The Adventures of Steanso

Changing Format!

2021-02-10T08:40:00.002-06:00

Hey! I'm writing to let you guys know that I am going to be switching this blog in the next week or two to a format where only subscribers to the blog can have access to the content. Luckily for you guys, this isn't going to be a paid subscription (because if I was charging for access to this thing, I would estimate that it would be worth about $5000 a year, based on the quality of the content).

If you want to be able to continue to view the blog, email this account at jasonsteanso@gmail.com, and I will add you as a subscriber.

Otherwise you won't be able to see posts once I switch formats in a week or so.

Thanks!

Update; Amy's B-Day

2021-02-07T21:46:00.002-06:00

Hola!

Well, it's been another pretty busy week at our house. Not exactly super different, but busy.

Tuesday night cutthroat game of Animal Upon Animal.
We're hoping to train the kids so that one day
one of them can play this on an Ivy League Team.

Wednesday morning was pretty cold. And then Amy drank some cold milk. Which made her pretty cold. I told her she could turn up the heat. But I was told that it was too cold for that.

I came back from dropping the kids off at
school to find a bundled wife who was very
surly about the fact that she was cold.

I guess it warmed up by Wednesday night because Amy changed into shorts and we made s'mores in the fire pit.

Bella is a little afraid of the fire.
But still really wants s'mores.

Are you feeling drowsy yet, Bella?
Please feel drowsy Bella....

Sunday (today) was Amy's birthday. We got up on Saturday, though, and she opened some presents from us. I got her some stuff for making tea, and the kids got her a new apron.

Amy went for a run, and I took the kids for a walk. Raylan armed himself with a bow and arrow that he got for Christmas, and Bella cruised around on her strider bike.

Small superhero team.

Later on Saturday we went out to my parents' place in Steiner Ranch for dinner and to spend the night. They fed us grilled salmon with potatoes and asparagus. We brought a birthday cake for Amy from Sugar Mama's.

Our kids love a birthday party in any form.
The birthday cake is a crucial element, but a celebratory
toast (pictured here) is also wildly appreciated.

Pretty cake! And we cut to the chase with our pastry
messages....

Not excited about cake at all....

We had a really nice stay at Mom and Dad's house (we spent the night). Amy got to take her birthday jacuzzi bath, the kids had fun, the food was great, and it was nice to visit with Mom and Dad.

Only unexpected downside was that, after eating breakfast Sunday morning, Amy went for a jog, and somehow stumbled over some uneven concrete, spraining her arm. She's okay, but it seems like it really hurt (and continues to hurt a bit). She'll be okay, but I felt bad for her for taking a spill on her actual birthday.

We headed home Sunday. We stopped off to pick up some groceries.

Bella loves to run errands. She's quite
familiar with the crusade grocery process
at this point.

Sunday afternoon I took Raylan on a bike ride. We were playing Pokemon Go while we were riding, looking for little virtual Pokemons to capture while riding around thew neighborhood. Raylan seemed to really enjoy it.

Stopping blow on some dandelions during our
Pokemon hunt

You made a sling for your arm?
Good idea.
Wait. Is that my Green Bay Packers
jersey?!?!

And that was basically it for the weekend. We got some pizza Sunday night and ended up watching about 15 minutes of the Super Bowl. Soooo sick of Tom Brady. He's a good quarterback, but c'mon NFL...

Anyway, that's it! Happy birthday, Amy! I love you!

Have a great week!

Update

2021-01-31T21:00:00.001-06:00

Hi! How's it going? Things are going okay with us.

Mom and Dad have been picking up Bella and taking her to their house on Wednesdays. She loves going over there, and this week she started back up with swimming lessons at Emler, which they took her to. When they brought her home on Wednesday evening, Amy fed us all enchiladas, rice, beans, and salad.

After dinner we made a fire in the new fire pit in the back yard and then made s'mores for dessert.

It was a really nice night with the family. I wish Ryan and Jamie could have been there.

Fire and s'mores. The kids weren't hard to put to bed that
night at all...

On Friday, for some reason the Austin schools were all shut down for in-person learning, with all classwork happening online. Mom and Dad picked Raylan up from school on Thursday night, and he spent the day on Friday doing school with Grandma. It was a big (and very appreciated) help to Amy and I, given that we were. both pretty busy with work at our house. He came back to our house after school on Friday.

Enjoying the tub at his country retreat

On Saturday we took the kids to Odom School Park. They had a fun time playing on the playground. We brought their scooters, so they got to ride around on those, too.

Daddy, I bet if I jump really hard, I could land right on you!

Raylan figures out how to play hard rock on the
playground xylophone.

After lunch, Amy went for a run, and I weren't for a bike ride. Beautiful weather. On Saturday afternoon the kids went to spend the night with the grandparents. I had band practice, and Amy got a night by herself to relax. Band practice was a Therapy Pets practice, with Reed, Frank, Jim, and I. It was fun, and I think we sounded pretty good.

We had some issues with a pipe clog at the house on Sunday and had to call a plumber, a process which took up more time during our day than we expected. We made it to Home Depot so Amy could get some grass seed, and so I could get an auger to help fix future pipe clogs. Amy painted the door that leads to our garage. We had it replaced a long time ago, and it's just had white primer paint on it ever since. She put real paint on it.

Mom and Dad brought the kids home in the afternoon, and we had a chance to play with them outside.

The kids "help" Amy plant some things.

And that was about it! The weekend felt like it went flying by. We had great weather, and we really enjoyed our time.

Hope everyone has a nice week.

Update

2021-01-24T21:50:00.001-06:00

Hola! Well, it's still January. Of course, this being Austin, it was like 73 degrees today with like 90% humidity.

Tomorrow we might have snow. I dunno. Haven't checked the weather.

We're mostly just plugging along here in the midst of the midwinter doldrums.

We've got a new President. I'm not sure whether he's the best President ever, but it seems as though he's willing to defer to people with actual professional expertise on a wide range of issues, so I feel like that puts us light years ahead of where we were a couple of weeks ago.

I guess we'll see.

Bella walks Raylan to school. They're really
this as thieves. It's adorable now. But God help us
as the years go by if they figure out how
to team up against us.....

It rained a lot this weekend. We did a lot of inside playing- games, art, make believe, crafts, etc. Bella spent the night at Grandma and Papa's house Friday night. Raylan asked if he could stay home to "play with my toys and watch TV". So he stayed home.

Raylan spent a lot of time this weekend working on hamster mazes
and hamster obstacle courses. We do not have a hamster.

Saturday night I had band practice. It was just Reed, Jim, and I. We did a sort of acoustic power trio. It was fun. Maybe it sounded okay?

Raylan has been getting Kiwi Crates in the mail
thanks to Nana. He loves them, This week he made
a floor sweeper that actually works!

Bella hosts a tea party. Invited guests include Mini Mouse,
Marshall (from Paw Patrol), and Grogu (the Madalorian).
Bella patiently explained to her guests that she had run
out of cream and sugar and that all she had left for cookies
were crumbs.
Worst. Tea Party. Ever.

Like I said, it rained a lot. We still went for walks as soon as the drizzle stopped.

If we scoop water back into this drainage pipe, something
amazing is sure to happen, Bella!

Finally outside!!!!!!

I've recently started trying to cook a bit (like once a week). Amy's the cook in our house, but she seems to be happy for me to give her a night off from time to time, even if my results are more spotty.

Tonight's dinner came out okay, though, I thought. It was a sort of cajun dish with chicken sausage and asparagus. Turned out okay!

Steans goes cajun up in heeyah!

That's about it! Have a good week!

Update

2021-01-19T20:50:00.002-06:00

Hello!

