Evan's Driving + Alaska

 I went to Alaska with Mom / Grandma, Dad / Papa, Aunt Susan, Uncle Jay, Aunt Diane, Maureen, and Doug.  We had a nice time, but several people got covid towards the end of the trip.  

Michael's family came to Juneau and some of us were able to meet them there when our ship was in port.

Today Evan got his driver's license.  We had to drive to Kileen (1hr 15min) to a DPS that had an appointment. 

After we got home, he drove himself to school.

After school, he drove Noah home but they made a stop at HEB.

Here are a few pictures from Alaska and today. 

1st Place

This morning Noah, Grandma, Papa, and I did the More than Pink Walk for Susan G. Komen.  We started out walking together and Noah decided he was going to run it.  So, we said we'd meet up at the end. 

We had a nice 3 mile walk.

At the end when we found Noah he told us he was the first one across the finish line and they gave him a hat!

After the walk, Papa made omelets for us.

In the afternoon, I met with a woman about tutoring her kids.  While I was there her neighbors hit my car with a pickleball and it left a dent, so now I have to deal with that and hope they take responsibility for it.

Noah and I went to HEB.

Then, I met the bike group for an outdoor movie (The Goonies) at a bike shop in East Austin.

Here are some pictures from today.

Round Mountain + Hanukkah

 On Friday, we went to Round Mountain to get together with the Krasnow side of the family.  We had a nice time seeing everyone.  Here's a picture.

Yesterday, Morry and I ran some errands.  We went to Dick's Sporting Goods to get Wiffle balls for the boys for Hanukkah.   Then, we went to HEB to do our weekly shopping.

Yesterday afternoon Morry and I clean out his side of the garage and then took a lot of stuff over to Goodwill to donate.

Today, we dropped off Morry's car for an inspection.  

Then, we took a long walk from our house to Summer Moon coffee and back.    After that, we went back out to pick up Morry's car.

This afternoon Evan and some friends went to the mall to see a movie and shop for holiday gifts. 

For dinner, we ate at Kerbey Lane.

When we got home we celebrated the first night of Hanukkah.

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.

Kayaking

 Yesterday Evan had games near San Antonio.   I got a ride with Grandma and Papa to the second game and then we met Uncle Jay for dinner at Willie's.

This morning we took it easy.

In the afternoon Morry and I went kayaking and then picked up drinks from Black Rock.

Around 6pm all of us went to H-E-B and then we picked up Domino's for dinner.

After dinner, Morry and I walked Chewie.

Passover 2021

 Last night was the first night of Passover.

Morry and Evan were on a fishing trip.  Since Grandma, Papa, Aunt Diane, Uncle Jay, and I are all vaccinated, we decided to have a small in-person seder + Zoom with other family members. 

Yesterday, I made matzoh balls and meringue cookies and Noah made the Passover coffee cake.

Then, around 5:30 Noah and I walked over to Grandma and Papa's house.  It was the first time in over a year that we had been in their house.  

Noah is now almost as tall as Grandma.

We had a nice time over there last night.  Noah helped during the plagues part of the seder.  He enjoyed that. 

Then, we walked back home.

Today, I did some cleaning in and outside of the house.   

I took Chewie for a walk around the lake.

When I got back I made shaved ice for Noah and me.

Shortly after that Morry and Evan came back from their fishing trip with lots of redfish.

Morry and I went to H-E-B and then we made dinner.

Morry grilled steak for him and some of the redfish for the rest of us.  We ate dinner outside.

Here are some pictures from the last two days.

Noah's Birthday Part 2

 Today we celebrated Noah's birthday.

We went to Dukes Adventure Golf to play mini golf this morning.  We had a fun time.

After that, we went grocery shopping at H-E-B for fondue dinner tonight.

Then, we picked up Slurpees from 7-11.

This afternoon the kids played Wiffle ball in the front yard.

We had fondue at home for dinner.  That was what Noah chose for his birthday dinner.

Then, we got dessert at Bahama Bucks.  We brought Chewi with us.

