Friday, October 15, 2010

Our Trek Up Cross Mountain

I know I’ve been missing in action for a while now, but I don’t want to totally ignore my blogging friends! It seems like my life has been much busier now that we’ve moved, than it was back in California! We’ve become involved with a home group at church and the kids are in AWANA and youth group, so along with still discovering things in our town, we’re running to and from these activities, also. But it is definitely a satisfying busy; not a crazy busy.

One thing we did today was take a walk up to the top of Cross Mountain. These links offer a little bit of information about the history of Cross Mountain:

Cross Mountain Blog Post

Native Plant Society of Texas

City of Fredericksburg

One thing we did notice was the abundance of poison oak on the mountain.

Here’s some photos from our trip to the top:

The Cross and the kiddos in front of it.

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Laina took a minute to sketch the cross. Blake did a sketch of it, also.

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Here is the view from the top. It was absolutely magnificent. There was also several different types of butterflies playing around in the flowers.

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I have several other trips I’d like to share with all of you! Please be patient, I may get to them yet!

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Sunday, October 3, 2010

Day Out at Oktoberfest

We spent yesterday enjoying the activities at our town’s Oktoberfest celebration. This is a big deal here, and people come from all over the country to visit it.

Oktoberfest originally began in Munich in 1810 to celebrate a royal wedding. It has continued through the years and has turned into an event celebrated by people everywhere.

We started the day off in the kid’s section. We bought some game tickets and the boys jumped around in the bounce house, played wheel of fortune, fished a duck out of the tub for tokens, swung the sledge hammer and rang the bell for strength and flung a chicken into a bucket.

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They traded their tickets in for silly bands, shutter shades and an inflatable sword.  Great choices.

Then we headed over to the food area and dined on German potato pancakes, sausages and applesauce, while listening to the band.

There were several vendors set up with homemade wares, including jewelry, pottery, quilts, wood carvings and more. I brought home a soap dispenser painted with cactus and windmills for the kids bathroom.

We were able to tour the Vereins Kirche Museum and read about Fredericksburg history. We have a Pioneer Museum membership and can take advantage of this museum with it, also. That is it in the background of our picture in front of the gigantic beer keg!

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We snuck away for naps in the middle of day, after grabbing a bag of roasted pecans to snack on.

We returned at night for more food and entertainment. Dinner consisted of “Texas taters,” which are potatoes cut into long, curled slices and deep-fried, popcorn chicken, curly fries and a kraut dog. I know, not healthy, but definitely delicious!

Here the boys show off their German side. (They do have a little German blood in them.)

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The weather was beautiful, the food was great and the music was lively. A great day!

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Have a lovely Sunday!

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