MoseleyWorld

Aunt Ashley’s tour bus stopped off at MoseleyWorld last weekend, after making stops in Beaver Island,  Napa, San Francisco, Atlanta, Wichita and Newport, RI just to name a few stops. Despite getting to see Saxon’s newest impersonation (she does a really good “whining 2 year old” from time to time - stick around long enough and you might get to see it too), Ashley had a good time with her two nieces (I think).

Saxon definitely enjoyed her Aunt Ashley’s visit, since she got a fancy new tutu and she got to go with her mom and Aunt Ashley to the salon - to have her toenails painted fancily (See below). This week, every time an airplane has flown over, Saxon says, “Aunt Ashley’s Airplane.”

click for larger image

Tis the season to order Christmas cards! Of course, you could contact a great photographer, to photograph your kids, your dogs or your whole family so you would have a fancy photo holiday card (hey, who can blame me for the shameless plug - I’ve got another mouth to feed!).

You should also check out the great card designs at Tiny Prints. From Christmas party invitations & Christmas Cards to cards announcing your new baby or that you’ve moved, they’ve got a great selection of cards at Tiny Prints.

We recently made my annual pilgrimage to the State Fair of Texas, this time as a family of four. Regarding the State Fair of Texas, did you know:

• The State Fair was first held at its current location in Dallas in 1886.
• The Texas-OU football game has been played annually, since 1929, at the Cotton Bowl, which is in the middle of Fair Park.
• The ubiquitous corny dog was invented by the Fletcher brothers and popularized at the State Fair of Texas.
• Speaking of fried foods, the State Fair of Texas is where you can get almost anything deep fried or chicken-fried. Chicken-fried bacon, fried banana split, deep-fried s’mores (Ok, these were good), Texas fried jelly belly beans, fried chocolate truffles are just a few of the new foods offered at the State Fair this year.
• The Texas Star located at Fair Park is the largest Ferris wheel in North America.
• Fair Park was first choice of the Dallas Cowboys for their new stadium until former Mayor Laura Miller ran them off (in less than 48 hours - she’s got skills).
• Saxon made her 2nd visit to the Fair on the same day Samantha made her 1st.

Here are some photographs from our visit.

watching the dancing with dogs show

samantha awake, looking for the dogs (actually watching her sister)
running around proved to be much more fun than watching the dogs dance
performing

here’s one of those world-famous Fletcher’s corn dogs.
One word: yummy
mangy corn dog?
at the young farmer’s exhibit, staffed by FFA (that’s Future Farmer’s of America for you urbanites)
stopping for corn (which, of course, feeds everything at the farm)
planting her onion “seed”
cow milking - saxon told the gal she knew all about this because she sees it at home all the time.

saxon’s favorite activity was the petting zoo, where she got to feed everything from baby goats to giraffes. the ostriches and emus were true-to-form with their stares and freaky snakelike neck movements. yikes.

Little Samantha will be eight weeks old tomorrow. In the last couple of weeks, she’s become much more aware of her surroundings and even flashes a little smile at us every now & then.

hanging out with mom

smiling samantha

New Yorkers spend a lot of their time looking down their noses at the rest of the country, but even more so at anyone stupid enough to live in George Bush’s home state. I’m glad to report, with great pleasure, Cindy Adams, the 123 year old gossip columnist for the New York post, has completely lost it. Coo coo. Bonkers. Lost her marbles.

In yesterday’s NY Post, Adams proudly announced the scoop that everyone in Texas was too stupid to know - George & Laura Bush had picked out a home in “Preston Hollow, Texas.” Here’s her “scoop:”

In four months Mr. and Mrs. Bush move to a town outside Dallas called Preston Hollow, one of the wealthiest areas in the oil-rich state of Texas. Houses come with horse stables, lake views, mountain views, golf club views. Kiddies, mother is telling you do not cry for Argentina - or Dubya. He’s not going from the White House to any cockamamie cramped two-bedroom apartment with hot- and cold-running mortgages. Laura does not beat around the Bushes. She’s been to their new home, checked it out, and it’s a big house on five acres. Their broker is the Lone Star State’s premier Realtor Allie Beth Allman. George and Laura are going top cabin all the way.

Does the New York Freaking Post not have fact checkers? Does Cindy Adams not have a brain?

To be fair, Preston Hollow used to be a “town outside Dallas” - in 1939! [and in 1945 it became part of Dallas] Preston Hollow is a neighborhood.

Now about these “mountain views…”

Here’s a screen shot from Google Maps showing the satellite view of Preston Hollow.

Here’s one of Telluride, Colorado

One of these towns has mountains, lots of them. For the other, the closest mountain is 800 miles away.

Lake views? Nope.
Horse stables? Nope.
Golf club views? Nope.
5 Acre Lot? OK, there’s a handful. Mark Cuban’s 23,676 sf house, which sits on 6.83 acres, is definitely the exception rather than the rule.

Mama Moseley says if we can find a house in Preston Hollow with either a mountain view or a lake view that we’re packing up as soon as mortgages become unfrozen and we’ll say adios to Lakewood Heights. I told her not to start packing - the only mountains in Dallas are made of silicone.

[update: this property listed by Allie Beth Allman does have a lake and sits on just under 5 acres - but I don’t see mountains or horses in the aerial view]

I’ve had more than a handful of requests for photographs of Samantha. I was finally able to catch her at a time when she was wide awake and it was also daylight. Quite unusual, actually, since lately she likes to sleep all day long.

and a couple of big sister, Saxon, holding Samantha

and here’s a photograph Saxon took the other day, abstract, modern art type of photograph

Governor Sarah Palin’s daughter, Piper Palin, is only six, but she’s a total natural in front of the cameras. She’s become so camera-aware that, during her Mom’s big speech at the RNC, Piper made sure baby bro Trig’s hair looked good, too.

Notice the laughter in the audience, who apparently was watching “the lick” on the monitors in the convention hall!