We're just coming off a 3 day weekend for the MLK Day holiday.

Here's a picture of Amy doing a virtual hearing in District Court. The exercise bike was in the house because it had been particularly cold that day (usually I ride it in the garage). Just posting this pic because it does a pretty good job of capturing pandemic work life.

The secret to success in a video conference
hearing is apparently proper footwear.

Here's a game that Amy got called Ice Cool. It involves flicking pieces around a board into different rooms. I'm not a huge fan, but the kids seem to really like it. A kinetic, coordination-based game which requires little kids to move around a table. So the kids like it-so much so that they work themselves into a manic frenzy when we play it. Which is part of the reason I'm not a huge fan.

It's called Ice Cool, but I think it should be
called Meltdown, because that's what happens
when we play.

The kids spent the night with my parents on Friday. As always, they had a blast. On Saturday we took them on a family bike ride. We rode over to Garrison park, and the kids got to get off their bikes and play a little bit.

He had to do this. Because none of the
7 other empty swings were good enough.

Pedaling really hard to get home so we
can watch TV and not move.

On Saturday night we had Mono Ensemble practice at Reed's house. This week is Reed and Eric's birthday, so it was a bit of a celebration as well as a rehearsal.

An Intimate Evening with Mono E

On Sunday we all went over to my parents' place. We went for a hike with them and ate Rudy's barbecue and spent the night over there. It was really nice to hang out with my folks and to get out of our house for a while.

Raylan shows us that he is not afraid of
cliffs on a Steiner Ranch trail

Trying out a trail bench with Bella

Raylan. Probably up to trouble.

On Monday we went home. Amy took Raylan on a play date with Dorothy and her family at a park while I stayed home with napping Bella.

Amy got this floor desk for th kids to
share. When we told them to share it
we thought they'd take turns....

Anyway, that was about it.

I DID reread Letter from a Birmingham Jail on MLK Day. Still powerful and so very smart.

Okay. That's it! Hope you're doing okay!

Update

2021-01-11T07:13:00.165-06:00

Hi! Well, this week has been a wild ride. And to make that declaration after having just finished up 2020 is really saying something.

Of course, COVID continues to rage across the county (the U.S. surpassed 4,000 deaths in one day on Thursday for the first time ever). Georgia had a runoff election for 2 Senate seats on Tuesday which ended up shifting the Senate to Democratic control. On Wednesday, as Congress was certifying the electoral vote count to confirm Biden as President, Trump held a rally near the Capitol which ultimately ended with his followers marching on the Capitol and pretty much taking over the building. Trump, during his speech at the rally, encouraged his followers to march on the Capitol and to show strength instead of weakness. One rioter was shot and killed, several more died due to vaguely defined medical issues experienced during the riot, and a police officer died after being struck with a fire extinguisher. Pipe bombs were found, people were arrested with weapons, and Senators and Congressmen had to be evacuated for safety.

On Thursday and Friday here in Austin, very large numbers of state troopers were deployed near the state capitol, although it seems like the protests here were pretty mild.

DPS forces gather near the capitol on Friday

Anyway, needless to say, the national news this week has been crazy. Apparently now the Democrats are going to attempt a second impeachment as Trump wraps up his last 10 days in office.

Well, so that was last week. On a more personal level, the kids were in school and doing fine, and Amy and I were both still working from home.

On Saturday we took the kids for a 3 mile hike on the Sunset Valley nature trail.

They posed for this picture and asked for us to take it.

Raylan explains that he is leading
the way for Dad and Bella is
leading Mom.

On Saturday evening I had band practice with the guys. All 5 of us were there for a socially distanced practice on Jim's back porch. We played acoustic guitars and had a lot of fun. It was a little cold outside, but Jim had his fire pit going, and it wasn't too bad.

Reed on drums

Frank tries to contain
his excitement

On Sunday we had a legitimate snow storm! They had been saying we were gonna get snow, but the temperature predications were still a little above freezing, so I thought it would just be a few flakes.

Instead, it came down pretty hard and for a long time!

The temperatures did stay pretty much above freezing, so although the snow managed to blanket the lawns and trees pretty well, it seemed like the ice didn't accumulate too badly on the roads.

Bella has mixed feelings about the snow

Once we got Bella some mittens, she liked the snow a lot more.
She was super excited about this particular snowball and carried it around
for a long time on our walk. A loooong time.

Walking around our neighborhood. The kids seemed to enjoy it.

Our winter cottage....

Anyway, between the national media events and the snow storm, we had kind of a crazy week.

I hope everyone is doing okay. Stay safe!!

New Year

2021-01-03T17:25:00.002-06:00

Hello! Happy New Year!

Well, 2020 has been one heck of a wild ride, to put it mildly. The coronavirus pandemic has completely upended all of our lives, obviously. We've been through an extremely divisive presidential election, and we had widespread protesting and some counter-protesting in the wake of George Floyd's death up in Minnesota.

We've become familiar with working from home and virtual school. We've missed seeing our friends and family (to put it mildly). We really miss Ryan and Jamie, and we miss being able to travel to Arizona to see Amy's side of the family.

We've also just missed going to restaurants, movies, and concerts.

In a lot of ways, 2020 has been a disaster. There's not a lot of ways to put lipstick on this pig.

On the other hand, we have had some highlights.

Obviously, foremost among them has been adopting Bella. We love her to the moon and back, and this one event has honestly outweighed so much of the negative stuff that's happened this year.

Also, so far our immediate friends and family have managed to avoid COVID and any serious health effects from it. We have Mom and Dad in our bubble, and that's been great for them and for us. They have been super helpful and it's been great to be able to have them continue to be in our bubble and part of our lives.

Another positive has been the school experience this year. Raylan started kindergarten and really seems to like it and has made some new friends. He's already reading a bit and working on math. Raylan and Bella have both had a chance to do most of their schooling live and in-person, although there have been periods when Raylan did virtual school. We've been very fortunate that there haven't been any substantial COVID outbreaks at either school (there were a couple of staff who go sick once at Raylan's school, causing a partial quarantine there).

Anyway, 2020 has been a rough year, but in the midst of it, I can't help but feel fortunate, blessed, and thankful. We've had a great deal to be thankful for.

In more routine news, the kids continued to have last week off. They septs a couple of days with my parents and had a blast (as usual). I was working this week, and Amy had the week off, so thanks to her for helping out so much with the kids.

Making slime with Amy on a rainy day.

Our New Year's Eve celebration this year was pretty muted (like most people's, I guess).

We got Kerbey Lane for dinner, played games with the kids, and didn't stay up super late.

Crazy New Year's Eve dance party.

The costume portion of our NYE party

On New Year's Day I took the kids to the park.

Raylan and Bella try to guess the dollars per
square foot for this South Austin home...

Later on New Year's Day we took the kids over to Mom and Dad's place for dinner and some hanging out. We had a very nice diner and a nice time! I felt a little guilty going back over there again after they did such a nice Christmas for us, but we offered to have them over or to bring dinner to their house! We really did!

Dad explains why 2020 was his favorite year

The kids warm up by the fire. But promise not to
get toooo close

On Saturday Amy took Bella for a balance bike ride. I took Raylan to get a haircut.

This is what they call "man pretty"

Later I took Raylan on a bike ride and we went to a park by Odom School. That kid continues to amaze me on a bike. He's an amazingly good rider already for his age- jumping off curbs, going over bumps, and zooming through tight spaces. If anything, he's so good that I worry about his overconfidence. I spend a lot of time just trying to keep him aware of cars and his surroundings. He's pretty good about it, but he's five....

Saturday night I had band practice practice with the guys. We had a good time and sounded pretty good. We played at Jim's house on his back porch.

