the camping trip that almost wasn't

we started out saturday morning -- a bit later than we had planned, but we knew we didn't want to rush and especially didn't want to forget anything. as we turned the corner from our house, "the pillows! we forgot the pillows!" the "camping trip forgetful troll" almost got us there. but NOW we KNOW we have EVERYTHING!

drinks - check
food - check
sleeping bags - check
dog - check
dog crate - check
TENT! - check
cooking stove - check

we were on our way! about an hour from home, we realized we didn't have a pot to cook in. whops! but easy enough. stopped at the HEB (in the town where my sister lives!) and got a pan. now we're all set! we decided to take the back roads, so even though the drive would be longer, it would be pretty and make us really realize we were getting outta town.

two hours later, "chairs?"
"damn, forgot those too."
"that's ok, we'll do our best to camp near a picnic table. we'll be fine"

we arrive, there's a fire ban in effect. no big deal. would have been nice to have a camp fire, but not necessary to the whole camping experience. but the seaweed is really bad on the beach. high tide's not for 24 more hours (we're on the gulf here folks), so we should be ok for the night. we decide to camp on the beach. we find a spot -- not far from the toilets and we grab the dog and run toward the water. only she doesn't want anything to do with this big, huge, moving water thing! (but have no fear, we get her over that fear and she evenually does love it.) we frolic, my music man swims, i walk with the dawg. we discover that using the cooler as a back rest doesn't work so well, and besides, it's so windy that the sand just hits you in the face. so we start to think about dinner.

"guess what? ... we forgot the fuel for the stove at home"
"left the cans on the kitchen table, right?"
"yep."

we had actually thought at this point about packing up and coming home. seriously. but we couldn't. i didn't want to be on the road for another 4 hours! so i volunteered to go get food. instead, i found an academy sports store, bought chairs and fuel for our stove with the thought that we could then also have breakfast without having to break camp. we cooked us some camping dinner. had our chairs. and sat down for a nice night. took the dog for another walk. she has an issue with pooping in unfamiliar places, so we weren't surprised, but we had to TRY to get her to poop. she didn't. came back to the camp site. sat down, my music man played some guitar. my mind started wandering... to breakfast... pancakes.... mmmm.... syrup? butter? nope. forgot those too.

at this point, i just started laughing. hysterically. couldn't stop. the icing on the cake. guess it's ihop for breakfast!

(i'll post some photos in the next couple of days -- the sunrise really was gorgeous)

the latest

so, seattle was great. you can see photos here. i was glad that i had gotten a chance to meet some of my music man's family back in august in crosbyton, tx. and it was so much fun to meet more of them. seattle is a great city. i would love to live there if it didn't rain so much and they got more sunlight during the winter.

thanksgiving was also great. the whole family was here in texas and we spent lots of time together. my youngest nephew got into some chocolate cake (he *loves* chocolate). this is my favorite photo of that little incident.

you can see the cake in the fore-ground with a little tiny finger print in the icing on the top. guess that chocolate looked tasty enough to eat! he was covered in chocolate when it was all over.

and the big news...my music man proposed! here are two views of the ring...


pretty awesome, huh?

well that's it for now, i'll have another update soon. got more to share but didn't want to bore you too much! :)

enchanted rock

we took a field trip today out to enchanted rock. it's about an hour and 45 minutes outside of austin. it was 78 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, and warm even in the sun. needless to say, a perfect day. you can see photos here. laila was a *dream*! she was so well-behaved and loved every minute. there were a couple of times we needed to encourage her up or down, but other than that she was a breeze. and now, well, snoring on the couch. that's a happy pup!

our friend, megan, went with us with her 2-year-old daughter, myra. who was also a trooper. she did have her mom carry her, but she still did really well. was a good day all around.