10 Years

Gene and I celebrated our TENTH anniversary on Thursday. Ten years! Gene likes to say that we made it!

We celebrated all day long with some of our favorite things, interspersed with work and kids' activities, of course! We met for lunch at Cafe Express at the MFAH and toured the John Singer Sargent watercolors exhibit. 

Then Nana came over to babysit so we could go out to dinner. On our way to dinner, we realized we were two blocks from the church where we were married, so we stopped by for a quick photo. 

All Saints Church in the Heights.

For dinner, we chose to try Coltivare, a new Italian restaurant in the Heights. Coltivare is owned by the creators of Revival Market and focuses on fresh, local cuisine. The restaurant even has a "backyard garden" where much of the produce on the menu is grown. We sat on the back patio, overlooking the beautiful garden, and enjoyed a lovely meal and better company.

We finished dinner before 8 o'clock, so we decided to take advantage of the museums' extended Thursday hours and visit the CAMH, the Cullen Sculpture Garden at the MFAH, and the Glassell School's student exhibition. On our way to the Museum District, we drove right past La Colombe d'Or, where we had our wedding reception.

The first ten years of our marriage have been busy, wonderful, exciting, sometimes challenging but also better than I could ever imagined. I know we both look forward to many, many more years together. We are a good team and I can't imagine traveling through this life without my sweet husband.   

Strega Nona

One of the big events in second grade is the annual Strega Nona luncheon. Strega Nona, written by Tomie dePaola, is the story of a witch named Strega Nona and her servant, Big Anthony. One day, Strega Nona leaves town and instructs Big Anthony to tend to the house but not to touch her (magical) pasta pot. Of course, Big Anthony is intrigued and knows the magical incantation to start the pot but is unable to stop it, flooding the little Italian town with pasta. Strega Nona returns and stops the pot, but Big Anthony learns his lesson when he must clean up his mess by eating all the pasta. 

For the Strega Nona luncheon, the cafeteria was transformed into an Italian village and the second graders were treated to an opera concert before the meal.

The Italian cafe

The menu

The pasta pot

Big Anthony and Strega Nona

The feast

The gelato

My happy boy

The Strega Nona luncheon was so much fun for the second graders! 

Lately: Artichokes, Grilling, and a Piano Recital

Lately, we have been busy with end-of-year festivities and enjoying our beautiful spring weather.  Here are some photos from last week.

I found artichokes at the farmers market and brought home four for the boys to try! I grew up eating artichokes as my hometown was about an hour from Castroville,California, the Artichoke Center of the World. My parents always steamed the artichokes and then we dipped the leaves in mayo and scraped off the flesh with our teeth, so that's exactly how I prepared them.

Henry is my adventuresome eater and was excited to try a new food.  

Yum! At first, Henry was the only one brave enough to try them but then Gene grabbed one and finally Will did too. They all agreed that fresh artichokes were delicious!

In other news, Gene finally upgraded his grill. He had been eyeing the Big Green Egg and other ceramic grills for awhile and finally bit the bullet and bought a Kamado Joe. It arrived last Thursday and you would have thought it was Christmas morning around here! 

You know he had to try it out right away!

So far, Gene has grilled sausages, burgers and pizza! I foresee many a summer evening spent eating grilled dinners outside.  

And finally, all our activities are winding down as the school year draws to a close. Will's last Cub Scout Pack meeting was last Thursday. He had already earned his Wolf badge, but he got another belt loop and two more arrow points. He has worked so hard this year.

The boys had their first piano recital on Sunday afternoon! Will has been taking lessons for just over a year and Henry has only been playing piano for two months, so this was their first recital.

Henry was the youngest student and played "Robin Hood" from his beginning piano book. He did a really good job!

Will has been practicing his recital piece for months. It was called "Toy Town" by Nancy Farber and was a challenging piece but he performed it absolutely beautifully for the recital. We were so proud of him!

Group bow -- their teacher is in the back.

With only five more days of school left, we are all looking forward to summer fun!

An Overnight Adventure: Camping at Village Creek State Park

Here in southeast Texas, we've been enjoying the most beautiful spring with below-normal temperatures and lots of sunshine. A cool front came through last week, dropping temps overnight into the upper 40s. With a beautiful weekend forecast ahead, we decided to squeeze in one last camping trip on Saturday night. This time, we headed an hour and a half east to Village Creek State Park, which is just north of Beaumont in the Big Thicket.

Village Creek State Park was new to us, and it is a small park, but it is lovely and one we all want to visit again. There are only 25 camping sites and you get to pick your own, so we scouted the few remaining spots and picked number 1. It was perfect for us, with a shady grill/picnic area, a dead-end trail behind us, and a grove of trees with a perfect spot to pitch the tent. First order of business for Will was reading -- Lord of the Rings.

Henry helped Gene set up the tent.

Excited to be outside!

Once everything was set up, we set off on our first hike, which the boys decided would be a "leisurely jog." Gene and I just walked.

You might notice that the boys are in swim clothes. We hiked a little over a mile to the park's swimming area!

After hiking about a quarter of a mile, we came to this. And yes, we had to ford the stream. It came up to mid-thigh!

The boys were so excited when we arrived at the sandbar and immediately jumped in the chilly water. 

Lots of water pics follow. The boys had so much fun!

 

We found a beach wolf spider that jumped ahead of us and blended in really well.

It was really beautiful.

Then it was time to hike back, sticks and all.

We found a toad

and had to ford the "river" again.

We got back to the campsite just in time for dinner. 

Gene lit the fire 

while Will read aloud to us. 

S'mores after dinner, of course.

One highlight of this camping trip was seeing fireflies after dark, blinking away in the trees. Fireflies remind Gene and me of the Midwest and visiting family in the summer, so it was fun to see them with our boys right here in Texas.  

It was a great night for camping, with a low around 65 degrees. The boys woke up with the birds, as usual, and we started coffee and breakfast right away. 

My chef made breakfast sausages, eggs and toast.

And then we took our usual morning hike, just a short one-mile look around Village Slough.

Bonus points if you can spot the toad in this picture! 

Skinks.

And one last shot of the pines in the park.

Village Creek State Park provided us with a lovely getaway and it's a place we're excited to visit again.