The Hill Country

So we thought we'd be the only ones crazy enough to venture over to Lost Maples State Natural Area last weekend, due to the pending overcast skies and high chance of rain. It was a risk, because it was a three hour drive for us, but we reserved the hotel to stay in San Antonio and Lost Maples had been on my list of places to see for a while. There are a lost of state parks just west of San Antonio, including Garner State Park which we'd already been to. Lost Maples is famous around here for being one of the few nearby places you can go to see the leaves change colors in the fall. Autumn isn't much of a season in South Texas, as it's more of an extension of summer, so seeing something like leaves changing is different. Well, we were wrong about being the only ones who wanted to see it. Even in the light rain, the park met capacity limits at 10 a.m. and the rangers wouldn't let anyone else in. We got there at 11 a.m. Good times. But as I said, there are a lot of other parks nearby, so we went back toward San Antonio and stopped at Hill Country State Natural Area. It was down a long, narrow dirt road that made you believe the hills were going to have eyes by the time you got to the state park. A blown out tire would have cast us immediately into the middle of a horror movie. Ok, not really. It wasn't that bad, but the park was off the beaten path. There were a handful of other adventurers out there, riding horses, hiking, and otherwise enjoying the misty, humid weather. We took what I assumed to be the premier hike to the top of the towering 1,800 foot mountain and got a decent view of the hill country.

Nolan had too much H-E-B Hill Country Fare Grape soda. Gotta get that energy boost to get up the mountain.

Enjoying a picnic lunch under a tree in the park in the light rain before a hike in the park on an Autumn day.

Doing the same.

This view of the Hill Country is brought to you by H-E-B. At least, I imagine it was in some way or another, since everything else around here is.

At the top of the mountain! Or hill... whatever you want to call it.

Paul always enjoys these outdoor adventures. We do frequently have to tell him to "take a hike" or "jump in a lake" so he really does love it.

Baseball is Back!

While Major League Baseball is long done this year (with another disappointing finish for the Indians, though they did have an amazing year), baseball around here has just begun! Normally, Fall League starts in September/October, but due to the hurricane slowing down the opening of the fields, it started just a little late... or maybe a lot late. At this point it might as well be called Winter League, since we don't end the season until close to Christmas now. But I'm not complaining, because the weather has been fantastic and it's normally extremely hot for fall baseball around here. We've also been able to play on the new fields here, so the kids (or mostly me) have been excited about that. As of this post, Nolan has been playing excellent at first base and he's the power hitter for his team (he probably should have moved up to the next level because he's definitely old enough, but we'll get there in the spring). Adam has been doing incredible at Short Stop and managed to get on base most at bats. My record as a head coach (all-time) is hovering at .500 though. When I coached Paul's Indians, we went 1-9, then Adam's Nationals went 10-1, and after two games, GP Red is 1-1. Maybe we can go on an historic 8-game win streak to end the season though! We'll see...

This is Halloween...

It's the end of October already. That was quick. At least there's time for Trick or Treating! The boys got dressed up (of course), got candy (of course), and ate too much of it (of course). I did the same, minus the getting dressed up part. The weather has been surprisingly fantastic for Halloween. Normally we're swimming in the air and the boys are sweating in their costumes, but this year October has been incredibly cool. We had a Minecraft Steve, a Halo Master Chief, and a Green Power Ranger this year. The costumes seem to be a lot more extensive now than they were when I was a kid. And they had more than just Halloween night to use them, as they went to the Boo Bash the city puts on, checked out the aquarium's Halloween event, and wore them to class today for the book parade. Now it's time for a few weeks of sugar overload!

You go in the cage? Cage goes in the water? Shark is in the water. Our shark. Farewell and adieu... Adam ain't afraid of no shark!

The Boy is Five

Son #3 turned the big 5 years old this month. Where does the time go? Wherever that is, it's going too fast. He's sprouting up before our eyes, outgrowing his clothes and holding his own with his big brothers. This kid is always happy, always easy going. He's a quick learner, easily focused, always laid back, generally thoughtful, but rowdy and tough when he has to be. He's in his final year of freedom, just hanging out with mom most days, as this time next year he'll be in kindergarten. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Please. Here he is... just Nolan...

Making his own birthday cake... only to find out the oven was broken... at least HEB sells birthday cakes!

He may be a big kid now, but he still can sleep like a baby...

Count 'em, five...

Uh, say cheese?

They built it, so I guess we'll be going...

A while back the city voted to approve a bond issue to fund two new sports complexes, including new baseball and softball fields, new football practice fields, a covered basketball court, running track, playgrounds, and splash parks. The old baseball fields were just that, getting old, but they still got the job done. These new fields are something else. The city had a grand opening (before closing again to actually finish the job) and we got a chance to check them out. It was impressive. Going to be a good fall baseball season (though winter ball would be a more appropriate name at this point). And lucky me, the league needed coaches, so Adam and I will be taking the field together for the first time in a few weeks!

Free apple pies for everyone!

And Dr. Pepper! 

You mean to tell me the sugar is free and practically unlimited?!?!

New dugouts.

Turf everywhere. Everything is turf. Not sure how that will be, but it feels nice.

The hurricane was here...

It could have been much worse. For a lot of people, it was, unfortunately. Somehow we managed to escape the highest winds, as they came to shore about 30 miles north of us. Corpus Christi avoided almost all of it, save a few knocked out traffic lights and road signs. Rockport and Port Aransas suffered the worst of it, with the winds hitting more than 130 miles per hour and tearing everything apart. The devastation was unbelievable. Portland looks like a different town too, with so many trees gone, shingles scattered everywhere, and fences down in almost every yard around town. The piles of tree branches line the streets and make it feel like you're driving through tunnels. The power of the wind can be unbelievable. I was honestly hoping to stay and weather the storm, but on Thursday the city issued a mandatory evacuation and we had to pack it up and get out. We boarded up the house, packed what we could into the van, and drove to Austin. It was a surreal weekend, not knowing whether our house was still going to be here whenever we were allowed to come back. Had the storm come in a little farther south, that might have been the case. On Sunday, a friend of ours went back and sent us pictures, then we found out the power came back on for our house that evening. As I write this a full week later, there are still houses in Portland without power, and in the other towns, it may be several more weeks. I have to give credit to the power companies, because there were dozens of trucks all over town putting up power lines and trying to get people back up all last week. People from all over the country have come to help out the communities around here and in Houston. We've been through tropical storms before, but one thing is for sure, we won't forget Hurricane Harvey.

Thankfully, whoever owned this house before us knew there was a need for plywood. I didn't know why there was so much in the garage when we moved in, but it definitely came in handy, and it was already pre-cut to fit all the windows and doors.

The boys helped put it up, but the evening was so nice it didn't really seem like there was any need for it.

So much for my double gate. I just put this all up about a year or so ago.

I think if we hadn't taken the mat off the trampoline it would have ended up on our roof or in someone else's yard. I saw one tangled up in someone's tree.

It almost didn't make sense how the wind decided to hit. Some things were destroyed that you wouldn't expect, while some fences that were already falling down somehow survived.

But the storm went away finally, as we knew it would. There was another beautiful sunset over South Texas by Monday.

We're also very thankful we're a little higher above sea level and the city is set up in a way that flooding isn't normally an issue. The people in Houston haven't been as lucky with this storm.

We survived. The house survived. There's nothing more we could ask for than that. If you live down here, you know it's only a matter of time before the next one comes, but since they said this was the worst storm in the last 50 years down here, we're hopeful we won't see another one like it for a while.