New Years in Jacksonville

New Years in Jacksonville

Well, David and I have been trying to get out to see Elise for a while now, and it just hasn't happened. He doesn't have a lot of time to take off yet with the new job, and to get Hunter boarded, and take care of all the other pets around here, well, it just hasn't worked out yet. But, finally, I decided to just do a girl's road trip! Regan and I got up, I did some laundry, we packed and left town around noon. Stopped at Target to get a few things for the trip, and got into Jacksonville by dinner time! Had dinner with Aunt Kathy and Uncle Danny, got to meet and hold baby Mason (he was born on my mom's birthday, December 4th, so he's still a tiny little guy!) and see Elise.

I wasn't sure if she would remember me, or even want to be around me! She does have some stranger anxiety, but once I sat down on the floor and played with her present a little bit, she came over and put her forehead against mine and started talking to me! It was precious. After that, we were BFF's again. She loved to take Regan into her play house and have Regan read to her.

On New Year's Eve, we went to lunch with Nancy (Trista's BFF) and she had some friends over and we played games, 5 Second Rule and Mexican Train, watched some movies, and tried to stay up till midnight. Elise didn't make it much past 8, I barely made it to midnight, after falling asleep on the couch around 11! Then on New Year's Day, we went back to Aunt Kathy's for lunch of roast, black eyed peas and cabbage. Regan ate a whole head of cabbage just about, it was yummy! I always hate to leave, I feel close to my mom with that side of her family.  But I know we will be back soon. Regan and I made good time getting home, and I think the boys missed us a little bit!

Six Flags for Black Friday

I am SO anti-shopping on Black Friday. I don't care if other people do it, but I hate crowds, and there's nothing I need that badly!! I just don't feel it.

So instead, we headed off to Six Flags! It was great, no lines, and it's the "Holiday in the Park" so there was yummy cocoa. It didn't open until 4, so we had a lazy morning at home and then headed down to San Antonio, hit the rides the kids wanted to ride, had some cocoa, met Bugs Bunny, bought some capes, and headed home. We have season passes that we got last year, and this was our first time to use them. We are planning on using them again over Christmas break too. It's fun because it's not crowded!

Schlitterbahn

Regan won 2 free Schlitterbahn tickets for selling so many Girl Scout cookies earlier this year. Well, it's been so crazy this summer, we never had a chance to use them! Riley got to go twice this summer, and Regan hadn't been able to go, so I promised her a girl's day where we would just take off and go the last weekend they were open. Riley and David were supposed to go to Brady Lake for a Sea Cadets/Young Marine's joint training campout weekend thing, and there was NO WAY on earth we were going to be able to drag Regan out there after we were so bored last year! So, it was going to be a great weekend to go.

Well, it rained a lot, so much so that Riley's event was canceled at the last minute, which worked out well for me so I didn't have to worry about what to do with Hunter. And then, come to find out, Regan's friend Marillah, who also sold more than 1000 cookies and won the Schlitterbahn tickets too, also planned on going to Schlitterbahn the same day! So we met up with them, and Amie and I got to chill a little and hang out in the wave pool while the girls got to ride every little thing they wanted to ride! It was the perfect day to go, there were not many people there and the lines were very short.

After we left, we went to dinner in New Braunfels, and got home late, and very worn out. But Regan enjoyed her girls day and loved Schlitterbahn. It had been so long since we had been, she didn't even remember ever going there!

US Naval Academy

I know I'm late posting about the boys trip, but David just gave me the pictures to post! David took Riley over Labor Day weekend to Baltimore/Annapolis/DC for a boy's weekend.  Riley has always wanted to go to the Naval Academy, so we figured letting him go see the place right as he's starting off his high school "career" might light a fire under him to do well in school.

They left on Friday afternoon, flew to Baltimore, I think that's where their hotel was. They went on Saturday morning to Annapolis and met up with one of Riley's old motocross buddies who goes to the Naval Academy now.  Jordan gave them a tour of the place, and it was nice because they got to go a lot of places that aren't open for "public". They got to see the dorms, meet Jordan's roommate as he was preparing to go run with a 40 pound weighted vest, and just got a really personalized behind the scenes look at things. I asked David to take a lot of pictures, but I meant with Riley in them, and I got a LOT of pictures of buildings and cannons. Lots of cannons.

They went to DC the next day, spent most of the day at the Air and Space Museum, and then went to see the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (he didn't take ANY pictures there, GRR!) And all the pictures at the Air and Space Museum are of planes. (Boring)

Anyway, they went  back to the Academy on Monday, I think to take more pictures. They ate some crabs, and came home super late on Monday night. Here are the best pictures, the ones with people in them :)

Naval Academy Trip

Day Six - Sick Day at Sea

Not much to report about this day. We woke up, and went right back to bed. Well, I did, I think David went to brunch! I got up and went to lunch, but only ate about half a burger, and then went back to bed. I was wanting to go see a show at 2:30, so I wanted to lay down for about 30 minutes and ended up sleeping for 3 hours. I don't know what we had, but it was fever, headache and body aches, pains, and stomach issues. Just not fun at all. Finally made it up for dinner and then took Regan to look at the pictures, then David took her to play some games in the arcade, and Riley was out playing with his friends all day. At least one of us was having fun! Regan would go out for a bit, but she just kept coming back.

