Cracker Crumb Chaos

Friday, July 12, 2013

Wine and Cheese Party

Last Saturday, I threw a wine and cheese party for my sweet husband.

My friend Ally designed the invitations, and as always, they were perfect!

We had the party in a beautiful private room at Sonoma Wine Bar, which is just minutes from our house.

As soon as we arrived, Gene headed to check out the wine!

We had two whites (a 2011 Laird Big Ranch Sauvignon Blanc and a 2011 Pip Chardonnay) and two reds (a 2009 Twisted Red Blend from Portugal and a 2010 L'Oliveto Cabernet). They were all delicious!

In addition to the wine, we had a cheese and charcuterie platter, caprese skewers, bruschetta, pizza, crab cakes, and jerk chicken skewers, all some of Gene's favorite foods. The best part, though, was all the family and friends who were able to join us for the celebration. Even though they were in the midst of unpacking their new house, Mike and Jess were able to come!

It was a fun party and a fantastic way to celebrate with family and friends.

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Galveston

We live less than an hour from Galveston but haven't been there in over two years! I promised the boys a trip this summer, so when our friends Jonathan and Julie invited us down to their beach house yesterday, we jumped at the chance to make a day of it.

We started at Moody Gardens.

That place is pricey, but fortunately I found a couple coupons online and discovered that if you have good grades, you get in free to one attraction. So, we brought Will's report card along (Henry is too young for grades!) and visited the Rainforest Pyramid, which we hadn't seen before.

Cut-out tree frog!

We saw lots and lots of birds in the rain forest, like the crested wood partridge,

the scarlet ibis,

parrots,

and this green fellow.

The boys were so excited!

We all had so much fun

exploring the Rainforest Pyramid!

We ate lunch at Moody Gardens because we were all starving by the time we finished our tour,

and then headed outside to look at the boats on the bay.

Our next stop was the Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig Museum.

It's an actual jack-up drilling rig that is no longer used,

so you walk across a bridge to get on board.

Pelican in the bay.

The boys loved exploring inside

and outside

and learning all about drilling for oil and natural gas in deep waters.

They love these cut-outs!

And then we finally made it to the beach!

They were so thrilled.

We all loved playing at the beach, relaxing with old friends, and eating dinner with a view of the water.

We can't wait to go back!

Summer Break: Week Four

We spent most of the fourth week of summer break in the water! Here are some of the highlights of the week:

Swim lessons continue. The boys are getting so good and just love being in the water!

I took the boys to see Alice in Wonderland at Main Street Theater. We read the book last month, so the boys were familiar with the story, but we all agreed it wasn't our favorite production. Even though we knew it was Alice's dream, the story's plot is just plain bizarre!

On Tuesday, we met up with two of Henry's girl friends to see Rio (dollar movies are awesome) and then have lunch at Ikea. Such cuties!

Gene came home early on Wednesday and made pizza for dinner. It was fabulously cheesy!

Our Fourth of July was very laid back. We didn't have plans until the late afternoon, so we just enjoyed a lazy day at home. The boys did decide they wanted to get their free books for the summer reading program at Barnes and Noble, so we took them to get those. I am so proud of my little readers!