I must say I have enjoyed the slightly milder weather here, but today again was brutal! It was 98F (37C) and while we were walking to the overly airconditioned mall, on the parking lot with the tarmac and all the cars, it felt like 105 (40). Brutal! For all you readers not in Texas, imagine what the car feels like after being parked in that for a few hours. According to the forecast the mild (i.e. 80sF and 27C) weather is over now and we will be back to our "normal" summer heat.
Speaking of normal and Texas... I wanted to share a photograph with you that I took one morning after parking my car on campus and walking to the pook for a quick swim before starting work. As I mentioned before, I always carry my camera with me, and it served me well this morning. Here I am, strolling to the campus pool, alongside a little creek that runs through campus (Waller Creek for those of you who know UT campus.) Most of the time this river bed is dry but due to all the aforementioned rains we have been getting it is actually a nice little stream now. I was admiring how clear the water was when I suddenly noticed ...
Yep, a genuine watermoccasin. These things are not friendly to say the least. And that is when I thought, wow, not too many people run into snakes on their way to work. This is TEXAS for ya!
Let's stick with that subject for the next picture. The three of us went to Fredericksburg, Texas a few weekends ago. Here is a shot of a shop window in this little touristy town outside of the state's capital.
I can't say that, after all these years of living here, I have ever really experienced what this shirt so proudly advertises, but maybe I have just been going to the wrong places -- or I should say, maybe I have not been going to the right places! ha. Notice the taxidermic armadillo slurping Miller Light through a straw! Just thought I would call attention to the details that might otherwise be lost on my friends over there in Europe.
The Fultons have been having fun in the weekends and I thought I would share some pictures of some of our excursions. So here we go, lots and lots of Evelina shots! But first a first. A few weekends ago we ran into some friends of ours at a playground. They have a little boy and Evelina and him ran around together. Here she is goofin' around.
And then, suddenly (well... encouraged by his father whose legs are in the picture) he smacked her on the lips. To my knowledge, this was her first uninitiated kiss! He then put his arms around her while she ran away. It was pretty cute. She is usually the dominant toddler, but little Stevie took her by surprise. Older men, oh well.
So here are the rest of the pictures. We have been swimming, shopping, eating, museum-visiting.... I will be brief about them and will post the pics in small format. You all know that if you can always double-click on a picture to see it bigger.
There is Lientje and me at Barton Springs -- wow, the water was cold! Spring-fed and fresh! There is Lientje and Robert at the mall. She loved the little car. A $4 rental and sooo much more fun than her regular Bugaboo stroller. Then there is Lientje while eating her very first Nutella sandwich. Now, I suppose I feel obliged to make a little caveat here to anyone who thinks children ought not to have sugar. In Belgium Nutella is considered (even though it is Italian and not Belgian chocolate) one of the essential food groups in the food pyramid. And I must concur with my friend Leslie here, that chocolate is OK, all other candy-products are no-no's. Plus, this was just a taste, and it is not her daily breakfast or snack. So please no judgment on my mothering. Because see, next there is Lientje eating guacamole with much gusto. Avocados are superfoods, and she gets plain unseasoned and unsalted avocados very often. She loves them, and screams out "Cado!" when I offer it to her.
We went to Houston last weekend, where we visited the Natural History museum and saw the dinosaurs and butterfly garden. Here is a picture of Evelina and me with Sam Houston in the background, whom Evelina liked because he is on a horse -- so he must be a fine man according to her. And then a picture of us with the dino-remains, and one of her walking around in the very tropical (i.e. muggy and sweltering) butterfly garden.
I will end with a few shots from our first trip to the Austin Children's Museum. Evelina absolutely LOVED it. She gave her all for about 2 hours and then passed out in the stroller once back outside. She ran around, touched about everything there was to be touched, made friends (again an older man though no kisses this time) and was in constant amazement. We will be returning.
And then this is just too cute not to post. We had dinner at Chuys tonight, and they have a photobooth. So here we are. Lientje was not quite sure what the clicking and the lights were doing (hence the slightly freightened look -- deer in the headlights!) but she sure thought it was super cool when our pictures fell out.
So that is all for now. No news on the house. Belgium is still in its mandatory construction-sector-vacation. I certainly get more work done without the emails and phone calls from architects and contractors. So I brace myself as the quiet will end in a little over a week. Lots of people are working out bids for us, so when it all starts up again I might need some valium. Ha, just kiddin' (or am I?) As always I will keep you posted, greetings, from Texas with love.
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