--began studying biblical gratitude, and its nuances, implications, and implementation changed her life and has the ability to change anyone's. It is poetically written and quite profound, which is a pleasure to read in and of itself, but the power of the Word of God to change lives makes it robust, as well. The title refers to a friend's suggestion that she write down 1000 things for which she is thankful, a discipline that reinforces what she is learning and translates it from head knowledge to reality in her life. I'm about halfway through, and it is quite wonderful. Like Amy, the friend who initially recommended it to me, I keep thinking of people who I'd love to pass the book on to--I have a mental list about a dozen people long. It'd be worth the read, dear readers!