Blue Hole, Wimberly

We can now add another location to our list of swimmin' holes. This weekend we took the boys out to Blue Hole, in Wimberly, TX. What a beautiful place! I broke out the fancy camera for this outing. She was feeling neglected. Wimberly, TX is about an hour from Austin, located on the Blanco river. Blue Hole is actually a creek that feeds into the Blanco River. It used to be private property, but the city bought it and turned it into a city park.

I have more photos of us and our friends at this incredible place, but Blogger just told me I have reached some kind of photo quota. Yikes! Stay tuned...

Town Lake Park

Earlier in the day, on "date night" we took the boys to a downtown splash pad and bubble festival, before lounging poolside at Deep Eddy. Summers in TX are hot, water play is a must. 

Date Night

A few weekends ago Nana Kathy came up to Austin to cash in her Mother's Day present, a pedicure. She's going on her first ever beach vacation and I thought she should have pretty toes for the special event. The pedicure appointment was late in the afternoon so instead of driving all the way back down to San Antonio she offered to spend the night and babysit, not just Gavin but also Gavin's buddy Denny, so that we could have a double date night. Thank you Nana! What a treat that was.

We started the evening at a local Co-op Brewery called the Black Star, we enjoyed fancy local beer and fancy local food. Seeking a bit more adventure than we had planned we decided to hop on Austin's new light rail, the Metro and  head downtown for cheap thrills and people watching. Two bucks later we were on our way! We decided on East Sixth St. We were home by about 12:30 AM and even managed to catch a few meteors as they shot across the early morning sky. Our boys were fast asleep. Nana Kathy wore them out, spoiled them rotten, and snuck out early! Ha. The rest of us slept in.

I guess all those Texas stereotypes are true...

Someone rode their white horse to a bar called the White Horse. Original.

 The Liberty. A great hole in the wall joint with a fantastic backyard and taco truck.

Cookie Jar

Someone got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. The cookie jar is where we keep our Luna and Clif bars, and the occasional pack of gum or lollipop. He asked if he could have daddy's last Clif bar for a snack. After all his hard work getting to it, how could I say no.

Shrimp and Grits

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!! This dish was a crowd pleaser. I am happy with how well it turned out and am definitely looking forward to future experimentation and tweaking as I really make this recipe my own. I had never made shrimp and grits before tonight, so I did have to look up a basic recipe, i.e., the broth to grits ratio and how long to cook it, etc. Most the recipes I looked up suggested 3/4-1cup of grits to 2-3 cups of liquid. Ultimately I followed the directions on the bag - 3 cups broth to 1 cup grits.

Most recipes call for some sort of combination of green onion, seasonings, and tomatoes. I took advantage of the veggies I had leftover from other recent meals and added fresh green beans, asparagus, and red bell peppers. I'm glad I saved the leftover bacon from Sunday's breakfast, it definitely gave this dish the southern flavor I was hoping for. Trying to stay as local/regional as possible, I made sure to spend the extra few dollars on the Texas Gulf shrimp. I used half a pint of the heirloom tomatoes I canned last month. I didn't realize how quickly I would go through my precious tomatoes! Next summer I will definitely have to stock up and can more. 

Ingredients:

3 cups chicken broth, I prefer a scratch broth, but I used bouillon this go 'round

1 cup organic stone ground corn grits

1 cup medium to sharp cheddar cheese

2 tablespoons of olive oil

.5 lb bacon, cooked and chopped

3 green onions, scallions included

1 handful of fresh green beans, chopped into 1.5" - 2" pieces

5-7 asparagus, chopped in 1.5" - 2" pieces, tough ends discarded

1 red bell pepper sliced thinly

kosher salt

fresh ground pepper

2 cups of canned tomatoes with their juice

1-1.5 lbs. shrimp, peeled and deveined

Procedure:

Bring the 3 cups of broth to a boil. Add the grits, whisking constantly to avoid any lumps. Turn heat to medium-low , cover, and cook for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. I forgot to stir occasionally and had to get a little heavy handed with the grits stuck at the bottom of the pot! After cooking for 7 minutes, remove lid, add cheese and stir until all the cheese is melted. Cover and remove from heat. 

I prepared my bacon a day early. So all I had to do was take it out of the fridge and chop it. I think this saved me an enormous amount of time and made it possible for this to be a weeknight meal. Too bad on this particular evening my husband worked late! Heat one tablespoon of oil on med-high heat, add the bacon, onions, green beans, asparagus, and peppers. Saute until beans and asparagus are bright green and the peppers slightly tender, add additional tablespoon of oil as needed. Season with salt and pepper.

Add two cups of tomatoes, bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Add the shrimp and cook about 5 minutes until they are pink, but still plump! Over cooked shrimp is gross, y'all. Remove pan from heat.

Spoon juicy shrimp and veggie mixture over cheese grits, garnish with ground or crushed red pepper for a kick,  and enjoy the heck out of this Southern specialty. Yum!

Best Buds

The three amigos.

10K, Pearl Brewery, and the Quadrangle

A couple of weeks ago, Gavin and I made the short trek down I-35 for family fun with my parents and so that I could run a 10k. As usual, fun was had by all. We missed our better 1/3, but he has been super busy with work so we had to go it alone.

