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| Otis is the master of NBA 2K20. He kindly stacks the Pelican team with superstars so the Pelicans can win most games. |
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| "I see you." Piper makes Skull Santa talk. |
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| Because it's there. |
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| Papa Tom on keyboard, Micah on ukulele, me on guitar. Our set list: "A Boy Named Sue," "Me and Bobby McGee," "Blowin' in the Wind." |
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| What to do with 150 pieces of leftover Halloween candy? Fill a pinata! |
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| Setting up. Mya's ready with her candy bag. |
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| As the youngest, Piper goes first. No blindfold for this crew. |
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| Uncle Micah and River. |
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| Second pinata is a trash bag full of leaves. Just as fun! |
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| One of my headbands makes a perfect blindfold. |
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| After the kids were asleep, the grown-ups hung out in the downstairs den. "Will the circle be unbroken...." on piano and ukulele, thanks to Papa Tom and Micah. |
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| It had been a long, busy day. |
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| So good to relax! |
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| Papa and Micah |
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| Otis's slam dunk |
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| Ryder on the Ninja course |
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| Go Mya! |
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| Piper |
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| Sarah, Jake, and Lucy joined us for dinner Friday night. Otis stayed at our house to play his NBA2020 video game. |
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| "Beware the $1,000 hot tub!" Piper warns. |
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| So many warning signs around the house. Understandable, I suppose, as the house is the owner's home when guests aren't there. |
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| The lake is about two blocks away. |
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| Hide and seek time |
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| Bead art |
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| Brandy and Piper |
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| Basketball |
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| At Hula Hut, looking for large fish in Lake Austin |
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| Thumb wrestling at Hula Hut |
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| Mozart's, a coffee shop and bakery, was an easy downhill walk from our HomeAway. |
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| Live music! Flashing lights! Hot chocolate! |
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| River, Fox, and Amon on the lower deck of Mozart's. |
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| Fox |
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| Ryder re-lived elementary school days by showing us how to rub mescal beans on the concrete table top until they were hot, then hold them against your hand . Ow! |
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| Piper discovered she likes cactus (after the thorns are removed). |
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| Great view of Lake Austin next to juniper trees |
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We all tried juniper berries: sweet at first, then tasted like pine needles.
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| Ramzi arrived on Thursday. How could we resist visiting Mt. Bonnell on such a warm, sunny day?At 775 feet above sea level, Mt. Bonnell offers great views of downtown, Lake Austin, and the Colorado River. |
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| Amon and Ramzi had the best view of all. |
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| And Mya too! |
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| Downtown Austin behind us, only 5 miles away. |
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| Above Lake Austin, with houses along the shore |
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| Ramzi balances on the cable |
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| Papa grabs for River at the base of the trail at Mt. Bonnell |
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The Asheville Lewises arrived on Wednesday, December 11. Amon and Fox met us after Fox got out of school. Piper performs "Who let the cats out?" Meow, meow, meow!
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| "Shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die." |
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| Amon rocks Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance." |
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| Live music and a light show every night while you're here at Mozart's, a coffee shop and bakery on Lake Austin. We'll be staying only 3/10 mile away for an easy walk over. |
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| Around 11 p.m. Friday night, a teenage girl was tearing down the street next to ours. Her car swerved off the road, drove over the tree (the rest of the tree is across the yard), became airborne, and landed on its rooftop on the carport. She survived the accident, probably because the carport roof broke her fall. Yikes! Be careful out there! |
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| Upon our return from Shreveport, we discovered that Zephyr was not happy about being locked in the house for two days. Her revenge? Knocking over the napkin holder and shredding napkins. Duly noted, Zephyr. |
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| And because we never seem to have a "normal" trip....We returned the rental car and dropped the keys in the night box on Saturday. Only after we got home and Papa couldn't find his wallet did we go back to Hertz. Yep, there in the front seat of the locked Kia was Papa's wallet. We couldn't let it sit in plain view until Monday; this is a busy parking lot. Hertz's emergency roadside assistance could have taken up to 2 hours to arrive, but our guy was there in 10 minutes. Yea! We were prepared with a pillow and blankets in the Zoomer to wait until about 3 a.m. Instead, we got home around 1:30 a.m. |
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| We traveled to Shreveport December 6-7 for Emma's performance with the Centenary Choir's Christmas candlelight service on Friday and Emma's presentation of three original compositions on Saturday. Here she is with Dr. Gay Grosz on piano. |
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| We went to lunch afterward with Emma and two of her musical composer friends Ollie and Devon. |
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| We're so excited that so many of you will be with us in Austin December 11-17. Papa's been practicing the keyboard for our "concert" with Micah on ukulele and me on guitar. I've been studying the camcorder manual for our family interviews- Zephyr's been cat napping. |