My resonator guitar on Jim's back porch.

On Sunday we went for a 2.5 mile hike at Slaughter Creek Trail and then went for an almost 6 mile family bike ride. Somehow I didn't take any pictures of either one of those events.

Amy helped the kids hang a bird feeder on
Raylan's window on Sunday.
They were disappointed that a flock of birds did
not immediately materialize.

And that was about it.

As I'm writing this Amy is making Sunday dinner and the kids are playing in the back yard.

It's been a good one.

Happy New Year to everyone and best wishes for 2021!!!

Christmas 2020

2020-12-28T07:00:00.001-06:00

So, Christmas 2020! It was definitely one for the record books. With pandemic infections on the rise across the country, we kept things pretty low key this year. 2020 was a year with no Christmas parties or concerts or plays or restaurant dinners.

More difficult was the fact that it was a year where we couldn't really travel (so we couldn't go to Arizona to see the family out there), and we couldn't hang out with Ryan and Jamie even though we were in town. Kind of rough.

But our family has, so far, remained healthy, so we've been counting our blessings.

The kids were off from school last week, and both Amy and I took off as well.

We took the kids on several bike rides and hikes, in the attempt to keep them busy over the break without participating in indoor activities or playdates.

On Tuesday we took them on a hike on the Violet Crown Trail near our house. It was a nice hike, even if it had some hills to climb up and down. We hiked down into an area near Barton Creek and then climbed back up to take the Mopac pedestrian bridge on the way back.

The kids contemplate how to throw themselves into this
small pond and make it seem like it was an "accident"

Raylan leads the way into the wilderness.
What could go wrong?

A view of the Austin skyline and the Mopac
pedestrian bridge from the return leg of our trip

pedestrian bridge

On Wednesday we had a session with a photographer at Butler Park. It was given to us for free as a gift following Bella's adoption. It was a bit of challenge to get the kids to cooperate at times, but I guess that it went pretty well, overall.

After we had our pictures taken we let the kids play on the new playscape down there.

Amy and I hung out on a bench and I snapped my own picture....

Amy is awfully pretty.

Thursday was Christmas Eve. We had a plan to go out to my parents' house that evening and into the next day, so on Christmas Eve morning we let the kids open some presents at our house (so we wouldn't have to take the presents with us to Steiner Ranch).

I know these people!!!

Wouldn't it be amazing if there were some kind of magical
kingdom somewhere and a princess's castle like this
actually existed...

Christmas morning, part 1.

Later in the day I took Raylan and Bella over to Raylan and Jamie's house to drop off some presents that the kids had picked out for them. We put the presents on their porch and talked to them for a few minutes from a safe distance away out in the yard.

On the way home we stopped and played at their neighborhood park for a bit.

Bella was a little afraid to go down the slide alone, so she got
a Raylan assist.

Thursday afternoon we went over to Mom and Dad's. Susan joined us, so we got to celebrate her birthday with her as well as Christmas Eve!

Mom put together a little Christmas Eve service for the kids where we read the Christmas story and sang some Christmas hymns.

Children's Christmas sermon in 2020

We had spaghetti dinner that night and a frozen yogurt cake for Susan's birthday.

Crackers and crowns on Christmas Eve!

Raylan attempts to complete the Christmas tradition
of eating a yo-yo

Grandma and Papa teach Bella the holiday tradition
of Ring Around a Raylan

We spent the night out at my parents' house. We had egg casserole for breakfast that Amy had made.

We opened presents from Santa. Raylan got a nice desk for his bedroom from Grandma and Papa.

Christmas pajamas

A flurry of unwrapping

I am going to find a way to live in this treehouse.

Mom and Dad not only served us Christmas Eve spaghetti, but a very nice turkey dinner on Christmas Day as well. We ended up staying on the night of Christmas Day as well. It was really nice. Felt like a genuine vacation.

I know that a lot of work went into it, and we really appreciate it, Mom and Dad!

Wait. How many pieces of cinnamon toast have you guys
eaten?

We headed home on Saturday after we got packed up and out the door.

On Sunday we spent some time de-Christmasing, and we took the kids for a bike ride on a more northern/eastern part of the Walnut Creek bike trail. It was beautiful weather and a nice ride, even if it did have some hills.

Is it time for a water break?

Sunday afternoon my folks dropped off Raylan's new desk, and Ryan dropped off some salmon for us (he gets it from his neighbor. I don't really understand where this salmon is coming from, but it's good. Ryan has become the salmon fairy).

Later, Bella wanted to go to the store with me to pick up groceries. But it had been a busy couple of days...

And that was it! Christmas 2020!

It was a little weird, and we missed Ryan, Jamie, and Amy's side of the family, but hopefully the separation has been worth it to keep us all safe. We ended up having a very nice Christmas, in the end (thanks again, Mom and Dad!), but we're looking forward to seeing more of the family next year!

Merry Christmas, y'all!!!

Update

2020-12-22T22:34:00.000-06:00

Hola!

Hope everyone is hanging in there. COVID seems to be spiking across the country again this winter, and just as the initial doses of the vaccine are rolling out. Crazy times.

We had a pretty good pre-Christmas week. Both kids had various Christmasy activities at their schools.

This is us at breakfast time one morning this week
before school/work. Super organized.

The kids spent Friday and Friday night with my parents. As usual, it seems like they had a great time.

Raylan made this ornament of himself at
school. We feel that it especially captures the
mindset of small children at Christmas....

Bella on the swing set this week.
I think she had just returned from Grandma
and Papa's

So Friday night Amy and I got to eat Korean barbecue and watch the season finale (season 2) of The Mandalorian and episode 1 of season 5 of The Expanse. We also got to sleep in until like 7:45 the next morning. Sweet, glorious, luxury!

We ran errands and wrapped present on Saturday until the kids got home. Then we played with them and goofed around until dinner.

Saturday night I went to band practice with the guys over at Jim's house. We had a good time.

Bella gets to hang a couple of Christmas
decorations on Mandy's agave plant
on Saturday

Bella wakes us up on Sunday and asks Amy
to read to her from her journal

On Sunday we went for a bike ride around our neighborhood and over to a local store so the kids could pick out some presents for the family. We had bought a Cool-pilot bike for Bella, which was as much a present for the rest of us as it is for Bella, because now we can all take family bike rides together!

It's just like Top Gun!
"Talk to me, Goose!"

Remote controlled cars in the driveway.
It's not important who drove better than who-
the important thing is that we had fun....

It turns out that Bella loves eggnog!

I love this! I'm gonna drink it all year long!

Amy and I both have this week off from work for Christmas (although, weirdly, we both have a lot going on at work and are both checking emails). We took the kids to a bike trail at Walnut Creek in East Austin today. It was a nice trail, and a fun ride!

When you ask for an "explorer pose" from Amy, this
is what she thinks explorers do....

I feel like someone is following me.

It's like a scene from Easy Rider, right?

In this picture Amy is either peacefully
riding through the woods or trying to
flee from her family.

Anyway, that's about it. We've just been working and schooling and now we're headed into the holidays.

Hope everyone is doing okay!

Update

2020-12-14T07:00:00.001-06:00

Hi! Well, we're just sort of plugging along, heading into the holidays.

The kids are busy in school, and Amy and I are busy with work.

We had a pretty good week, but I didn't take a lot of pictures. Our week was pretty uneventful, I guess, overall.

Raylan draws some mazes on the patio. He draws really cool
mazes, but my heart always sinks a little when I see him
working on one, because they're usually really big, complicated,
and hard to solve, and he usually wants me to solve them!

On Wednesday my parents had Bella for the day and then picked up Raylan after school. They came over in the evening and had fajitas with us.

Papa reads to the kids before dinner.

