Apples, Pumpkins and Wine

After our excursion to the Hill Country the week prior, we decided to start making plans to do something every weekend (now that we have Karen our Navigation expert to keep us from getting lost). ;) I picked up as many "somewhat" interesting-looking brochures at the ticket office here on base. I was only partly surprised that there wasn't a whole lot to do nearby (besides the Riverwalk, the usual restaurants, shopping centers, movie theaters, disappointing zoos and run-down old miniature golf centers). So last weekend, we chose to head out to Medina, Texas (about an hour away) to go to the Love Creek Orchards to pick our own apples, try out their homemade apple ice cream, fresh-baked apple pie and pick out a pumpkin for Kristin to paint later. We were driving so far, we actually drove into an actual cowboy-kind-of-town! I was surprised. This area seems more like Mexico to me than Texas. We usually don't see people in cowboy hats, boots and wranglers unless we're getting close to Dallas, so it was a nice surprise. There were even people riding their horses on the side of the road. One horse was even tied up at the local saloon! It was great!





Anyways - we eventually arrived at the Orchard and they were putting on their annual Great Hill Country Pumpkin Patch. I wanted us to join in on all of the fun (hayride, petting zoo, apple orchard tour, pumpkin painting, build-your-own scarecrow and tour of the cider & apple processing barn), but it was SO frickin' hot and humid out and there wasn't any shade whatsoever for any of the activities! Only in Texas can you get a sunburn in mid-October. Sheesh! We decided not to do the pumpkin patch thing because we didn't have a hat for Katie and I wasn't sure that I wanted to pay the $20 admission fee for all of us - especially since I can't imagine us having that much fun baking in the direct sunlight for very long. We ended up just going into the Country Store for homemade apple ice cream and a slice of fresh-baked apple pie. Mmmmm...yummy!! Since we couldn't have access to the orchard without paying the admission fee, I bought 3 fresh-picked apples from the store. Yeah - it doesn't seem as special I know, but at least they taste better than the apples we get at the commissary! And I wanted yummy-tasting apples for the carmel apples Kristin and I were going to make later.





Afterwards, we started driving to Sisterdale, TX near Boerne to go to the Sister Creek Vineyards for wine tasting. Along the way, we saw a river/park off the road, so we decided to stop and take a look. It's too bad we hadn't brought our swimming stuff - it was hot enough outside to take a dip. Anyways - it was a slightly dirty but cute little river. We saw a couple of people kayaking. I think I'd prefer to kayak in this river rather than swim in it - I'm not a fan of slimy cootie germs. Ew!





We jumped back in the car and headed the rest of the way to the Vineyards. It was an additional 45 min to get to there, but it was well worth the trip! The winery is located between the cypress-lined East and West Sister Creeks in a restored 1885 cotton gin. We gave ourselves our own tour of the winery (with a do-it-yourself tour checklist), then we enjoyed sampling a few of their wines before choosing a bottle to buy. I've never really been much of a wine-drinker (one glass of wine always seem to make me a bit sick), but now I have a favorite yummy-tasting wine that doesn't make me sick!! It was the Reserve Texas Muscat Canelli. Mmmm hmmm!!! Yummy! And it doesn't make me sick because it doesn't have all of the sulphites that are added to commercial wines. So for those of you who get a yucky blah feeling after drinking just one glass of most wines - this is the wine for you! ;) It's too bad this vineyard is so far away though - I want another bottle! On second thought...maybe it's better than it isn't so close... ;)







The next day, Kristin and I made our carmel apples. I've never made them before and I have never really cared too much for them in the past, but I wanted to do something Fall-ish with Kristin. We need some more annual traditions to do together, so I thought I'd add this one to our list. Man! They were SO good! I'm pretty sure it was just because the fresh-picked apples we bought were so yummy. It isn't like it takes a whole lot of talent to make a carmel apple, so it can't be anything I did. :) We washed the apples, jabbed the wooden sticks in the end, melted the carmel, dipped the apples and rolled them in chopped peanuts. I may have to make a quick trip to the orchard and vineyard in the next week or so. Tricia's word of the day: Yummy! ;)









