What's Been Going On

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

These last few weeks have been busy.  The boys finished school on June 3. The following day summer baseball kicked off for Evan with two games on Friday, June 4 and a game Sunday, June 6.

On Monday and Thursday of this week, Evan was a counselor at the TRPD camp. He also had practice, etc...

Meanwhile, we have been trying to find someone to fix up our yard.  We have some drainage issues.  That, along with lots of trees in the yard, has caused the grass to die.  Many of the plants did not survive the freeze over the winter.  The backyard is lots of dirt which turns into mud when it rains and that becomes a mess when Chewie goes out.

This week we hired someone to redo the whole yard.  We're adding lots of plants and trees and they are going to bring in dirt and regrade the whole yard along with rocks to help with drainage before putting new sod in completely around the front and back of the house. They started yesterday in trimming quite a few trees to let more light onto the property and they sprayed some herbicide to kill what grass we have left. So now we're taking Chewie on lots of walks because we don't want him out in the backyard with the herbicide down.

Evan played baseball on Friday, Saturday and Sunday this week.  He has continued to excel at catcher.  He had a good weekend behind the plate.  The pitching was bad on Friday but he managed to block a ton of pitches in the dirt.  He gave the team a chance.  On Saturday, he caught again but the pitching was much better.  He didn't have to work as hard.  They brought him into pitch in the final inning with a lead.  He was able to shut down the other team and wound up with his second save of the season.  The coach was so happy with his pitching, he started him today.  Apparently, yesterday was just an appetizer.  Because he was lights out pitching today.  He pitched a 6-inning complete game. He struck out 5 and while allowing just 5 hits and only giving up one run. On the season he has now pitched 9 2/3 innings while only giving up the one run. Evan's best friend, Reid, was in the stands watching the game.  His coach from the spring baseball season came, as well, to watch him play.  It was nice that he had so much support.

Evan and Reid went back to Reid's house.  We picked up Simply Pho for dinner and brought it to Reid and Evan while, Rachel, Noah and I ate here.

Rachel is making cookies now.

Until next time...

The last week or so

 Here's what been happening since the last post.

Last weekend Michael came to town and we had a nice visit with him, Grandma, Papa, and Aunt Susan.

This week we celebrated our 18th anniversary.  On Tuesday we got dessert at Kerbey Lane. and last night we went out to dinner at Sundancer Grill overlooking the lake.

Evan worked out with Dio on Tuesday and I brought Chewie along.  While he worked out, I took Chewie for a walk on the trails around the school.

Tonight Morry made smoked chicken.  While he was cooking the chicken a big thunderstorm passed through and it's still raining.

Here are some pictures from the last week.

Mother's Day, Driving, Cooking

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Since we last wrote, several things have happened.  On Thursday, Noah went over to Grandma and Papa's and cooked dinner.  They made artichokes, teriyaki chicken, cauliflower, salad, and a baguette with roasted garlic.  Everyone enjoyed it.  Papa walked Noah home with some leftovers.

On Saturday, Rachel, Evan and I went to Lady Bird Lake and kayaked.  Rachel and I were in the inflatable kayak with two seats.  Evan had the single person, hard kayak.  Evan did really well, kayaking with no problems.  The inflatable kayak seemed to struggle with the 15mph winds.  I had to really work to row for the two of us.  At one point, the headwind was so strong that no matter how hard I rowed, we moved backwards.

From there, we went to Black Rock and got some drinks.  For dinner, Grandma and Papa came over and we picked up Hula Hut for dinner.

On Sunday morning, Grandmom came over. She joined us along with Grandma and Papa at Snooze for brunch. We checked in online and got to the restaurant when it told us to get there.  We still waited nearly an hour and a half before we could be seated.  Once we sat down, things were nice.  We were able to eat a good brunch.

On the way home, we stopped at Tiff's Treats to get Grandmom her present.

In the afternoon, we took Chewie for a walk.  Then we went to a large parking lot and let Evan drive around.  He did much better driving this time and really enjoyed it.

Today, after school and work, I took the boys to get their hair cut.  Then we stopped at Academy to get some stuff to wear for this weekend for the boys.

Until next time...

