Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Life's a Beach


Ha!Ha! Catchy title, right? Thanks, but it's not original. I can't take all the credit. It does lead you to the point of this entry, though.


Our good friends Tammy and Cory Townsend invited us to Port Aransas (near Corpus Christi,TX) for the weekend along with a few other families. We left Friday morning and came home Sunday. The weekend was fun with lots of time hanging out and playing with the kids.


The drive down to Port "A" as it's known was pretty uneventful, aside from the non-stop chattering from Cam and frequent fits of screaming from Mara, all went well. Mike thought it would be a good time to subject me to one of his books which he had come prepared with on his ipod. I really didn't want to listen to it, but sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. The book is titled "Wild at Heart" and is basically a man's point of view self-help book. It could have been worse. I guess I should be completely honest here. It really wasn't that bad. At least the part I was listening to as I read my People magazine.The author had some valid points regarding the way men have been groomed into a more feminized version of who they were really intended to be. We didn't make it to the part where you learn how to be a better man or raise a better one at that, though. I guess we'll have to save that for another trip.


We got to the beach house around 3pm on Friday and met up with everyone. The families included the Townsends, Colquitts, Benoitts, and Petersons. All together, there were 21 people: 10 adults and 11 kids. I know what you're thinking....that is a lot of kids. They all got along and with all the parents around, it made for a great time. The beach house was a beautiful 3 story house with sleeping accommodations for all of us. I can't think of any better way to enjoy the beach than from the luxury of a furnished house walking distance from the water.


The beach itself had some nice sand. I was hoping to see more shells or sea glass, but overall, I thought it was nicer than Crystal Beach near Galveston where we went last summer. I guess it just depends on what you're going for. Port A has some nice sandcastle making material. (See Picture).


We walked on the beach, Cam swam a little, Mara mostly rode on Mike's shoulders (she didn't like the sand on her toes), and everyone just kinda hung out. We ordered in pizza one night and ate at a seafood restaurant the last night.


Sunday morning we had a little devotional courtesy of Steve Colquitt since we couldn't make it to church. It was nice. Too bad real church isn't only 15 minutes. Just kidding.

We loaded up and headed out about 10 or so. The drive home went pretty fast. Faster I'd say than the drive up especially since Mara slept for at least an hour and Mike played music instead of that book on the radio.


Overall, it was a great weekend. The only bad part was that the Benoitt's had to leave early because their daughter was sick. They made it home safely and got her the medical attention she needed, though, so that's good.


Hopefully we'll get to do this again. I never would have thought that spending the weekend with so many people in one house would be so much fun. I have a hunch it depends who you're with. These particular people are awesome, to say the least. Next time we will probably try to fish a little and maybe even make a fire on the beach. Come to think of it, that ties into the Wild at Heart book that we'll probably be listening to on the way down...


I don't have many pics to post yet, but they'll follow in a day or two.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Green Street

I did some edging on the lawn today. I usually enjoy yard work, so Mike graciously lets me do it mostly by myself. Today as I was using my multitude of cool lawn machinery, a question arose. I've asked this question of myself several times, but have never come up with a definite answer. Where does the grass go when it gets "blown" away with the blower? Secondly, how do the lawn service guys get it to disperse so nicely? I don't even know if it's considered bad manners to blow your little clippings out into the street. I just do it because that's what the "professionals" do! I made sure to avoid blowing everything into my neighbor's driveway. The funny thing is that I think I should have just used a broom instead of my gas-powered 70 MPH wind generating blower. The end result of my attempt is a clean driveway and sidewalk, but there's a green tint to the street out in front of the house. Hopefully it will be breezy tomorrow so it will be less obvious what I did.

Monday, April 14, 2008

No thanks, I'll drive

This video is funnier the 2nd time around. Aren't you glad you don't live in Japan and have to take mass transit during rush hour?

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Fishing in the Park

Mike is feeling very "outdoorsy" these days- nothing new, just more than usual with the beautiful spring weather. He wanted to take the kids fishing, so we just went down the street to a pond in our subdivision. It was a fun time, especially watching Cam cast his own line. We caught several fish- all tiny. Check out my big one.


Mara hasn't started with her own pole yet, but she gets a bird's eye view from Mike's back.
I'm so glad that our little family is making the most of the time we have to spend outdoors before it's too hot! I think we'll probably venture out on a camping trip pretty soon. That should be interresting. We went camping last April and Mara was up most of the night. Hopefully she will be old enough this year to enjoy it. Cam has embraced the whole camping/hiking/fishing/hunting thing with enthusiasm- it's no wonder- his grandpa is an Outfitter, all four of his uncles hunt as does his Daddy! Here is Cam trying to set up his own fishing pole. He only needed a little help this time.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Urban Cowgirl





Mara is such a girl! It amazes me at times how strongly she gravitates toward things such as purses, pretty shoes and anything shiny. I know it doesn't come from me! There is no doubt that our little girl adds some kick to her country roots. She grabbed these "princess" boots as I was pushing our shopping cart down an isle at Target. I thought she would loose interest in them by the time we checked out, but she insisted on keeping them.


I can rationalize just about any purchase-after all, Mara didn't have any boots yet...




Wednesday, April 2, 2008