After dinner, I packed, and by pack, I mean I shoved everything we had into a suitcase. I was not in the mood to do any sorting so who knows where anything is at this point!

We had to get up at 7 the next morning for debarkation, so we went to bed early again, and I was happy about that!

Day 7 - not much to report. We got up, I finished packing while the kids and David had breakfast, we said goodbye to Erwin, and hit the dock. David got the car, we hit the road. We stopped in Elgin for BBQ sandwiches to bring home for lunch, grabbed Princess and made it home in time for a nap.

Day Five Cozumel and Dolphinaris

This is it! The event we've been waiting for! Honestly, I don't know if this was more for Regan or for me! No, really, it was for Regan. But man, this was awesome. So, we docked and got off the ship early (like, super early) and then had to wait for our shuttle bus, so we shopped around the cruise ship port a bit. Everything is a little over priced there, and really, it looked like Florida or something. Very touristy, and just not my idea of real Mexico, too polished.

But, it was pretty. The water, again, is amazing. We found some shirts that the kids wanted, and said we would come back so we don't have to lug anything around all day. We got on our taxi to Dolphinaris, and had to go through the spiel, no sunscreen, no jewelry, no sunglasses, no shoes, etc. Then we got in the super cold water with the dolphins and the trainer. We were the first session of the day, so it was nice. I was afraid it would be over before we knew it, but it was a nice long time. First he went over all the rules and the hand signals. We were in a group with another dad and his 2 kids, and just us, so it was a nice small group. He showed us the way to hold our hands and face, and have our dolphin, Simo, come over and give us a kiss on the cheek, and then to turn and give her a kiss on her chin. Then we got tol hold our hand out under her chin and pet her back, but not near the blow hole (which I always thought was just a hole, but it opens and closes like an eyelid or something). Then we got to pet her on her belly, and then swim across the lagoon and wait for her to come over and swim by us, we grabbed her fins and she swam us back to our spot on the other side of the lagoon. And Simo was fast! It was so neat. Then we got to put on masks and she would swim right under us so we could reach out and pet her and watch her swim. We got to pet her a lot as she swam by, and feel her tail and fins, and everything. It was neat, they are so soft and rubbery/leathery feeling.

We were in there for about an hour altogether. Then it was time to wash off and look at pictures. Of course, we are suckers, and how can you swim with dolphins and not have proof, right? (No cameras allowed in the pool, of course) so we worked a deal with them and managed to get all the pictures on CD, and get the DVD and 4 8x10 prints. The pictures are awesome though. I'm really glad we got them. And how many little girls can say their very first kiss was with a dolphin?

Then we had lunch that was included in our package, so we had fajitas and quesadillas and then decided to head back to the ship. We were still pretty tired from the day before, and David's knee was hurting, so we just went back a little early. We did stop and buy some t-shirts and our traditional magnet, and then managed to get back on the ship before the crowds returned. Regan, David and I took a nap while Riley met up with his friends.

Since we had some extra time, I made the kids dress up, I actually put on make up, and we went down for pictures before dinner.  The have picture booths set up all over the ship with different backgrounds and they aren't that expensive, and when are we ever going to get it together for a family photo again?! So much to their chagrin, we posed. They had a neat black and white background, and we were all in black and white, so we did some there, and then some in front of a cruise ship background, and some of the kids in front of a pirate background. They were pretty neat, and it was really hard to narrow it down to just a few! (But I did, one of all of us, one of me and David, and two of just the kids)

Then we went to a magic show that was pretty cool but Riley said had too much dancing. I think he was just upset that we were making him hang with us for a while and not with his new friends. Then we went to dinner where he came with us his one and only time, but left before his entree so he could go to his club Mardi Gras party!

David and I got a souffle this time, and not the warm chocolate melting cake, and maybe that's where we went wrong, I don't know, but that night David and I got so sick. But, we went back to our room, and went to bed a little early cause we were just feeling wiped out by that time.

Cozumel

Dolphinaris

Day Four- Progreso, Yucatan, Mexico

This was the port I was most looking forward to. I had heard mixed reviews about it, some people think it was dirty and didn't like all the people begging for money, but to me, it sounded like the good old Mexico that I remember! I first went to Mexico on a missions trip when I was 14 years old, and it was such an eye opening life changing event for me. I was hoping my kids would get a small taste of that, and I think they did.

I warned them up front that it is a very poor country and there are people begging, but Regan told me I didn't prepare them enough. We got off the boat, and first, it's gorgeous. The water is blue as can be, the sand is white, and there is one of the world's longest piers. It's almost 5 miles long. As you get off the ship, you walk through a nice little shopping area, and then to the shuttle buses. We caught a shuttle right away thank goodness, and it took us right into Progreso where we paid $5 a piece for a double decker tour of the city. It was neat, it just went around for about 20 minutes but we got a taste of what the city is like. There are some really nice old buildings, and right next door, a building that is crumbling and falling apart. We saw the markets and hotels and restaurants. We saw one called Buddy's and an American standing out front with a microphone saying they had clean bathrooms and good food (more on that later).