On Friday night Bella spent the night with Grandma and Papa and Raylan got some alone time with us.

On Saturday morning Amy, Raylan and I went for a bike ride together. We rode about six miles. It was fun! Later we ran a couple of errands and played around the house. Raylan has been practicing his baseball with a little Chicago Cubs bat and ball set that Uncle Ryan and Aunt Jamie gave him a while back. He really seems to like batting right now.

Saturday afternoon Bella came home and we got some pizza.

It was rainy on Sunday, but it cleared up in the afternoon. In the morning Amy took Bella for a haircut, and I played checkers and chess with Raylan and did some art.

Amy took Raylan for a bike ride, and I went with Bella on her balance bike.

Racing round the hood in her "Kitty Hello" helmet

It's like a smaller, cuter version of the Hells Angels

Bella saw this Christmas dragon in someone's yard, and was
drawn to it like it was a magnet.

Later, Amy helped the kids make these simple pretzel cookies. Yum!

The kids had fun making these. I had fun eating these.

In the evening I had Therapy Pets band practice. We played in Reed's backyard, and it was windy and cold! Yowza. We tried plugging n space heaters, but with that much wind, they didn't do much. We had fun, though.

And that was the weekend!

Have a good week!

Update

2020-12-07T08:00:00.002-06:00

Hello!

Well, with Thanksgiving in the rearview, we're headed into the Christmas season at our house. We put up some decorations and put up our Christmas tree this week. The kids were excited to decorate the Christmas tree. A small battle broke out over which kid got to put the star on top of the tree. (ultimately resolved by some sleight of hand on my part that left both kids feeling like they had put up the star after each put it up at a different time).

Pretty dang festive at hour house

Last week was all virtual schooling for Raylan as AISD shut down to quarantine all their students and staff after the Thanksgiving holiday. Raylan did some home schooling at out house and then spent some time with Grandma and Papa as they helped him get through his virtual lessons for the week (COVID boarding school!).

On Saturday we took the kids out to McKinney Roughs Park and went on a 3 mile hike. We walked some trails, saw some deer, saw a hawk or two, saw the Colorado River, and had a nice time!

Into nature!

I'm oughta here, ya squares!

The Colorado

Me and The Boy

Raylan on the rocks

We totally know where we are. Where are we?

When you go outdoors with Amy, there are always snacks.

We got home from the hike and watched the second half of the UT game, and decorated the tree.

Saturday night I went to band practice with the guys. We play outside because of the quarantine, and it was a little cold. We probably just need to get a metal trash can and light a fire in it....

On Sunday mostly hung out around our hood. Amy took Raylan for a bike ride (over 5 miles!), and I went for a walk with Bella while she rode her balance bike.

Later we just played in the yard and in the house, for the most part.

born to ride!

We really do try to get them to wear warmer clothes. We
really try!

Sunday night we grilled and ate turkey burgers, and then we went to sleep!

The end.

Thanksgiving 2020

2020-11-29T22:46:00.010-06:00

Hi! Well, we just wrapped up a pretty nice Thanksgiving week with our family.

Sometime back in the summer, after our trip to Galveston, we realized that the quarantine was going to make it pretty hard to escape out house during the rest of 2020. Consequently, we booked a house in Kerrville over Thanksgiving weekend just to make sure we could get away for a little bit.

It ended up being a good decision!

We really didn't know much about the house, other than what was on the Airbnb listing, but, frankly, we just wanted to get out of town, and we didn't have super high expectations.

We worked Monday and Tuesday. I ended up doing a little bit of work on Wednesday morning, but after that we packed up and headed out of town.

The rental house ended up working very well. It was a two bedroom place that backed up to the River Trail along the Guadalupe River in Kerrville. The place had a little fire pit for cooking s'mores, a hot tub, deer feed (the dear would come right up to the back fence if you scattered deer feed), and a fully equipped kitchen.

We brought food from Austin. We even managed to somehow get a Greenberg smoked turkey, even though their facility burned down this year and there were very few of those turkeys to be had (2020 strikes again).

We invited Mom and Dad and Susan, and they drove over from Austin for the day to eat with us and walk around the River Trail a bit. We all ate outside on the back porch of the rental house. We were very happy that they were able to join us.

Walking omg the River Trail to stretch our legs after
arriving on Wednesday

A view of the Guadalupe River from the trail.

Our kids are a big fan of My Neighbor Totoro. It's this Japanese
film where these magical creatures live in hollow trees and
in the forest and.... well... They're looking for Totoro.

The River Trail winds around by the Guadalupe, and eventually we ended up at Louise Hays Park. It's a very pretty park beside the river with tall cypress trees and ducks. It also has a couple of playgrounds and a splash pad. Which was on. In November. And if Raylan and Bella see a splash pad....

The air was sort of warm. The water was not.

Bella hit the cold water and acted like we tricked her into
going into the splash pad. Even though I had warned her
against going into the splash pad.

Walking back with some slightly wet kids

Each night when we got the kids into bed Amy and I went and soaked for a bit in the hot tub. It was nice.

On Thursday Mom, Dad, and Susan came down.

Amy and I on the trail on Thursday morning

Excited to see Grandma and show her the vacation house

Amy starts getting Thanksgiving ready to go

Watching TV after going for a walk on the River Trail

Thanksgiving chow (we also had mashed
potatoes and gravy)

Thanksgiving dinner on the back porch

One more pic of Amy and me.

The kids in the hot tub after dinner and a hike

It's too bad they don't know that they're cute.... ;-)

So Mom and Dad and Susan stayed until about 6:00, I guess, before heading back. We had Amy's delicious chocolate pecan pie before they left.

We felt very lucky to be able to spend the holiday with part of the family. We missed Ryan and Jamie, and had a little video call with them that evening right before the kids went to sleep.

Friday it was supposed to rain, and we had a few sprinkles here and there, but it really didn't rain too much.

We drove around Kerrville a bit in the morning, just to explore, and then went for a little hike down a different part of the River Trail that we hadn't yet explored.

We saw a lot of deer and ducks and fish and egrets and cardinals, and it was very nice to be out and about. It was a great sort of "nature hike" to go on with kids, actually, because it was very easy and on a paved trail, but you still got a sense of experiencing some nature.

It wasn't actually raining, but boy were
they prepared!

So I thought this looked like an album cover for
some sort of art band

Raylan and Amy take a pic while Bella plans her escape

The deer were largely undaunted by our presence

I watched part of the UT-Iowa State game on Friday. Amy had gone for a run and the kids wanted to go in the hot tub, so I took them in the hot tub and missed the end of the game where we apparently snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Ugh. Soooo glad I missed the ending of that game.

Friday night we made s'mores!

And we ate s'mores!

And we fed the deer outside out back gate

Saturday morning it was actually really raining. I picked us up some breakfast from Denny's, we packed up, and then we headed back to Austin.

It was a very relaxing, pleasant trip. We're already talking about going back in the future.

We got back Saturday and unpacked and... I'm not sure what we did. Amy and I both exercised, and we played with the kids. It rained a lot on Saturday, so it was pretty low key.

Bella has "kid makeup" that she got from Nana.
She put some on and asked me take her picture.
I asked her if she was going to smile, and she said,
"No. If I smile the makeup will slide off."

We also took the kids to Sunset Valley to go to the park on Sunday. We flew a kite and went on the playground.

Bella and I picked up groceries.
Bella felt the need to wear a helmet.

Other from that, we put up some Christmas decorations on Sunday. We have the tree up, but it's not quite fully decorated yet. Anyway, we're barreling right into Christmas.

So that was out Thanksgiving! With COVID and everything, it's been a tough year, but we have an awful lot to be thankful for.

