New Family Member!

Mr. E and I took a trip to Austin last weekend for the Labor Day holiday to visit J, B, and C. And we got to meet our new family member, MTM! J and B are adopting a baby boy, who was born a bit early on August 24th, so he was just about two weeks old when we met him for the first time. So fun! An unexpected surprise and extra benefit for the family visit.

We arrived on Friday evening and enjoyed dinner and some chill time with the family. Yummy sushi and other snacks for dinner thanks to J's grocery trip as well as our first interactions with MTM! 

On Saturday, we all had breakfast together on the screened-in porch before J went to a noon yoga class. I had done my usual Zumba + yoga + mini laps in the pool workout, which was my routine on Sunday morning as well. I spent time with C looking at the coin collection that I was passing off to him from Grampy and Dad, and we found quite a few pennies in his bag of change that filled in open spots in two of the penny books. Mr. E and I then went off to Whole Foods to procure some items for Saturday grilling by the pool, anticipating that we'd be welcoming some guests. I had to work for a couple of hours on a grant proposal that was due on the Tuesday after the holiday weekend, so Mr. E got started on some food prep. When J got home from yoga, we learned that the guests wouldn't be able to come after all, which gave us more flexibility with timing for the afternoon and evening. Everyone except Mr. E enjoyed some pool time followed by a yummy dinner of shrimp cocktail, chips and avo, grilled veggie skewers, grilled corn, and BBQ chicken. And some different friends, B and M, ended up being able to come join us, so we had a few guests after all, which helped to diminish the amount of leftovers, especially for the chicken.

Sunday morning was a repeat of breakfast on the porch followed by a session of family photos, starting in the backyard and finishing up on the staircase in the house. The temperature was a bit warmer than the day before, with fewer clouds as well, but at least we got to see some lovely blue sky and sun, which has been missing from Sac for Mr. E and me for about the past two weeks or so due to the awful widespread fires around Nor Cal. Grandma K came over in the early afternoon to look after MTM so that the rest of us, including the dogs, could head out to a nearby access point of Violet Crown trail for a hike. We walked for about 45 minutes before stopping for a snack break on big boulder in the shade. Despite the recent rains earlier in the week, we didn't encounter too many water crossings. We were all pretty hot and sticky by the time we got home, so B, C, and I all headed out to the pool to cool off a bit while Mr. E got started on food prep. Dinner this evening was grilled steak and boiled lobster tails from Maine, which Mr. E and I had ordered from Maine Lobster Now as a surprise for J to belatedly celebrate her 50th birthday. Yummy surf and turf!

I started off Monday with a run and explored a different part of the trail near the Amenity Center. I finished up with yoga and mini laps again before joining C for breakfast. J went to a 9:30am yoga class, so C and Mr. E and I had some time together in the morning to work on the pinata from the most recent Little Passports package. The decorating part was definitely the trickiest, but the mini cactus pinata looked pretty good by the time we were finished. We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon just hanging out with MTM and C and B and J, with some lego action, of course. Then J and C took us to the airport for our 3:15pm flight, and we were back home in Sac with the kitties by about 6:30pm.

J and I talked about planning a Thanksgiving trip for just the two of us plus C, so I'm hoping we can come up with a fun destination that doesn't have too many restrictions!