And lastly, since I wasn't able to get a pumpkin at the orchard either - I was forced to lower my standards and purchase one at the commissary. Commissary produce is always a disappointment and I'm not the only one who thinks so! Sure enough, two days after I bought it, it started to mold. Rrrrrr... Just like all produce from the commissary does! I quickly washed it up and got it ready for Kristin and Jason to start painting. I strategically placed the moldy mushy side to face the window, so no one might accidently jab their paint brush into the mush. I forgot to mention that the oozy mold coming from the mushy side started to smell like an extremely bad diaper stench that had been molding for a few days! Gag gag gag... Oh excuse me, I think I just threw up a little in my mouth. ;) Okay okay - so anyways - we all managed to paint around the mush. The stench was so great - we had to quickly take a few pictures, wrap the pumpkin up in several grocery bags and run that bad boy out the door and into the trash! Oh well. We tried! :)

Out in Hill Country for the day

So I've come to realize that there isn't a whole lot to do here in San Antonio. Well - maybe there is, but you need time, money and a babysitter. We seem to have the time thing covered - now that Jason is finished with his Internal Medicine Internship and a few months into his Anesthesiology residency, he actually has a lot of weekends off. I love Anesthesiology - it's great! So now that he's home more and has a more consistent schedule, we can start making plans for the weekend! Woohoo! The only things we're missing are money and a babysitter. We actually prefer to bring our little kiddie-poos along with us wherever we go, but it would be nice maybe once every month or two for Jason and I to go out alone. So let's see here...that just leaves the minor issue concerning money. Rrrrr... I hate money! I hate that it takes so much money to do even the littlest of things. Even little chunks of money spent here and there add up so quickly! It's ridiculous!
Anyways - now that we have a navigation system for the car (Jason's sister Rachel and I decided to "buy each other" one for our Christmas present to one another while we were in Virginia), we've become more adventurous with our driving excursions. Karen, our "guide", takes us wherever we want to go. I love her Australian accent! :) Karen and I have only argued once or twice so far. When she starts to get a little pushy, I calmly retort, "Shut up Karen, you don't know what you're talking about!" ;) Anyways, we decided a couple weekends ago to take a drive into the Hill Country (we keep hearing about how beautiful it is out there). It was pretty, but I don't think any of those people have ever been to Washington or Oregon. A little driving excursion shouldn't cost too much money-right? We'll see...

After 40 minutes or so of driving farther and farther away from civilization, we started following signs to a restaurant by a lake called The Oasis. We finally found it after a couple of u-turns and went in for lunch. We chose to sit out on the deck close to the water, so we could soak in all of the scenery (blue sky, glistening lake, sailboats and cool breeze). The food was so-so. Jason had a burger with sweet potato fries, Kristin had a grilled cheese with sweet potato fries and I had a small Caesar salad and cup of their award-winning gumbo. I thought the gumbo was pretty good, but not award-winning. I must have snobby taste buds or something. ;) Then again - I don't partake of the gumbo often enough (I think I've only had it once or twice), so I probably just don't have much gumbo-eating experience to know what's good and what's really good.











After lunch, we walked down the pebble-stone path behind the restaurant that led to the lake. We walked out on the dock to take a look at the mirky water (at least it was pretty from a distance!) for a little while before taking a few pictures and heading out. On our way home, I had Jason drive us over to the Wall Home model houses that my parents and I looked at (when they were here last June). One house in particular. I gasp in awe whenever I step into this house. It's just gorgeous! If Jason and I ever get a house - I want it to look just like this one! There isn't anything I'd change about it (well, except add a swimming pool)! It's perfect! Who needs a starter house? Why not just moved into your dream house right off the bat?! ; ) It's called the Medina II. It's a quaint 3, 866 sq ft (that's not including the optional 3rd floor gameroom or optional media room - that we'd have to get)! It's in the $600Ks, but who's counting?? Actually that price would be a steal in the D.C. area, but here - that just stinks! Especially with property taxes being 3% of the price of your house. Eek! The only problem with this house - is that it seems just a wee bit big for a small family of 4. So we either need to pop out some more babies or invite a family or two to come live with us. Either way - I love this house!!!!