First and foremost, Bella became an official member of the family this year. That was one of the biggest events in all of our lives, and it brought an incredible amount of joy to our family. We love her so much.

We also have gotten through the pandemic so far (huge old knock on wood) without anyone getting seriously ill or (as far as we know) contracting COVID. And we are VERY thankful for that.

Anyway, we had a nice Thanksgiving, and we wish everyone safety and good health as we move forward into the holiday season.

Take care!!!

Update

2020-11-23T07:00:00.001-06:00

So we're creeping up on Thanksgiving! Kinda hard to believe. As everyone knows, the COVID numbers are sort of shooting back up across the country, so, even though we've been pretty much quarantined this whole time, we're trying to be extra vigilant and cautious right now. It's sort of a scary time.

Raylan had a small meltdown this week because he wanted to go to one of the indoor gymnasium places that we used to go to. He ended up just yelling at us to, "Find some places that we can go to that are open!!" I hear ya, kid.

But we're doing well, all things considered.

Raylan makes chalk mazes on the concrete.
And instructions on how to solve them.

I got a new bike for Amy for Christmas. It's early, but during the pandemic there's been a run on bikes (and all home exercise equipment, really), so I was afraid that if I waited until December there wouldn't be any left.

New wheels!

We've been watching some of the old Batman TV show from the 1960's. Raylan is really enjoying it, and it's fun for me to watch with him.

That theme song, man....

My bike being broken and my new one on order, Amy took Raylan for a bike ride on Saturday morning. I walked with Bella while she rode her balance bike around the neighborhood.

She insisted on the pads. I am not sure
she needed the pads.

sidewalk mazes

cars and Duplos and Mom

We mostly hung out around the house on Saturday. The kids helped me string some Christmas lights on the fence. We didn't put up other Christmas decorations yet (respect the Turkey!), but we needed some early holiday cheer this year!

Also on Saturday, at some point I got a message from the bike shop telling me that the new bike that I had ordered had come in. It's a gray, XXL Trek hybrid bike (the 2021 FX 1 Disc model). I took it for a ride Saturday after I picked it up, and it seemed to work well. I'll post a picture of it at some point.

On Sunday morning we took the kids on a little nature hike down on the Barton Creek Greenbelt. We had a nice time. We're a little limited in how far we can go before Bella starts to get tired (she has little legs, after all, and walking over rocks and things is more of a major challenge for her), but we had a fun time.

Out in the woods!

The kiddos and me

Raylan asked if he could pose
for this picture....

Fearless explorers

Later on Sunday afternoon my mom and dad picked up Raylan so he could spend the night with them. He has this week off from school, so it seemed like a good opportunity. It's not actually clear whether the Austin schools will reopen after Thanksgiving, They're watching the COVID numbers and they're going to make an announcement this week.

Sunday evening I had a band practice at Reed's house. It was just me and Frank and Reed, but we had a good time.

I snapped a candid shot of Frank

Reed, behind the outdoor, social distancing
version of his drum kit

And that was really about it for the weekend. Now on to Thanksgiving!

Update

2020-11-16T07:30:00.001-06:00

Hi! Have I mentioned how much easier it is to blog when I don't have to blur out Bella's face for each post and remember to call her Kiddo instead of Bella? It's a lot easier.

Well, out week was pretty good, except for one horrible tragedy. On Wednesday we had the day off for Veterans Day. Thank you for your service, Dad, Greg, Jerry, and any other veterans who might read this! On Veterans Day Amy and I both had the day off, but Raylan had school and Bella spent the day with Grandma and Papa. I went for a bike ride.

Well, halfway through my ride, right downtown on Congress Avenue, my back wheel started to wobble from side to side on my bike. I thought I had a broken axle (which had recently been replaced). I walked the bike back over to Guadalupe, put it on a bike rack, and rode home. When I got home I took it into the bike shop. They called me a few hour later to tell me that the frame had actually broken.

Nooooooooo!!!!!

That's like the one thing that you really can't fix on a bike.

So my beloved bike has bitten the dust. I put several thousand miles on that bike.

I've ordered a new bike, but I'm nervous. That last bike lasted a long time and was, all things considered, a really tough workhorse. I'd also modified a bunch of the parts on that old bike to make it fit me better (handlebar risers, a custom rear wheel, a different seat, etc.).

Ugh.

Sad to see that old friend go. It helped me maintain my physical and mental health for a long, long time.

In other news, we just mostly had a pretty normal week.

With Halloween in the rearview mirror,
Bella is on to the next thing

Raylan and I got haircuts

Bella got this Disney Princess costume as an
adoption present from friends in my office

And she also got these Disney pajamas.
Which make her dance.

On Saturday we went fishing at Lake Walter E. Long over on the East Side. In Steans family tradition, we didn't catch any fish, but we had a good time.

As far as Bella knows, "fishing" means standing by the
lake with a line in the water while she runs around.

Our budding fisherman

Trying to think like a fish

The kids don't really care if we catch any fish on these
trips as long as they get a picnic meal with snacks.

Raylan asked why I never took pictures of myself, sooooo....

On Saturday the kids spent the night with my parents.

Got my gear. Ready for my vacation house.

On Saturday night I had band practice at Jim's house. We had a good time.

On Sunday Frank and I took a basic gun class. I've gotten a pistol from Jerry and Carol (thank you!), so I wanted to take a gun safety class. It was fun! We were only supposed to shoot pistols, but the instructors (who were 3 military vets) got out some shotguns and AR15s, and we shot those as well.

It was a fun way to spend a few hours.

Then the kids came home and we played and Amy made pad Thai and we all went to bed.

And that was our weekend!

Kiddo Becomes Bella!

2020-11-09T06:30:00.005-06:00

So we had a really big, happy week this week at our house.

After 2 years of having Kiddo in our family, we were finally able to legally adopt her on Thursday! Now that she is legally our daughter, I can finally start showing you her real face and start calling her by her real name on this blog and in other places online. So, adios, Kiddo, and hello, Bella!

We are so, so happy to finally, officially be Bella's forever family. She is a loving, smart, fun little girl, and we love her so, so much. She has definitely already been a member of our family in our minds and hearts for a long time already, so, for us, this moment was really just an official recognition of something that we have been known for a long time. She's an amazing brother and daughter and we love her to the moon and back.

The adoption hearing, due to the COVID lockdown, was an online video affair. Judge Hathcock presided, and it took place on Austin Adoption Day. It was seriously one of the happiest days of our lives (right there with our wedding and Raylan's birth). Jean had flown into town with Nathan, and we all went over to my parents' house and did the hearing on their big screen TV (Dad had connected their laptop computer).

We had sent out Zoom links to friends, coworkers, Bella's former and current teachers, and other people from our lives and community. The little proceeding was very emotional for us. Amy and I both cried (which is cute when Amy does it, but, uh, less cute when I do it). All for a good cause, though! There were a lot of people on the video feed, and it made me realize how many people have supported us on this journey (which was pretty overwhelming). Some people also sent food and treats and many very nice messages. It was all very touching.

So Bella has gone public! In addition to knowing that she will always be in our family, a significantly less important, but really fun benefit is that now you will all get to see her very cute face in pictures!

So here's our family on the morning of the adoption

The actual, online adoption hearing

We're not crying. You're crying.

Lunch after the hearing

The kids watch shows and relax together in the
afternoon

Nathan and Bella find a way to share a
very small swing with one another

Gathering around Nana's phone to watch one of our favorite
things- videos of ourselves!

3 kids on swings!

The cousins!

Our adoption party!

In addition to the actual adoption hearing, we had a really nice visit with Jean (aka, Nana), and Nathan. The kids were so excited to see them when they arrived that they crashed into our screen door when they arrived, and Bella sort of tripped and fell down in her excitement.

