{CoffeeShop Family Flying Circus} Day Trip To Ink's Lake!

Oh, how I did missed you my beloved flying! You never know what you are going to see at your local airport and this day it was four military helicopters. 

If you have been following my blog for a while, you probably remember that we are a flying family. Paul started working on his private pilot license in his 20's and finished it in his 40's. Then we purchased a little plane and had many adventures.  

The few years we owned the Gooney (our plane's nickname, now the name of our cockatiel), Paul built up his hours and went on to get his IFR rating. Then the entire world changed with the introduction of a tiny (literally) new-to-the-world virus and everything started shutting down. Not knowing the future, we decided it was a good time to sell our beloved baby. 

It was a very difficult decision (and I won't tell you who might have cried a few tiny tears), but with so many things that happen in our lives, sad changes can lead to better things. Our airport has one of the best flight clubs of the state (maybe the nation) and while the Gooney was getting sold we got on the wait list. This club has three Cessnas, two 182's and one 172, and all are almost new planes with fancy glass panels and all of the bells and whistles. Planes that we could not afford on our own. 

It took a year but we finally got in. Our monthly club fees are only a third of the hanger rental fees we were paying for the Gooney and the rental fees on the planes are cheap. So not only do we get to fly newer, fancier, safer planes; we are flying at a fraction of the cost AND stress compared to owning our own plane.

Paul is telling people he divorced his old wife and now has three sexy mistresses. Interesting way to look at it Paul. Hee hee!

So we are back to flying regularly and I want to catch you up on some of our adventures. A few weeks ago we flew into the airport at Horseshoe Bay Resort outside of Austin for a fun-filled day trip.

What a perfect day to fly. Cool, calm, and clear.  This is the Colorado River. Stunning, right? 

Another cool plane spotted! We had actually seen this aerial firefighter on our flight over, practicing on a local lake. 

At the Horseshoe Bay Resort airport we were treated like royalty. You would think we were high rollers and had arrived in our private jet. In fact, there were several private jets on the tarmac dwarfing our Cessna.

After feeling rich and famous for a few minutes and grabbing a free fancy coffee, we picked out a courtesy car for our trip to Inks Lake State Park.

Look how I have shrunk. And yes, Luke was staring straight in the sun and not happy about it. That is my old Rebel camera, I haven't brought my new Canon RP on a trip yet. 

We were lucky and were able to play in the abundant snow left from the snow"storm" last week. 

After last year's deadly freeze at home this is all of the ice I want to see. 

This park is rocky and wild and gorgeous. We usually come during the summer to swim in Devil's Sinkhole, but it is also nice to visit when it is cool enough for hiking.

We had a picnic on the top of that waterfall. 

Growing up around Houston, you really can't get enough of climbing rocks. 

See those two little heads at the top? I love that my boys are adult-sized but still kids in so many ways.

After a few hours of bliss in one of my favorite state parks, we had to head home before it got dark.

Rita is not scared to fly anymore, but Rita does not fly in small planes in the dark. Rita likes to be able to see the ground so she can look for safe areas to land in case of emergency. Not everyone is lucky enough to land on top of a building and survive. Thankfully Paul respects Rita's (ok, my) decision and always makes it home by dusk.

Paul is a sweetheart. A hot sweetheart. A hot sexy pilot sweetheart who puts up with his crazy wife. ;-)

It was a perfect day, I can't wait for our next adventure!

Lately these trips (and daily life) are a little bittersweet because I realize my boys, now 14 and 17, are growing up and getting closer to leaving the nest. I know they will visit as adults, but we have been so blessed to have them with us on all of these little adventures over the years. I wish I could just pause time right now, just for a few years. I swear they were just toddlers, where did the time go???

Have a great weekend!

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Where Has The Time Gone? Galveston, School, CAP, and Angel Flights!

I am so sorry I haven't been here blogging for some time, I have really missed it! We have been busy the last 2 weeks, including a trip to the beach and getting back into school. But things are going great and I plan on getting back to The CoffeeShop!

So what have we been up to lately? Where to start... If you have been following my blog for any time you probably are aware my happy spot is the beach. Galveston Island, TX. We live only 1.5 hours away and I try to get the family out there several times a year. 