Noah got a blue shaved iced and we gave a little bit to Chewie.  He loved it and it made his mouth turn blue.  We were cracking up.

Tomorrow, it's back to school.

Start of High School Baseball

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This past week, high school baseball games started.  Evan played 5 games this week.  He played up near Killen, TX (near Ft. Hood) in a place called Copperas Cove.  The game was in the high school baseball stadium. It was pretty nice with a working scoreboard and nice dugouts.  Evan caught most of the game and was in centerfield in the last inning.  He walked in both of his at-bats.

On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, he played in Hutto.  On Thursday night, it was cold and misty so it wasn't the best baseball night.  Evan caught the whole game.  He walked two more times and tried to bunt for a single.  He would have been successful but he slipped running to first base.  Even still, he almost was safe even with the slip.  

Rachel and Noah attended Friday's game.  Evan pitched the first inning, ending the inning by freezing the batter for a called third strike on a sinker. He played shortstop for two innings and left field for the final inning.  He walked, struck out and popped out in the game.  After the game, we picked up Mod Pizza.

On Saturday, Evan played two games.  I watched his first game.  He caught all but the last inning where he played centerfield.  His first at bat was great.  The coach was really happy with him.  After falling behind, 0-2, he fouled off 5 pitches while working the count to 3-2.  On the eleventh pitch, he crushed a ground ball down the third base line.  The third baseman made a great play just to catch it but he had no throw and Evan wound up at first with a single.  In his next at bat, he hit a line drive past the second baseman for a single as well. 

Rachel, Grandma and Papa came for the second game on Saturday.  Evan started the game pitching and pitched 3 innings.  He really looked good pitching.  His stats were not great as his defense made several mistakes.  Evan's coach told Evan that he counted 12 either actual errors or mental errors while Evan was pitching.  Even still, he really looked good.  He pounded the strike zone and kept the team in the game as best as he could.  He singled in his only at bat and took second on a throwing error.  He caught the final two innings.

While the team isn't great, the experience has been great for Evan.  He's getting to play a big part on the team and he's getting great high school experience.  I like his coach.

When we got home yesterday, Evan and Noah played wiffleball outside.  Then there was a block party for our street.  Evan came out with us but Noah stayed in.

This morning, Rachel went for a walk with her friend, Leslie.  She stopped at Black Rock and got drinks for us on the way home.  Evan and Noah played wiffleball outside again.

In the afternoon, after putting a bunch of stuff back in the attic, Noah and I watched a movie.

Rachel and I went to HEB before dinner and then picked up Torchy's for dinner.

Until next time...

Post-Snowpocalypse

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Today began our journey back to some sort of normalcy after last week's craziness.  To recap, on Sunday, February 14, we started to see sleet and freezing rain which eventually turned to snow by evening.  At 12:30 am on February 15, we lost power.  When we woke up that morning the high was 7 degrees and there was nearly 7 inches of snow on the ground.  We remained without power until 8pm that night.  On Tuesday evening, we saw a dramatic drop in water pressure and by Wednesday morning, February 17, we had no water to the house.  We remained without running water until last night, February 21.  

On Friday, our friends, the Edwards, let us come over to do a load of laundry and all shower.  It was nice getting a hot shower.

Saturday, the highs got into the low70s.  Evan and I went to Grandmom's and picked up some water that she had bought for us.  Then Evan had baseball practice for the first time since the cold weather set in.  

On Sunday, I went golfing and the highs hit in the mid to upper 70s.  Evan again had baseball practice. And then we got the good news about the water.  Of course there is still a boil water notice, but at least we have water coming out of the sinks.  We still have problems with two of our toilets that may need a plumber to look at.

This morning, though, everything seemed back to be heading in the right direction.  The boys are still off from school as there was damage to quite a few schools in the districts with burst pipes, etc...  But I got up and had my normal meetings.  Everyone was back to work fully.

We had the trash out and the trash came for the first time in two weeks along with recycling and composting.

The boys played wiffleball for quite a while outside.  Rachel went for a long walk.

For dinner, I made beef and shrimp for tacos.