The kids played really well with each other and had a blast together.

Jean and Nathan flew out on Saturday for Arizona, and our kids were sad to see them go. They kept asking them to come back tomorrow.

On Sunday we met up with Dorothy, Sue, and Cesar at a park over near their house. The kids, once again, had a blast. Raylan and Dorothy were super excited to see each other, and greeted on another like the old friends that they are. We did some playing on the playground, checked out the pond, and went for a walk on a little hiking trail in the woods.

There were fish and turtles in this pond. Very exciting!

Dorothy and Raylan practice their dance
moves

On Sunday afternoon Ryan and Jamie came over for a social distance visit in the front yard. The kids were very excited to see Uncle Ryan and Aunt Jamie. At one point they disappeared into the house before returning in superhero capes and masks (Raylan was Batman and Bella was Green Lantern).

Anyway, they were happy to see them. I was happy to see them, too!

I think this involved watching the kids run around doing
superhero moves

And that was our week and weekend, pretty much.

I guess it should be worth mentioning that our national election was on Tuesday, the 3rd, and we didn't get meaningful election results until Saturday, so all of this occurred under the backdrop of an extremely divisive, hotly contested presidential election with Donald Trump facing off against Joe Biden, Definitely a wild week!

When I got Bella to school this morning, the teachers and staff had hung this poster out to greet her:

Very nice message from Bella's school!

I can't believe that our adoption journey is finally over. We love Bella so much. We're just really thrilled.

You guys have a great week!

Halloween

2020-11-02T07:00:00.001-06:00

Well, we just wrapped up Halloween!

It ended up being a pretty good one!

On Friday, the kids were allowed to wear costumes to their schools. Kiddo had been wanting to be a strawberry for Halloween since sometime last summer, so she got that going. Raylan wanted to be a "pumpkinhead". We didn't really know what that meant, but we got him a pumpkin mask that lights up and makes a scary laughing sound. Unfortunately, we found out at the last minute that he couldn't wear a mask (over his COVID mask) to school. So he ended up just wearing a jack-o-lantern tee shirt.

Every day when we drop Raylan off for school we walked past

this yard. The kids wanted to stop and take a look at it every time.

On Friday, I also had lunch with my friends Afton and Carla from work. We usually have lunch once a week at work, but not since the pandemic started, of course. So Afton picked up food for us, and we had a nice, socially distanced lunch at our house in the back yard. Usually Ruben joins us for lunch as well, but he got stuck on a work project and couldn't make it. It was really nice to see them and catch up in the real world (not on a video conference).

Afton in the foreground and Carla and me in the back.

On Halloween day I took the kids to the park over at the South Austin Rec Center to play. I had them wear their masks (which they're good about). We had fun. Eventually a whole gaggle of kids (like 15 or more) showed up to play on the playground for some sort of birthday party. None of them we wearing masks, so we left and went to Joslin Park at that point. Which was fine. The kids were happy to go to 2 parks in one outing.

Hanging out at the Rec Center

Later we played in the back yard for a while.

Amy and Kiddo enjoy some fall weather in the hammock
on Halloween day

I got some of our old Halloween costumes out of our storage shed, and the kids had fun trying them on.

I feel like this should be a band photo for some sort of
avant-garde electronic music act

The surreal, somewhat disturbing, avocado
head dance

On Halloween afternoon/evening we went over to may parents house to celebrate. We were pretty wary about trick or treating because of the virus, but we wanted a chance for the kids to wear costumes and have some fun. My mom (Grandma!) did a great job of making dinner and planning a Halloween scavenger hunt in the house. Dad (Papa!) even made some queso, that we ate while watching the UT-OSU game (UT won! In overtime!).

As we were eating dinner and doing stuff in the house, my folks were setting up a table outside so kids could come by and trick or treat in a socially distanced way.

Obviously, our kids were very intrigued by this. We sort of scoped out what was going on out on their street. There weren't too many kids out, and all of the participating houses had candy out on tables by the curb.

So, in the end, we let the kids go trick or treating, and they had a lot of fun. We basically just went around the block by my parents' house. It was a full moon, beautiful weather, and kids got to see some other kids in costumes and go do a real, honest-to-god Halloween trick or treat. And it wasn't crowded, so that was good.

The kids, doing the Halloween scavenger hunt
(grandma had rhyming riddles telling them
where each new clue and treat was hidden)

Ready for trick or treating!

Blue moon on Halloween!

And that was mostly it for Halloween! It was a lot of fun! Grandma and Papa pulled through again!

On Sunday we de-Halloweened our house (put away decorations). I took Raylan for a bike ride. In the evening I had outdoor acoustic band practice with Mono Ensemble. It was fun and we sounded pretty good.

And that was the weekend!

Now into November we go!

Update

2020-10-26T07:30:00.001-05:00

Hola! Hope everyone is doing okay!

Our week was pretty good!

On Wednesday night, my folks came over for dinner. They had been entertaining Kiddo during the day, and they picked Raylan up after school. Then they came over, and we ate some delicious lasagna that Amy made. Somehow I got no pictures of the family during this dinner, but I did manage to take a picture of the lasagna. Guess I got a little excited for the lasagna.

I do love Amy's lasagna. It's like family...

I have no recollection about what we did Friday night. I think I actually put the kids in bed, laid down to read a book in bed, and fell asleep.

Amy and I have an anniversary coming up this week (on the 27th), so my mom and dad were nice enough to take the kids overnight on Saturday. Amy and I went out to dinner at Curra's and sat outside on the patio. They did some social distancing of their tables, and it felt pretty safe. Also, the food was really good. It felt nice to go out and have some grown up time!

I love you, Amy!!!!

The kids came back on Sunday, and we carved jack-o'-lanterns, of course! The kids really enjoyed it this year. Raylan drew the face on his, and I did my best to carve it exactly as he drew it. Amy helped Kiddo a bit more with her design. Kiddo really had fun playing with all of the slimy pumpkin goo that came out of the pumpkin. Weird...

Anyway, we saved the seeds, and Amy is gonna cook those up!

Getting the seeds and goo out of the pumpkins

Raylan's final product is the pumpkin on the right. I think it sort of captures a lot of the feelings that we've all had during 2020.

Steans-Davis family jack-o'-lanterns, 2020

And that was about it, really. We played around the house and Amy made a nice pasta dinner Sunday night.

Until next time!

Update

2020-10-19T08:40:00.004-05:00

Hi! Well, we're trucking right along through October over here.

The kids both seem to be enjoying in person school, and we are all very happy about that!

This past week was pretty busy for both Amy and I at work. The kids spent the night on Friday at Grandma and Papa's house. Very fun for them!

We have a lot of Halloween art decorating our house
right now

On Saturday morning we met up at a pumpkin patch at a Christmas tree farm in Elgin. We had a lot of fun! There were two mazes, a hay ride, a little train (pulled by a tractor), some animals, a corn maze, a playground, piles of hay to play in, water pump duck races, and, of course, pumpkins.

It was a really goo time. Grandma even brought a picnic lunch!

on the train

water pump duck races

Hay dive!

into the corn maze

So that was our big thing on Saturday.

Sunday we mostly just played around the house. Amy took the kids to Sunset Valley playground for a bit while I went for a bike ride.

practicing cornhole in the driveway

Anyway, time is flying by! I can't believe we're more than halfway through October!

Have a good week!