UT Baseball and Pup Cup

Today Evan and Noah went to the UT baseball games.  There was a partial game first (a make up from yesterday's rain).  We dropped them off and then took Chewie to Hamilton Greenbelt.

We walked around for about an hour and then stopped at Black Rock on the way home.  The barista offered Chewie a pup cup (whipped cream) and he loved it.

We went home for a little bit and then went back out to pick up the boys.

They had a good time at the game.

From there we went to H-E-B and then picked up Torchy's for dinner.

Here are pictures from today.

Successful Boys

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

So Saturday was a successful one for the boys. It was the last day of the high school baseball season for Evan. His team set up an event.  Two coaches had a draft of both Varsity and JV players and they played two games against each other.  After the games, there was a potluck for everyone to celebrate.

Evan had a good day playing.  Batting against mostly Varsity pitchers, he went 2-4 with two walks, a single and a double.  He was not intimated by the older kids pitching.

After the games, we ate, and then the coach talked to everyone.  He announced that some kids from the Varsity and JV were named to the "All-Tournament team" from the weekend before as voted by all the coaches of the teams in the tournament.  Evan was named to the team.  It was basically saying he was one of the best players out there.  It was a nice way to end the season with that recognition.

When we got home, Noah showed us an email.  He had officially been accepted to the National Junior Honor Society. It seemed like he should have been admitted since he does so well in school, but you never know.  It was nice to see that Noah got recognition for how good at school he was.

As a reward, we took the boys to Bahama Bucks.  Chewie came along and enjoyed it.

Yesterday, Rachel and I took Chewie for a walk around Lady Bird Lake.  We stopped at Black Rock Coffee on the way home.

In the afternoon, a kid in the neighborhood came by and detailed my car. For dinner, Grandma and Papa picked up food from Saps and came over and we ate on the porch.

Today, Rachel had a dentist appointment.  I took Noah to Gorzycki to swap out his Chromebook.

There was no baseball today, so I smoked chicken quarters for dinner.  It worked out well.

Until next time...

Passports

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Evan went into school with Rachel like he always does on Tuesdays and Thursday.  He goes in to work with Dio.  

Noah and I stayed home while he was in class and I was working.

Rachel had set up an appointment for the boys to renew their passports for today.  She made the appointment several weeks ago.  Noah and I met Rachel and Evan at the post office.  We had gotten everything we needed together ahead of time - old passports, paperwork filled out, passport photos, birth certificates (and photocopies).  The guy at the post office was very nice.  He joked with the boys.  It turns out he was a baseball fan and was from Puerto Rico.  So Evan was talking to him.  Evan showed him the Roberto Clemente shoes that he was wearing.  The whole thing took less than 15 minutes which was nice.

Noah and I got home just in time for him to get on to Zoom for his next class. 

After work/school, the boys and I watched The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.  We hadn't seen last week's episode and the new one comes out tomorrow.

For dinner, I made carne asada.  I had marinated it last week and then vacuum sealed it.  It was very good.  The flavor was all throughout the meat.

After dinner, Rachel and I took Chewie for a walk.

We'll be sitting down shortly to watch a bit of TV.

Until next time...

Really, Really Cold...No, Really

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

A cold spell the likes of which I have not seen since I moved to Austin in 1998 has hit.  The temperature really dropped starting on Wednesday night.  School on Friday was completely virtual for everyone, even those that had chosen to be in school. Evan had a scrimmage scheduled for Friday and Saturday and both were cancelled.  He also had his practice cancelled for tomorrow and his game on Tuesday cancelled. As i type this post, it is 17 degrees and it feels like 1 degree.

Friday, we stayed home mostly.  We had planned to take Rachel's car in for an oil change. There were accidents all over as overpasses and bridges had frozen.  So we decided not to go.  Just before dinner, Rachel and I did go to HEB to try to get essentials knowing it may be several days before we could go out.  HEB was a zoo.  It was a perfect storm, so to speak. People were there for Valentine's Day shopping.  People were picking up flowers and candy.  But then people were trying to stock up.  It was a mess.

