Hello, October! I haven’t posted in months, so as the title of this post suggests, today I’m catching up on my monthly “Favorites” posts.
I started writing my July Favorites post back at the beginning of August, but never finished it. So I’ll start with a scaled-down version of my favorites from July. Then I’ll move on to August and September. With that, I will be caught up!
JULY FAVORITES
#1
When we visited our daughter Cara and her family back in May, we liked the way our SIL Paul had stored his kayaks on the wall of his garage. It inspired Big Eagle to do the same with our kayaks. At the beginning of July, his thumb was finally healed after surgery, and he got the kayaks hung.
He had to do a lot of rearranging to get it to work, including adding some shelving above his workbench for storage. I think he threw away some stuff we didn’t really need, too. It turned out great! And now the kayaks aren’t taking up all the space in the screened-in porch off of our addition.
#2
Also early in July, I learned that Target had casual dresses on sale for buy 2, get 1 free. I love me a casual dress, so I checked it out and ended up ordering three!
I consider it an added plus that all three dresses have pockets! And with the third selection being free, the average cost per dress came out to right around $20! Score!
#3
On the second Saturday of July, Big Eagle and I enjoyed riding in the Weatherford Peach Pedal. We met my friend Lynn there, but since she was doing one of the longer rides, and we were just doing the 8-mile ride, we only had a few moments before she had to be off. I did get a quick pic, though.
#4
A couple of the foods we enjoyed eating in July:
One of the main reasons we love riding in the Peach Pedal is that it is done in conjunction with the Weatherford Peach Festival. We always buy fresh peaches before we leave. These ones went into a peach crisp. I froze some others to enjoy later in the year. Yum!
#5
And finally in July, Cara shared pictures with us of the girls in a stage play of Peter Pan. They had attended a drama camp, and this was the culminating performance from their week there.
AUGUST FAVORITES!
#1
I actually achieved a personal best for a half-mile benchmark we did at Orangetheory in August! For runners, it was a one-mile benchmark, but for power walkers, which I am, it was a half-mile.
#2
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! We FINALLY got a good rain on August 9th!
#3
Near the end of August, Danny texted us this picture:
He was working as expedition leader for a trip through the Northwest Passage. That’s him standing in the back of the zodiac. He had stopped for passengers to observe a polar bear that had appeared. He captioned the picture “Just another day at the office!”
SEPTEMBER FAVORITES!
#1
September is my birthday month! I didn’t get any pictures, but my friend Lynn treated me to lunch on September 1st. It was really good to catch up with her.
Then on my actual birthday, Big Eagle and I had dinner at a new Italian restaurant in the stockyards called Caterina’s. I’d never been to a restaurant that doesn’t allow cell phones, but it was really nice, and all the food was delicious! We didn’t miss our cell phones at all. We’ll definitely go back sometime for a special occasion again.
#2
On September 12th, Big Eagle and I drove to Louisiana to pay a visit to Cara and her family. We went a little earlier than originally planned, so we could go to Grandparents’ Day at Edie’s school. We had this photo taken while we were there:
Poor Edie looks like we’re smushing her! My favorite part of this picture, though, is her smile. It’s so genuine…I love it! 🥰
The next morning I waited with Cara, Helen, and Sunny at the bus stop on the corner.
We watched as Helen got on the bus…
…and waved good-bye once she was seated by her window. Have a good day, Helen!
On Friday, Paul had a day off, so while the kids were at school, the adults went to Abita Springs to tour the Abita Brewing Company Brewery. We had time to get lunch before our tour, so we went to the Abita Brew Pub. They had some great Halloween decorations all around their entrance.
After our yummy lunch, we headed back to the brewery for our tour. A few pictures:
The next day Big Eagle flew home, and Paul flew to California for a work-related field trip. It was just us six girls for the next week.
It was really nice to have some extended time to hang out together. I enjoyed getting to experience their daily routine and helping with some of the chauffeuring around to the girls’ various activities. Edie takes violin lessons, tumbling, gymnastics, and art class. Helen takes flute lessons, swim three days a week, and dance. They certainly stay busy!
Cara volunteers a good bit at Edie’s school, including helping out in the front office one day a week. Here she’s ready to head up to the school to do her duty:
Oops! I see a snout in the lower left corner! That girl will spend a lot of time at the front window until Cara gets back home.
Cara and I also worked on a project during the week choosing a pattern and then sewing a dress to use as a Halloween costume for Helen. I think Cara did more sewing with her machine that week than the whole time she’s owned it. It was fun!
Here she’s proudly holding up the right-side back of the dress after she sewed a godet into the skirt part. Nice work, Cara! 👍
Early on Sunday morning, Annie and I were in the car beginning our approximately 9-hour drive back home. The drive was the only non-fun part of the trip, but at least it was smooth and uneventful, for which I’m thankful!
#3
Our vegetable garden was falling apart, so starting back in August and then all through September, Big Eagle worked on dismantling it and building a new one. This picture shows just one corner of the old garden. It was like this in many spots, though.
The time he was able to work on the new garden each day was limited by the heat, and he was glad to finally finish! It looks great!
It’s about half the size of our former vegetable garden, which will be perfect for the amount we’re planting now.
Okay! That catches me up! It was so weird this summer… July just D-R-A-G-G-E-D by like it would never end. Maybe a combination of the intense heat and drought and the fact that we stayed home the whole month. But once August hit, the days started flying by again, and here we are in October already! I’m so happy for the cooler temperatures finally! Happy fall, y’all! 😁
Beautiful pictures. Our herb garden boards are rotten in spots too. But we making a raised garden at new houses. Out of our old tin. Can’t wait. Girls so big and cutest ever.
Looks like fun times. Looking forward to the next edition
So nice to see photos of all of the beautiful smiles and to know you made some lovely memories this summer. Helen was a perfect Wendy and Edie an adorable Lost Boy. I bet you enjoyed seeing their performance. And how nice to have had some time together – just you gals. When Brennyn visits we rush around so much. I long for just a little quiet time where we can talk and hug.
Great job, Cara, on the sewing. And Big Eagle on the garden refurbishing. And to you for the bike ride and PR half mile run. I have completely quit running but miss it. And miss the way my body looks when I run. So I am slowly working back to it a little. On the treadmill.
Hope you will continue with your catch-up posts and others as well. I am going to try to do a few posts again now and then. I miss writing and that seems to be about the only way I write these days.
Big love to you and the fam!!