6th Anniversary Weekend

Sept 4th marked 6 years of marriage for Sean and I. We celebrated family style, taking a couple short day trips with Josephine. On Saturday we headed about an hour west to go hiking, but first stopped at Flat Creek Estate. We had lunch in their bistro (the building below), and sampled a few wines in their tasting room (another building, not pictured, but cute). They also had a really lovely covered patio (behind where I'm standing to take the picture) with fans and fireplaces and big tables with chairs. It's a small winery (and apparently most Texan wineries actually make their wines using mainly grapes from somewhere out in the panhandle) but a cute stopover, nonetheless.

The hike was just a little 3 mile loop called Rim Rock Trail. Peaceful, though-- no one was out there, and once we reached the top of the hill, there was a great breeze. A while back I'd gotten Sean a book called 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles (the 2nd edition of San Antonio/Austin, including the Hill Country). It's come in handy several times, because I doubt we'd have found out about these hikes otherwise.
We saw a little snake!

Sunday we tried Salt Lick in Driftwood for the first time, and then went a little further down the road to the Duchman Family Winery for another tasting. That one was more challenging because they don't have stools to sit on, which meant we had to actually hold Josephine the whole time, while standing. It was still pleasant, and we hung out on the benches outside afterwards a bit. But I think we had less energy for it since we'd just been to a tasting the day before, and this one was more of a toddler juggling act.

Below is a picture of the restaurant on the grounds; the winery part was right next to it and looked similar. (Didn't take any pictures at Salt Lick).

A busy little girl...

Josephine understands a lot of what we say to her, and there's at least a good couple dozen words that she'll sort of say when she's in the mood to do so, but the VAST majority of what I hear ALL DAY LONG is "this? this? this?" (while pointing at something and wanting it), and "ooookay!" (whether or not we've actually communicated successfully). I'll take the "okay" over "no" anyday, but I also sort of wish we were at the point of reasoning a little more logically with her. Of course-- as soon as I say that, I feel sad for wishing away any part of the baby still left in her. I must always remember to appreciate every moment, because goodness knows she's growing up way too fast. And this truly IS a cute age.

Here's a link to a clip of Josephine outside the winery. For most of it, she's watching people get into a truck in a parking lot. But around the 34 second mark, you hear a "this!" as she's proud of her rocks, and at the end, an "okay!" They're a little slurred in the video. By now, she pronounces both perfectly-- and with plenty of dramatic intonation to make up for what a single word would otherwise be unable to communicate in every possible situation.

As it turns out, there are endless combinations of "this" and "okay" when you string them together, using various vocal chords for each syllable. "This. this? THIS?! ooookay? oKAY!" is obviously very different from "okay, okay... this. okay." And being Mommy, I usually know exactly what she means. When I try to pretend like I don't, in an effort to encourage her to use her other words, she just gets mad at me. I can see her thinking, "Listen lady, I use my signs, I use two words that manage to suggest and then confirm what I want, you read my mind anyway-- let's not make things difficult here. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Now, give me This. Ooookay!"