27

I had a great 27th birthday!

Lee came home from work with these pretty flowers for me :) He also got me a new camera lens which I am excited to start using.

We went out for supper at Joe's Crab Shack. I know, not very exciting but we haven't been there for a long time and I love their crab nachos.

When we got home, we went in the hot tub. It was a little too cold for the pool but still pretty fun to be outside in the hot tub for a November birthday girl from Iowa. Most of the time when I was little there was either a snow or ice storm around my birthday.

We ended the night with a birthday dessert. I have never liked cake so Lee makes me these rice crispy ice cream bars. They are so good :) My one birthday request was to go horseback riding. Stay tuned for that!

Downtown Dallas

Hey Ya'll. On October 29, 2011 Becky and I traveled down highway 75 to downtown Dallas. We started our morning at the Dallas Farmers Market.

There were 4 seperate buildings filled with a wide variety of vegetables and fruits. Most were locally grown - in Mexico. The market is open seven days a week all year. One vender missing from the Dallas Farmers Market is The Iowa Coffee Company and their carmel pecan roll coffee. The company from Runnells, Iowa should probably expand their market. 

Following the farmers market, we made our way to Dealey Plaza and the old Texas School Book Depository. Today the school book depository building is known as The Sixth Floor Museum or where Lee Harvey Oswald shot President John F. Kennedy as his motorcade traveled down Elm Street in downtown Dallas. The museum featured an audio tour of JFK's presidencey and the events of November 22, 1963. Sorry if the picture is too bright from the sun glare off my forehead and a second appology but photographs were not allowed in the museum.

Following the museum tour we went down to Dealey Plaza to get a closer look at what really happened. Normally I am pretty frugal but a street vendor offered me the deal of a lifetime for only $5. The "Dealey Plaza Special Edition" and it even came with a special plastic protective covering. It's a newpaper offereing photos, history and conspiracies of the events.

Photos (above) are of me looking up at the 6th floor window where Lee Harvey Osewald changed history. With the wonders of technology and picture editing, Becky was able to make the picute look as if it was taken back in 1963. The other picture is Becky and myself enjoying the warm weather in late October.



After learning the history of the events, what the "Warren Commission" concluded, and all the conspirarcies it was interesting to walk around Dealey Plaza to see for yourself the possiblities. Above is a picture of the grassy knoll where anaylsis concluded a 95% probablity there was a second shooter.

               

 There are Xs on Elm Street at the 2 spots (the neck shot and fatal head shot) President Kennedy was shot. I rushed out between traffic so Becky could snap a photo. The only picture that Becky let me take of her with her camera. For some reason she doesn't think I know how to use the camera correctly.

Down on Houston Steet is the JFK Memorial. There is nothing better than learning about history while in the exact spot history was made.

We finished the day wandering around downtown then headed to Mckinney Ave. to stop at a few stores.

Towne Lake Park

Towne Lake Park is one of my favorite places here. We brought some old bread the last time we went there. Just after we got out of the car we were surrounded by these guys.

This guy....

even ate out of Lee's hand!

Lee walked down the trail and started feeding a few birds in the water.

Two minutes later, there were birds flying across the lake to get some bread too! We ran out of bread pretty quickly.

On the other side of the lake we found this Blue Heron.

There are also these weird looking ducks that live at this lake....

This is a pretty fun place to go for a walk :)

Neighbors

We recently discovered these big guys live just down the road from us.....

Erwin Park

Lee had a Thursday afternoon off in early October. It was a nice afternoon so we decided to check out Erwin Park which is just outside McKinney.

I finally found some fall leaves! Fall hasn't been quite the same in Texas.

We walked one of the trails through a wooded area in the park.

It has only rained 4 times since we moved here. This is what the very dry Texas ground looks like. 

In Iowa when you walk in the woods you can usually find some deer. In Texas you find longhorns! I couldn't zoom in enough, but these were some of the biggest cows I have ever seen.

It has been nice finally spending some time outside now that it has cooled down some!

Austin

We took a weekend trip to Green Bay, WI last year to celebrate our anniversary. This year we decided to go to Austin, TX. The traffic would have been too bad to leave on Friday after Lee got off work so we left early Saturday morning. We headed straight to Congress Street when we got to Austin. This street has fun shops and food trucks.

Of course there was a boot shop! There were rows and rows of boots with any design you could ever want.

We shared a red velvet cupcake from the Hey Cupcake! food truck. Yum!

I think the highlight of the trip for Lee was going to Mellow Johnny's. This is Lance Armstrong's bike shop.

Lee in the Radio Shack room.

Lee is in heaven :) The bikes on the wall above him are special bikes from Lance's career.

2005 Trek Madone SSLx Livestrong Bike

This machine was created especially for Lance in his final trip down the Champs Elyseés in the Yellow Jersey with the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team.

2000 U.S. Postal Service Team Issue Trek Madone

This bike was made to commemorate Lance Armstrong's 1999 Tour De France win, and it is number one of the 1,999 bikes that were produced for sale.

We ate at a restaurant called The Oasis Saturday night. It overlooks Lake Travis. There are four levels with mostly outside seating. It was a really cool restaurant and a beautiful night to eat lakeside. 

We saw this funny sign on the way out. I think this is how most Texans think.

Before we left on Sunday, we stopped at the University of Texas. We walked around for a little while and saw the Longhorns stadium.

Austin was a very cool city...we had a great time!