In Person Kindergarten and a Visit from Nana and Poppa Greg

2020-10-12T07:00:00.010-05:00

Hi! Well, it was a big week in our household! This past Monday Raylan started in person kindergarten classes. We had some trepidation about sending him back, and it's hard to know what's the right thing to do. I'd been reading a bit that the transmission rates for the virus seem to be pretty low, especially among elementary aged kids, and his new school seems to be taking a lot of precautions. They're at a fraction of their normal capacity, the kids wear masks, and everyone does a health screening each morning before entering the building. Also, of course, Kiddo has been going to school for weeks, and nothing bad has happened (KNOCK ON WOOD).

Anyway, he actually started real kindergarten!

I was also nervous that it might just be too weird for him with all of the masks and social distancing rules and everything.

But he seems to really be loving it! On his first day he told us we came to get him too early and he wasn't ready to leave.

He's making friends and learning and staying stimulated. He seems to really enjoy it. We couldn't be happier. Kids are so adaptable....

Ready for the first day in the classroom
(well, he still needed his shoes)

Now he's really ready for his first day in class!

Mom walks Raylan to the front door with
Kiddo close behind (to be dropped off later)

So we made it through a whole week getting used to a new school schedule for Raylan. It's kind of strange right now because both kids are going to school downtown, a choice which totally made sense when Amy and I both worked downtown, but now we're both working from home and the kids are commuting. So that's weird.

But they're both in great schools and very happy, and we're very happy that things are working out so well.

On Friday, Jean and Greg came into town for a visit.

It was really nice. The kids were SUPER excited about them coming, and had been asking about it for at least a week before they arrived.

Kiddo shows off her super hero suit
for Poppa Greg

Raylan and Nana read one of the books that he "wrote"

Nana always brings presents. Not sure what this one was,
but Kiddo seems excited

Nana throws playground balls at the kids on the swings.

On Saturday we all went fishing out at Lake Kyle. We didn't catch anything, but we had fun. Some people who were fishing near us caught several large fish. So they're in there....

Kiddo tries to figure out her fishing pole

Greg sets up some bait while Raylan patiently waits

The Davis women scare the fish....

So we did some fishing for a while and then the kids played on the playground for a while at the park. The kids were really well behaved out at the lake!

On Saturday evening Amy and he folks and the kids went out to my parents for dinner while I went to band practice over at Reed's house. It sounds like they had a really great time out there, and I had a really good time hanging out with the guys at band practice. We sounded pretty good.

On Sunday we sort of goofed around during the day. I watched the kids while Amy and Jean went running. Later, I went for a bike ride while they took the kids to the park. That evening my folks watched the kids while we went out to dinner at Cypress Grill with Amy's parents. We had a really nice dinner. Good food and good company!

Jean, Amy, and Greg after dinner at Cypress

And that was pretty much it for the weekend. It went by fast, but it was good.

Everyone have a good week this week and stay safe!

And I will leave you with this random pic of Raylan
tracing Kiddo's body in our driveway!

Update

2020-10-04T21:00:00.011-05:00

Howdy! Another week gone by as we charge into October at our house.

Raylan continues virtual kindergarten, but is starting in-person class this upcoming week! (he has to wear a mask and there's a lot of social distancing and health and temperature checks) It's very exciting!

Kiddo continues going to her preschool, and she seems to still really like it. She likes her teacher and talks about her friends and is pretty happy to go.

So I took this pic of the kids this week because Raylan was actually
helping push his little sister here without any parental prompting!

On Saturday we took the kids over to play on the playground at Sunset Valley Elementary.

I watched UT lose to TCU on Saturday. Ugh. It was a very sloppy game by both teams. I'm so tired of seeing UT lose because of stupid mental errors. I don't know how many penalties UT had, but it was a whole bunch.

Raylan makes some really cool art in the front yard

Kiddo does some front yard painting with Amy and Raylan on
Sunday

On Sunday I took Raylan on a fairly long bike ride (for a five year old) on some nature trails over in Sunset Valley. Raylan turned out to be really good at riding on trails, even when the ground was bumpy and rocky. We had a lot of fun!

Amy plays a memory game with the kids on Sunday evening

Anyway, the weekend was good, and low key. My parents came by to see the kids and drop off school supplies for Raylan (which was very nice of them).

That was more or less the weekend. We spent a lot of time outside- in the yard, on bike rides, on walks, at the playground, etc.

That's about it! Have a good week!

Update

2020-09-28T07:00:00.001-05:00

Hola!

How's things?

We're enjoying an unusually cool fall this September. Normally in Austin, September is just sort of another month of summer, but this year we've had nice, cool days. Strange, but great. Feels like fall. Of course, we're having this great weather in the one year when we can't have a fall ACL Festival, but, we're enjoying it and trying to get outside a lot, in any case.

Taking a TV break after work and school

Random photo from a bike ride downtown

Amy has been wanting to take the kids (and me) fishing, so on Saturday we drove down to Lake Kyle. It's a small, stocked lake in a city park in Kyle. We had fun!

I've only been fishing a few times, and all of those experiences were when I was a kid, so Amy basically had to teach me to fish as well.

We didn't end up catching any fish, even though we could see some jumping out of the water at times. We had fun trying to catch fish, though, and it was nice to be outside on such a pleasant day. Raylan learned the basics of how to cast, and Kiddo... well, Kiddo mostly ran around a lot and ate snacks. She might not quite be ready for fishing yet. Raylan seemed to like it, although he eventually got frustrated because he "thought we would be catching fish a lot faster". Overall, I think he enjoyed it, though. If we could have caught anything at all, I think it would have really come together for him.

Get on there, fish!

The park at Lake Kyle also had a little playground, so the kids got to play on that for a while after we got done fishing.

Fishing and climbing a mountain in one day?
Not bad, kid!

Later on Saturday we watched the UT-Texas Tech football game. Well, I watched it, and the kids helped Amy put up some Halloween decorations. The kids joined me in the second half, with Kiddo falling asleep on her chair and Raylan watching cartoons on his tablet.

The family, "watching the game" with me.

The Longhorns eked out an overtime win against Tech. Our offense looked pretty solid, but our defense was pretty lackluster (looking forward to someday having a season where we can tackle) and special teams had some major problems.

The most important thing about the game, of course, was the Amy made queso for it. Tasted like football season!

On Sunday we got breakfast from La Posada (takeout), and then I took the kids to the park to play.

Exploring the creek near the park

Sunday afternoon we ran a couple of errands.

Grandma and Papa took the kids out for ice cream later on Sunday afternoon, and then took Raylan to their house to spend the night with them so Raylan can do remote learning kindergarten with Grandma on Monday.

Sunday night Frank came over and we played some music on the porch. We had fun. We sounded pretty good, I think. Good enough, anyway.

Here's Frank, drinking a beer, and trying to remember
how to play the resonator guitar in his lap

And that's it! Have a great week!

Update

2020-09-24T18:06:00.000-05:00

Soooooo.... Hey.....

Things just keep plugging along here in 2020, don't they?

Raylan's virtual kindergarten experience, for one thing, keeps plugging along. He says he likes it. To him, kindergarten, right now, is a series of activities that he does with his parents and Grandma. In virtual kindergarten, he does some online lessons with his teacher and then does "asynchronous learning", which involves completing some assignments that he submits through his iPad. He enjoys learning, and I think he likes the one-on-one time. It'll be interesting to see how the transition goes when he eventually returns to a classroom. He likes being at home with us, but he likes being around other kids, too, so, I think in Raylan's mind, each version has pros and cons.

Working at the table in his room on a school lesson

climbing a tree when we went for a walk
during a break

On Friday, when I was doing Raylan's school with him, the weather outside was beautiful (we've had unusually mild weather this September). At lunch time, we hopped on our bikes and rode over to El Chilito for lunch. They have picnic tables outside, so we say under the trees and ate breakfast tacos and had a really nice time.

