First Day of School

Monday was the first day of school here. Here is our crew as they were heading out the door...

Sweet Brooke... she is all tan after a summer of daily tennis and swimming. She was a little nervous about starting 5th grade but when we picked her up from school she was super happy with all of her teacher assignments and looking forward to making lots of new friends this year.

And uuuh what's that? A Vera Bradley lunchbox for a very lucky girl!

Zach, who is now as tall as me, putting on a smile but not super happy to get up so early after a summer of waking up between 11am and noon everyday. Enjoy it while it lasted 'cause those days are o.ver! He also had a great day on his first day as an 8th grader.

And of course, we have Miles. Still agreeable enough to smile for one shot before school even though he's starting 11th grade. He came home to report that he thinks AP Physics will be easy...what.ever...as the kids say! I think he's excited about an architecture class he's taking too.

I have awesome kids and we are looking forward to another great school year!!!

***I promise I am working on our vacation to Colorado post...coming soon****

Fun Day

Second day of school for the kids...

Charlie's last day of summer break (which only lasted all of 10 days, since he took classes ALL summer break)...

Crystal at tennis practice for two hours....

What to do? What to do?

So, with fall semester starting for Charlie tomorrow, he decided a good way to spend the morning would be to cash in a certificate he bid on, and won, at a silent auction for the elementary school.

He hopped on his Harley and went to do this....

Fly a plane? Not exactly.....

More like get in a plane....being drug by another plane....

Wind gliding...and he LOVED it. ( I wish I had some of his fearlessness about flying).

While he was up there he got an aerial view of our house...yes we've expanded a little. Do you see our tennis courts, our 3 pool extravaganza....our basketball courts? HaHaHa....yeah right!! This is actually Tony and Eva Longoria Parker's house just down the road from us. Yeah, so I guess that totally makes us neighbors...NOT!!

Yeah our house is actually in this neighborhood....don't cry for me.....as soon as I make it to Wimbledon we'll totally have our own compound with a four pool extravaganza!!

Charlie had an awesome time. Well, let's face it...his own Harley to ride to take the airplane ride, on a clear, albeit hot day, and then lunch with his lovely wife...it's kinda like livin' the life!!

Explore

In order to do a little back to school shopping, and to celebrate Charlie's first Coast Guard Day as an official retiree, we decided to do a little exploration. If you know Charlie, then you know he is on an eternal quest to find any and all BBQ joints that serve tasty BBQ. He did some research and found this little gem in Lockhart, TX which is known as the Barbecue Capital of Texas. Black's Barbecue is the oldest BBQ place continuously owned by the same family.

It wasn't fancy, and that is one of Charlie's requirements in these endeavors. He has a theory about hole in the wall places...the worse they look...the better the food. I also have a theory about hole in the wall places, and it goes like this....the worse they look...the bigger chance I have of contracting a food borne illness...or worse...but this is marriage and we compromise! Anywhoo, the place wasn't much to look at, but it was indeed delicious.

And let's not forget the bonus souvenir cup....two more washes in the dishwasher and that thing will be but a memory of our visit to Black's.

Proof of goodness is in the empty plates and the pleasant, well fed faces. If you are ever near Lockhart be sure to give it a whirl.

P.S. Our shopping after this outing was a bust, but the lunch made the trip worth it!