Yesterday, we did nothing really.  Rachel and I did take Chewie for a walk.  There were some slick spots on the roads and even the sidewalks had some ice.  For dinner, I made ribs and we made fries in the air fryer.  Rachel then made a cookie cake.

The boys insisted on going outside this morning to play wiffleball.  In fact, they went out several times despite it being below freezing.  Rachel and I took Chewie for a walk, but the sidewalks were sheets of ice.  We ended up walking on the grass as much as we possible could.  Chewie didn't seem to have problems on the ice though.

By late afternoon it started to snow and since the ground was so cold, it started to accumulate.  We probably have a 1/2 inch to an inch now.  We don't have big flakes coming down but it's definitely snowing.  As it started to snow, Evan decided to make himself hot chocolate and sit outside watching it.  There is a picture of it below.  He also went on a mile run.  Why? I don't know.

For dinner, I made an orange chicken in the crock pot and some rice.

I can hear some ice hitting the windows right now.  I guess it's sleeting.

Until next time...

Back At It

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Saturday, Evan had his first scrimmage with his new team.  It was an intrasquad scrimmage.  Evan caught for quite a while.  Then they put him in center field.  He has not played much outfield.  The second pitch after he got to center field was hit off the centerfield wall.  He fielded it off the wall, spun and threw a perfect strike to second base to throw out the runner at second.  The coach yelled "Great throw, Evan!".  Later he came in to pitch.  He did very well.  He induced a pop up that didn't come all the way to the mound, then he gave up a hit.  Then he got a fly out to right.  Each of the final two batters he face ended with a strikeout. Both strikeouts came on a 3-2 curveball and the ball really dropped.  They were good pitches.  At the plate, Evan was hit by a pitch and hit a double over the left fielders head.

For dinner Saturday night, we picked up Enchiladas Y Mas.

On Sunday, Evan played volleyball with some friends at the park while Rachel and I took Chewie for a walk around the lake. 

At night we watched the Super Bowl.  Rachel picked up pizza from Pizza Cave for us.

On Mondays, Rachel doesn't teach.  So she was able to relax in the morning and then go for a run.  I had a very busy meeting in meetings.

I took Evan and picked up his teammate, Ethan, to go to practice.  We stopped and got Hat Creek on the way to practice.  Rachel and Noah ate at home.

Evan is upstairs finishing some school work now.  Rachel and I will be sitting down.  Noah is playing on the Playstation.

Below are some pictures of Evan pitching.

Until next time...

Sunday - Tuesday

 On Sunday, we had plans to go to the Natural Gardener.  We put Chewie in the car and drove over only to find out they are closed on Sunday.  

We decided to try to find a place nearby to walk.  We ended up at the greenbelt in Lost Creek.  It was very pretty with lots of water.  At the beginning of the walk, we had to cross over water and there was not way to do it without getting wet.  Chewie loved that, of course.

Sunday afternoon Evan hung out with Reid at his house.  For dinner, they picked up Rudy's for all of us and we ate there.  As we were in the driveway coming over to their house we got a text that Evan needed a chance of clothes.  He fell in the pool!  He was reaching for a ball.  :) 

Monday was back to school/work.  I tutored in the afternoon.

Evan and Morry went to the first meeting for a baseball team Evan will be playing with in the spring.  Evan seemed happy with the coach and is excited to start playing.

Today, I tutored in the morning, went to school, and then tutored again in the afternoon.

Noah had Hebrew with Grandma.

We ate dinner. Morry grilled chicken. 

Then, after dinner, I met with another student at 9pm.  I normally meet with him at 5pm, but they had a conflict today.

Now Morry and I will sit down and watch some TV.

Here's a picture of the view from our walk on Sunday.

Coach Evan

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning, the organization that Evan plays baseball at, TRPD was putting on a clinic for a recreation baseball league in the area.  Evan's coach asked Evan to help coach the the clinic.  I took Evan to get donuts and then dropped him off at the field.

I came home and then Rachel and I got Chewie and drove out to Hamilton Greenbelt for a hike.  Chewie just loves it there.  For the first few minutes of the hike, he was pulling and barking.  Then we saw people with a dog on a leash coming the opposite way on the path.  Chewie and the dog smelled each other and Chewie calmed down.  It was as if he just wanted to see another dog.