El Chupacabra de San Antonio is an annual nightttime trail run through a park I know well. I used to run and mountain bike through this park when I was younger and fitter! Ha. I had never ran there in the dark, for safety concerns, however this was a well-attended and well-organized race. I highly recommend it if you live in this area and like trail running. Nighttime races are a nice alternative to the early morning and of course nobody really enjoys a midday run in the middle of a Texas summer. Well, maybe the crazies do, but nighttime or morning are best. For this race headlamps or flashlights were required, post race runners were treated to free water, sports drink, beer (local Alamo Golden Ale), and BBQ. I had hoped to find a friend to join me or at the very least have my peeps with me at the finish line, but it was too late for the smallest peep, Gavin. The race began at 9pm and it was 10:15pm when I finished. I was in the second wave of 10Kers and finished 15th out of 25 in my age group. Not my best time, but not a time or place I am unhappy with either. It was my longest run in several weeks. When I returned to my parents' house I found my mom waiting up, because that's what mamas do, no matter how old you are. My tater tot was passed out cold on the living room floor. My mom said he insisted on sleeping with his shoes on, because he "was going to run a race with me when I got home." How sweet is that? Little Mann cannot wait to start running some races. I need to find another 1-mile kid run for us to do together. It's been almost a year since our last one.

The next day my parents, Gavin and I ventured to a central part of the city, the old Pearl Brewery complex, which has been restored and turned into a fancy shopping, dining, and farmer's market area. Rumor has it that the brewery itself will be operational again soon, a space for local microbrewers to craft their beer. Very nice, I think. Gavin enjoyed running in the new amphitheater next to the SA river, an extension of the Riverwalk. He also liked the fun Mexican folk art sculptures. My mom and I bought some market goods and then we all headed to their favorite hole-in-the-wall taqueria for brunch.Yum!

Gavin running along the Riverwalk.

My dad explaining what the purpose of these posts were. You can kind of see in the background. The Aveda sign is on an old brewery tank that sits on four posts just like the one my dad has his hand on. 

Gavin standing next to the Mexican folk art. He really wanted to touch it and wasn't sure if the man would move or not.

My parents, Kathy and Don.

We filled the rest of the day with baseball and movies, shopping at Whole Earth (I got a gift certificate in my race packet!) and dinner at Joe's Crab Shack. We don't typically eat there, but it turns out it was a great place for Gavin. Loud, super casual, and he ate shrimp and even calamari. We also paid a visit to Mimi, Gavin's great grandmother. I hope she enjoyed the visit, we certainly did and hope to see her again soon.

The next day my mom and I checked out the San Pedro Springs park, which boasts centuries old trees and a natural spring pool similar to our favorite in Austin. Unfortunately the pool did not open until later in the day and G and I needed to head back to Austin before then. We'll be going back though! My mom said she used to take me to that same park when I was young. The trees were amazing. I was slightly enamored. The branches were so old that they had grown down to the ground and rooted! Creating these massive canopies. It was truly amazing. It's fair to say that I kind of geeked out.

We had lunch with the family and then my mom and I took Gavin to the Fort Sam Houston Quadrangle. The Quadrangle dates back to the 1800s and the battle of the Alamo. Geronimo was imprisoned there for a short time as well. Growing up in SA my parents would take us to Ft. Sam for fireworks and to feed the animals at the Quadrangle. It was alot of fun to share this with Gavin. My mother used to live on base as a young girl so she had stories to tell Gavin about soldiers marching and singing cadence. He liked that. He also liked seeing army tanks and a helicopter up close. 

It wasn't too long after our time at the Quadrangle that Gavin and I made our way back north to the 512. It was a busy but fun weekend. The six-mile run was a great start to my build up toward the half marathon I want to run in December. Next up? The Lighthouse Ranch 10-mile trail run in Johnson City. Aye yae yae!

New classroom

Gavin started his new school year this week. He transitioned into the Montessori program, which meant a change of classrooms and teachers. He misses his friends and teachers from his previous class, but he has since made a new friend, Marquis, and done so well that he got to be the "line leader" a few times. His new teacher, Ms. Veronica, said he has done great with all the learning activities. We miss having our friend Milo in the same classroom, but fortunately we're good friends with Milo's parents and get to see him outside of school as often as possible. And of course we've squeezed in weekend and a few weeknight play dates with Denny this summer. The three of these boys are what Denny's mommy calls "Besties and Beasties!"  They sure are funny when they get together.

First day in his new class.

Last day in his old class, with Milo. 

Mommy picking Gavin up after school. Gavin is as enamored with Mommy's new iPhone as she is. My fancy camera is getting a little jealous, but I have plans to bring her out soon. Gavin said, "Mommy, take our picture." Actually he took this one. He also wanted me to take a picture of his stamp. We review our pics and videos at bedtime before we read our stories. 

I had to work late one night so Casey took Gavin over to Denny's house for a play date and pizza. I asked them to send me a picture using Denny's mommy's iPhone. This is what they sent.

Then Gavin asked me to send him a picture of Mommy at work. This is what I sent.