I'm at home with my parents for the 4th of July and today my Dad helped me make a dog jump for Chuy. Andrew is bringing her up in a few days, so I'm excited to try it out! If she likes it, I think weave poles are next...
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Agility First Step
I'm at home with my parents for the 4th of July and today my Dad helped me make a dog jump for Chuy. Andrew is bringing her up in a few days, so I'm excited to try it out! If she likes it, I think weave poles are next...
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Dad Days
This weekend, it worked out that we had two days that represented our two dads very well. It wasn’t planned, but it turned out to be a good Father’s Day tribute!
Ice Tribute Day
Saturday morning Andrew pumped up the bikes and attached the converted bike trailer that holds little Chuy. Our first ride with it was full of stops and starts as we worked out the best method to keep her safely inside the trailer, but we’ve got a good method going now. Chuy is not a big fan of car rides, but she enjoys the bike rides! The only thing she doesn’t appreciate is when she sees a squirrel run across the road and can’t take off after it.
I had a little mishap turning a corner and ended up with my tire sandwiched between a tree and a fence with my momentum going perpendicular to my tire. Don’t ask, but we got to take a trip to the conveniently downtown-located bike shop owned by Lance Armstrong for a quick fix. I’m sure Tim Ice would have welcomed the detour!
After some fast work by Mellow Johnny’s staff we headed down first to Barking Springs, a great little area in Zilker Park with nice cool water and some great swimming for us and the pupster. Rain was threatening a little at the beginning but the sun soon came out. Andrew got to see Chuy’s latest trick- leaping into the water after her Frisbee! She is not yet a confident jumper- she will find one spot she knows she can jump from and always leap from there, no matter what direction we throw the Frisbee.
Since the weather had cleared up, we rode over to the other side of the stream so that we could rent a canoe. We weren’t sure what Chuy’s reaction was going to be, but we thought she’d enjoy it. Turns out she enjoyed it a little too much.
I was in the front and Andrew was in the back of the canoe, steering. Chuy was having a lot of fun running back and forth between us and up to the front of the canoe where she liked to put her front paws up and check out where we were going. She made rowing pretty difficult- the oars made a little bit of white water every time we put them in the water. White water is one of Chuy’s favorite things and she tries to bite it. She was whimpering with excitement and after about 10 minutes it apparently got to be too much for Chuy. She jumped into the water to go after it! I was looking forward, so all I heard was the splash. We immediately but the “brakes” on, she caught up and Andrew picked her up out of the water and back into the boat. Only a few minutes later, she did it again! Both times she seemed inordinately pleased with herself.
After that, I held our little jumper while Andrew paddled all the way back by himself…
After a short picnic lunch we took a quick side trip to the Austin Farmers’ Market and then back home. That night we went to a great restaurant called Ronnie’s Real Food and immediately decided that the next time the Ice’s are in town we should take them there.
Balaze Tribute Day
Sunday dawned and I visited a new church- one of the first ones I have actually liked in Austin. Then Andrew and I met a fun family at a hamburger place my dad really liked last time he was here. We both got ice tea in honor of my dad.
After that we headed to the golf course! Andrew and I would both like to know how to work our way through the golf course without too many mulligans. We got a bucket of balls and headed to the driving range. Last time I was in Dallas I went out with my dad and he gave me some pointers. I passed them on to Andrew. We both had some whiffs, some real stinkers and a few good shots. Hopefully with some more practice we’ll get better!
Finally, Andrew made dinner Sunday night. Since my dad cooks half the time at home, this was very appropriate. Andrew made a chicken rice pilaf out of one of our favorite cookbooks. It was really good!
All in all, a very good weekend!
Ice Tribute Day
Saturday morning Andrew pumped up the bikes and attached the converted bike trailer that holds little Chuy. Our first ride with it was full of stops and starts as we worked out the best method to keep her safely inside the trailer, but we’ve got a good method going now. Chuy is not a big fan of car rides, but she enjoys the bike rides! The only thing she doesn’t appreciate is when she sees a squirrel run across the road and can’t take off after it.
