thanksgiving

we headed up to kansas to visit my family for thanksgiving

i forgot to take my camera out except once

to capture duke hoping to get spoiled

when something "accidentally" falls on the floor

the vacation that wasn't, part iii - trail ride

on our way back home from the hill country

we stopped off at our friend's mom's 

she has a ranch outside of waco

where she hosts a trail ride twice a year

it involves tons of people from around the country

bringing their horses to her ranch to ride around their property

and it happened to be at the tail end of our vacation

so we stopped by to help out and enjoy the views

the vacation that wasn't, part ii - the texas hill country

since we weren't headed to st kitts

we found a cute bed and breakfast

that was accepting of duke

in the texas hill country

and we hit the road

and the wineries

we were surprised to find that texas makes some pretty good wines

especially the malbecs

since the climate is so similar to south america that far south in texas

most of the wineries welcomed duke
and if they didn't, we just didn't stay

there were plenty of others that wanted our business

we enjoyed the views while enjoying a bottle or two of wine
and plenty of cheese and crackers

and what trip to the texas hill country would be complete
with stopping off in luckenbach?

the vacation that wasn't, part i - the background

well, i guess it's not that the vacation wasn't
but it wasn't exactly what we set out for it to be

it was friday night and i began packing
we were to leave the next morning for st kitts
when a panic set in as i couldn't find my passport
my fear was i had left it in maine
that fear was confirmed when a friend went by the house and found it

it would be a little difficult to get into st kitts without it
and after lots of checking there was no way to get it in time
so we decided to change my ticket to leave the next practical day i could - tuesday
given shipping my passport and such
we continued to pack and headed off to bed as sean was still going to go on our original flight

the next morning i got up and saw sean off to the airport and promptly went back to bed
a while later i was awakened by the phone ringing - it was sean
he was on his way back home
the ticket agent informed him that his passport had expired!

so needless to say, we weren't heading to st kitts

having planned to already be off work that week
i decided to turn those lemons into lemonade

and so our non-st kitts adventure began...

mom's visit

mom made the trek up to visit us again

she hadn't been up since the wedding

it was so great having her there

and getting to spend time together

especially having her there on my birthday!

we took sunset wine cruises

saw new sites in deer isle, maine

went antiquing

walked a mile out to see a lighthouse

saw a play and a went to a wine dinner

wrecked the atv with her on the back

which also wrecked her camera

rode the train

hit up her favorite place - bar harbor

she also did lots of relaxing on the day beds

all in all, it was a great visit and we can't wait for her to come back!

selfie september (aka birthday month celebration) - day 30

so i guess there's a reason i never completed the 365 day challenge
i couldn't even make it 30 days!
oh well, c'est la vie!

selfie september (aka birthday month celebration) - day 29