So when our tour was over, we made our way to the beach, stopped every 5 seconds by someone who wanted to sell us something. We did buy "air conditioners" (fans) on the bus cause Regan wanted a pink one, and the guy went from 2 for 10 to 2 for 5!

The beach was beautiful. We found a palapa and sat and ordered drinks and some nachos and let the kids go swim for a bit. We joined them, and then they wanted to do the banana boat. After a while, Riley and David wanted to rent a jet ski for an hour, so we let Riley haggle over the price. We told him the highest price we would pay for an hour, and let him go see if he could negotiate it down any. He did pretty good, so the guys set off on the jet ski, and Regan and I changed and walked around the town. I'm an adventurous traveler, so I had no qualms about walking around town. We bought some jewelry, shopped in some neat little Mayan shops, and found the market. I love markets. I don't know why, but I just love seeing all the stuff for sale in a market. Especially in other countries. I'm sure they think I'm crazy asking about what everything is, but I had honestly never seen a real live dragon fruit before! And there was something else that looked like a giant, squishy artichoke that I had never seen before either, but whatever it was, it didn't translate. At least, not into anything I could understand!

Anyway, we shopped and had to stop at every poor starving, stray dog. We looked at the fish market. Since Progreso is right on the ocean, many people fish every day, then go right to the fish market to clean and sell their catch. It smelled, and it was awesome. Regan wanted to buy some of the octopus and squid to feed the stray dogs.  We did get some t-shirts and some of those cute little animal bobble heads, and more jewelry!

Then we met up with the guys at the showers, and headed to Buddy's. This is where things took a turn. As we were walking in, the guy with the microphone asks Riley if he wants to judge a dance contest, they need an impartial jury. I'm (naively) thinking salsa dancing or something, so we order drinks and have a seat, and they turn Riley's chair around to face the dancers, who they promptly march right up on top of the tables! They were in bikini's, or cover ups, and drinking shots of tequila. At this point, we've ordered, we can't just walk out, Riley is looking at us like, what now? And we are looking at each other like, what now? So we sat there for a bit. It was all pretty funny, there were 5 girls, and some of them really did not belong in bikini's, and one girl was rather large, and hilarious to watch. She ended up winning the entire thing because she really put herself out there! We laughed quite a bit. The food was okay, nothing great, but not horrible, so we paid and were leaving about the time they started lining up body shots (just in time).

We were going to do a massage on the beach, but found a place that was indoors, because by this time, we were all hot and sweaty. We negotiated a price, and for all four of us to get a 45 minute massage (that's all we had time for at that point) was only $40. The kids were excited for their very first massage! And we were in one giant open room with just some beds lined up. We tipped them $5 each, and they were very sweet, and let us take a picture of them, all smiles!

Then we headed back towards the shuttle, with some last minute shopping along the way. David found a coffee shop for him and Riley, while I picked out a nice chess set (deer bone and turquoise) and some real Mexican vanilla, and then the kids wanted to knock off sunglasses, Riley got yellow Oakley's, Regan got some pink Ray Ban's, and David gave a dollar to a little old lady who was begging, and I thought she was going to climb in his pocket and come home with us. She went on and on thanking him and smiling and shaking his hand.

David was done shopping by then (lightweight) and so we got on our shuttle to head back, tired and the boys were beat up from their little jet ski adventure. I think they wiped out a few too many times, and David was pretty sore. We got back on the ship, rested a bit, Riley went off with his new friends, and then we had dinner in the dining room again.

Every night the wait staff would jump up on some tables and sing, and it was always pretty hilarious. Tonight it was the one about the apple bottom jeans and the boots with the fur (I don't know the name of it, but it's hilarious) and they did a great job with it! We left laughing for sure.

We went to bed early since we had to get up early the next day for the highlight of the trip, swimming with dolphins!

Progreso, Mexico

Day Three - Fun Day at Sea

Day Three was more of Day Two. We walked around the ship, had breakfast at the buffet, Riley made some friends so we hardly saw him during sea days. Regan was at the older end of her age group so she thought some of the stuff they did in her kids club was "baby-ish" so she would come and go a lot. They did have a Mardi Grad party at night that she went to and enjoyed. She got a goody bag with a stuffed animal and some beads, and stuff.

David and I had fun just walking around checking things out. We sat out by the water a lot, looking out at the blue water. It was amazing how blue it was so quick out of Galveston!  It rained some, but it was neat watching the storm clouds roll in. We took a nap too, and sat on the balcony.

We watched some people in the casino, we sat in the piano bar and listened to a Filipino man sing like Frank Sinatra! He was pretty good! We went to a show that was a "World Showcase" with songs and dances from around the world, pretty neat. This was "Elegant Night" and I forgot to pack David's dress pants, so even though I think he could have gotten away with nice jeans, we didn't feel like trying. We ate dinner off the Lido Buffet (just okay) and then went back to the comedy club. We're pretty boring I guess. It was fun to people-watch and see people dressed to the nine's and nearly falling down drunk!

Then we tried to get to bed early since we had an early start the next morning.

Day Two - All Aboard!!

