Skip to main content

Texas or Bust


Chris's little brother, Bryan, left last week to start his mission (he will be serving in Poland), so we decided that it was a pretty good reason to stop by and say hi. As he lives in Texas, we thought it was nice when the Reeses let us stay the night as well (actually, a few nights). Chris is a fan of Texas (he grew up there), so he enjoyed the experience to journey back to the motherland (or maybe fatherland? he is German after all). He goes to Texas for the food; the fact that his family is there is a nice bonus.

We started our Texas tour in Houston where the Smiths graciously took us in. Our stay was five-star! We had a great time hanging out with the Smiths (minus Chris Smith, who was missed!).

Sara took us to a great bbq place called the Tin Roof. The food was great and the kids were happily corralled into a play ground. We played in their backyard and carved a pumpkin. Sara treated us with her fantastic french toast (made with homemade bread and caramel sauce), and an amazing Japanese dinner. We had a great time and it only reminded us how much we miss our friends.

We arrived in Austin in time to start the Halloween festivities. Chris made his famous chili with a new twist and I made our traditional Halloween donuts. The boys dressed up in their costumes and we took them trick-o-treating around the neighborhood. Davin was a vintage golfer and Rowan was Tigger. The boys were so tired, though, and Rowan fell asleep before we got home. Davin had a great time and loved walking around gathering candy from the neighbors.

One of our favorite activities was going to a dinosaur exhibit at Zilker Park's Botanical Garden.
Grandma and Grandpa Nissen joined us for our dino hunt, spoiling Davin with his first dino t-shirt.

We also enjoyed hiking Mt. Bonell with Bryan, hanging out at the Rees house, and playing in the secret playground in their backyard. The boys loved being with their grandparents and we had a great time being with family.

It was my first time visiting Texas in the fall and it was a lovely experience.



Comments

Jenny said…
Okay you guys were having way too much fun in Texas at the Smiths. Makes me miss all you guys.
November 6, 2008 at 10:34 PM
Tiffani said…
wow... looks like you had such a fun time. Your boys are so darling. Especially Rowan... he is so cute with teeth! :)
November 7, 2008 at 10:54 AM
Sara said…
A million thanks and more for coming and staying with us. It was so nice to have our "first visitors" to our home and have friends here to enjoy TX. Thank you for taking the time to come and keeping me company. Your friends always! The Smith's
November 8, 2008 at 11:57 AM
Charie and Jonathan Francom said…
So cool to finally catch up with what you have been up to.

I swear Rowin looks so much older!!! It kind of makes me sad to think how much our kids will change before we see you next.

Love you!
November 16, 2008 at 10:35 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rowan Isaac Rees

The title of this blog also happens to be the name of our new baby. Rowan Isaac. Rowan is a Celtic name that means "little red one", and Isaac is a Hebrew name that means laughter. His initials (RIR) also spell the Portuguese verb "to laugh". So hopefully he will be a fun kid. We think he is already. He arrived today, November 28, 2007 at 2:15 pm (or thereabouts - I'll have to check the exact time). Both he and Katie are doing fine and resting a bit. He weighs 9 lbs, 2 oz., and as you can see from the picture, he has beautiful blond hair. He is a good little boy so far, and we're excited to have him in our family. Davin is with our good friends, the Smiths, this afternoon, but we think he understands a bit and is excited to meet his new little brother later this afternoon. We would like to thank you all for your love and your prayers, and hopefully we'll get a chance to talk to and see many of you soon so you can meet our little guy. If you want to see m...
14 comments
Read more

Something to say

We were there in the kitchen, Rowan and I, when out of nowhere came this sound: “ma ma ba ma.” I stopped for a moment and repeated the sound to Rowan. He looked back at me and did it again: “ma ma ma ba.” This funny laugh bubbled out of me, the kind of laugh when you witness a miracle, something that someone told you was possible but you weren’t quite sure it was, but there it was in front of you, that perfect little miracle. I made the sound to Rowan again and he repeated it again. Picking him up, I spun him around, kissing him repeatedly. It was like a scene from a movie. I’m sure there were violins crescendo-ing somewhere and the audience was getting teary. “Be patient!” they told me, “it could be six months before he makes any kind of sound.” I was all prepared to be patient and I still am. There is a lot left to do. Even after this afternoon’s happy moment, I told myself that it could have been an accident or coincidence, but when he made the noises for Chris later this evening, I...
14 comments
Read more

Labor Day = No Labor

The fun part of moving is that we don't have to go far to find new adventures. For Labor Day we decided to head to the coast to explore. We started our day in Santa Cruz where we stopped for lunch but we didn't stay long. Our next stop was the Swanton Berry Farm where we picked strawberries. In September. In sweatshirts. My southern friends were shocked!  The next stop was Harley Goat Farm in Pescadero. We loved watching the goats and browsing through the goat cheese store. Rowan was brave and even tried a little! After the goat farm, we wandered around the Pescadero village and explored the markets. The boys were excited to find a gumball machine but I was more interested in the dahlia market and the fresh artichoke garlic herb bread in Arcangeli's Market (we got our loaf hot from the oven and oh. my. heavens!).  We ba...
Post a Comment
Read more