Vacation « I [heart] Davids

October 7, 2008

Visiting the Ranch

Filed under: Babies,Friends,Travel,Vacation — JeniQ @ 5:01 pm

Some pictures from our trip to see our friends in Austin. We had a great time visiting with Scott and Monica, their son Evan, and their collection of animals.

The boys didn’t really want to play together, but give them a few years!
Henry and Evan

Here’s Scott and his son.
Scott with Evan

And Dave with his son.
Dave and his boy

Scott and Monica and a few of their pets.
the Farleys

Henry playing with Evan’s Sit-N-Spin. He doesn’t really have as much balance as it looks in this picture.
Henry on the Sit-N-Spin

The guest bathroom was like a spa – lovely products and a shower with teeny tiny tiles and a window that opens to the outside. My favorite! There was also this funky art in the bathroom.
Fab shower Bathroom art

One night we hit Mandola’s for dinner. The wine was so so yummy, I should have bought a bottle to bring home!
Montepulciano

The cannelloni beans, however, were a disappointment. They were mealy and in a sauce that was so tomato-y it was hard to taste any other flavors.
Chalky beans

We had a fabulous time. Thanks for being such great hosts, Monica and Scott!

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November 22, 2007

Stuffing (ourselves)

Filed under: Family,Granma,Meals & Food,Vacation,Visitors — JeniQ @ 9:52 pm

For the holiday, we’ve got Dave’s parents here and Granma as well. Yay for Mom and Gene, who drove up to Virginia Beach on Wednesday and brought Granma back!

Dad and I
TGiving07-01

Mom and I polish silver on Thursday morning
TGiving07-02

Granma and Mom indulge in some waffles for breakfast
TGiving07-03

It has been such a beautiful day out! The weather was perfect! We spent a few hours on the front porch enjoying the day.
TGiving07-04

The cats got to enjoy the lovely weather, as well, with a mega-dose of outdoor time on the front lawn, eating grass and chasing leaves in the wind.
TGiving07-05

Several hours later, we sat down to a lovely Thanksgiving day meal. We had turkey, stuffing, potatoes, green beans, cranberries and chopped salad.
TGiving07-06

TGiving07-07

TGiving07-08

After dinner, and then dessert, everyone collapsed in front of the TV.
TGiving07-09

What a great day!! Happy Turkey Day to everyone!!

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October 21, 2007

Babymoon

Filed under: Vacation — JeniQ @ 8:00 pm

We went camping at Jordan Lake Saturday night as a little getaway just for the two of us.

Here’s Simon all loaded up with gear. The entire cargo area was full!

A very large area of dried-up lake.

We saw lots of uncovered old stumps and these huge clams left half-buried in the sand. Poor bi-valves.

A box turtle greeted us at our campsite!

Our campsite, with Simon half-emptied and the tent already set up.

Dave finishing up the tent deployment.

Our tent, all ready for sleepy time!

The view from within our tent.

Our tent in the dark of night.

Breakfast – bacon, eggs and hashbrowns.

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October 6, 2007

Favorite Pictures from England

Filed under: Alba,Alcohol,Cats,England,Friends,Travel,Vacation — JeniQ @ 9:23 am

I’ve compiled some of my favorite pictures from my trip to England.

The Tower Bridge (look familiar?)
London Fun 7

Bill, my and Alba’s host in Cambridge, who indulged me an an hour-long conversation about my favorite British TV shows
London Fun 10

A much deserved beer at the end of a long day of biking around Cambridge
London Fun 1
How much I adore a decent half-pint!

My tower of coasters
London Fun 9

Self-portrait at Picadilly Circus
London Fun 2

Getting attacked by a street performer
London Fun 3

Lovely shadowplay on the Houses of Parliament (courtesy of Alba)
London Fun 4

Self-portrait in front of the Tower Bridge
London Fun 5

An alley cat I made nice with in a pub in Harrow
London Fun 6
See the guy in the back, on the right? Later that day, he gave me his match ticket from the match that had played that day in Wembley Stadium – what a lovely souvenier!

The only rain I saw during my whole trip was as I was about to board the plane home 🙂
London Fun 8

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September 21, 2007

Austin, Part 4

Filed under: Babies,Dogs,Friends,Meals & Food,Travel,Vacation — JeniQ @ 10:18 pm

Dinner

The star of the show, of course, is little Evan. We spent the weekend entertaining him and he is just cute as a button. He is a water baby and loved time with the pool and the hose. While we were there, he ate his first piece of meat (deli turkey), had his first piece of toast, and said his first word (cow). He is definitely a handful but clearly a delight to his proud mama and papa. Speaking of which, here are our happy hosts at our lunch at the Salt Lick, an Austin-area institution.
Dinner

A lovely dinner Monica prepared for us!
Dinner

Giving Fin the love he deserves
Dinner

Grayson getting the same love
Dinner

We had a great, very relaxing time and loved seeing Scott, Monica, Evan and the whole farm!