I had a little mishap turning a corner and ended up with my tire sandwiched between a tree and a fence with my momentum going perpendicular to my tire. Don’t ask, but we got to take a trip to the conveniently downtown-located bike shop owned by Lance Armstrong for a quick fix. I’m sure Tim Ice would have welcomed the detour!
After some fast work by Mellow Johnny’s staff we headed down first to Barking Springs, a great little area in Zilker Park with nice cool water and some great swimming for us and the pupster. Rain was threatening a little at the beginning but the sun soon came out. Andrew got to see Chuy’s latest trick- leaping into the water after her Frisbee! She is not yet a confident jumper- she will find one spot she knows she can jump from and always leap from there, no matter what direction we throw the Frisbee.
Since the weather had cleared up, we rode over to the other side of the stream so that we could rent a canoe. We weren’t sure what Chuy’s reaction was going to be, but we thought she’d enjoy it. Turns out she enjoyed it a little too much.
I was in the front and Andrew was in the back of the canoe, steering. Chuy was having a lot of fun running back and forth between us and up to the front of the canoe where she liked to put her front paws up and check out where we were going. She made rowing pretty difficult- the oars made a little bit of white water every time we put them in the water. White water is one of Chuy’s favorite things and she tries to bite it. She was whimpering with excitement and after about 10 minutes it apparently got to be too much for Chuy. She jumped into the water to go after it! I was looking forward, so all I heard was the splash. We immediately but the “brakes” on, she caught up and Andrew picked her up out of the water and back into the boat. Only a few minutes later, she did it again! Both times she seemed inordinately pleased with herself.
After that, I held our little jumper while Andrew paddled all the way back by himself…
After a short picnic lunch we took a quick side trip to the Austin Farmers’ Market and then back home. That night we went to a great restaurant called Ronnie’s Real Food and immediately decided that the next time the Ice’s are in town we should take them there.
Balaze Tribute Day
Sunday dawned and I visited a new church- one of the first ones I have actually liked in Austin. Then Andrew and I met a fun family at a hamburger place my dad really liked last time he was here. We both got ice tea in honor of my dad.
After that we headed to the golf course! Andrew and I would both like to know how to work our way through the golf course without too many mulligans. We got a bucket of balls and headed to the driving range. Last time I was in Dallas I went out with my dad and he gave me some pointers. I passed them on to Andrew. We both had some whiffs, some real stinkers and a few good shots. Hopefully with some more practice we’ll get better!
Finally, Andrew made dinner Sunday night. Since my dad cooks half the time at home, this was very appropriate. Andrew made a chicken rice pilaf out of one of our favorite cookbooks. It was really good!
All in all, a very good weekend!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Anniversary #1 (Part Two)
Although our camping trip was fun, I wouldn’t say it felt very “anniversary” like. Luckily for us, we got the opportunity to do it up right! The night we got home from our camping excursion we made dinner and ate on our fancy plates- we now have 7 place settings, thanks to my parents anniversary gift of another set. One more at some point and I’ll be all set!
So the next weekend, Andrew and I went to the Driskill Grill, which is one of, if not the, fanciest restaurants in Austin. His parents had gotten us a gift certificate there, and so we spent the three days before planning our strategy- did we want to do the three course set meal? The five course set meal? Or order a la carte?
We ended up ordering a la carte. The set menus did not have lamb chops as an option, and lamb chops are always Andrew’s first choice (mine would be chicken fingers, but it’s not that type of place).
The whole room was very traditional- close to what I think of for an established NY steak house- dark wood, dark carpeting, lots of dividers to make sure you hear buzz, but not overhear what other people are saying. When we sat down we had a very traditional looking charger- lots of gold scrolls. However, as soon as they took it away, we all the plates were super modern. It was an interesting contrast.
We love a show on Bravo called Top Chef. It turns out it’s a good thing, or we wouldn’t have known what was going on. When we sat down we were served an amuse bouche, which is a word neither one of us knew a year ago. I got a salmon tartare and Andrew got a baby brushetta. We quickly switched as soon as the waitress left. Andrew really liked his and mine was excellent- perfect tomatoes!