This trip we stayed at my parent's timeshare off the seawall. Unfortunately Paul was not able to come, he had to work, but the kids and I made the trip out there with my mom. It was a blissful 5 days and I was sad to come home. Sure, it was hot, but the weather was gorgeous. During the hottest time of the day we were inside reading, another blissful way to spend the day. 

But once late afternoon rolled in we hit the beach. 

We fed the seagulls.

Played in the sand and surf. 

And enjoyed stunning sunsets.

Looking at these photos just makes me want to go back... I am thinking October.

I haven't blogged much lately about our flights in the Gooney Bird. We have had several adventures over the summer and I will write about them later. But today I wanted to tell you about Paul's newest passion, volunteering for Angel Flight. Actually, click on the image above or this YouTube link for him to tell you about it himself!

In a nutshell, pilots volunteer their time and plane to fly patients for treatment. Paul was featured on their site last month, please go read it here or see it above (click on it to see it larger). We live next to one of the best cancer centers in the world (MD Anderson), so many patients need transportation down to Houston. Not only does this save them a long drive, it also keeps them off of commercial flights where they would have to deal with long waits and sitting next to sick people.

Most of the patients he has flown from around Texas and surrounding states needed treatment at MD Anderson Cancer Center, but the other week he flew this precious 9 -year-old to the Shriners Hospital for Children Burn Center in Galveston.

I hope the little boy and his mother enjoyed the view on their way there. It was a pretty day.

I am so proud of Paul. His work with Angel Flight combine two of his passions; flying and helping people. What a great way to spend your weekend!

OK, back to the (boring) rest of us. I now am a proud mother of TWO Civil Air Patrol cadets!

Imp is back to making Lego Stop Motion movies. Lately they have been a little political, I should post some of them. He loves to follow the news and apparently is quite opinionated.

And on a final note, while we are at home working hard, my parents are gallivanting around Germany visiting my Dad's relatives. He is from Bremen but also has family in Bremerhaven. My dad texted me this photo of him riding a motorcycle with his little brother. My dad is the one riding on the back, and I don't know if he has ever been on a motorcycle before! It looks like they are having fun while we are housesitting for them and taking care of their neurotic cat. ;-) One of these days I hope to bring the boys to their grandfather's hometown Bremen.

Hope you have a great weekend!!!

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{CoffeeShop Family Flying Circus} Chapter 14: Catalina Island Venture Video!

Video Link Also Embedded Below!

March of 2016 our family purchased a little 1970's 4-seater Piper and we have had many fun flying adventures.  Interested in reading more of the {CoffeeShop Family Flying Circus Adventures}? Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3,  Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, , Chapter 13, Entire Series (newest posts first).



I just realized I haven't posted a {CoffeeShop Family Flying Circus} chapter in forever. Yes, we are still flying in our little Piper and having a blast, but I haven't taken the time to really document some of our newest adventures. So here we go!!!

(Galveston Island, Texas)

If you have been following along, you will know that my optometrist-private pilot husband Paul has really gotten into making flying videos. I don't know when he finds the time to do this (actually I do, late at night), but he really has a blast putting them together. And he is surprisingly creative!

(Houston, Texas)

You can see all of his flying videos on YouTube on the Texas Gooney Bird Channel. Please subscribe and leave a comment, it will make his day!

In November Paul went to California for a business trip while the rest of us were at home with the flu. He could have gone to Disneyland or the beach, but he decided he was going for an adventure of a lifetime and fly to Catalina Island Airport in the Sky. This island is one of the world's most unique airports perched 1,602 feet above the Pacific Ocean. The 3,250-foot runway was built in the early 1940s by leveling two mountaintops and filling the remaining valley with more than 200,000 truckloads of rock. Incredible!

He rented a plane and went with an instructor but did most of the flying himself. He did not land or take off on the island as the airport runway was in horrible condition and starts and ends on a cliff, similar to a long aircraft carrier. Watch the video below, it is CRAZY!

I hope you enjoy this video it as much as our family did. Paul is hilarious and this video has exciting flying and sightseeing with the best host and pilot ever!!! And don't forget to "like" his video and subscribe to the Texas Gooney Bird channel. He doesn't make any money off his videos, but he loves the attention. ;-)



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{Friday Photo Bliss} Busy, Busy Week!

