Celebrating Cultures at School

Robbie and Elly both attend a great school. Today was reserved for celebrating diverse cultures at school. The celebration included eating various foods, learning songs, making costumes and marching in a parade.

Primrose Culture Parade

Cedar Ridge Preserve

Abigail surprised me with a hike on Sunday morning. We dropped off the kids at Rob and Linda's house and drove down to the south suburbs to a nature preserve called Cedar Ridge. It is maintained by the Audubon Society. It is one of the last wild spaces left in Dallas County and was a pleasant surprise to find so close to the city. It was by no means the Rocky Mountains or even a major state or national park, but it was a breath of fresh air in an otherwise over developed and manicured metropolitan area. We are loving being so close to family in Dallas, but it definitely leaves a lot to be desired in terms of natural settings and people's respect for the environment. It is probably the biggest adjustment I am having to make. Colorado is not easy to compete with on this issue. However, mornings like this one at Cedar Ridge seem to help a bit.

Winona

I have been traveling to Winona, MN for work and got the opportunity to see the valley from Garvin Heights, a park with a lookout area over the town and Mississippi river. I've been a bit spoiled while visiting. It is that perfect crisp fall weather and the leaves on the trees were just starting to turn. I go back this next week and am hoping to see a very colorful valley.

Texas Rangers

Rob hosted a guys night at the ballpark. So, Robbie, Stephen, Rob and I headed out to watch the Texas Rangers take on the New York Yankees. We had a really good time. Robbie learned a new chant, "Lets Go Rangers!" Clap, Clap. Clap, Clap Clap. And he played a bit in the kid area too. The game went into extra innings and lasted until after midnight, so we headed out in the 7th. It was a great game though and the Rangers won in the end. It looks like both teams are playoff bound, so they could meet again soon. Unfortanetly, the battery in my phone died in the 2nd inning, so I didn't get very many pictures.

July is Crazy....

In addition to the 4th of July, we had Robbie's birthday on the 6th, Elly's on the 16th, mine on the 21st and Rob's on the 23rd. So, the past few weekends have been a bit hectic. I've already posted Robbie's and Elly's birthday pics. I forgot to take pictures of my birthday. Abigail and I went to Top Golf. However, it just so happened that our CRV hit a milestone as well that day. 100,000 miles. I found it an unsettling coincidence that it rolled over on my birthday. Due to a wedding on Rob's birthday weekend, we celebrated his birthday today. Stephen and Lauren joined us at Rob and Linda's for lunch. They brought over these really good "nachos" and we finished with homemade cherry and apple pies. We even got to take some home! This evening was a members only night at the Dallas Zoo, so we joined Rob and Linda for a nice evening at the zoo. It honestly felt like we had the zoo to ourselves. It was pretty neat. The new safari exhibit was one of the better ones I have seen. The animals have plenty of room to roam around.