As a first course, we ordered the chef’s sampler. It came with three bite sized items for each of us: smoked duck, lamb with mint, and a fish dish. It was also very good, but at this point we had only eaten small bites and so as soon as you decided if you liked it, the food was gone! Then they brought us bread. I can eat as much bread as you put in front of me so I tried to be very careful not to fill up too soon. The sourdough was amazing though! I ate the first piece quickly, and then started rationing the second so that I wouldn’t fill up.
For the second course, Andrew had a Caesar salad “rebuilt” and I ordered the mushroom baklava. Andrew approved of the salad- it actually had anchovies in it, which so many don’t now, although the presentation felt a little contrived (everything came stacked in two towers with cucumbers wrapped around it). The most interested part was this little fried ball that when you broke it open the dressing came out.
I had the mushroom baklava. I wasn’t expecting it to be sweet, I thought it would be thin layers of pastry with mushrooms in it, but it had sweetness as well. It was really good, but unexpected!
For the main course Andrew ordered scallops and I ordered the lamb chops. The scallops were good, but the lamb chops were amazing! At this point I had gotten full (as much as I had tried to hold off on the bread, it caught up with me) so Andrew got about half of my lamb chops.
I had been hoping to make it to dessert, but I was too full already so we headed back home to sleep off our full tummies!
So the next weekend, Andrew and I went to the Driskill Grill, which is one of, if not the, fanciest restaurants in Austin. His parents had gotten us a gift certificate there, and so we spent the three days before planning our strategy- did we want to do the three course set meal? The five course set meal? Or order a la carte?
We ended up ordering a la carte. The set menus did not have lamb chops as an option, and lamb chops are always Andrew’s first choice (mine would be chicken fingers, but it’s not that type of place).
The whole room was very traditional- close to what I think of for an established NY steak house- dark wood, dark carpeting, lots of dividers to make sure you hear buzz, but not overhear what other people are saying. When we sat down we had a very traditional looking charger- lots of gold scrolls. However, as soon as they took it away, we all the plates were super modern. It was an interesting contrast.
We love a show on Bravo called Top Chef. It turns out it’s a good thing, or we wouldn’t have known what was going on. When we sat down we were served an amuse bouche, which is a word neither one of us knew a year ago. I got a salmon tartare and Andrew got a baby brushetta. We quickly switched as soon as the waitress left. Andrew really liked his and mine was excellent- perfect tomatoes!
As a first course, we ordered the chef’s sampler. It came with three bite sized items for each of us: smoked duck, lamb with mint, and a fish dish. It was also very good, but at this point we had only eaten small bites and so as soon as you decided if you liked it, the food was gone! Then they brought us bread. I can eat as much bread as you put in front of me so I tried to be very careful not to fill up too soon. The sourdough was amazing though! I ate the first piece quickly, and then started rationing the second so that I wouldn’t fill up.
For the second course, Andrew had a Caesar salad “rebuilt” and I ordered the mushroom baklava. Andrew approved of the salad- it actually had anchovies in it, which so many don’t now, although the presentation felt a little contrived (everything came stacked in two towers with cucumbers wrapped around it). The most interested part was this little fried ball that when you broke it open the dressing came out.
I had the mushroom baklava. I wasn’t expecting it to be sweet, I thought it would be thin layers of pastry with mushrooms in it, but it had sweetness as well. It was really good, but unexpected!
For the main course Andrew ordered scallops and I ordered the lamb chops. The scallops were good, but the lamb chops were amazing! At this point I had gotten full (as much as I had tried to hold off on the bread, it caught up with me) so Andrew got about half of my lamb chops.
I had been hoping to make it to dessert, but I was too full already so we headed back home to sleep off our full tummies!
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Anniversary #1
We had a lot of discussion about what to do for our first anniversary. Originally I thought we should go to a bed and breakfast in the hill country around Austin. However as I started looking around I realized most of them had a 3 night minimum over Memorial Day (our anniversary was that Saturday). With the dog and a lot of upcoming travel for both of us, we weren't quite up to 3 nights away.
I finally settled on camping at Inks Lake State Park. We had a ton of fun over the winter camping at Enchanted Rock, and Chuy could come along. She has turned into quite the water dog, so I thought a lake would be a lot of fun. So I made reservations for two nights and a canoe trip.
