Challenge

Rules are: Anything you have done has to be in bold. How much have you done?

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (I can't remember if we went to the top??)
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Visited Italy

*Thanks Kimberly for the challenge. Looks like I've got some more adventuring left to do.*

Thanksgiving

Today I am grateful I decided to cut up my strawberries for lunch instead of eating them whole from the stem. As I cut into one of the largest I found a hole under the stem. I followed the hole pulling the strawberry in half only to reveal a fat, juicy caterpillar alive and wriggling around in it's cavernous home it created for itself inside my strawberry. Bite into that!

Lost Maples

After a long, lazy morning at the cabin we packed up and headed to the park. We were intrigued by Lost Maples, because it is famous for its fall foliage. Not many leaves change here, so the prospect was exciting.
Fall is my most favorite season, so I was loving the leaves and the cold! And there were some pretty steep hills. As far as hills go...these were big.

Love the Color

sticks = the greatest toys ever

The Cabin

For Tad's big 3-0 birthday he didn't want a party, he didn't want a gift, he wanted an overnight trip. We discovered a new little treasure that we wanted to check out...Lost Maples State Park (more on that to come). So I found a little cabin we could stay in overnight in Utopia, TX. Gotta love the name.
I wasn't prepared for how exciting the cabin would be for the kids. It was like Christmas morning. There was a tiny room for the kids with bunk beds including a ladder to the top bunk. Preston was ecstatic and included the 'stairs to the bed' in every prayer.

(blackmail material for Eliza)

Super cool climbing tree across from the cabin.

The End of a Season

This fall I officially became a soccer mom, and it was really a lot of fun. Tad got to coach Preston's little team. He did a great job and had a lot of patience. Practices were often like herding cats. We had some great little personalities on our team. Games could be pretty entertaining. We had twirlers, kids who thought it was great to hang from the goal post, a little boy that would consistently try and wrestle Tad out on the field when it was his turn to play, the classic mob style game, etc. You never knew what to expect from these kids.

Preston came to love soccer and was much improved by the end of the season. It was fun to see the kids figure it out. Some coaches and parents were pretty intense and competitive (a little nuts for 3-5 year olds). Tad took a more casual approach and focused on teaching them what soccer was all about, how to play on a team, and to have fun doing it.

Grandma Mae

This past week we were visited by an angel in the form of my Grandma Lila Mae. She is an amazing person, and I loved the time spent basking in her wisdom. We laughed, we cried, we spent hours visiting at a time. It was wondrous. The children decided to call her Grandma Mae in order to help with the confusion of 5 grandmothers. 5 grandmothers! I love grandmas and am so grateful Preston and Eliza have the opportunity to know 5 grandmas.

Mom and Dad in Town

Woohoo!! My parents got to come spend a week with us. We had a great time getting out and exploring. The kids loved getting spoiled by their grandparents. I'm pretty sure they ate ice cream every day.

Mom and dad love to get a taste for the local flavor when they travel. Here it means discovering new barbecue everytime they come down. I had been hearing about Texas Pride on the east side and finally went to check it out. It didn't disappoint. Their brisket was awesome! I love that it was in an old gas station. It had a lot of character.

We explored a new little town, Gruene. I fell in love with the Gruene General Store pictured above where I found some great items featured below. They had quite the ecclectic collection of retail. I could've spent hours exploring in there and the antique shop across the street. Too bad kids don't allow for long shopping trips. Earlier in the day we hit the San Marcos outlets. Eliza single handedly knocked down an entire clothes rack.

Halloween

I am not a big fan of Halloween. I don't do gruesome and I don't do horror. Why do we celebrate that kind of stuff?? Anyways, I decided I needed to have a better attitude for my kids' sake. We had a fun time this year and I was prepared with costumes (last year Eliza didn't end up with much of one). We had some friends throw an amazing party that was a blast. And between the trunk-or-treat and trick-or-treating we have more candy than we know what to do with. It was also a treat to have my mom and dad around for the festivities.