Oktoberfest!

Colin and I had never been to Oktoberfest, and when our new ABF friends, the Ogles, mentioned it was coming up, we decided we needed to give it a shot.

 

It was hot, but we still had a lot of fun exploring the tents, eating the authentic German food, and watching the magic tricks in the kids tent.

 

Richard and Erin even tried to win some prizes.  Of course, they all look easy, and we quickly learned that when they lure you in with "all you have to do is....", you're in trouble.  Needless to say, no actual prizes were won.

Instead, we made our way to the fountains for a funnel cake break in the shade, and laughed at the kids playing in the fountains.

 

What a blast with our new friends!

Sweet Weekend

Colin FINALLY returned from his work trip to Canada.  (It was only 10 days, but it seemed like an eternity this trip.)  Since he had been on the go the whole time, we just enjoyed a quiet evening at home on Friday. 

Saturday morning, I enjoyed the company of the ladies in my Adult Bible Fellowship (ABF) class (aka Sunday School) as we attended a baby shower for Michelle and baby Parker!  It was great getting to see the ladies, and meet Julie's sweet baby Knox!

 

Saturday afternoon, Colin and I went to the Arboretum.  I had never been, and heard about the fabulous Chihuly exhibit that is currently there, so we decided to make an afternoon of it.  The weather was absolutely perfect for walking around and exploring.  The combination of blown glass and flowers was amazing.  I am so glad we are finally working on our "being a tourist in Dallas" list.  We enjoy doing all of the touristy things in the cities we visit, but we never seem to make time to do the same in Dallas!

 

We had recorded the A&M game so we did not have to rush at the arboretum.  We were both elated that we won (48-3)!  What a great end to a beautiful day!

 

Sunday, we went to ABF and "big church."  We had a guest speaker, Dr. Kevin Leman, and he was hilarious talking about  marriage, parenting, and being a good Christian (get rid of the bumper stickers!). 

Afterwards, we celebrated a dear friend's birthday by going to a Ranger's Game!  It was Colin and I's first of the season, so we were looking forward to it.  Only problem was - the rain!  Luckily, we found a good restaurant to eat lunch at, Mariano's.  We killed some time there and waited for the rain delay to be lifted before we headed to the game.  Lucky for us, they provided a soapapilla for birthdays - along with a hot pink sombrero AND singing.  Brian was a great sport, and the soapapilla was delicious!

Once the game started, it was barely raining, so we sported our ponchos and toughed it out.  We ended up pulling a big win, so it all turned out great!

Cruisin' to Alaska

The first week of August, Colin and I went on a cruise to Alaska with my parents, my brother, Ryan, and his wife, Micah.  It goes without saying that it was absolutely beautiful!  It was so wonderful to see a new part of this beautiful world God has created for us. 

Our destinations included Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, Ketchikan, and Victoria, B.C. 

We went on a whale watching excursion in Juneau, and were lucky enough to see killer whales (fairly rare to see in that area), and a whole pod of humpback whales bubble net feeding (extremely rare!).  They would all dive down (we counted about 13) and start circling a school of fish, trapping them by releasing bubbles (something fish are afraid of), and drive them up to the top so they could eat them.  It was incredible to witness!

In Skagway, we went on a scenic railroad tour 20 miles up into the mountains.  We crossed several bridges, saw some baby black bears playing, lots of waterfalls, and picture-perfect landscapes each way we turned.

While in the Glacier Bay, we took a few pictures from our balcony in front of the Margerie Glacier.

In Ketchikan, we went to a fun lumberjack show and watched some lumberjacks compete in a variety of challenges.  Spruce Mills Camp (Team U.S.A. lost, but it was still fun none the less).

In Victoria, we went to the butterfly gardens and then the famous 55-acre Butchart Gardens and saw some exquisite flowers.  The only thing that would have made this better was if there was more light since we were there in the evening.

 

It was an incredible week!  If you ever plan to travel to Alaska, you definitely need to look into a cruise!

San Francisco & Sonoma Trip!

Since the 4th of July fell on a Wednesday this year, we decided to just take off the whole week and plan a vacation!  We had been wanting to do a San Francisco trip, with a little wine country thrown in and thought this would be a great time to go. 

We flew out EARLY Saturday morning, made it to San Fran, and walked ALL the way up to Nob Hill, WITH our luggage.  Thank goodness we had trolley passes waiting for us at the hotel, because I was not looking forward to doing THAT again.  We checked in and hopped on the trolley to head down to the Wharf.

The weather was beautiful - 50's and 60's all day.  Definitely a nice change from the 109 degree weather we left behind here in Dallas.

We had 'hop-on-hop-off' passes for a tour bus that picked us up at the Wharf and took us to the Golden Gate Bridge, the Japanese tea gardens, the painted ladies, Chinatown, the Civic Center, Union Square, Pier 39, etc.  Unfortunately, the fog was covering the Golden Gate Bridge every time we went by, but we enjoyed exploring the other stops.  We were grateful we had several days to explore the city because there was a lot to see! 

One night, we went to a San Francisco Giants game at AT&T Park.  It was beautiful, and we had a great view of the field and the bay.

 The next night, we went to Oakland A's game at Overstock.com Coliseum.  It was freezing!  I was glad we got this one checked off the list!

We headed out of town the next morning, and crossed the Golden Gate Bridge.  We were thrilled to see that the fog had lifted and we could see the bridge!

We made our way up the mountain to Muir Woods (a redwood tree forest).  Colin and I could hide inside one of the redwoods - they were huge!  It was so peaceful, and a 'must visit' for anyone going to San Francisco!

Afterwards, we headed to Sonoma to begin our California wine tour.  There were many to choose from, so we mainly chose our stops based on the name of the winery.  Sonoma and Napa were just beautiful.  These pictures just do not do it justice!  We really enjoyed visiting the wineries and learning more about California wines!

 
It was a beautiful and relaxing trip.  We were sad to come home, but glad we had the opportunity to see another wonderful place!