Way to go, Nate!

A while ago, the pathology department had put on a research contest to encourage the residents to do a research project. Nate had already finished one and he ended up winning. A week or so ago he was awarded a trophy which rivals Ian's T-ball trophy (Ian: my trophy is taller. Nate: but my trophy is heavier - it's an obelisk made out of marble). The trophies now reside side by side next to the TV. He also got a restaurant gift card to a restaurant of choice. He chose the Gristmill restaurant in Gruene http://www.gristmillrestaurant.com/. Some friends had recommended it and so we got to try their food last night. It's a family friendly restaurant, so we took the whole family. We got there pretty late and there was a wait. Apparently, it's a very popular restaurant, but it's huge with both in- and outdoor dining areas. They told us it would be a 30 to 40 minute wait, but it only took about 20 minutes and they had picnic tables and a singer/entertainer in the waiting area. We got a table inside, but it didn't really matter because all the (huge) windows were open and they had all the fans going. Luckily, it wasn't too hot. Annika has been wearing underwear for the past few days and has had a few little accidents here and there. While we were waiting to order, I asked her if she needed to go potty. She said yes and when I picked her up from the chair I realized she was standing in a little puddle. I decided to put a diaper on her for the rest of the night.

There were some decorations on the wall: swine heads. Ian was particularly fascinated by them. Gruene was settled by German immigrants and a lot of the old town has been preserved. The food was great and we got an appetizer and dessert too. It was already late and after dinner the waitress took forever because they had changed their computer system and they couldn't find our gift card in there. It all worked out, but the kids were exhausted and all three of them fell asleep in the van on the way home (Kaelyn claims she didn't and was just being quiet).

Just this afternoon, Nate finally succeeded in fixing the sprinkler system. He's been working on it for the past few weekends and it's caused a lot of frustration. One of the lines wasn't getting enough pressure. He ended up replacing a control valve and when he turned it back on, there was plenty of pressure! I haven't seen him this excited in a long time. I'm so thankful to have such an amazing husband.