We had to get up pretty early to get to the ship, and make a bathing suit run. We were hoping to find a Target or Walmart on the way to Galveston. We found Target which was great since I was just there trying on bathing suits the week before, so I didn't have to worry about trying anything on. Grabbed one, David grabbed some water shoes, and we were off!

David dropped us off at the Carnival dock, with all our luggage, and he went to to park, and we were able to board right away. We got right on, went to our room to drop off our stuff, and went straight to Guy Fieri's burger joint for lunch. The burger's were pretty good, and we got the kids signed up for unlimited soda and got them some cute sports bottles, and I got my "Drink of the Day" which was a yummy fruity drink with an umbrella (which is exactly what you should drink on a cruise ship!)

Then we walked around to find everything, and check it all out. We found an arcade which, of course, meant the kids had to play a few games (all 3 of them).  Found the casino, dining rooms, piano bar, all kinds of neat looking places! We walked around the outside of the ship, checking out the pools, the water slide, the putt putt golf course, the basketball court, the kids clubs, and the dolphins! The water was ugly green in port, and not much of a view in Galveston, but there was a good breeze and dolphins swimming around, so it was feeling "vacationy".

Then it was time for "muster stations" where we had to line up and try to understand the captain over the loud speaker talk about where to go and what to do in case of emergency. It was a giant pain in the butt, but we had to do it, by law. So glad when that was over!

Then we had to do an orientation about the kids clubs and make sure they were all good to go for that. And then we just kind of wandered around till our appointed dinner time. We chose the late seating (I wouldn't do that time again though) and so our dinner was at 8:15 in the Paris Dining Hall. Our wait staff was Reizel and Igusti from the Philippines, and Mahardika from India. They were SO nice, and David was always chatting them up about home, how long they had been with Carnival, all about their kids, time off, etc. The food in the main dining hall was good, but not great. Except for the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake. That was to die for! Regan had that every night, I had it every night but one! It was so good. I kept wanting to take pictures of the food because it always looked so good, but we were always so hungry since our seating was so late, that we would dig in before I would remember!

There was a comedy show that night that David and I went to, it was fun to do since it's something we enjoy but never make time for at home. The kids were at their kids clubs having fun, and we could stay up as late as we wanted, and enjoy ourselves without worrying about the kids! We also spent a lot of time on the balcony. I am spoiled now, and I don't think I would ever do a cruise without a balcony now. It was nice to sit out there watching the waves and hearing the ocean.

When we got back to our room each night, our bed was always turned down, chocolates on the bed and a cute towel animal waiting for us! Erwin was our steward and such a nice man. He was there every morning when we woke up, ready to go in and make the beds, and there every night when we left for dinner to turn down the beds. He has a daughter at home in the Philippines that is Regan's age, and has a heart defect, so he works so hard to pay for her medical bills. They work long, hard hours on the ship, and I just really felt for him. He was so sweet, and would tell us every day "Good morning Mr. David, Mrs. Denise!" We just both loved him!! We told him we would be praying for him and his daughter, so if you think about it, say a prayer for Mr. Erwin and his family.

These are all the pictures from the ship. I didn't feel like splitting them up by days!

Carnival Triumph

Getting out of Town is Always the Hardest!

The "plan" was simple, when David got home from work, hopefully early, we head to Houston to spend the night with Benny and Christina so the kids can hang out at least for one night, and then we are closer to Galveston on Saturday morning so we can board the ship early.

Of course, nothing can be easy, or go as "planned".  We got an email late Thursday from the place where we have been boarding Hunter lately, to get him used to the place for this trip, since we were going to be gone for 6 nights, we didn't want to just leave him somewhere and have him think we ditched him. Well, they had an outbreak of mycoplasma and while they would still board the dogs, they would be kenneled most of the time. Only out for individual walks, no group play, no water time, no pond, it sounded sad. So I spent the morning scrambling, trying to find a place that would keep Hunter on short notice. Most boarders want them to come for a day of evaluation first, so it was rough, but I found a place right down the street that even gave us 2 free nights, and they had a web cam so I got to go home and watch him play with the other dogs for a while! He seemed to be having a good time, so then it was off to board dog number 2. Princess stays with a friend of mine who grooms her, because she breeds, and owns, very small dogs, so Princess fits right in.

Then, David wanted us to meet him for lunch at his favorite Friday lunch spot, Perry's Steakhouse, downtown. This was kind of a kick-off-vacation-right kind of lunch. They have a lunch special on Friday's only, the worlds largest pork chop for 11 bucks. Seriously, it is huge. The kids enjoyed their fancy lunch, although for the life of him, Riley couldn't figure out why the businessmen who eat there prefer listening to classical music instead of Daft Punk.

Thankfully, we had a late lunch and David didn't have to go back, so we went home so I could finish packing. I had started packing the day before and had the kids done, just had me and David to finish up. But with dealing with all the dog issues, I ended up in a rush and forgot a few key items, namely, my bathing suit! David and I went to the beach last month, and when we got home, our bathing suits were wet so I put them in a trash bag, with my nice Chaco water shoes. Well, Riley saw a trash bag and threw it away! So I had just gotten a brand new bathing suit, washed it, and left it hanging in the laundry room. Also forgot David's nice pants for our fancy dinner, and my razor, and David's water shoes.