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Austin, Part 3

Filed under: Animals,Travel,Vacation — JeniQ @ 10:08 pm

They also have a herd of Texas longhorn cattle, about 21 head. They are huge and I will never get used to walking in amongst all those enormous horns.
Cows

Cows

Their donkeys, Fern and Felix, have two babies. They’re cute, but pretty shy unless they think you have food. Cows

Cows

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Austin, Part 2

Filed under: Birds,Cats,Dogs,Travel,Vacation — JeniQ @ 10:01 pm

I like to jokingly refer to their place as “the Ark” becuase they have so many pets and other animals. Now that they have little Evan Almighty, it’s perfect!! They have a few indoor pets: three dogs and two cats. Nina and Fin are chihuahuas, while Grayson is this teeny little miniature of a regular dog. Seymour is a total snugglepuss and ferocious player. Alabaster didn’t make it into the pictures somehow.

Nina
Nina

Grayson and Fin

Seymour
Nina

The newest addition to their flock is, well, a flock. Five bantam chickens named Eleanor, Abigail, Chester, Teddy and Lucy. Chester and Teddy are roosters, and it’s still out for decision exactly what Abigail is. A prize for whomever can guess the naming convention for the chickens.

There are also seven baby chickens that Monica allowed to hatch. They’ll join the rest of the flock in a few weeks. The best part about these chickens (besides the incessant crowing) is their cute feathered feet – how adorable. We enjoyed a bunch of fresh Banty eggs while we were there – yum! I wonder if our covenants forbid raising chickens??

Abigail and Chester
Nina

Lucy laying an egg
Nina

Abigail
Nina

Baby Chicken with feathery feet
Nina

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Austin, Part 1

Filed under: Animals,Travel,Vacation — JeniQ @ 9:41 pm

A lovely, lazy weekend at Scott and Monica’s ranch in Wimberley. Thursday night started off with a bang when Monica discovered a snake in the chicken coop, bulging with the two eggs it had just stolen from the hens’ nests. Scott quickly dispatched the snake, a few feet long, with his rifle. It kept moving after it was killed, heightening my sense of how creepy snakes are.
Snake

Hanging out at the ranch is always a time for nature exploration. Aside from all the animals they own and actively tend to, there are a host of wild critters easily available to view. Dave spotted this jackrabbit by the way the sunlight made his ears pink.
Snake

This orb spider has woven a huge web outside Monica’s office window.
Snake

Care for a close-up? Click here OrbSpiderFull.

There are also teeny wild deer and a family of wild turkeys. We spotted one toad (larger than my fist) on Thursday night and another one Friday morning before the dew burned off. There was a spiny lizard sunning himself on the back porch, too. Monica keeps lots of hummingbird feeders out and it’s not unusual to see a half dozen or more hummers circling about. She also has some fabulous birds – we saw cardinals, titmice, and chickadees, along with a number of buzzards.

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August 16, 2007

Punting down the River Cambridge

Filed under: Alba,England,Travel,Vacation — JeniQ @ 1:47 pm

While Alba and I were in Cambridge, we toured several of the Colleges of Cambridge, including St. John’s, Trinity, Kings’, Queens’, and Clare College.

A very fun thing to do in Cambridge is to punt down the river. We couldn’t have asked for better weather. It was sunny, mid-70s and simply gorgeous. Alba rented a punt from her alma mater, Clare, and punted us the whole way. The river was quite crowded.

Alba did such a good job! It’s a rather difficult thing to do. According the the guide book, “no one else knows what they’re doing, either.” You can hire professionals to guide you down the river, but what’s the fun in that?

It was wonderful to be in the boat, gently rocking, feeling warm under the sun and getting to take in all the sights along the Cambridge River. I could have fallen asleep, laying there.

The Bridge of Sighs (St. John’s College)

Magdalene Bridge

Clare Bridge

The Mathematical Bridge

Trinity or Kings’ College Bridge?

A Pirate Punt!

For MFA…

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May 6, 2007

Saturday – BodyWorlds and Flying Saucer

Filed under: Friends,Love,Travel,Vacation — JeniQ @ 1:39 pm

Saturday morning Larry fixed these fabulous breakfast sandwiches – sausage, egg and cheese on a blueberry bagel. Yummy!!

Then it was off to Body Worlds for our 1:30 entrance. It was a very cool exhibit – we got to see all sorts of human bodies in various poses and different states of dissection, from muscles to organs. It was outta control and very interesting.

However, no photography allowed, so no pictures.

Then off to the Saucer for a “snack.” While there, I snapped a picture of Hiroe’s engagement ring – so beautiful!!