Fall Happenings

This is just a random post about little things we've been doing this fall.

Rag quilt for our newest nephew, Caedmon.

For Caedmon- born 10-30-14

Josh got to be a guest coach for a volleyball game.

ACU won!  11-8-14

Groundbreaking for the new science facilities- science department chairs pictured.

A few other members of our department got to play in the dirt too.  11-10-14

Josh's maternal side of the family has a reunion every fall.  Here's the group that gathered at Belton Lake- 11-22-14

Josh, Ben, and Jon out in the canoe.

Fun mural at Belton Lake

November Snow

We only got about 1/2" of snow, but it was enough to make the roads slick and delay school for 2 hours.  Titus loves the chance to get extra play time on cold mornings like this. 

Titus just can't wait to go out and play in the snow!

Let's go play!!!

Titus loves his frisbee, snow, and cold weather.

I love that our boy is still so playful at nearly 10 1/2 years old.

Handsome boy!

Snow paw print

Some of our neighbor's cows greeted us on our walk.

The bull was giving Titus the stink eye.

Here comes Blue Eye!  I don't know her real name, but she has 1 blue eye that I think is so pretty.

Pretty blue eye

Here comes Mama!  I also don't know her real name, but I've seen her nursing Blue Eye, so I assume she's the mama.

Mother/daughter greeting

The cows just stare at Titus and aren't really sure about him acting so happy in the snow.

They were really wishing I had carrots with me this morning.

Titus prints alongside some smaller animal prints.  I love seeing all the animal activity in the snow!

Some videos of our snow dog:

Fall Break 2014

We headed to Lost Maples State Natural Area for fall break this year.  We spent the first night in the main campground and then did a little backpacking to reach our site for the next night.  We were a little early for the colorful leaves, but it was still really nice and the weather was perfect. 

Lost Maples State Natural Area

Can you spot those 2 tiny water specks in the picture?  That's where we ended up camping (after a steep descent!)

The boys resting after our hike.

A great little swimming hole- deep enough to jump off the lower cliffs (no we didn't try).

Of course Titus couldn't resist the water.

On our 2nd night, a troop of boy scouts arrived at 12:30am!  We woke up surrounded by 16 new tents- crazy!  We packed up as quickly as possible and hiked out. 

Before heading home, we stopped at 2 other parks: Hill Country State Natural Area and Government Canyon State Natural Area.  At Hill Country, we experienced their frontier day.  There were some restored tractors, a chuck wagon, covered wagon rides, etc.  It was pretty hot so we didn't stay long, but it's a great park if you like horses.  Government Canyon is definitely a place we need to go back and explore some more someday.  Pets aren't allowed in the backcountry, so we were limited in what we could see with Titus. 

Titus and tractors- Hill Country State Natural Area

Washington Trip, Part 4- Traveling Home

We had a couple nice nights of camping before returning to TX.  We kept things very simple and stayed in primitive campgrounds without water or electricity.  I'm pretty proud of the fact that we only spent $40 total for lodging during our 18-day trip.  Our first stop on the trek back from Washington was in southern Idaho.

Milner Historic Recreation Area- along the Snake River

What does it mean if the labrador sees his shadow?  Perhaps 2 more weeks of vacation?  I wish!

Happy camper!

Our 2nd stop was in the Jemez mountains of NM.  We had a couple possible campgrounds to stay at, but we got there too late and they were all full.  So we drove down a forest road, pulled over, and pitched our tent in the dark.  The next morning, we got up and drove to Ponderosa Christian Camp- the church camp from my childhood that Josh had never seen.

Make-shift campsite on the side of the road

I have so many wonderful memories from this place!

The campfire ring where I have such sweet memories of worship and excellent sermons.

I was happy to see that they had not torn down all the old cabins.  This one is similar to the ones we stayed in as children.  The new cabins are much fancier and don't allow campers to tumble out the front in their sleep.

An old outhouse- yes, we used these!  I can't believe they are still standing.  There are now modern plumbing facilities, but these bring back some hilarious memories.

Titus had to jump in the creek of course.

This is the part of the creek where I was baptized by my dad about 23 years ago.  Special place for sure.

This is the cabin my family used to stay in for family camp.  I just love that there are old parts of camp along with the new.  This is how I will always remember PCC.

Well, that completes our trip.  We had a great time and Titus was such a trooper.  Who knows where our next adventure will take us!

Washington Trip, Part 3- Portland

Ok, well our main destination for this trip was Washington, but we did spend most of 2 days in Oregon since my aunt and uncle live so close.  We spent a day in Portland exploring the zoo and arboretum.
My aunt mentioned Voodoo Doughnut at one point and couldn't believe we actually wanted to go.  I'm not sure she knew that donut are one of Josh's favorite foods.  If you don't know about these donuts, check out their website.  I'm sorry if the donut descriptions make you blush a little ;)  It was a fun way to kick off our morning.

We were so lucky to not have to wait in line!

Placing our order- the stained-glass windows were pretty cool.  Notice the line was out the door at this point.

Ready to dig in!

We should have taken a picture before we drove to the zoo.  They looked better right after we bought them.  Notice the pretzel stick stabbing the voodoo doughnut.  Ha!

Peach fritter- it was huge!

Portland Zoo- hello there sun bear!

They had a ton of lorikeets that you could feed.

So pretty!

Mandrill

The zoo had 3 lion cubs born last September.  I believe this is the mama and 2 of her cubs.

Polar bear waiting for its feeding time

The arboretum was wonderful!  Josh said it's the best one he's ever visited.

Giant Sequoia

Cedar of Lebanon anyone?  They were used to build the temple during King Solomon's reign.  1 Kings 5:6

Just us and a bunch of trees

Well, that almost wraps up our trip.  We made a couple of fun stops on the way home.  I'll share those next.