After our hike, we drove to the baseball fields to get Evan. We asked him how it was working with younger kids.  He said the first group of kids were in a line in the drill he was running.  Somehow, one of the kids cut in front of another kid.  Evan did not think it was on purpose.  That caused the kid who ended up behind to cry.  Evan said he thought to himself, what am I supposed to do.  But Evan was very proud of himself and told us he got the boy to stop crying within 30 seconds and they were back to doing the drill.

On the way back, we stopped at Goodwill to drop off some donations.  Then we drove to Black Rock and got some drinks.

Rachel and I ate our lunch outside on the back patio.  Then we talked a bit more about what we want the backyard to look like.

When dinner time rolled around, we decided to pick up food from La Posada.  That's what the boys wanted.  Rachel, Chewie and I went to pick it up.  We also picked up food for Grandma and Papa.  We dropped it off for them on the way home.

We just ate dinner.  The boys are now upstairs playing video games while Rachel is vacuuming.

Until next time...

Chewie Gets Attention

 Today the boys didn't have school, but Morry still had to work.

Around lunchtime, Morry and I took Chewie to walk around the lake.  Chewie got lots of attention there.  Several people smiled at him and said hi to him.

This afternoon I got stuff ready for the week including lesson planning.

Noah met with Grandma (over Facetime) for Hebrew.

I only tutored one student today.  The others didn't want or need tutoring since they didn't have school.

For dinner, we had steak and potatoes. 

After dinner, Morry and Evan went to Evan's baseball lesson. They are still out there.

I'm still working on lesson planning.

Big Snow

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Yesterday was a nice day.  The high was in the 50s.  In fact, most of the day it was sunny without any clouds.  If you had seen yesterday you would not have guessed what was coming today.  In the morning, Evan had bullpens at TRPD.  In the afternoon, Rachel and I went to the Domain to take her computer to the Apple Store for support.  We stopped at Whole Foods as well to get some things for a sandwich class today.  We picked up Hula Hut for dinner.

The weather forecast said that snow was likely for today.  But what does that really mean?  Everyone was pretty much just guessing some snow flurries.  When I got up this morning it was raining.  About 30 minutes later, I heard the boys tell Rachel they saw some snow.  Evan came running downstairs and out the door to look at the snow.  Noah went out too and Rachel and I followed a bit later.  It was more of a sleet than a snow.  Occasionally you'd see a big snowflake come down in it.  But within 30 minutes the sleet had turned into snow.  Thirty minutes after that, there were big massive snowflakes coming down and coming down hard.  

We'd be out for a little bit and come back in after we had seen the variations in the snow.  Each time, we brought Chewie out with us.  The boys would run with Chewie down into the cul-de-sac. Chewie loved it.  When the snowflakes were big, he tried to eat it.  At one point, Noah made a snowball.  He was holding it and Chewie tried to eat it.  

Neighbors and kids were all out looking at the snow or playing in the snow.  I think we ended up getting about an inch of snow in total.  Maybe slightly more.  By late afternoon, though, much of the snow in our yard was gone.  Between the boys using much of the snow for snowmen and the melting snow, there wasn't much left.  There was snow on the rooftops and on cars still.

Rachel and I had a couples sandwich class at 2pm.  A company that offers memberships to couples to participate in online events and take online classes reached out to her.  They offered us this free class to take in exchange for a social media post.  There were 4 other couples on along with the chef who was in New York City.  He talked about the history of sandwiches, we debated about whether the hot dog was a sandwich and he showed us how to make an Instagram-worthy sandwich.  He was very personable and led the couples in discussions.  We enjoyed ourselves.

For dinner, we just ate leftovers and the boys had sandwiches from the meat we had bought.

The boys are upstairs playing now.

Until next time...

First Weekend of 2021

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

We had a pretty laid back start to 2021.  On Friday, Rachel and I took Chewie to Lady Bird Lake.  We walked around the trail there.  Chewie gets so excited when we get there.  He barks and pulls on the leash.  But into the walk, he's fine. 

On the way home, we stopped at Black Rock.  I got a smoothie and Rachel got some coffee.