Okay, so anyways. Enough writing for today. Oh yeah. Remember how we didn't think we were going to spend much money on this excursion? Well we spent $28 at the restaurant and we spent $20 worth in gas driving around and around. Goodness friggin' gracious! ;)

Visiting the Capras in Virginia

We've been back home from our trip to Virginia for the past 3 weeks and I'm just now sitting down to write about it. Tisk tisk. I knew I'd get lazy about writing in this thing!

Okay, so Jason has three scheduled breaks this year - each break is only 1 measley week long. Is that crappy or what?! Anyways - his first break started on Friday September 28th and we headed out as soon as Jason got home from work, because we didn't want to waste any time. We were on our way to Virginia to visit Jason's family for a few days. Did I mention we were driving? A total of 25 hours one way. Ugh. I hate driving long distances. Especially since it takes up so much of a very short vacation! Oh well. We originally planned on going to Virginia for Christmas (since Jason's next break is over Christmas), but we decided to come out for this break instead because Jason's brother Tony is scheduled to deploy to Iraq (a second time) in November, so he won't be there for Christmas. We thought it would be nice to see him before he leaves since he'll be gone for a good chunk of the year. Just seeing Tony in his hotdog costume in person made the long horrendous trip well worth the hassle. ;)



So anyways - we headed to Dallas, TX to pick up Jason's brother Michael (who's stationed in Oklahoma) who met us at Aunt Shelley and Uncle Jim's house. After visiting with a couple cousins for a few minutes, we headed out. Jason had the first shift, so he drove from about 130am to 630am. I was supposed to be sleeping to get ready for my shift, but I couldn't really sleep much since I wanted to listen to all of Michael's war stories (he had just arrived from Iraq a few days earlier). I took over driving at 630am and ended up driving almost all of the way to Fredericksburg, VA (about 17 hours including stops). I got more and more excited the further we drove - not only were we getting closer to family, but there were more and more trees and the grass was getting greener! I love trees and there aren't enough of them here in San Antonio. That's one of the major things I don't like about San Antonio. No trees and dead-looking grass. Blah! Anyways - I stopped driving when we were about an hour or so from Jason's parents' house (since Katie started crying hysterically and nobody could comfort her). She did extremely well up until that point. Poor little baby! It was way too many hours for her to be riding along in a car seat that only faces the back of a seat. Kristin, on the other hand, had plenty of things to occupy her time (movies, crayons, toys and books). And she understood that something good would come of all this driving...her Grandma and Grandpa Capra and all of her many uncles and auntie-poos!



We finally arrived at Jason's parents' house around 1230am early Sunday morning. It was an exhausting drive, but it was well worth it to see everyone again! We've missed them so much! We used to see them every weekend when we lived in Maryland from 2002-2006, so it has been very hard living so far away from them. : ( Tony, Angie and their five kids were there and Jason's sister, Rachel, skipped a couple days of work and school to drive up from her place in Charlottesville, VA to come visit too. Everyone was there...except Jason's brother James. Or as we like to call him - Yimmy. He's stationed in Germany and lives in a castle (well he lives in the servant quarters of a castle anyway - but that's close enough!). He was supposed to come out, but I'm not sure what happened with that. Oh - and Rachel's husband, Nate,wasn't there either. He's also in Iraq and he won't be back until July 2008.
We stayed up visiting for a while, then finally fell into bed...only to wake up a few short hours later. But that's okay. I never felt like I got enough rest, but that didn't matter - we didn't have a lot of time to visit! I didn't want to waste it snoring the day away! I'd catch up on my sleep when I got back home. The only stinky thing about visiting people during a non-holiday time - is the fact that the people you're visiting still have to go about their normal routines. So Tony, Angie and their kids had to head out Sunday evening to go back to their house in Maryland - because most of their kids are all in school. Pssh! Stupid school! ; ) Rachel had to head back home 3 days later and Jason's Mom still had to do all of the things she usually does with the kids (driving each one here and there to sports, music lessons, drama club, youth groups etc). It makes me tired just thinking of all the driving she does everyday! Eek!



