Huntsville State Park

We went on another little camping trip this weekend.  This time, about an hour north of town to Huntsville State Park.  Our campsite was right on the lake.  

After setting up camp, Jason fixed our fishing poles with bobs and hooks and we tried fishing a bit.  Of course, we didn't catch anything.  If there's anything Jason and I are good at lately, it's not catching fish.

Then, we headed back to camp and played marbles for a bit.

By then, it was midafternoon and hella hot, so we tried to nap for a bit.

Not a bad view out of the tent, huh?  Not sure what Jason's doing in the next picture.  I think he might be imitating Radar's tired face. 

After napping, we cooked and ate dinner.  We had sausage, poblano chicken, camp potatoes, and risotto.  Yum, yum.

After listening to very loud crickets, frogs, and other night-time critters all night, we woke up.

And after discovering something made a meal of our marshmallows and tortillas during the night...

We cooked and ate some breakfast and drank some coffee.

Other little critters were pretty active around camp this morning, too.

We tried to fish some more, but then this happened...

The alligator won, and we left.

Good times at Huntsville State Park.

Anniversary Presents

As I mentioned in the last blog post, presents for our anniversary this year were very fun.  Since the traditional 5th anniversary present is wood, there was definitely a theme to what we gifted each other. 

Lauren's Presents for Jason

Jason's cross necklace had recently broken, so I found him a new one.  I also got him a bonsai tree (currently residing in our garden window, but will probably go to his classroom once school starts again). 

Finally, I made him a shadowbox using pictures from our recent camping trips.  I think it came out pretty cute, and now it's hanging in our dining room.

Jason's Presents for Lauren

So Jason usually wins when it comes to gift giving, and this year was no exception.  Since it was our 5th anniversary, he got me 5 wood themed presents. 

I got a cute painting, a birdhouse, and a game of Clue.

 He also had this custom tray made from a live oak tree.

And he found me a rocking chair at a local antique store.

See, I told you they were fun presents. 

5th Anniversary Celebrations

What do you do to celebrate your 5th marriage anniversary?  Go to a beer festival of course.  It only makes sense.  Well, maybe for us.

The second annual Houston Beer Fest went over much more smoothly than last year.  More entrances meant no lines to get in.  Longer hours meant less crowds at once.  It was still hot as Hades, but at least they had free water available.  I only wish the booths were manned by the brewers instead of just temp workers hired by the festival.  I think that's why we still like the Brewmasters International Beer Fest in Galveston better.  It's always neat to be able to learn about the different beers (what type of beer it is, how it was brewed, how long the brewery has been around, etc.)  You can't really get that when the booths aren't manned by the brewers. 

Dorks...

After the festival, we headed over to The Melting Pot with Sal and Nicole to enjoy some fondue.  None of us had been there before, and it was actually pretty good.  Plus, it was fun to cook your own food.

It was a four course meal - cheese appetizer with bread and veggies, salad, the main course (seen below), and chocolate with fruit and sweets.  Yum!

Pretty fun 5th anniversary celebrations, huh?  Up next on the blog, fun 5th anniversary presents...

Santigold Concert

Last night we watched Santigold perform at the House of Blues.  When we last watched her three years ago, it had been one of the best concerts we had ever attended (and we've been to a bunch).  This year didn't disappoint either. 

She sang a good mix of songs from her two albums - Santogold (released in 2008) and Master of My Make-Believe (released last month).  Her interaction with the crowd was amazing.  She even pulled a Girl Talk move and invited people from the audience to dance on stage during her song Creator.  Her two dancers (originally from Houston) were awesome. 

This was the first time I had taken my new camera to a concert.  It took me awhile to figure out decent settings for the venue, but I think I ended up getting some pretty good shots.  Enjoy...

 

For more pictures of the concert, click here.

Total Cuteness

This post has no purpose other than to share pictures of my nephew.  Because he is cute.  And fun.  And cute.


 

Look grandpa.  A bird.  A plane.

Vroom, vroom.

What's outside?

Playing ball with great-grandpa.

 

Being sweet with great-grandma.

Lobsterlicious

How do you make a gorgeous lobster feast like the one below?

First, order some live lobsters from Maine.  Invite your friends over to take pictures of them.

Then, introduce them to your dog.  It's only the polite thing to do.

Next, set up a lobster cooking device large enough to accomodate them all.  

Finally, try not to look like a savage beast while eating them.

The end.

Brazos Bend State Park

Yesterday we headed on an impromptu camping trip to Brazos Bend State Park (located about 1 hour and 15 minutes southwest of Houston.)  We hadn't reserved a campsite, so we were just hoping that they'd have space available once we got there.  Luckily, they did.

First, we did a little fishing at Horseshoe Lake.  Didn't catch anything, but had fun watching the alligators.

Then we headed over to set up camp.  Our campsite was located at the very northeast edge of the park.  It was about a 9 mile drive to get there, about half of which was an unpaved road.  Our sites were primitive, meaning that they didn't have water or electrical hookups.  They did, however, have a picnic table and fire ring, so that was nice.  Mosquitoes are pretty bad right now, so we got to test out our head nets.  

After we set up camp, we headed down to the Brazos River to do a bit more fishing.  After watching Jason fall down this steep decline, I thought I'd try to go down backwards and hang on to that piece of rope.  It helped.  Also, how do you like my hardcore camping/ fishing gear?  I look like a walking billboard for Magellan lately.  Also, see how my backpack and shoes match?  Pretty nice, huh?

When we first arrived at the park, we were told that the catfish were really biting at the river, so were excited to head down there.  But, after fishing for a few hours, we still hadn't caught anything.  Neither had those people next to us.  One of the guys in their group decided to wade out to a sandbar to try to fish from there.  It was then that we discovered that the water wasn't more than 2 feet deep in any of the areas that we were fishing.  Oh well.

So, we headed back to camp to cook dinner before it got too dark.  Jason successfully started a fire, and we warmed up some leftover chili.  Pretty quickly after dinner, we retreated to the tent to escape from the bugs.  Nature was very naturesome. 

This morning, we packed up and headed back to town.  When we were packing up the car,  I captured these pretty shots of the sun filtering through the branches. 

It was a nice impromptu camping trip.  Wish it was about about 15 degrees cooler, half as humid, and about 100% less bugs, but still nice nonetheless.