A Lazy, Warm Day In Texas

Kaia And Her Buddies

8:30 AM In University Park

It's 7:50 and I have been up for an hour.  Both Beth and Marisa are also up and we are being serenaded by an effing leaf blower.  Just like home.  Today is free for Beth so the day is up in the air as to what we want to do, just hang out, relax or do something different.

Yesterday was uneventful as we decided to just relax and enjoy being in the neighborhood in the morning.  After our coffee, taking Kaia for a walk and showering, Beth left for class and Evie and I walked downtown to the 'tres posh' shopping area, Highland Plaza.  It's a 15-minute walk to the Plaza and we window shopped the stores like Tiffany, Jimmy Cho, Fendi, and Dior, never venturing in. Some of the high-end jewelry stores even had guards at the doors.  Finally, we stopped for a coffee and cupcakes for Marisa at Bird Bakery, a cool coffee spot with a PlayStation for kids to play on computers.

Keeping Kids Entertained

By the time we returned, Beth was back from class and we had lunch, turkey sandwiches with pickles and lettuce and cheese.  Around 1:00, I settled down on the couch to read and nap while Evie and Beth drove off to a T. J. Maxx for some retail therapy.  After my nap, I, too, drove off for some therapy, hitting a couple of local stores I like, one called Tyler and ended up stopping at Trader Joe's for some wine for dinner the next couple of nights. 

When I got back, everyone was home, Marisa from school, Beth and Evie from shopping.  Kaia was prancing around so I knew she wanted to go for a long walk so off we went on a warm afternoon.  I even worked up a bit of a sweat in the 70º weather.  We were too lazy to think about making dinner so Beth suggested a Mediterranean take out called Zoe's, a short drive away.  We ordered chicken pitas with Tzatziki sauce and veggies as well as hummus and salad.  Beth and I drove and picked it up and we then feasted while watching two of Evie's favorites, Jeopardy and Wheel Of Fortune, then the Saturday Night Live Christmas Show.

We then watched some football so Beth went up to work and Marisa to study.  Just as we were contemplating bed around 10:00, Marisa came down to workout on the rowing machine and do some exercises, enough so that she worked up quite a sweat, what a girl.  We left her downstairs at 10:30 and went up to bed, leaving her to shower, study some and finally get to bed,