Andrew really likes to get up early once he's up, but he doesn't like the idea the night before or before he gets out of bed. There was some negotiations on the departure time, but compromised with 7 am. We got out there by 8:30 am and waited in a (long) line to get a campsite. We got a great one that was still occupied but they would be out by 2 pm. We decided to go on a walk and check out the area.
We headed to Devil's Cove. It was a pretty fun swimming hole. Chuy had a blast playing in the water and followed me across to the other side when I went over. She played over there with a nice lab who was there with his family for a while. We swam back across (I slipped and fell in trying to get back in gracefully and she loyally jumped in after me) and had lunch. We explored a little more and then headed to set up our campsite.
After set up we explored the rest of the state park and marveled at all the extravagant RV set ups in the campsites with electricity. Dinner was a bit of a bust- we had some trouble getting the fire going, my foil chicken dinners were pretty unexciting, and the jiffy pop wouldn't pop. Thank goodness s'mores are pretty full proof!
That night was awful. I think Chuy was hot and never really got settled. She was up all night, and barking about every 45 minutes at something. We didn't sleep much. As our anniversary dawned, I got up early and took Chuy outside to get breakfast going and try to let Andrew get a little bit of uninterrupted sleep. We were all pretty tired, but had decided to head over to recreation area on the Colorado River.
It took us a long time to find it, and when we got there it was pretty disappointing. The river is dammed there to make Lake Travis. Lake Travis is at 40% capacity, so we had a lunch on what used to be the lake bed and let Chuy play in the water for a while. We drove around the park, but it was pretty depressing so we headed back. The sun had been hidden by clouds most of the day, but as we pulled up it came out. We had some fun lake shore time (Chuy had a blast chasing the waves created by boat wakes). We weren't looking forward to the idea of another night with a barking dog and a storm looked like it was about to roll in, so we packed up and got outta dodge! We didn't want to wait for the next day's canoe tour- there was no way it could be worth it. We drove through some pretty torrential rainstorms and then made dinner at home. After a long two days we slept well!
I finally settled on camping at Inks Lake State Park. We had a ton of fun over the winter camping at Enchanted Rock, and Chuy could come along. She has turned into quite the water dog, so I thought a lake would be a lot of fun. So I made reservations for two nights and a canoe trip.
Andrew really likes to get up early once he's up, but he doesn't like the idea the night before or before he gets out of bed. There was some negotiations on the departure time, but compromised with 7 am. We got out there by 8:30 am and waited in a (long) line to get a campsite. We got a great one that was still occupied but they would be out by 2 pm. We decided to go on a walk and check out the area.
We headed to Devil's Cove. It was a pretty fun swimming hole. Chuy had a blast playing in the water and followed me across to the other side when I went over. She played over there with a nice lab who was there with his family for a while. We swam back across (I slipped and fell in trying to get back in gracefully and she loyally jumped in after me) and had lunch. We explored a little more and then headed to set up our campsite.
After set up we explored the rest of the state park and marveled at all the extravagant RV set ups in the campsites with electricity. Dinner was a bit of a bust- we had some trouble getting the fire going, my foil chicken dinners were pretty unexciting, and the jiffy pop wouldn't pop. Thank goodness s'mores are pretty full proof!
That night was awful. I think Chuy was hot and never really got settled. She was up all night, and barking about every 45 minutes at something. We didn't sleep much. As our anniversary dawned, I got up early and took Chuy outside to get breakfast going and try to let Andrew get a little bit of uninterrupted sleep. We were all pretty tired, but had decided to head over to recreation area on the Colorado River.
It took us a long time to find it, and when we got there it was pretty disappointing. The river is dammed there to make Lake Travis. Lake Travis is at 40% capacity, so we had a lunch on what used to be the lake bed and let Chuy play in the water for a while. We drove around the park, but it was pretty depressing so we headed back. The sun had been hidden by clouds most of the day, but as we pulled up it came out. We had some fun lake shore time (Chuy had a blast chasing the waves created by boat wakes). We weren't looking forward to the idea of another night with a barking dog and a storm looked like it was about to roll in, so we packed up and got outta dodge! We didn't want to wait for the next day's canoe tour- there was no way it could be worth it. We drove through some pretty torrential rainstorms and then made dinner at home. After a long two days we slept well!
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