Flashback Friday - Volume 3: Summer of '09

Goodbye Summer, welcome Fall! Looking back, we had a busy and fun summer. In mid-May, prior to the official start of summer, we enjoyed a trip to Kansas City to visit Grandpa Buster and Lisa and their bulldog, Macy. We enjoyed the cool weather with lots of outdoor time. We had fun swimming at the YMCA’s pool and watching the Kansas City Royals play the Baltimore Orioles. On Memorial Day we celebrated Kyle’s first birthday with a cookout. In June we visited the Frio River with friends for some floating and hanging out. Kyle liked sitting down by the river playing with the rocks and floating in his boat. In July we celebrated Meg and Bob’s wedding and our 5th anniversary with a trip to PA/MD/DC. It was great to get back to Villanova and we had fun visiting with family and the new little ones. We took a mini-vacation after the wedding and saw an Orioles game in Baltimore then headed to DC where we did a bike tour of the monuments and enjoyed Old Town Alexandria, VA. While in DC we were able to catch up with the Seckingers and my college roomie Mina and her boyfriend. In August we headed to Mississippi for a wedding and to visit Russ' grandparents. We wrapped up the summer with our recent weekend getaway. In between the trips, we enjoyed the pool, the sprinkler, and an Astros game. Here are some pictures of our summer.

Enjoying the Royals game

First birthday party

Frio fun

America's First Zoo...the Philadelphia Zoo

Meeting the Oriole

Biked to the White House

Playing in Nanna and Poppie's pool

Sprinkler time

Visit with Grandpa

Kyle enjoyed a visit with Grandpa Buster and Lisa this past weekend. We headed out to Grandpa's friend's pecan grove where we spent Saturday and Sunday fishing and relaxing on the 660 acres of land. We also helped Kelly celebrate her birthday. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Grandpa let Kyle drive around the property

Kyle was excited to get to be in the front seat of the car

Fishing with mom

Birthday girl

Helping Aunt Kelly with her singing card

A shout out...

To Kelly on her 27th birthday. Welcome to your late 20's! We spent Kelly's birthday weekend with her. More details and pictures to come.

Flashback Friday - Volume 2: Russ is 30

Russ turned 30 on August 2nd (before I started my blog). Here is a picture from his big day.

Yikes, I'm next!

Weekend Getaway

The Gray family took a trip to west Texas this weekend. We joined Russ Thursday evening for the final night of his conference at the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort in Bastrop before we headed to New Braunfels for a little R&R. On Friday, Kyle and I strolled the hotel grounds while Russ was in meetings…we checked out the Colorado River behind the hotel, played on the playground, and had fun at the awesome water area. I even shot some hoops at the basketball court and realized how much I missed doing that...I even made a few! Saturday morning we went to Gruene and did lots of shopping. We had a good lunch on the deck overlooking the Guadalupe River at the Gristmill and left just as the rain was rolling in. The Gruene General Store and the Gristmill brought back memories from when I went there with CYO in high school! After lunch we were invited by Russ’ boss to the 2nd Annual Grape Stomp. The setting was the clubhouse of the new Vintage Oaks development up in the hills where boss man lives…gorgeous houses and views. We tasted several local wines and Kyle did some dancing to the live music. I enjoyed the White-Black Spanish wine from Dry Comal Creek Vineyards and bought a bottle for home. Sunday we headed to the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch where wild animals such as zebras, ostrich, rams and antelopes came right up to the car to eat the feed. There were tons of animals and they were not shy as they stuck their heads right in the car…especially the zebra who grabbed the entire bag of feed right from my lap! That was a good laugh and Russ wishes he had documented it on film as I was pretty scared he was getting so close! Kyle seemed a bit confused and concerned that these animals were coming up to our car and sticking their heads in…he eventually loosened up and had a laugh. We all got scared when the ostrich started to invade our space with his long neck and his pointy beak! We had to roll the windows up on him…there was real fear in Kyle and he let out a scream and shed some tears. It was awesome though and I definitely recommend it.

In other news, I bought a bike on Labor Day! I’m looking forward to joining the fun with the boys.

Flashback Friday - Volume 1: Kyle

Russ compiled a video of Kyle's first year. He did a great job. See for yourself.

tasti D-lite

I had my first taste of tasti D-lite tonight after a girls night out for dinner and drinks at Berryhill. The 6 of us walked across the parking lot for some guilt-free dessert. Tasti is frozen yogurt that can be blended into 130 different flavors. I had dulce de leche which was really yummy. Just like Marble Slab, you can add your mixins. With so many flavors to choose from, I might just have to make it there again to try more! Check it out at http://www.tastidlite.com/