Anyway, Riley had football practice late, and it was picture night, so David didn't want Riley to miss that, so we figured we would head out as soon as pictures were over, hoping they would do freshmen first and we could get out quick. Well, it was 7 before we were on the road. We got in to Benny and Tina's around 11 and stayed up visiting till super late (or early!) I don't think Riley and Jeremiah even went to sleep at all.

But it was fun to catch up, and I had 7 bags of clothes for Joy, Jeremiah and Tina's new grand baby Aubrey! We decided to tell the kids about the cruise the night before because Riley had a scrimmage game on Saturday morning that he didn't want to miss. He kept asking us why we couldn't just leave on Saturday morning instead of Friday night. We didn't want him to think we didn't care about his game, but we really had to be there by Saturday morning! And it was such a mad rush to get there, and so late when we got in, I didn't take any pictures! We did get to meet Josh's new wife Ashley too, since they had come in to town to surprise Tina for her birthday.

Updates

I realized I'm kind of behind on updating but there hasn't been too much going on, so don't worry, you didn't miss much :)

First, we had Elise's follow up appointment on the MRI on the 6th, it went surprisingly well! Trista and her friend Nancy drove Elise down and we met David for lunch at Freebird's so he could spend some time with his favorite baby. Then we headed down to the appointment, and it was kind of odd. We had to wait forever, the doctor came in finally and just goes, "Uh, yeah, it's gone." We just kind of stared at him a minute before we realized what he meant. He said the cyst has "mysteriously disappeared." Then said, good thing we didn't do surgery! So, that was that. Great news, and what we had been praying for! (We do we always seemed surprised when God answers our prayers?)

Then they went home after the appointment (and after we did a drive by of some of Austin's best goodie places)

And then Riley started football practice from 8-12 every day, and I've just been the taxi. Regan has spent the night with friends, and we've just been plugging along, trying to avoid the heat, and getting ready for vacation.

Speaking of...we leave tomorrow! We told the kids we are spending the week at Galveston, and we are going down tomorrow night to spend the night with their cousins, Joy and Jeremiah. We haven't had a chance to do cousin camp this summer, and Regan was so disappointed, until I told her that we would be able to spend ONLY one night with them. She jumped up and down and said, "Mom, one night with Joy is ALL I NEED!!"  She's very excited!

Then on Saturday morning, we will head to Galveston, not to stay there for the week, but to surprise the kids with a cruise! We are going to Progreso and Cozumel, and will swim with the dolphins in Cozumel. I know Regan is going to FREAK. I can't wait. I am excited to have time with the kids (and David) before school starts back up and we are all running ourselves ragged.

So stay tuned for a ton of pictures when I get home! We are going to be radio silent for the whole trip (another thing I'm excited about) no phones, no i-things, just family time. Good old fashioned family time!

See you next week!

The Day After

After a long trip like I just took, it's normal to come home and rest, relax, catch up on laundry, etc. but no, I can never be normal!  I had a load of laundry done by Sunday morning, Regan packed for church camp, and it was our week to serve at church!

I do nursery check in for the 2nd service, Regan works with toddlers, and David does campus support. So as soon as we were done, Regan and I rushed home and ate lunch, took Princess to her boarder (a friend of mine that grooms her) and picked up some food for Hunter, ran home so David could use my truck to get Hunter to his boarder (he loves Dog Boys!) and I took Regan to the church to drop her off for camp. 

She was so excited for her first year of youth camp! And so tired too, poor thing!

Then David and I hit the road for Port Aransas. We only have 2 nights here, but we are making the most of them! We got in Sunday night, rode the ferry (my favorite way to get to the island) and found a dinner place that was decent and not too crowded (service was terrible so they gave us free bread pudding to take back to he room)  Then we took a late night full moon stroll on the beach. It was perfect! 

Today we had breakfast at the same place we had dinner last night because they had really good looking cinnamon rolls! And they were! And then we hit the beach for a bit. There must be a storm or something out there cause that was the roughest water I've ever had at the beach! We didn't stay too long, came in, got cleaned up and went to lunch and a movie. Been a while since I've been to a movie in the middle of the day!

 Then we went to this place called Shells for dinner. I had heard great things about it from my sister, Wendy, and she was NOT wrong! There was an hour and a half wait last night, only 30 minutes tonight so we thought we would stay. And we are so glad we did! We both had farfalle with bacon, tomatoes and spicy garlic cream sauce for dinner, his with shrimp, mine with chicken. And a roasted garlic and grilled focaccia bread for an appetizer. Yum! Now we know why it's always so busy! And it's super small, 14 tables total, and that includes the 5 outside! We will definitely go back there next time. 

And another moonlight stroll on the beach (this time with a mojito for me, piña colada for David) and I am SO not ready to go home tomorrow! It's been a very busy few months for us and it has been nice to get away and reconnect and talk and just be 2 grown ups for a change, not mom and dad, aunt and uncle, or anything else. I really wish we could do this more often! And, I SO <3 the beach! This is totally my happy place!

