Family adventures

 Just some simple family happenings in this post! I dyed my hair :)

Alex found a recipe that involved using a cinderella pumpkin to cook a curry inside. After scooping it out I decided to double the amount of rice and liquid so we'd have a little more to eat, but then the rice didn't cook, even after two hours in the oven. It's too bad because the rest of it was tasting great, but uncooked rice is not fun to eat. Instead we had Whataburger for dinner and watched Remember the Titans.

I finished another puzzle.

The boys had fun holding it as long as possible :)

Dan and I did a Costco run and got their hotdog and soda deal, but they only carry pepsi and I was wearing a Coca-cola shirt!

I am very aware that if Covid hadn't happened, our fall would be very different. Dan has been home for nearly 7 months straight, the kids activities stopped and so did all of my work and musical pursuits. Even though school is in full swing, a lot of the activities aren't so we have still tried to do things together in our 'borrowed' time. 

Cade picked our weekend activity, which was a place called Green Acres Golf and Games. His big draw was go-karts. We did some go-karts, mini-golf, water wars and a little arcade time. 

I rode with them on the first time around. Dan told the boys that if anyone passed him, he'd buy them another round on the go-karts. That gave them some racing momentum! Here's a time-lapse of their second time.

 

We were in a different area of San Antonio which turned out to be close to a restaurant Dan had heard was really good. It's called Pollos Asados Los Nortenos- basically a really yummy chicken place! The boys wanted nothing to do with it so we got them some Whataburger and we took a chance on a new place. We also drove to a park to eat it since most places you still can't eat inside.

It did NOT disappoint. That chicken may look bold and scary, but it was some of the best chicken I've ever had! We split a whole chicken with sides and had plenty left over for another lunch.

By the way- we made both boys try the chicken and they admitted that it was really good!

It was General Conference this weekend as well, so Alex put his baking skills to good use with these delicious M&M/chocolate chip cookies. He even made enough to deliver to his deacons quorum :)

Guess what? Live music is slowly making its return! My friend played flute with the Heart of Texas Band this weekend. Despite being drained from our other adventures, I really wanted to hear live music and support her. Some things are just good for the soul. I don't know the next chance I'll have to perform again, but it was great to see one group setting the precedence!

We got dinner at Tycoon Flats afterwards- yummy burger selections in a nice spacious outdoor environment.

Last bit of an update is that Cade found out on Friday that he'd be returning to in-person school on the following Monday, Oct 5th. 7 months since his last in-person school day! Crazy! We had to kind of rush out the door this morning due to some miscommunication, so here's our impromptu picture session, lol. I thought the first was a classic Cade look of, Mom what are you doing? And the second was a little better.

Cade admitted that he normally doesn't get nervous on first days of school, but this time was totally different. Even though he's been online for about 6 weeks, he's never actually been inside the school. As a freshman having no idea where anything is, I'd be nervous too. Hope you have a great first day of in-person school Cade! Slowly but surely, getting back to familiar things, right?

Alex attends a different school than Cade and did not get a seat in Phase 3, so he'll be home at least another 2 weeks. If I'd had my choice and only one kid could return, it would've been Alex first. He's really really struggling with virtual learning. He's not best left to his own devices to get the job done, he needs some accountability and in-person follow up. We all learn in different ways. I just hope he can recover his grades a bit through the rest of the semester. :)