For dinner, we did fondue again to use up the remaining meat we had.  After dinner, we watched Coming to America.  The boys really liked it.

On Saturday morning, Evan had bullpen sessions at the TRPD facility.  Rachel, Evan, Chewie and I went up there.  We stopped at Donut Taco Palace and got donuts for Evan and a taco for Rachel.  We dropped Evan off and then went to the Hamilton Greenbelt and went for a hike.  Chewie really loves that place.  About a minute into the walk, we saw a deer.  Chewie seemed to want to play with the deer.  It was cold (around 39 degrees) when we began the hike, but it warmed up quickly.

We took it easy in the afternoon, just doing some small things around the house and really just doing nothing.

For dinner, we picked up pizza at Pizza Cave.  We also picked up pizza for Grandma and Papa and dropped it off with them.

This morning, Rachel, Chewie and I went on a walk on the greenbelt by our house.

After lunch, Rachel and I went to Lowe's and Home Depot to look for a fire pit and some ligustrums to plant.

Before dinner, we went to HEB and got food for the week.  We just made food at home for dinner.

The boys are upstairs playing on the Playstation.

Until next time...

Tucson, Christmas, Grandma's Birthday

 We went to Tucson from Saturday through Wednesday.   It was a bittersweet trip since Zayde was no longer there, but we had a good time being with family.   And, one day, we met my friend, Holly, for a hike.

This was our first Christmas home in many years.  Hardly any restaurants were open, so we made dinner at home.  Then, we watch the new Wonder Woman movie at home.

We spent the afternoon today doing some cleaning and organizing. We brought everything down from the attic.

Today was Grandma's birthday.  Papa picked up an early dinner for all of us from Troy and we ate outside in their backyard.  Chewie came with us and we all had a nice time.

Then, Morry and I went to H-E-B.

Here are some pictures from the last week.

Our Week So Far

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Monday was a normal day.  After school ended, I took the boys to get their hair cut.  For dinner, I made orange chicken and white rice.  When we finished dinner, I took Evan to TRPD for a hitting lesson.

On Tuesday, we had our trees trimmed and some trees removed.  The guys got to the house at 8am.  Rachel took Chewie over to Grandma and Papa's.  We had one tree removed that was sort of in the middle of the yard and a few scrawny trees in the back corner.  Other than that, we just had the trees trimmed properly.  We hadn't done it in 3 or 4 years.  Evan had baseball practice in the evening.

On Wednesday, the tree trimmers were back to finish up.  They were done by about 10am.  After school, I took Evan to TRPD.  He's running practice for catchers for the younger teams.  He coaches 2 kids every 30 minutes.  Rachel picked him up after tutoring.

Today, we had a pretty laid back day.  Rachel taught in the morning.  After school, I took Noah worked with Grandma on Hebrew.  I took Evan and met Josiah and his dad, John at Marucci Clubhouse.  We stopped at HEB on the way home and got ground beef for Chewie for his Hanukkah gift.  We lit the candles for the first night of Hanukkah and Chewie and the boys got their gifts.  Chewie loved the raw ground beef.  The boys each got t-shirts.  For dinner, we had flank steaks and potatoes.

We're about to sit down to watch some TV.

Until next time...

Hike with Chewie

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Today Evan began off-season throwing and hitting training at TRPD.  It's basically a way to stay in shape and get ready for high school baseball tryouts.  It was at the facility in Lakeway at 9am.  So Rachel and I decided to take him and then go hiking on the Hamilton Greenbelt in Lakeway with Chewie.  

On the way out to the facility, we stopped at Donut Taco Palace.  Evan got two donuts and Rachel got a taco.  On the hike, Chewie was just so happy.  It was cold this morning (in the 40s) so no one was out hiking and it felt like, at times, we had the whole trail system to ourselves.  Chewie was in his element.  He loves to hike on trails and he especially likes it when it's not hot.  We hiked for close to an hour and a half.  Chewie never got tired.

Then we drove to pick Evan up.  It took Evan some time to be ready, but Chewie was happy to see Evan when he got in the car.