Family Fun Day in San Antonio

San Antonio

I never realized how hard it would be to find Navy pants! And not just navy pants, but US Navy issue sailor pants. Fancy ones. Ones that go with the dress blue uniform. We've been all over, from Ft. Hood, Austin, and now, San Antonio, to find these pants. They are online for around 200 bucks, but  we were told we could find them at a military exchange in San Antonio for around 50. So we thought we would make a day trip of it, and take the kids to San Antonio, to celebrate the end of the world, right?!

So we started off at Juan in a Million, one of our favorite breakfast places. Riley and David had a side bet going that Riley could finish ONE breakfast taco! He was so close, about two bites away, when he got up to look at something and the waitress took his plate away! He was so bummed. But, he even said that was the most food he has ever eaten in his whole life.

Then we stopped at Cabela's. We're looking at guns, and man, they are sold out all over! The kids love Cabela's and we looked at all the animals and fed the fish and took pictures. Then we headed back on the road to San Antonio. The only information I had was Ft. Sam Houston, and the GPS took us to this huge cemetery which was very moving to see, but not the right place. We finally found the right place, drove around to find the store we needed, then spent some time looking for all the gear Riley still needed.

Then we surprised the kids with an early Christmas present, season passes to Six Flags! They were shocked and it was so cute to hear them as we tried to convince them we had just taken a wrong turn. It was nice, not crowded, not hot, we rode the big rides they wanted to ride, got hot chocolate and a funnel cake, and left early so we weren't getting home too late. Stopped at a really weird Rudy's because it was the only thing we could find open and then stopped at the new Buccee's that has the "world's cleanest bathrooms"! That place was huge and has everything. It was really nice.

Then home, around 10pm, so it wasn't a totally exhausting day, but I was glad we still had a Saturday to relax.

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Sweet Berry Farm

Sweet Berry Farm

The kids had the day off school, David took a day since he had just been on call and it was a rough week for him, so we thought we would surprise the kids and head out to Sweet Berry Farm. David had only been once, and not during fall so he really wanted to do the giant Texas corn maze. We got there, and it was pretty crowded, but we got our obligatory pumpkin ice cream (best ever, in the world) and I went camera happy, taking pictures of all the crazy pumpkins they have out there. We fed the goats, and then made our way over to the huge Texas maze, and it is ginormous! The kids wanted to do it by themselves, so we had a parents vs. kids maze race.

It took over an hour to find all the towns, but the parents were victorious! They give you a card with 12 towns on it, actual towns, this theme was towns with animal names (like, Crow, Crane, Marlin, White Deer, etc) and each place has a unique hole punch, so you punch your card as you find towns. Well, it was hard, but we got them all and were sitting enjoying our prize "free" drink when the kids came out, upset that they couldn't find the last two towns. So, dad to the rescue, he took them back in, and they emerged victorious a few minutes later.

Then we headed back to town for dinner and home. The weather was perfect, and the kids (and parents) were exhausted! I love when we have fun family days!

Brady Lake Drill Weekend

Brady Lake Drill Weekend

This weekend was drill weekend for Riley and the Sea Cadets. They had been planning this for a while, and Riley was so looking forward to it! We were a little disappointed because there was supposed to be some re-enactors coming to ambush the cadets, and that wasn't able to happen, but they all still had a great time.

I went back and forth about whether Regan and I should go, since we had our big Girl Scout camp out last weekend, I wasn't sure about another weekend away, and this one a little more "rustic" than what we're used to. But, I had heard there was a pool, so I figured if nothing else, Regan and I can chill poolside for the weekend, let the boys run around with their guns, we're good.

Well, things didn't exactly work out like we planned! Our cabin was supposed to have a refrigerator, so we took David's car and packed it to the gills and didn't bring any food. Thinking we would just get food there and put it in the fridge. We had the option of eating with the cadets, but with me being gluten free these days, I didn't want to pay them for food that I might not be able to eat. So, we ended up buying a styrofoam ice chest at Walmart in town to hold some food for us for the weekend.

We stopped at Cooper's on the way down, David's absolute favorite place to eat in the world, and had some leftovers that we put in our new ice chest! Got to Brady and had no cell service, couldn't even use the GPS on our phones to find out how to get to the lake! Finally found it, got unloaded in our fancy cabin (not). But hey, the a/c worked great! A little too great. We got our beds out and got Riley settled with the cadets, and then went to sleep.

The next morning, the cadets were up bright and early around 6:30 for breakfast (or chow, nothing is called what it really is in the military). We slept in a little later, seeing as how we were on "vacation" and Regan had me bring her to the bathroom a quarter of a mile away in the middle of the night and I couldn't go back to sleep after that!

But, we got up and got moving and realized something, there isn't a pool here. Not one around for miles and miles. And the one thing Regan really wanted to do was fish. But...we didn't have room for the fishing poles in the car, and we thought about just buying a cheap one, but then found out the lake was so low and they had a problem with red algae, and dead fish all over, so we figured fishing was probably not gonna happen. She was so disappointed. And then we really did have nothing to do. We went into town for lunch (more BBQ, I think that's the only thing people eat in west Texas) and picked up a movie from the Red Box for Regan to watch on David's laptop.

