Happy Blowing Things Up Day!

Was this really a three day weekend? It went by so fast. Friday Michael went to a co-worker's house for a picnic and I went to my parent's house. We did hot dogs/hamburgers, very low key. Later Michael and I were going to go to the Alamo Drafthouse cinema to see Sex and the City, but just as I was going to leave my mom's to get tickets, his friends Shelly & Bryan called me to invite us to dinner. They had a baby a few months ago so we don't see them that often. I really like them and get along with them. So, I called Michael and he agreed he'd rather see them than the movie. We all met up at Kerby Lane for dinner and had gelato (um!) afterwards. Shelly works at Parks and Wildlife and knows all the kayaking and hiking trails. The department actually 'rates' trails where they'll take kayaks down the path, take GPS coordinates the whole time, take pictures of flora/fauna in the area, and rate how deep the water is and if there's portage places. That's so cool that she gets paid to do that. Sometime they'll get a babysitter and we're all going to go kayaking. Ok...anyways,..... after dinner Michael and I went back to my parent's house. My mom's computer was acting up and wanted Michael to look at it. After he got done fixing it, the fireworks had started. Uh, yeah, that's something I'll never get used to. Out here fireworks are legal as long as you're not in the 'city' of Austin. My parent's house is considered 'county' as is mine, so fireworks are legal. Now, when I say fireworks, yes they have Roman Candles and sparklers, etc. But they also have the huge ass exploding fireworks that shoot way up in the air and explode in a huge burst. You know, the ones you see at professional events. Yeah, you can buy that kind out here! Crazy. One house to the left and two houses to the right were setting off fireworks in the street. So, we just all sat on my parent's front deck and enjoyed the show. The nice thing was that the fireworks were in the street, but we were up by the house so we didn't get into all the smoke/gas that gets discharged when the fireworks are set off. It was AWESOME.

Saturday Gil had a 'Thanksgiving in July'. He had a turkey in his freezer that he bought on sale and he wanted to get people together to eat it. He invited a bunch of no kidding folks, thinking a lot wouldn't be able to come due to the holiday weekend. Well, he had 19 people! We all brought food so there was plenty to go around. As usual I went a little overboard with cooking. I had wanted to do a pasta dish, homemade biscuits, and stuffed zucchini - all new recipes. I ended up making stuffed manicotti and stuffed shells. I also sauteed some yellow squash, onions, and zucchini in case people just wanted a simple veggie side dish. The manicotti were pretty good, but I think I need to fiddle with the recipe for the stuffed shells. I just gave up on doing the biscuits and stuffed zucchini. Well, I still have all the ingredients, so maybe I'll make them this week. We'll see.

Today Michael and I went shopping. We got the car rack and kayak holder for my car. Even though we're not buying kayaks yet, there's a place in town that rents a lot of different kayaks and Michael wants to try out some different ones. If we have the car rack we can go and rent them, and then drive to the water for the put in. I've basically found the one I want. http://www.wildernesssystems.com/tarpon-120

He wants to try the Tarpon 140 and a couple of sit-insides. After falling into the river last time, I've realized I definitly want a sit-on-top kayak. It's easier to get into from the water, and I won't feel 'trapped' if I fall in the water. I think I might want Orange. I've already decided I'm going to buy that Rustoleum spray paint for plastic and customize the paint job. We've joked about putting flames on it. That would be interesting. Anyways, we're slowly going to the inevitable of buying kayaks. Michael found out that the place in town he's renting from has a 'Demo Day' in September and the kayaks are on sale then. So, if they have the ones we want, we'll probably get them then. That's right around our 1 year Anniversay, so I joked about just buying kayaks as our gifts to each other instead of trying to find something special and most likely expensive. The kayaks are expensive enough - $750 or so. We also need to buy a mount system for my garage. We measured today and a 14 foot kayak will fit, but just barely. I know we'll be buying a kayak soon, I just don't want to pay full price. They never go on 'sale' so we have to wait for these special events. Hopefully we'll get ours in Sept in time for the weather to cool down. There are just so many rivers, lakes, and paddling trails around Austin - there's a lot of opportunity to kayak. I don't think we'd get tired of it. See how happy I am!