On the way home, we stopped at Black Rock Coffee where Rachel got a coffee, Evan and I got smoothies, and Noah got a lemonade.  While we were in the drive thru picking up the drinks, Chewie pushed through and was standing on the middle console between Rachel and me so he could see the woman working at the drive thru.  She gave him a dog treat.  He was really happy.

We relaxed most of the afternoon.

Late in the afternoon, we had an arborist come by to give us an estimate on trimming our trees.

For dinner, we picked up Via 313 for Rachel and me and Subway for the boys.

Rachel is now making fudge.

Until next time...

New Floors

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Back when we had our kitchen redone, we wanted our kitchen floors and my office floor replaced with hardwood to match the rest of the hardwood floors downstairs.  They did not have enough of the hardwood floors left to do my office.  The floors were backordered.  A few weeks ago, the flooring came in.  Today they contractor came to start installing the floors.  They came at 8:30 this morning and worked until after 5pm.

I moved everything to the dining room and worked out of the dining room today. Rachel took Chewie to Grandma and Papa's house.

The boys were back to school.  They both seemed to get back into the swing of things.  Everyone is virtual for this week.

The contractor had all the floor laid in my office by the time they left.  They still have to add on some wood to the baseboards and paint it.  They are going to fix the transition into our kitchen.  And they are going to add some backsplash in to where the wall was exposed when we replaced the range hood.

I took Evan to TRPD for hitting lessons after they left. 

When we got home, we had dinner.

Rachel is working on some lesson plans and the boys are playing upstairs.

Until next time...

The Weekend After Thanksgiving

 It rained Friday and Saturday, so we didn't do much. It was nice to take it easy.

Today, Morry and I walked with Chewie around the lake.

Evan went swimming at Reids house.

Later in the afternoon Morry and I went shopping at H-E-B and then picked Evan up at Reid's house on the way home.

For dinner, we had leftovers.

Then Morry worked on getting his office cleaned up and the furniture moved out.  Tomorrow, we will start the hardwood floor installation in Morry's office.  We have a few other things getting touched up the house as well.

Fall Weekend

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Yesterday, Evan played two baseball games in Liberty Hill.  That is about 45 minutes, or so, northwest of the city. Rachel's cousin, Lauren, and her family live there.  Rachel's Aunt, who is going through chemo, has been staying with them.  Rachel decided to join us to watch Evan play and also visit with Aunt Susan.

Rachel dropped Evan and I off at the field for warmups while she went to Lauren's.  She sat in the backyard with Aunt Susan.  She said Aunt Susan looked good.  Her coloring was good and she seemed in a good mood.  She had shaved her head as her hair has begun to fall out.  Rachel said it was a nice visit.

In the two games, Evan was 4-6 with several RBIs.  He played third base the entire first game and catcher the entire second game.  In the first game, he had one play at third base.  On a steal the catcher threw a little wide of third base.  Evan caught it and made a nice dive to tag the runner out.  The coach was very pleased with Evan's athletic tag.  At catcher, only one runner tried to steal on Evan.  Unfortunately, the shortstop dropped the ball or Evan would have thrown him out. 

We come home for a bit, then went out and picked up dinner.  We got dinner from Cypress Grill.

We didn't have anything that we needed to do today.  So Rachel and I decided to go the Hamilton Greenbelt and take Chewie for a while.  Chewie was able to splash around in the creek there.  He was quite happy.

On the way home, we stopped at Black Rock Coffee.

Evan and I watched the Steelers game.  It was a tense game.  Noah didn't want to watch because every time he watched last week, the Steelers played poorly. He'd come downstairs to check on the game and see how things were going.

We got pizza from Domino's.  Then we went to HEB to do our weekly shopping.

The boys are playing on the Playstation now.

Trent and Carter

 Today, everyone was home.  I made the kids lunches and then went for a run/walk.

Chewie's trainer came today.

In the afternoon I Zoom tutored 2 students.

Then, we picked up Home Slice Pizza and met Trent and Carter at the park in that neighborhood. 

Trent and Carter are checking out Austin because Carter and his girlfriend would like to move here.

We had a nice time in the park.

Carter and Evan played hackysack. 

We just got home and now I'm doing a little bit of work before Morry and I sit down and watch more Schitts Creek.

Here are some pictures from today.