Crawfish with the family

Crawfish season is in full swing and man are they big this year, at least compared to last year.  Picked up a 32 pound sack since we had family in from New Hampshire.  That ended up being more than enough since there were several in our group who were satisfied with just one.  And to be fair, that's one more than I thought they'd eat.

The great Purge begins.

Simon was a little skittish around the live ones.

They didn't stay that way for long.  Corn, potatoes, crab boil, onion, garlic, artichokes, shrimp, sausage, and of course, crawfish.

 We were lucky to be joined by Margaret, Bill and Chris.

Uncle Bill and I did our share.

Let it Snow

This past Saturday Mark, Henry, Simon and I took the early morning drive out to Lexington, TX to hit Texas Monthly's choice for Best BBQ in Texas, Snow's. Their brisket is definitely in the top 3. Their ribs and sausage could use some work. Still tasty, but not quite on the same plane as their brisket.

 Henry and Simon belly up to the table.

Ribs, brisket, and a fairly dry piece of sausage in the back.  Standard trifecta.

Simon works on a rib.

After eating it's time to play cars on the steps to the bathroom.

... or play in the town gazebo.

... or hunt for cats.

So far, Simon's hit Kreuz's, Salt Lick, City Market, Snow's, Franklin, Louie Mueller...Not bad for a Californian.  He's got a lot to teach his little brother.

Simon's jams

Austin may be the "Live Music Capital of the World."  And there's no better place to exemplify this than in the playroom.  Simon routinely pulls down the guitar and sings all the songs he's learned recently.  His favorite songs are the ones sung by Mrs. Carol at school.



For this one, he starts off singing Joe McDermmott's "Everybody Plays Air Guitar". Click here for a listen to the original. Erinn and I then try to get him to sing Mrs. Carol's "There's a dinosaur knocking on the door..."
This how he usually closes a show, with a medley. It goes Bim Bam/ Baby Shark/ Bim Bam Shabbot Shalom (Hey). And then he tunes his machine.

Easter morning

Simon greeted Easter morning the same way he did on Christmas, with wide eyed awesomeness.

Started with his basket:

Then had breakfast, got dressed, and went out the front door...

.... to discover that....

... holy Jesus.  You guys have to see this....

Over there!  Someone has "hidden" our dyed eggs right in plain sight!

Here's one!

And another!

Look at all these eggs!  I'm going to dump them out of my basket and onto the hard concrete.

Then it was onto Mass at St Eds. And then over to Erinn's parents where there was more awesomeness.

Another Easter basket!!

And more egg hunting with Olivia.

Simon was way too into the goldfish in the plastic egg to pose for a picture.

Happy Easter yall.

Edit from Erinn: Yes, I look pregnant in the picture because I am (in case any readers did not yet know our news). We are due in early October!

Addition from Andrew:  I really haven't told anyone yet.  So now you know...  And knowing is half the battle.

Preaster

For Easter prep, Simon got to dye his eggs.  Outside and without clothes on, because that's how Dad likes to prepare his eggs.

Erinn put the egg in a whisk so he could dip the eggs in the dye.

As you can see, there are only 9 eggs here.  We started with 10, but when Erinn told Simon to drop the egg in the dye, he didn't hear the last part and just dropped the egg onto the deck, cracking it.