On Fridays (or Saturdays in this case!) I like to post snapshots from the week that make me happy.

The weather was gorgeous this week, cool and mostly sunny. We went for a hike at a neighboring park to look for berries.

We found a handful.

Then we went for a bike ride to our Greenbelt to pick blackberries. We found buckets-worth.

I do want to say that we must really love berries to risk the poisonous snakes, poisonous spiders, and fire ants that love to hang out around blackberry vines. 

Texas is WILD and DANGEROUS.

The flying weather was perfect too, so Paul flew us to College Station so we could visit  Messina Hof.

The sky was so clear! I love the view from my first-class seat aboard the "Gooney Bird". When you only have four seats in your 1970's plane, every seat is a first-class window seat.  

Coulter Field and my three guys. And the Gooney Bird of course!!! 

We usually walk but today we decided to take the courtesy car to the winery. Paul can't drink and fly and I am doing a Whole30 (with dairy, but no alcohol allowed), so we shared two giant meat and cheese trays with the boys and had our ice water in wine glasses.

Because we are so fancy of course.

Hee hee!

Back to the woods for hiking. Summers are hot and humid, so when the weather is cool we go hiking as much as possible.

We love Kleb Woods and affectionately call it the "Snake Park" since we once counted seven snakes during a short hike. However, now it has been renamed the "Snake and Mosquito Park" thanks to the wet spring we are having.

During our entire walk (well, actually a quick frantic run) we were followed by a swarm of mosquitos eager to feast on our tasty blood.

Otherwise the walk was quite nice, and no snakes noted. However, we were moving so quickly we probably just didn't see them slithering around.

We also had to visit Spring Creek Park. These boys need sun and exercise. I need sun and exercise. And some coffee to keep up with these boys.

We haven't been the only ones visiting the creek there. 

I visited the lady's room before we left. I usually don't take bathroom photos for obvious reasons.

But that lady is a DOG!

We did have some time to read between our outdoor excursions.

But then we were back to blackberry picking. You can't eat too much blackberries and whipped cream during the spring in Texas.

Have a great weekend!!!

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{Friday Photo Bliss}: Flying to Huntsville and Kickerillo Park Fun!

Fridays I like to look over my snapshots over the week and post some of my favorites. 

We had Spring Break this week and luckily the weather was PERFECT.

On Monday we flew to Huntsville, Texas to eat at our favorite restaurant in town, Carbonero Rotisserie.

This photo is of Lake Conroe, one of my favorite lakes in the area. Funny fact, the only natural large lake in Texas is Caddo Lake and it is basically a huge swamp full of poisonous and deadly things that try to bite or eat you.

I have never been invited to write a Texas guidebook, and you probably can figure out why that is the case. Hee hee!



If you want to read more of our flying adventures check out my "CoffeeShop Family Flying Circus" posts. This post would have been posted in that series, but I didn't take enough photos for it!



After such a dreary, rainy winter it was a pleasure to get back up in the air. I hadn't been flying for months. Paul has been working on his IFR license, so he can fly with his instructor when the weather is not the best. But I had been grounded like a bird with a broken wing.

Please stop reading for a minute and play some sad music with your tiny violin for me.

Unfortunately I forgot to take photos of our delicious and beautiful dinner as I was too starved. My giant appetite and inability to control my munching before taking a photo has unfortunately kept me from being a popular food blogger.

When we got back to the Gooney the boys had some fun running around while Mom was screaming at them to not get chopped up by plane props... I still have prop-PTS from watching Indiana Jones as a young person.

Here I am in the back seat of the Gooney, not ready to go home. It is quite comfy here in my premium window seat. Every seat (all four of them) on the Gooney is "First Class". I was served spring water (it was sitting on the floor and Imp handed it to me) and I had some lovely smoked almonds (a stale package found under my seat).

I realize I live like a celebrity. ;-)

And here is my partner-in-crime.

Everything is beautiful from the air. It really was a perfect afternoon trip.

Later on in the week we spent a few hours hiking at Kickerillo-Mischer Preserve. This is a fairly new park and it has a huge lake and some really nice trails.

