Family Vacation

Last Wednesday we decided we would like to go on a family vacation. Immediately. Matt took Thursday and Friday off of work. We booked two nights in a resort hotel, threw some stuff in a suitcase, and took off. Thirty minutes later we arrived at our destination, and our vacation began.

For our vacation we chose to stay at the lovely Hyatt Regency Resort and Spa. It was close to home, but tucked just far enough away in a little corner of the Hill Country to feel removed from home. Since this was a resort hotel, we had the luxury of doing all our eating, sleeping, and playing in one convenient location. The resort had a spa, golf course, tennis courts, multiple swimming pools, a lazy river with tubes, a beach, sand volleyball, a nature trail, a playground, and bike rentals. It had all the makings for a very fun vacation!

On Wednesday night we explored the hotel grounds, ate dinner at the hotel restaurant, and made s'mores at the hotel fire pit. Then we relaxed in our room and watched movies.

Here is the gang roasting marshmallows.

Here is part of the hotel.

Room with a view: We were on the fourth floor and had a balcony.

On Thursday we had lots of fun! We played beach volleyball and floated on tubes around the lazy river. We played water basketball and soaked in the jacuzzi tub. Howie played on the playground and rode a tricycle on a short (very short) portion of the nature trail.

All of this was a lot of fun, but the highlight of our vacation was our afternoon on the golf course. In our pre-kid days, Matt and I did a lot of golfing. We love to golf! Golfing is being outside together on a beautiful day in a beautiful place driving a golf cart around and hitting balls with a stick. It just doesn't get much better than that.

Prior to our vacation, it had been over four years since we had been golfing. We just never thought to golf with kids along, but it turns out that golfing is a great family activity. Henry loves to be outside with his family. Howie loves to ride in golf carts and hit balls around. And Matt and I discovered that we can still fully enjoy golfing, even with kiddos along.

The resort had a family golf special which included 9 holes, a set of golf clubs for everyone, and a golf cart, all for a very reasonable price. Howie even got his own little golf bag with a kid-sized driver and putter. Howie liked that, but he was even more excited about the golf cart. While we were all standing around getting things ready to go, Howie climbed in the golf cart, pushed the gas pedal, and started rolling away. It gave him a pretty good scare but not enough to keep him from wanting to help drive.

So we spent a very pleasant afternoon driving through the trees and grass. Henry sat on the golf cart and grass watching everything. Howie jumped out of the golf cart every time we stopped and hit his ball around. Matt and I found that our golf skills hadn't digressed too much in our four year absence from golf. (It's hard to get worse when you aren't very good to begin with.) And we all enjoyed being outside together on a beautiful day in a beautiful place.

Matt is showing off his mad driving skills. This is where his ball landed, which is within site of the hole.  It was the best drive of the day!

We came back from our golf adventures tired and happy. What a good day we had. What a nice vacation!

Solid Waste Softball Tournament

On Saturday we went to the Fourth Annual Solid Waste Softball Tournament. It was a beautiful and cool Fall day. We rode our bikes to the softball fields and enjoyed a morning watching softball and eating sausages.

All the boys enjoying the game.

This is Henry's first softball tournament. Howie was this age when he went to his first  softball tournament.

Howie and his best friend Pax. Those two played on this pile of sand for a solid 5 hours.  I wish I had a picture of them at the end. They were covered head to foot with sand and ice cream. 

Matt enjoying a sausage wrap.

I don't know about you, but I think it is a great idea to work for the city department that has its own smoker trailer. 

Henry played in the sand too, but he did not get nearly as dirty.

Are you ready for some football?

Boy, I sure am. We love football. It is always so hard waiting for the new season to start. In the spring there is March Madness and the NBA Finals to make the wait easier. In July there is the Tour d' France.  The hardest part is waiting through the end of summer when there is nothing but baseball on TV. But never fear! Once again football has returned! There was much celebrating and partying at our house.

We started our celebrations on a Thursday, the day of the first college football game, with our traditional game day tacos. I made homemade corn tortillas, and we topped them with black beans, cheese, tomatoes, avocados, olives, and sour cream. Mmmmm! For the remainder of the football season we will eat tacos every Monday while we watch Monday Night Football.

On Friday, we took the boys to watch our local high school football team. It was little Henry's very first football game! He had fun looking around at all the people. Howie likes to watch people get tackled.

Howie is yelling, "Football! Football!"

On Saturday we drafted our fantasy football teams! Go Tree Huggers!

Yup, football is back. It will be good times and tacos for the rest of the year.