Friday lunch out is an upside of virtual school

On Saturday morning we went for a hike on the Barton Creek greenbelt. We had a fun little hike, but all of the water had dried up in the creek since last week! Oh well. Definitely easier to keep the kids dry that way!

Amy on our hike!

On Saturday I went for a bike ride and got to stop by Ryan and Jamie's house to visit with them for a while on the back porch. It was really good to talk to them and get a chance to catch up a bit.

Saturday evening we had Mono Ensemble practice in Reed's back yard. It was pretty fun, and I think we sounded alright (especially given the infrequency of our practice schedule). All five of us were there.

On Sunday morning I tried to take the kids for a walk, but they rebelled. Instead we played in the yard for a while.

the artists at work

Sunday afternoon we drove to to Buda to go to Cabela's. Amy grew up doing some fishing, and our trip to the greenbelt in the nice weather had inspired her to want to get some little starter fishing poles for the kids. So we loaded up in the car and head out.

Cabela's is, of course, one part outdoor supply store and one part theme park. The kids loved looking at the aquarium and the stocked stream (they fed the fish) and all of the taxidermied animals. We even took a turn at the laser shooting range up on the second floor.

checking out the aquarium

feeding the fish!

family photo!

Who is this mysterious action hero?

After Cabela's we went to Buda City Park. They had a really nice playground there, and it was, just, overall, a super nice park on a really beautiful day.

They kept yelling at Amy to jump off.
To her credit, she let them down slowly, anyway.
That's self discipline, people!

Later we stopped off at Home Depot. Then we went home and Grandma and Papa picked up Raylan so he could go over and spend the night with them to do school over there tomorrow. Ryan stopped by to drop off some food for Mom and Dad. Kiddo tried to show off for Uncle Ryan while climbing the fence, and took a tumble. The only injury was her pride. She was pretty embarrassed.

Amy made spaghetti for dinner (which was great).

And that was the weekend! Dad had eye surgery this week, but it seems to have gone well, so we're all happy for that.

Now back to sitting in front of a computer all week....

Update- 1st day of Kindergarten

2020-09-14T07:30:00.001-05:00

Howdy! Well, it's starting to feel a little bit like Fall here in Austin. We've had some unusually cool weather for September, including a day last week where the high was in the 70s (which is very unusual for Austin, where we're typically still in the high 90s around this time of year).

This past week was Raylan's first day of kindergarten! It was very exciting, although not exactly what we would have been envisioning for him at this time last year. He's started school with all online classes due to the pandemic.

I think I was much more nervous about his first day of school than Raylan was, given my concerns about getting all of his programs and apps to work on his school-issued iPad. Things have been going okay, though. Amy and I are both helping him, and my mom is helping several days a week. He has some face-to-cafe time with teachers and classmates, and then "asynchronous learning" where he completes assignments and projects.

All in all, we're very lucky that he is healthy, safe, and that he seems to have a really good school with good teachers and administrators (he is going to Mathews).

First day of school picture!

Ready to start kindergarten!

Aside from Raylan starting school, things are mostly just chugging along as they were before. Kiddo is still going to her preschool, and Amy and I are both working at home. We're hoping to finalize Kiddo's adoption in early November on National Adoption Day. Very excited about that!

Raylan and Papa build a spaceship

I tried to get Raylan to explain some of his
chalk drawings. It took a while.

Raylan literally winds Kiddo up on the swing set

On Saturday morning I took the kids down to the Greenbelt to try to wear them out a little bit.

If you look closely in the background of this
pic, you can see rock climbers scaling that cliff

Both kids had fun "exploring", although
eventually Kiddo got tired

the kids add some rocks to Barton Creek

later on Saturday Amy helped the kids do some finger painting
in the back yard

Dad v. Raylan checkers on Saturday afternoon

Saturday evening I had a back yard, social distance band practice with Therapy Pets over Reed's house. It was fun. I think we sounded pretty good.

Sunday morning I took the kids on a "bug hunt", which mostly just turned into a walk. We saw some big turtles down by the creek.

A friendly, neighborhood cat.
Trying to teach the kids how to approach animals
cautiously and gently.

Amy's friend and co-worker, Tyler, came by to pick up some baby gear that we've outgrown and which he can use for his baby daughter.

We had intended to have him just pick up the stuff in the driveway while we stayed in the house, but.... the kids were desperate to explain to him how the toys work Also, Tyler had Pogo, his little dog with him, so there's no way the kids were gonna stay in the house with that dog in our driveway.

There's no way Tyler could have figured
out this tiny record player
without help

Later we played with Magna-Tiles

It was a good weekend. Pretty busy, now that I'm looking back on it. I also went for a bike ride each day and Amy went for a run.

So that's about it! Hope everyone is doing okay and staying safe!

Labor Day Update

2020-09-07T16:43:00.002-05:00

Hello! Well, it's Labor Day weekend!

It's been a pretty good week.

We had a bit of rain. Amy's litigation team had a big hearing (the judge hasn't ruled, but she's feeling good about it).

Uncle Ryan and Aunt Jamie sent Raylan and Kiddo a letter that had a sort of story about which sorts of animals would make good pets. Ryan drew some great pictures for it. The kids loved it. Raylan immediately insisted upon writing a return letter.

Reading the mail from Uncle Ryan and Aunt Jamie

We had some rain this week. Raylan played out in the rain one day, and both kids enjoyed splashing in the puddles.

My bike had a malfunction a while back, and it's been in the bike shop for repairs for about 3 weeks. I finally got it back. Made me very happy. Riding that thing around town really helps my mood when I'm working at home and stuck in the house so much.

Reunited and it feels so good!

I took the kids with me to go pick up some groceries from
HEB curbside. They didn't want to stay in their kid seats while
we waited for the groceries to be brought to the car.

We had a full blown Mono Ensemble band practice at Reed's house on Saturday night. All five of us were there, and we sounded pretty good, given the fact that Mono Ensemble hasn't played in, I think, just about all of 2020. We were also playing acoustic guitars outside, and socially distanced, so it was quite a bit different than our usual configuration. We did okay, though.

Front yard pool splashing on the weekend.

On Labor Day, Monday, we went over to my parents' house for lunch. Amy also took the kids to the pool, although I skipped that part.

Mom and Dad fed us fajitas, and the meal was great.

Papa and Kiddo chat and chew

The tie dye family on Labor Day

Well, that's about it. Hope everyone is doing well!

Update

2020-08-31T18:51:00.087-05:00

COVID life, day 134,531.

We're still here!

On Monday, we all went across the street to Mandy's house for Darla Dog's birthday!

There were popsicles for the kids, and dog treats for Darla and a few neighborhood dogs. It was all in Mandy's front yard and we tried to social distance with the neighborhood adults and kids who turned out.

There were more people than you would think for a dog's birthday party in the middle of the day on a Monday.

We're all going crazy!

With Kiddo now in school and Raylan currently spending one night a week at my parents' house, we are having one night a week with Kiddo at home alone with Amy and I. She loves Raylan, for sure, but she also really enjoys being an only child one night a week and getting the attention of both parents. Raylan is with us a couple of week days each week while Bella is at school, so he get some solo time as well.

Mom and Dad, if Raylan sees a picture of me having fun with you
guys when he wasn't home, it could get bad for me...

Entertaining the boy

Picking unripe acorns out of the trees is, for
some reason, a really big deal

Another Saturday swim at the Farleigh's pool

You know what, sis? I bet we could build us a boat and leave these
squares behind!

Kiddo got a big girl bed this week!
We're still hitting milestones in the pandemic!

That's really been about it. It's been really hot outside.

Not sure what else to say.

Hope everyone is staying safe and sane!