I had so much trouble remembering the name of this park until I started picturing myself kicking an armadillo and missing. Does that make me a bad person?

This day we hiked along the drainage creek that runs into Cypress Creek.

It is really so pretty here. I have the "White Noise" app on my phone and I made my own little repeating relaxation sound effect at this very spot. It is such a cool app, I love creating my own sound-machine recordings.

Imp was trying to poke some fish. He also skipped some rocks. Typical boy/tomboy-stuff. I was waiting for him to fall in (his normal MO), but that darn kid knew I had my camera out so didn't want to give me a good shot to post here!

We also hiked around the drainage lake on the edge of the park close to the hospital.

As you can see they have a real beaver problem. So many of the trees they planted are sad little stumps. This poor tree is almost gnawed in half.

It was the perfect day to get outdoors and enjoy the warm, sunny day.

I love spring.

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

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{CoffeeShop Family Flying Circus Adventures} Chapter 13: Our First Overnight Flight, San Antonio!

March of 2016 we bought a little 1970's 4-seater Piper and we have had many fun flying adventures.  Interested in reading more of the {CoffeeShop Family Flying Circus Adventures}? Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3,  Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Entire Series (newest posts first).


A special thanks to my husband Paul who flies the plane and edits all our videos. Please subscribe to his Texas Gooney Bird YouTube channel if you are interested in following our adventures. It would make his day!

--------------------

This flight was back in October. I was hoping Paul would get his video finished before I posted it, but he didn't have time. So I decided to go ahead and blog about it. :-)

It was a beautiful weekend in October and Paul had to go to an overnight conference in San Antonio. We were all ready to drive there, but the weather was too perfect and we decided to take our first overnight trip in the Gooney!

We packed all of our bags and headed out.

Get your hands on the yoke Pilot Paul!

It was the perfect day to be in the air.

And before we knew it, we could see San Antonio in the distance!

We flew into the Stinson Airport and were very impressed.

And imagine how excited we were when we looked out of our front windshield and saw a huge B-17 parked right in front of us!

It was our lucky day and the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress "Madras Maiden" was there! We really wanted to go fly in her, but it was just too expensive for all four of us. Don't get me wrong, it would be worth every penny, but we would have to sell our plane and one of our sons to pay for it. ;-)

But simply getting to walk up to a historical marvel like this B-17 is amazing.

But I certainly would have loved to be up there!

We rented a car and checked into the Crockett Hotel, which is right next to the Alamo. This was our first time staying there and I was very impressed. It was in the perfect location, very clean, and historical.

We walked over to the River Walk and grabbed lunch.

Then we drove to the Mission San Jose and saw the famous Rose window.

This mission is certainly worth the very short drive from town.

I immediately regretted not bringing my real camera.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect, cool and sunny.

I didn't want to leave! But it was getting late and the kids were already hungry for dinner.

The next day Paul went to his conference and the boys and I visited the Alamo.

A cannon expert was there and we learned everything you would want to know about cannons. It was really fascinating!

Then we had Mexican food on the River Walk. We really love Mexican food. Any restaurant that starts you off with big bowl of chips and salsa won't disappoint.

After lunch we explored the River Walk. We always go to La Vallita, a small Mexican village right on the river. Unfortunately we had just missed the Day of the Dead celebration.

But we still got to see many of the beautiful decorations.

The boys and I had a great time and got a lot of exercise.

When Paul was finished with his meeting we headed back to the airport. When he was refueling the plane I had some time to read about the three Stinson sisters who were all pilots in the early 1900's. Katherine Stinson was especially impression and really before her time.

But it was time to go home. Paul had to be at work the next day and we don't like to fly after dark.

Does this kid know how lucky he is?

It was clear and beautiful up there.

Until it was not.

"Paul, is that a line of clouds ahead of us?"

Paul is working on his IFR, so we don't fly into clouds.

And I am always ready to freak out about something.

Paul is a great pilot and very cautious and he reassured me we were going to go around them.

He spends a lot of time reassuring me.  I am a nervous flyer.

And we did manage to go around the clouds and we got home safely from our first flying overnight trip!

Do you want to download my favorite CoffeeShop PSE/Photoshop Actions and Lightroom Presets or Design Elements in one convenient zipped file AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures. 

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