Thankful Thursday

This week, I am just crazy thankful that it's fall! Texas doesn't really have the same fall as the midwest does (we seem to go from 100 degrees to 50 degrees very quickly, which means no gradual leaf falling). The types of trees that grow down here don't produce the beautiful fall colors, the temperatures don't cool down very much and consequently people don't buy or carve pumpkins until RIGHT at Halloween because the Jack-o-lanterns would rot in like 3 hours!

But because I love Texas, I am willing to go without the wonderful staples of a midwest autumn. But oh how I miss them!

Here are some of my favorite parts of fall in the midwest:

1. hay rides

2. carving pumpkins

3. the smell of crunchy, dry, beautiful leaves in the yard

4. making huge piles of leaves and jumping in them

5. hot apple cider on a cold night

6. haunted houses

7. trick-or-treating as a kid with Dad

8. evenings getting darker earlier - I love the dark!

9. the smell in the air of neighbors burning fires in their fireplaces

10. super bright leaves on the trees - especially the vibrant red leaves and the neon yellow ones

11. getting my favorite coats out of the closet

12. jeans/sweatshirt weather at night

13. a bonfire on a cold night - with a cozy blanket

Oh man, the list could go on and on...I need to go north in the fall to get my 'fix' I guess!

Blue Moon On The Water

To continue yesterday's post about the sunset cruise that Cindy and I took on Lake Lewisville, here are the shots from after the sun disappeared. It was actually a special night as far as the sun/moon go apparently......I guess the sun going down and the moon coming up were only 5 minutes apart on that night (it was right at the fall equinox). So cool! Here is the moon coming up!

It was so gorgeous - I could've sat out there for hours and just listened to the water.

I looked up when I was sitting on the boat and I saw the biggest stash of water noodles EVER! I guess this company does swimming cruises too - and they store their noodles in the ceiling of the boat - creative!

Here we are underneath the new tollway bridge that was built not too long ago. It was gorgeous all lit up at night.

The bridge and the moon - I felt like I was out at South Padre for a minute there!

This looks a lot like the causeway bridge at South Padre....

I wish we could've turned off the music and had everyone be quiet for a few minutes out here - it was just beautiful!

And here's the full moon that was out that night. We were told that it was a "Blue Moon"!

Lake Lewisville Sunset

Late last week, Cindy and I went on a sunset cruise on Lake Lewisville. I cannot remember the last time I was on a lake, so it felt good. It actually really reminded me of my childhood when I was on a boat in a lake pretty much every single weekend from Memorial Day to Labor Day and beyond. I didn't appreciate those days enough!

Here's Cindy holding our ghetto drinks (big Subway cups full of lemonade and vodka)!

Here we are aboard the "See Breeze" - our captain, Joe.

The marina area was really neat - some VERY nice boats in some of those slips.....

And here is our perfect sunset!

The weather was so beautiful and the lake was perfect that night.

We met some fun people from American Airlines on our cruise (about 30-40 people total were on the boat).

And here we are, enjoying our trek on the lake! It was kind of hot at first, but it got cooler as the sun went down.....and NO bugs!

If the captain hadn't put on that terrible CD of caribbean music, it would've been more relaxing, but oh well - there were a ton of people, so I'm not sure how relaxing it could get!

You could bring food/drinks on board, so a lot of people brought their whole dinner, but Cindy and I ate beforehand, so we could concentrate on drinking our 'lemonade' and enjoying the sights.....

Modern Pop

Last week Cindy, April and I went to DoubleDave's for April's birthday. Little did we know that we were going to be sitting next to a modern marvel of technology!

I have never seen one of these before, but it was the electronic/touch screen fountain pop machine! Here's April in front of it, pondering her choice of pop...

You just pick what kind you want and then it goes to the next screen of all the different flavors of that brand (like if you picked Sprite, the next screen would let you pick from cherry Sprite, diet Sprite, etc.). Once you zeroed in on 'the one', then you just hit the big "easy" button and voila - pop is dispensed!

But of course, with any technology, there are glitches and error messages! The Diet Coke ran out while we were sitting there, so we got to watch the manager change out the cartridge of syrup.

Here's the the insides of the machine look like - when he had it open to replace the Diet Coke. So interesting!

When Farm Boys Get Bored

As a fun thing for a fall Friday, here are some creative ways to display hay bales!!

Everyone loves a castle....

A little Stonehenge action....

Ummmm.....creepy

Did they have a freaking crane do this or what?!

Cute!

Miss Piggy

Sick sense of humor....

Beam me up!

This one looks cool, but I don't really get it.....

Very cool....I love ferris wheels.....

Now that's just cool....

I love corn mazes - I'm going to one once it gets cooler around here.....

WOW - that's insane!

I love the pacifier....

Ummmmm....weird!