Olivia's First Field Trip

Although she has accompanied me as a chaperone on a few of Jackson's field trips over the years, Olivia was excited for her very first kindergarten field trip of her own. The destination was Sweet Berry Farm in Marble Falls, over an hour away. Olivia had never rode a school bus before, and she was nervous about that. But, she did fine, and we spent a perfect fall day on the farm.

Entering the corn maze.

Hayride!

Painting pumpkins.

Olivia the goat whisperer.

After being away all day, I didn't really feel like cooking, so we had dinner at Serrano's. I had cheese enchiladas with green chile sauce.

Afterwards, we had to pop into Costco for a few things and I picked up some autumn treats - dark chocolate covered figs, and Hail Merry pumpkin spice mini-tarts. Yum!

Thanksgiving 2014

This year we spent Thanksgiving in Oklahoma at my mother-in-law's. As usual, while Tony finished up at the office, I packed the car. Monster was ready to hit the road.

Road trip food. Chole and saag roti wraps from Natural Grocers.

Hail Merry chocolate chip cookie dough macaroons.

Thanksgiving morning, we woke up early to fix the meal. Dandy Blend in alma mater coffee mug.

Monster had a sense of the feasting which lay ahead.

My plate: broccoli rice casserole, sweet potatoes, corn, mashed potatoes, and roll. Not pictured, salad and crudites.

My mother-in-law does not mess around when it comes to pie. We had coconut, pumpkin and pecan to choose from. I sampled them all of course.

Silly girl.

Cousin time.

Thanksgiving evening, Tony and I drove around OKC to look at Christmas lights. A lot of the storefronts were completely covered, like this one.

Sparkly trees.

Giant ornament.

There was more than one.

The rest of our visit was spent laying around the house doing not much of anything. 

Jackson did a little tech support.

Olivia received a Monster High make-up kit and used the entire thing of eyeshadow in one sitting.

Lego assembly teamwork.

Happy, happy days.

I love having Tony off work, and Jackson off school, and all of us being together for the week, relaxing and spending time together. Hanging out with my mother-in-law is a bonus. I could not have asked for a better Thanksgiving. 

Oklahoma Birthday

Jackson wanted to celebrate his sixth birthday up in Oklahoma at his Grandma Lillie's house, so that is what we did. I picked up some road trip snacks: Late July ranch chips, Hail Merry raw lemon macaroons, Tom's Tabooley hummus falafel wrap, and Harmless Harvest raw coconut water. I have tried many brands of coconut water, but I saw this article about how not all brands are of equal quality, and I decided to try one of the best-rated. It's expensive, but man, it tasted so good!

Our first evening in Oklahoma, my awesome mother-in-law volunteered to watch the kids so Tony and I could have a kid-free get-together with our friends Michelle and Alan. We met them at Whiskey Cake in OKC. The decor made us smile. Fresh sprigs of rosemary in a light bulb vase? Never seen that before. Also, the male wait staff all sort of resembled lumberjacks. White t-shirts, suspenders, beards.

Tony and I decided to share some appetizers, starting with hummus and pita bread and fried green tomatoes. The tomatoes' breading was super light and crisp, as it should be.

I had a sazerac, which featured one large block of ice, instead of ice cubes. Why? I have no idea. I also had a hibiscus gin and tonic, which I liked much better, but I forgot to take a picture of it.

Still hungry, we ordered goat cheese "fondue" with olives and sourdough bread. I wouldn't really call it fondue, since it wasn't melted, but it was good and filling.

The next day, we just hung out around the house. Games were played.

Tony was wrestled into submission.

Garden cherry tomatoes were eaten.

The next day, it was party time! Jackson's cousins came over to celebrate with him.

First duck-duck-goose, then freeze tag.

Thought they were gonna knock me down! Haha.

Sweaty and red-faced, Jackson opened his presents.

He requested a Transformer cake this year. It was my first attempt at making and working with fondant. It turned out a little too thick and goopy. My Transformer looked like he had a rough night.

Jackson didn't mind.

We had to come home the next day. Before we left, we had lunch at Golden Corral. Have you eaten at one of these? We don't like the one in Austin because they do a lot of seafood and it smells like fish. The ones in Oklahoma are pretty good though, as long as you understand that your plate will be heavy on the yellows and browns and lacking the other colors of the rainbow. I had broccoli, mac n cheese, fried okra, roll, corn pudding, and carrot souffle. 

Cotton candy for the birthday boy's dessert.

Sister needed her own.

A great visit as always! We love going to Grandma's house.

Elevate Me

This is how Olivia dresses to go to the Toyota dealer. We should all have such fashion savoir faire.

Two and a half hours later (recall issue, fixed now thankfully!) we were out of there, and starving! We stopped for lunch at Elevation Burger. I love how the order of fries is twice the size of the veggie burger (sarcasm.)

At home, we tried out another flavor of Hail Merry tart -- chocolate almond butter! Rich and delish, but I think key lime still holds my heart.

Although not an exact match with the post subject matter, this is still not a bad song to get stuck in your head.

All the Food

Started the day early with oats, topped with Brazil nuts, maca, ground flaxseed, bee pollen, and caco nibs. I am trying to cut back on eating processed cereals every morning, choosing either oats or yogurt for breakfast. It is hard! I love cereal.

After we got around, we headed to Wheatsville. Jackson and Olivia snacked on blueberries in the car, hence the blue lips!

Whenever I go to Wheatsville, I want to buy everything! It isn't easy to restrain myself and only buy what I came there for. In fact, it was impossible on this trip because I found so many goodies! Suja Elements organic cold-pressed juice...Olivia chose this flavor, and the kids shared it. Tastes like strawberry and banana!

Wheatsville's Southern-fried tofu, Livin' Spoonful raw pizza-flavored crackers, and my very first Hail Merry raw key lime tart. I sampled a bite of it as soon as I got home, and I've been dreaming about it ever since!

I also grabbed some Living Raw darkest cacao truffles, coated in cacao nibs which are my newest love, as well as a Reed's kombucha because I'd never tried that brand before. It was super fizzy and good.

It was a day of sweet firsts, actually. Besides the Hail Merry tart, I had my first vegan donut from Red Rabbit Cooperative Bakery. I only get a donut craving once or twice a year, and it hit me big time when I saw these in the Wheatsville bakery.  I went with Boston cream pie -- if I'm going to have a donut, I want frosted, cream-filled, the whole enchilada. Jackson and Olivia both chose Mexican chocolate donuts.

After finishing a few other errands, we came home and made wraps filled with Scrambled Chickpeas (from Isa Does It), greens, tomato, and that amazing Southern-fried tofu.

For dinner I had a big salad with lemon-cashew dressing (recipe from Oh She Glows, but her site is down as I write this post) and tons of kalamata olives.