We hung around some of the other cadet's parents that were there also, but overall, we just sat there. There was a playground so Regan could swing or slide, but no one to swing or slide with! We walked around and explored the marina, which Regan thought was haunted since the water was so low and no one has used it in so long, there were spider webs everywhere!

The cadets had training in how to make shelter, how to make fire (which led to how to make s'mores) and how to navigate by the stars, and they did "colors" every day, which is basically raising the flag.  The Chief of Police came out and spoke to the cadets about leadership, and what it takes to make it in the world of law enforcement, and life in general. He was great, and I even took notes, he had a lot of great things to tell the cadets.  And it was so cute to see Riley running around in his camo gear, I mean, BDU's.  He did forget his hat though, and had to borrow one from Lt. Foster!

On Saturday night, we started a fire and heated up our BBQ leftovers and ate in our cabin. That was a fun meal of trying to cook without any of the proper utensils or pans! But it was fun, and we fed our leftovers to the cats (there were tons of stray cats all over the place!) and then stood in our window and watched the cats run off with huge pieces of sausage and chicken!

Then on Sunday we went to the gun range. It was fun, they had 14 different guns to shoot. They each got a lesson on each gun, how to shoot it, load it, sight it, etc. We brought a couple too, so Regan got to shoot some also. I don't even know all the guns they had! AK-47, Garand, Mauser, that's about all I remember. Regan and I stayed and shot for a while, then she wanted to walk back to the cabin and start packing up, so we did, and as soon as they were done at the gun range, it was time to load up and head home. It took a while to get everything packed back into the car, but we did it, and hit Cooper's one more time on the way home!

Riley had a blast, was super tired, and super dirty. He is loving Sea Cadets though, and all the opportunities it's giving him. He has some really great people that give up their time to teach them all this stuff, so I'm so glad he is able to be a part of this great organization!

Jellystone Park

Our first Girl Scout trip of the year!I can't believe this is our 6th year to be in Girl Scouts, and mostly with the same girls. We have a great group of girls and I love that we get to do so many fun things throughout the year.

This was a super fun camping trip! We had 12 out of 15 girls that were able to make it. We had it planned for a while, but then it started raining and I got a text the night before that the trip was canceled. Regan was SO upset, and I hadn't even started getting any of our stuff together, so imagine my surprise when the next day around noon I get another text, the trip is back on! Well, then it was flight of the bumblebee to get packed for me and for Regan, and get to Krista's to load up. We were leaving at 4:30 and another van load was coming later.

So we got to Jellystone Park and got our tents set up as quick as possible. The girls do most of it, and then we let them take their sack dinner over to the outdoor theater and watch Puss and Boots while we finished up.

Of course it took a while for them to settle down and go to sleep, so I wasn't asleep till close to 1am, and the girls were up bright and early around 6:45am! We got up and got breakfast going (baggie eggs, breakfast tacos and fruit). By the time we got it all eaten and cleaned up (Girl Scout rules means no paper plates or plastic utensils, but using a "mess kit" and washing dishes with boiling hot water and bleach water after each meal!) so it's a little more time consuming than the easy way out! Then we went to Candy Bar Bingo, and you pay for your bingo card with a candy bar! It was fun, and I even got a bingo!

Then we headed over to the pool, with the awesome 6 person super fast water slide! The girls rode that thing over and over and over! They also had a new 4 person water slide, which was really fun, but I think hard for the girls to carry the huge tube up all those stairs. We swam until lunch time, where we had sandwiches real quick so we could head back to the pool again. After more swimming, it was time for an ice cream social. The park had a daily list of activities, so we were trying to do as many of those as we could. We then headed back to the pool for some more slide time.

After the girls were completely water logged, we had our first official Girl Scout meeting of the year, where we talked about some of the community service projects we have coming up, brainstormed some ideas for our Bronze Award, and planned an activity for our sister Brownie troop to help them earn a Try-It. For dinner it was Frito Pie (gluten free, yay for me!) and the girls got it all cleaned up in time to go watch the outdoor movie again, while we grown up took our showers and got ready for S'mores.

By bedtime that night, we were all pretty exhausted and I head that it rained a little, but I never heard it, I was out cold all night! There was the cutest little dog that hung around camp, the girls named her Cocoa, and she was so sweet. Regan cried wanting to bring her home and adopt her and take care of her.  The next morning it was time to pack up, say goodbye to Cocoa, and before we left we stopped and said the Pledge of Allegiance with Cindy Bear at the Flagpole, and took some pictures with Yogi Bear. It was a really neat park, and the girls want to camp there again! They had some pretty cool cabins that I wouldn't mind staying in sometime too.

I just love Girls Scouts :)

Jellystone Park

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day Weekend

We had the best Labor Day weekend! David had taken a couple days off work to burn off some extra vacation days he had, so he smoked a pork shoulder to bring with us, and as soon as Riley got off the bus Friday, we dropped Princess at the groomers and headed east!

We got in late Friday night, and Saturday afternoon we hit the lake. Riley is SO enjoying learning how to wake board and it's so cute to watch him get more confident on the board. He tries to jump now and the smile on his face when he lands it is priceless! And of course, there have been some stellar wipeouts as well!