So for most of our very short trip, we spent just visiting everyone at the house, going to Chuck E. Cheese, shopping with Rachel, taking pictures, playing games in the evening and having a few drinks (with the family members who are old enough to drink that is). Jason was also somehow able to squeeze in the making of another family movie/picture slideshow (like he's been known to do now and then) near the end of our visit. We also drove a short trip to Tony and Angie's house up in Maryland (along with Michael, Rachel, Jacob and Katie) to spend the night. Did anyone notice that I didn't mention Kristin? That's right! She didn't come with us! She spent the night with Grandma and her auntie-poos. It was her first time spending the night without either one of us there with her. It was a big deal for me...Kristin, on the other hand, didn't seem to give a rat's patootie! Little turd! She was more than happy to stay with her aunts and be entertained the whole night through. Although, I did call her the next afternoon to see how she was doing - and much to my surprise, she said, "I was so worried about you and Daddy! You didn't come home! I miss you!" Little cutie - she does care about us...or at least she pretends to. ; ) After a late night of drinks and watching Tony, Jason and Michael try to outdo eachother with their hand-to-hand combat moves, we went to bed. The next afternoon, we decided to go visit the the Spy Museum in D.C. I had wanted to go to the Spy Museum the whole 4 years we lived in Maryland, but did we ever go? Of course not! I can't imagine why we couldn't make it when we only lived 25 minutes away from it. Tisk tisk Tricia. Tisk tisk. ; ) Anyways - it was a lot of fun. Very interesting. The only sad thing was - that we weren't allowed to take pictures. Sniff sniff. I love taking pictures. Oh well. The gift shop at the Spy Museum was amazing! My friend Laura - just might wet herself if she ever walkd into that gift shop. ; ) After picking up a couple of things for Tony and Angie, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. It was called "The Shocking Liar." It was a device that you strap your hand to. After calibrating it (by answering obvious questions about yourself - i.e. name, hair color etc), one of your friends or family members interogates you with questions that you have to answer truthfully. If you don't, you get shocked! After I drooled over it for a while (thinking of how much fun it would be to ask people questions and see if they answer truthfully or not), Tony bought it for himself and we tested it out as soon as we got back into the car to head home. It was so much fun! I couldn't stop laughing at all of the funny questions that were being asked of everyone - and who couldn't enjoy watching someone jump when they got shocked for lying about something?! Hahahaha!!!! When we got back to Tony's house, we played another few rounds with Angie (since she missed out on the Spy Museum because of the kids being in school). After dinner, we headed back to Fredericksburg. Tony had appointments the next morning that he couldn't miss, so he met us back in Fredericksburg the next evening (our last night in VA) to visit and help Jason finish up his movie. After another night of Scattegories and drinks, we called it a night and went to bed.







We headed out the next morning on Friday October 5th. This time, Jason drove most of the way and I probably only drove about 5 or 6 hours. I was relieved not to have to drive much - I was completely exhausted from all of the driving the week before and from never catching up on my sleep. Who knows what would have happened if I had drove anymore than that! We arrived back in tree-less, humity-drenched San Antonio sometime in the afternoon on October 6th. It was both nice and not-so-nice to be back home.

Our short trip had come to an end and now it was time for Jason to go back to work and for me and my little monsters to get back into our routine. I don't know what we'll do for Jason's Christmas break. Does anyone have any suggestions on where to go and how to make the best of a ridiculously short vacation? Let me know if you do! : )

If you want to see Jason's movie of our visit, click on the link up above (under the "Links" section) for "Jason's Movies on Youtube." It's called Capra October. If you want to see more pictures from our trip, click on the link for "Tricia's Pictures."
Wow! This is going to be a monster-size post! Sheesh! I promise any posts from now on will be much shorter and to-the-point...or at least I'll try! ; )

The day has finally arrived...

Yes, 'tis true. I'm finally writing in my blog. It may be boring. It may put you all to sleep. But dang blast it - I'm going to post something! I've been wanting to start a blog for quite some time now. I'm not sure why, but I've been dreading it - much like a horrendous homework assignment or going in for surgery. Isn't this supposed to be fun? I'm sure it will be once I get the hang of it. I just hope I don't get lazy (which is very likely to happen). I'm planning on writing pretty consistently (maybe once a week), so I can keep a sort of diary - since I'm becoming more forgetful as the years go by. Frig me. Anyways - I'm going to post this and get it over with...and hopefully I'll be back to post more later. We'll see... I know a lot of you are eager to hear about our oh-so glamorous life and many adventures, so I hope I don't dissapoint! ; )