Hills and Rolls and a Night Away

After my big effort to get caught up on our blog, I am already slipping behind a bit.  Kate and I were a bit under the weather last week so I wasn't feeling up to blogging.  But thankfully we are all healthy now and back in action.


One of Kate's newest discoveries has been her feet.  She has also mastered the art of pulling off her socks.

On a recent beautiful Sunday afternoon, the family headed to Ski Shores to enjoy the warm weather.  Not sure we'll be able to do this come July!

Kate and I have been taking a music class this winter and here she is with a few of her new friends.  Don't worry Kate, you'll be able to sit up on your own soon enough!

Kate also made the move to the big tub. She had more than outgrown the bathroom sink! She absolutely loves bath time and has a ball splashing around in the big tub.

 

Dad made it home from work early one Friday so we got to enjoy a family happy hour out by the pool. 

 

 

On another beautiful Sunday afternoon we headed out for a hike.  While I wouldn't technically consider this a hike, Stephen might beg to differ since he was the one carrying the baby up all the steps!   

 

The views from Mt. Bonnell were spectacular. 

Too bad someone vandalized the stone marker!

Happy Kate just hanging out with Daddy enjoying the beautiful day.

Thought we might do a little house hunting while we were in the neighborhood.  Lakefront property is pretty affordable these days, right?

Kate's biggest news of the past few weeks is that she is now a rolling machine. Last Tuesday while I was out getting my hair cut and Dad was in charge, Kate rolled over for the first time. Since Dad isn't as trained at these things as I am, he didn't capture it on film. So we didn't capture the first roll, and even this video doesn't quite capture the full roll but I'm sure you get the idea.

She is now all over the place in her crib and has decided to become a stomach sleeper.  It's been a bit of a transition for her as she seems to get stuck sometimes in a face plant and is unsure how to get out of it!  The video monitor was worth every penny as we get to watch her antics while she is supposed to be sleeping.

One last video for this post is of Kate saying 'dada'.  I took the video on my iPhone while we were out for a walk which explains the shaky cinematography.  Unfortunately you can't hear the 'dada' as well now that I've uploaded it.  It comes right at the beginning before her big scream.  Turn up the speakers and you'll hear it.

If you only read the blog to see pictures of Kate, you are finished with this blog post.  But if you care to hear about her parent's big weekend away, keep reading.  For Stephen's birthday I surprised him with an overnight in the Texas Hill Country.  On Saturday we made the 1.5 hour drive to Fredericksburg, TX.  For those of you who grew up in Texas you may be shocked to hear that this was my first trip to Fredericksburg.  For all the traveling my family did growing up, we never seemed to venture to those areas around Austin.  What a shame because it is such a great area with so much to do.  The thing that caught our eye was all the wineries in the area.  With some recommendations from an expert on Fredericksburg we visited Becker and Torre de Pietra.  While we didn't exactly feel like we were back in Napa, we had a wonderful time.  The wineries were beautiful and the wines were really good.  Stephen was pretty impressed and commented that of all the wines we tasted "there was only one undrinkable wine".  That's a big compliment coming from him!  

The beautiful grounds surrounding Becker Vineyards.  The tasting room was packed full of people!  Guess word is out about the new Napa Valley :-)

Enjoying some music at Torre de Pietra.  Couldn't convince Stephen to get up and dance.  Will have to get him two-stepping eventually!

Our hotel in Fredericksburg was located on the town airstip.  As we pulled up there was a guy offering to take you up in his biplane for rides over the town.  We barely dropped our bags before we hopped in for a flight.  Throwing caution to the wind we boarded the small plane and were soaring over the hill country in no time.  Did we even sign a waiver?  Had we made a payment on that life insurance policy yet?  Guess it was all that wine tasting that clouded our judgment.  Aren't we supposed to be responsible adults now that we have a child?

Up in the air, the views were beautiful as the sun was beginning to set.

The booming metropolis of Fredericksburg lay below.

Our very capable pilot Mike is fully in command.

Coming in for landing.  I couldn't believe what a smooth ride it was.  Captain Mike did do a few 'roller coasters' as he called them where we went up for a bit and then took a slight nose dive.  From the ground I'm sure you wouldn't have been able to tell we did any kind of dive, but my stomach sure could!

Back on the ground we were all smiles after a fun and (very) safe flight. 

As I mentined above, we stayed a unique hotel called the Hangar Hotel as it is located inside an airport hangar.  Based purely on reviews online, I decided to try something a bit different and booked it.  The hotel was great and full of WWII charm. 

Before heading back home, we made a little stop in the 'blink or you'll miss it' town of Luckenbach.  For those of you with a love of Texas music you will have heard of this iconic town which is famous for its dance hall, Willie Nelson 4th of July picnics, and its t-shirts.  The place was hoppin' on a Sunday afternoon with a band and people enjoying a slower pace of life. 

In the words of Jerry Jeff Walker:

There's a place I know where we all go,
A little way down the road,
It ain't far from here, we like to sit and drink beer,
Play dominoes and tell jokes.
We've been stopping by since 49,
Ain't nothing fancy, just kids and ranches and
Clean white shirts and jeans!

Lots of smiling faces, little children running around,
Everybody's somebody in an old hill country town!
Dirt daubers humming, see the stickle burrs on your sock,
Sure signs you spent some time in beautiful Luckenbach!

Alas it was time to turn the car towards home and see how Mia and Kate fared on their night alone. We were met with a smiling baby and smiling grandmother.  Guess they did ok.  I'm not even sure Kate missed us!