Then we went to HEB for the first time in over 10 days.  HEB had been, literally, cleared out last week.  Because of the poor road conditions, there wasn't any deliveries.  But tonight, we shopped.  There were definitely stuff picked over and they were still replenishing, but we did a decent job getting the things we needed.

The boys begin school on Wednesday and everything will start to really feel like pre-snow.

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...

Championship Sunday

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning when I got up, Reid's dad, Tony, had texted me inviting us over for food and to watch the NFL Championship games.  So we agreed to go over there.  Rachel offered to make cookies.

So, Rachel made sugar cookies and icing. The boys helped decorate them.  Since Reid and his family are Yankees fans, Evan made a Yankees logo on one of the cookies.

Noah decided not to come with us.  We went over and watched the game.  We ordered pizza to eat.  Evan and Reid didn't watch much of the game.  They were playing football in the back or doing other things.  Tony and I watched the game together while Rachel and Mandi hung out.  It was a really nice time.

Rachel left after the first game. We had driven separately so that Rachel could leave when she wanted.  I stayed for the first quarter and went home.  Evan stayed there.  I left so that Rachel and I could go to HEB and shop.

After shopping, we drove back and picked Evan up.  Then we dropped off food to Grandma and Papa that we had picked up.

Rachel is now doing some work while the boys play on the Playstation.

Until next time...

Full Week

Hello everyone, this is is Morry.

We had a full week this week.  On Monday it was back to meetings for me.  Evan and I went to HEB after school and work to get food for the week.  It was crazy crowded at the store.  We had dinner at home and then Evan had a hitting lesson with Justin.

On Tuesday, I took Grandmom to have an endoscopy.  Rachel taught.  Luckily Evan's baseball practice was canceled in the evening which helped.  Rachel still had a long afternoon and evening of tutoring.

On Wednesday, Grandmom stopped by to bring the boys a Playstation 5.  The boys wanted one for Hanukkah and Grandmom was able to get one from eBay.  In the afternoon, Evan went and coached the younger kids.  I stayed out at TRPD and had a meeting and talked to my siblings.

Thursday was a little easier.  I had fewer meetings and we didn't have any baseball.  Rachel did have a very long stretch of tutoring that started at 3:30 ended at 7:30.

On Friday, after work, I took Evan to Marucci with Josiah and his dad John.  After that we picked up pizza from Austin Pizza Garden which is going out of business after 27 years.

Yesterday, Evan had bullpens at TRPD.  Rachel and Chewie came with us.  We stopped at Donut Taco Palace and then took at walk on the Hamilton Greenbelt after dropping Evan off. 

We came home and had lunch and then I took Evan to the park to play baseball with Reid.  He stayed over Reid's house last night.  For dinner, we had Cypress Grill.  Papa picked it up for us.

Today, I went golfing with a bunch of dads from Evan's baseball. I played much better this time.  Our team came in second out of three foursomes.

I picked up Evan on the way home.

Rachel, Evan and I went to HEB for food.  For dinner, we had Torchy's.

Rachel is cleaning now and then we'll sit down.

Until next time...

Last Few Free Days

 Today the boys enjoyed one of their last two days before going back to school.  They mostly played video games all day.

I went for a run and Zoom tutored one student.

For dinner, we had grilled chicken and potatoes.  Then, Morry and Evan went to his baseball lesson.

After they left, I went to H-E-B to get my medicine and the Dollar Tree to pick up a planner for school.

They just got home and now Morry and I will watch more of Cobra Kai (tv show).

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...

Christmas Lights

 Today, it was drizzling in the morning, but then cleared up a little bit, so I went for a run.  Halfway, it started pouring down rain.  Of course, when I got home the rain stopped.

Reid's family picked up Evan around lunchtime.  They picked up lunch and then went to the baseball card store.  Evan has been hanging out with Reid all day and will spend the night at his house tonight.

For dinner we had leftover steak.

Then, Morry, Noah, Chewie, and I drove around looking at Christmas lights.

We dropped Chewie off and then went to H-E-B.

We just got home a little after 10pm.

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.