W -- A -- W!!!

**For those of you who are not cool, or simply not familiar with my strange brain, W-A-W stands for "WHAT A WEEKEND!!"

Let me say it again- what a weekend! Our Labor Day weekend was busy, full of fun, and tons of hanging out with our friends and family.

Friday night, Amy and I met up for dinner and then went to see Patti Austin perform with the Houston Symphony. To be honest, I had never heard of Patti Austin before, but I was pleasantly surprised. Man, can that woman sing! You know someone has a true talent when they make it all look so easy. Patti sang a bunch of Ella Fitzgerald songs, full of the 'scat' style. It took me awhile to comprehend what she was doing, but she did it very well. As always, the symphony portion of the concert was amazing and always takes me back to my old orchestra days. I really do miss it. I'm so glad Amy brought this form of music back into my life. We had a great time!

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early and headed to Dallas to make the rounds.

First, we stopped off at Baylor Medical Center, and saw my cousins Matt, Michelle, and baby Savannah. They seemed happy, healthy, and very content with their new little life. Savannah was beautiful, though slightly large for a newborn. I guess that's what happens when they are a week over-due. We thought it was pretty cute that Matt pulled out his laptop and started showing us his (already long) slideshow of pictures. New dads are so cute! I will post more details and pictures in a new post.

Then, we headed around town to Presbyterian Hospital at Plano to see the other cousins Rick, Ashleigh, and baby Kalia. Ironically, the first thing Rick did when we got there was pull out his laptop and show us his slideshow of pictures!! I guess that is thing to do for new dads! Everyone was happy and healthy. Kalia has more hair than I have EVER seen on a newborn. She is already due for a trim, lol. I will post more details and pictures in a new post.

Saturday evening we stayed with my other cousins, Bryan and Courtney. We enjoy hanging out with Bryan and Courtney, though we rarely get to stay with them or get one-on-one time. They cooked us a huge meal for dinner (steak, bacon-wrapped-shrimp, broccoli, scalloped potatoes, rolls) and we stayed up talking late in the night. Then we slept in, woke up, cooked another big breakfast (bacon, eggs, waffles, oatmeal) and talked some more. It is great having people in the family who an understand and relate so well. Hopefully we will be able to plan our ski trip for this winter sometime and hang out again soon!

Sunday afternoon we headed down to Austin. We went and stayed Sunday night with Chase, Rebecca, and baby Natalee at his parent's new lakehouse. It was a very nice place on Lake Travis, and it was cool to see how much his parent's have fixed it up. The boys smoked cigars on the porch overlooking the lake, while Rebecca and I chatted and played with baby Natalee. She is just too cute, and so much fun. I swear she smiled at me; I know they say babies that young can't smile, but I know I saw dimples. Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures. I'm sure we will see them and hang out again soon.

Monday morning we slept in, then woke up and headed to see David on the other side of Austin. He took us out in his boat (you would not believe this boat of his!) on Lake Austin, along with Justin, who I have known since middle school and Kim, one of their friends in Austin. They are all big wakeboarders, and Jesse and I had never tried it. I have not even ski'd in years. David went first, and he was amazing. Jumping 8 ft in the air across the wakes, and even did a flip! Then Kim got up (she is still fairly new at it), and she did pretty good, going back and forth between the wakes, and even outside the wake. Jesse was up next. They had told us that 1st timers rarely get up, so I was hoping he would struggle a bit...but, no. Mr. Natural Athlete was perfect. He got right up, started going back and forth between the wakes, did some change ups (switched his footing), and even tried jumping the wake. Must be nice to be so good at everything. I tried after him. Notice I used the word "tried." I think I tried to get up 4 or 5 times, and every time struggled. It was as if I could get up, but not stand up, so I was off balance and could not get control. I would just wipe out. Justin went after me, and he was another pro, jumping back and forth, way up in the air. It was a whole lot of fun, and I can see how it would be addicting! If I lived up there, I would be out there all the time. What a great time!

SO, after my long post, you can see what a great weekend we had! We were able to see a lot of people, catch up, and have a lot of fun. Thanks everyone, for a weekend of awesome memories!