Regan loves to tube, and then we park the boat and swim to cool off, and it's a blast. I can't wait till we have a house on a lake, any lake! Uncle Danny and Aunt Kathy came over that night and we grilled burgers and visited for a while. It was really nice when a small storm blew through after dinner and we sat and watched it rain on the lake.

On Sunday morning, we went to church with Trista and Chris, they have a great church, and I really enjoyed it. It was the first time for our kids to be in a small baptist church so it was quite a change for them! But they enjoyed it as well. Trista said they were singing hymns that day and I thought, I don't know any hymns, but I was surprised, I knew them all, but one!

Then my Aunt Kathy had lunch ready for us, a small pre-birthday party for me and Trista (her birthday is the day after mine) and she had us a cake and everything! It was so yummy. Uncle Danny showed David and Riley his new guns and then took Riley for a ride on his motorcycle, and of course, Riley loved that!

Then we hit the lake again, one last chance to wake board and swim. And then the sad part, we had to pack and come home. We wanted to come home Sunday night so we would all have Monday to relax and get ready for the week. We got home around 11pm, tired, but relaxed! It was a great weekend. I love my family!

Cousin Camp!

Some of my favorite memories as a kid were times spent with my cousins! We would go to our Nanny and Paw Paw's and play in the mud and fish in the pond and swing on the porch swings. I sure miss those days, but I'm so glad that my cousin and I do what we can to keep our kids close! We try to get together as often as possible, and I know that's not that often with them in Houston and us here, but the kids have so much fun when we do!

This time, we met them in San Antonio and surprised the kids with a day at Six Flags! They had no idea we were going to Six Flags or that we were meeting the cousins. We got there, and they were all so surprised! We spent the morning in the water park, the boys off on their own, the girls with their daddy's, and me and Tina relaxing in the lazy river!

Then we rode some rides, the kids are so adventurous, they rode almost everything, and then Tina and Bennie headed home to work, and we brought all the kids home with us for the week! I kept them busy :)

On Tuesday, we went to Austin's Park and Pizza, we were there from open to close! On Tuesday, Gattiland, where the boys spent most of their extra money, and got a ton of tickets, and then bought the girls prizes with all their tickets, how sweet! On Thursday we went to Rockin' River water park and then to Kawaii Ice for snow cones. On Friday, we packed for the trip to Houston, and Regan packed her own suitcase (full of stuffed animals, I had to repack!)

Saturday, we left one set of cousins for another set! We headed up to Tomball for David's side of the family's reunion. Uncle James and Tia Lola were in from Brazil, so we all got together at David's cousin Jimmy's house and had a great time! The kids swam, played pool, and got to know another side of the family. It was a good time with family we don't get to see nearly often enough!

Cousin Camp

Southwest Believer's Convention

David and I decided to attend the Southwest Believer's Convention this year, or as much of it as we could. We had talked about going for years but was never able to make it work but this year, we knew we had to be there. And it was awesome! We heard Jesse Duplantis (one of our personal favorites) Jerry Savelle, Kenneth Coupland, Keith Moore, Bill Winston, and Creflo Dollar. David bought the entire thing on USB and has been listening to it all again, it was that good!

Well, we brought the kids and kind of combined it into a mini-family vacation as well. It was in downtown Ft. Worth, so we got a nice hotel room with a pool so the kids got to swim and we took them on the 4th to the Ft. Worth Stockyards and watched the cattle drive, and let them get lost in the maze! That was fun, but it was so hot that day that Regan started getting a little overheated before she could find her way out of the maze.

We got to have our first (well, first for Regan and me) In and Out Burger! We liked it (but I'm partial to Austin's own P. Terry's). and we got to meet up with my dad and Cathy, and we had dinner with them one night with the kids, and went to Southlake to watch a fireworks display! It was fun, we walked around this little outdoor shopping center, with live bands and games for the kids, we watched the fireworks and listened to the music! Then the next night, we let the kids hang at the hotel and order Disney shows (unbeknown to us, $8 worth of Disney shows they could watch at home for free!) and we went to IHOP with Dad and Cathy and got to spend some time with them. It was a nice trip, and a welcome little mini-vacation!

Fort Worth

Lake Jacksonville

I'm way behind on updating the blog, I know, I've been so busy this summer, and now I'm going to try to catch up and there will be an onslaught of pictures to follow! Sorry! But school starts back in one week, so I should be better about keeping up then. The only problem then is, we aren't doing anything to keep up with!

Well, we decided to go see Nanny, Tang Tang, and Aunt Kathy and everyone in Jacksonville before Kenzie had the baby. She only had a small window where she could get away so we got up and out real early on Friday morning and were able to be in Jacksonville for lunch. It was so good to see everyone, it had been several years since I had seen my Nanny! I don't care how old you get, it's always good to see your Nanny!

We spent some time together and then went back to Trista and Chris's new house on the lake and got out on the boat and Riley got to brush up on his wakeboarding. He had a blast. Regan got to tube, we swam, it was really nice! We went back Saturday for an early lunch and Nanny and Tang Tang had to head back, so we went back to the lake for a while before we had to hit the road for home. It was a nice short weekend away, and nice to be around some water!

Lake Jacksonville