Papa and Nana come to Texas

March 11th brought Papa and Nana Jasper back to the lone star state.  We love having them come to visit.  They know enough about the area now that they can come and go as they please without needing directions.  They mostly stay though.  They like having time with some of their grandsons.  Before their arrival, Jasper came up with a list of things he’d like to do with his Papa and Nana:

• train table
• pick strawberries
• play trucks
• watch TV
• play games (bingo)

I think we hit all the highlights.  And there was plenty of reading, too.

They were able to come with us to Preschool one day and meet Mrs. Kelly.  They came with us to church and ate with us at some of our favorite restaurants: Panera, Jason’s Deli, P.Terry’s, Mandolas and of course, Rudy’s. 

One day they ventured into the hill country alone and knocked around Fredericksburg.  Then on the following day, we all piled into the car (sans Drew – it was a Friday) and drove out to Marble Falls to pick strawberries.  What a delight!  This is not a good year for bluebonnets b/c we had such a cold (for Texas) winter and nary any rain.  But, we still saw small groves of bluebonnets and stopped along the way to photograph pretty ranch gates.  We drove into Marble Falls at noon and stopped at Storm’s to buy burgers.  We then drove to Sweetberry Farm and ate our burgers and the rest of our picnic lunch at the picnic tables on the farm.  It was a lovely March day.  Totally amazing.  The farm had only been open about a week, but even with that we picked such gorgeous strawberries we filled two big baskets without even making it down half a row.  The boys both enjoyed this trip to Sweetberry.  Jasper loved jumping over the plants from row to row and carrying my strawberries back to the box Nana was filling.  He also loved running up and down the rows to stretch his legs.  Both boys had fun picking and eating strawberries right off the vine.  Nothing can be finer!

 

We loaded into the car at naptime hoping to get some zzz’s out of the boys but instead just got rambunctious little ones strapped into car seats.  No sleeping happened between Marble Falls and the Johnson Ranch.  So we got out and toured the historic farm in the State Park portion of the Park.  Then we got in the car to do the driving tour of the National Park portion – the old Johnson property.  I was driving the Honda minivan, and I was just following the signs, and the route this year takes you up along the airstrip through the rolling property of LBJ and Lady Bird, then back down the other side of the airstrip to the hanger (which now holds an old Presidential airplane), and back out again.  My parents have been to the ranch MANY times, and this is the first time the driving tour has taken them along that route.  They LOVED it.  Cattle freely roam on the rolling hills of the property, and it was a beautiful prospect.  (I feel very Jane Austen in having just typed that.)  They were going to skip the Ranch this trip, but they were so glad we didn’t.  It was my first trip to the Ranch.  Perhaps when the boys can be trusted to walk through a historic home we’ll return.

This calf is only a few days old and was bleating for his mama.  The shingles in the garden are shading new transplants during the heat of the Texas afternoons. 

LBJ’s prospect of the rolling hill country, along the airstrip.

Of course the boys fell asleep on the ride back into Austin, but we hit southwest Austin at rush hour and decided to camp out in the Lakeway area for dinner.  Drew was able to meet us for dinner at Mandolas.  Initially Jasper was sooooo tired he whined and talked about not being able to stay awake through dinner.  However, once we told him he could have ice cream (gelato) if he cleaned his plate, his energy level peaked up.  I surveyed the gelato case before them and found that strawberry was next to hazelnut, vanilla was next to toasted almond and chocolate was next to another nut flavor.  ugh!  but nevertheless, we brought them to the case and suggested they could have one of those three flavors.  Jasper looked at the case and said “I want THIS one!”  He went rogue and picked straciatelli – which turns out is a sweet milk gelato with chocolate swirled in (sometimes made and described as a chocolate chip).  It was nut-free and thankfully not surrounded by any nut flavors.  So, they both happily got their gelato and headed back to our table.  They LOVED it.  Both cleaned their bowls and were not surprisingly wired for the 30 minute car ride home. :) 

While here, Papa and Nana also helped us knock out a few outdoor projects.  We were not nearly as organized as we would have liked to be to get much more done with them here, but that’s just the way things go with us.  But, Papa helped me dig out the front bed and clean it up to receive new plants and flower seeds.  Mom planted my tomato plants which we hope will yield a great crop. :)