Texas Shenanigans II

Just some daily life in Texas

Scrabble Cheez-Its

Pat-Thai!!!! One of our (Josh, Kristyn and I's) favorite restaurants

The countdown chain to Thanksgiving break.

Wes, Kristyn, Josh and I at a pub crawl

Pub Crawl

Halloween 2012

Halloween 2012

To get the season started off right we carved pumpkins. They rotted in about 48 hours. It's humid in Texas.

My pumpkin has a face.

My co-workers threw a Halloween themed pot luck. Josh and I made this puking pumpkin. The artichoke dip was a hit. 

This is how I spent my Halloween. Handing out literally BOXES of candy to 5th graders. Don't worry, I got my share too.

Katniss Everdeen (real arrows and pin) and Ace Ventura. I made those red pants!

A close up of Katniss and Ace

Winding Stair Backpacking Trip

Winding Stair Backpacking Trip
Ouchita National Forest
Oklahoma

Josh and I planned a 21 mile backpacking trip in the Ouchita National Forest in Oklahoma on the border of Arkansas. We left work around three, got to the trailhead around six and made it about 3 miles before it got dark. We had salmon parm for dinner and called it a night around 8. We were definitely worn out after our week.

The next day we needed to hike about 14 miles to be on track since we got a late start. We hiked in the worst humidity of my life, but got some beautiful views and we finally got to see some fall colors! We saw some animals and walked through a lot of poison ivy. It took me a while to realize that we were supposed to cache water. It didn't mean there were going to be hidden caches of water for you to pump from, it mean that you were supposed to hide your own water. We were really worried we weren't going to find any water and we'd be s.o.l. Fortunately we came across a valley stream that was on the verge of being dried up. There was some still water but we pumped it anyway and hoped for the best.

We finally found a place to camp next to a pretty nasty pond. Fortunately there was water in it, and we were able to pump and boil it to make sure we didn't get sick. We made dinner - we were both exhausted and sooo sweaty and sticky so we laid down and fell asleep early. The next thing I know I'm in the most outrageous thunder/lightening/rain storm of my life. It lasted for about 4 hours (or what seemed like four hours) and I'll admit, I was pretty shook up. Apparently the whole area, Anna included, got rained out. Fortunately we didn't get puddles and the water didn't seep through my tent. We were safe, warm and dry. The next morning I couldn't really believe that we were dry. Everyone else that we passed on our 5 mile hike out seemed to have gotten soaked during the night. 

We hiked out in the muggy weather, both ready to be done with the hike. We got to the car and headed to the nearest ice cream place. Dairy Queen treated us well. Once home I fell asleep and ended up not being sore! All in all, it was a great trip, except I wish it were closer. 

After a 3.5 hour drive we finally made it to the trailhead.

We finally saw autumn in Oklahoma!

A lookout. Before we started running out of water. 

Autumn

CCAC 2

Collin County Adventure Camp Happenings
Fall 2012 

 A sunset one autumn evening

The Lake one night before campfire

We matched from head to toe one day|

One of my students drew dinosaurs in his food web|

My bruises of glory- queen of the archery range

If you look carefully you'll see a copperhead snake.
I pointed it out to my students on the trail one day.

Wish 100 of North Texas

Wish 100

I rode the Wish 100 benefiting Make-A-Wish Foundation of North Texas this year. The day of the race came, my bike was tuned and I was ready. I got there bright and early. It was the coldest day of the year up until late November. I rode 63 miles in forty degree weather and raised nearly $300. Thanks to everyone who donated.

Before the ride - Downtown McKinney

Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest in downtown McKinney
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It started to rain just as we got there. Franconia (a local brewery) hosted. 

We danced and polka-ed to a German band

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We took a break from the rain at The Pub 

Bonham State Park

We chose a rainy Saturday to go visit a nearby state park - Bonham. We hiked around the lake and then Kristyn and Josh went for a cold swim.  We finished the day off with Pat Thai!

At the Lake

Swimming