Galveston Fun

We had such a great trip. What better to way to document our fun than on the blog? I was worried about being boring or too detailed, but hey, it's our blog, right?

This was our hotel - called a "condo" because it had a separate bedroom and living/kitchen area. Teeny, but perfect for us. I was so happy with it - very new and clean. Even a tad bit stylish! (the bed was neat) That was important to me - I can't relax as well in an icky place. Andy loves roughing it and I love to be pampered a bit. We had some of both this trip.

Impressed by the little things!

mid-air Jake
Max scoping the view out our balcony. Can you see the beach off to the left? Online a few people complained about the teeny balcony on the cheepest units (like ours). I was so pleased to be in ear- eye-shot of the beach!

the "infinity" pool...kinda. Again, plenty nice for us!

beach walking the first night

It's getting late...more to come!

Butt-prints in the Sand

I've Seen That Picture Before!

We had such a blast on our trip. I have lots of photos and stories to post...will when there's more time. But these old shots were from a trip to Austin we took when Jaker was 10 months old.

Galveston, almost 4

Austin, 10 months

Jake, ice snatching getting ready for our Austin trip

Max doing the same at 14 months

:D

New Pictures on Right

I've been wanting to do this for a long time. So not my idea - copied from Missy at It's Almost Naptime - really fun blog. I loved the way she introduced each of them...

And I have a few other things I've been wanting to blog about, just haven't gotten to it. I read (again, on someone else's blog) that they don't blog on days when they don't spend time with the Lord...ouch. So, I've been trying to set my priorities straight. I could blog/read others' blogs all day if I had the time! Also, there has been a lot going on lately...more about that later.

Andy and I had a date tonight - Max with Grandma/Grandpa, Jake with Grammy/Grandpa Bob. We ate at Chipotle (love that place but don't go very often because it's not super kid-friendly, i.e. no playground) and saw the Dark Knight. Good movie - not the kind that I love, but it was extremely well-done. We talked about it all the way home.

And we're going to Galveston/Houston for a kind of "stay-cation." We'll do a little beach, Schlitterbahn, crabbing (Andy is SO excited about that) and then do some things in Houston that we never have time for on our weekend trips there. Should be fun. I'll post when we get back!

Adventures in Wal-Mart

Ok, have you noticed how expensive groceries have gotten?! We go once a week and we used to be able to leave spending less than $100. Now, that's SO much harder. It seems like every week it's $115 -- crazy for a small family of 4! So, Sunday we went and we really tried to cut back (this is probably obvious to some of you); we bought the big thing of Great Value applesauce instead of the little cups, and big cans of pears instead of cups, bag of frozen (bone-in..ugh) chicken thighs instead of fresh boneless, skinless, etc. We bought a full week's worth of groceries (6 meals + snacks, drinks, etc.) for about $83. I was relieved.

One thing that was hard to give up was my bottled water. I used to not buy them, but but have gotten in the habbit. I'm the only one who drinks them (Andy takes a travel mug to work and drinks right out of the jugs at home... j/k :D -- only sometimes) but it's so much easier to grab those on the way out the door or whatever. So, I bought a good big (PINK!) plastic sports bottle to refill. Maybe it will help me drink more...?

Also, have you seen how yummy and ripe the avacados and peaches are right now? I don't usually buy either, but they were both perfectly ripe so I grabbed a few of each. Andy and I shared a peach last night and we agreed it was the best ever.

Back to Wal-mart: while I was putting peaches in a bag, I heard Jake say, "Uh-oh...." He was touching plums nearby and accidentally poked his finger through one. (I guess they were really ripe too!) I showed Andy and we decided to have him confess to the produce man and apologize. Andy picked up the wounded plum and he and Jake headed to where an older hispanic fella was working. Then, he started walking away and they had to follow him back through the gray double doors. Andy said that Jake confessed ("I broke this"), apologized and the man said, "that's okay, just don't do it again" and again, "that's okay." Andy said the man recognized it as a teachable moment. On the way out Jake kept saying, "I will NEVER do that again!" It was good. You could see his wheels turning as we talked to him about confession and honesty a tiny bit. Those concrete examples always make for better teaching opportunities, you know?

Anyway... I wanted to add a little stock picture of something applicable, but I'm not quite that saavy. Hints?

Fuzzy Balls: Max's Little Slice of Heaven

4th at the Farm

A family at Andy's home church in Houston has a beautiful farm a little ways out of Conroe. We spent a few days there with family - so fun. I had no idea how big it would be - 383 (or 333, Erin?) acres!! Horses, lots of cows, stocked fishing ponds, and 2 golf carts and a Jeep to drive around.

Jake and his sweet cousin Elysa riding on the back of the golf cart.


Andy and the jeep...way too much fun. :) Once we were riding around (kids back at the house) and he went through an area with lots of brush and I got a pretty good scratch on my arm. Battle wound!

LOTS of these pretty covered bridge
Jake and Elysa getting a little crazy in the restaurant

we were no doubt the loudest ones there

they caught a few teeny fish!
the house - hard to tell, but it had 6 bedrooms! they have a big family and lots of church events there
Look at this amazing tree. It's supposed to be the 2nd oldest in the county or something. Hard to tell, but the branches come down, grow underground and come back up. Just gorgeous...
Jake loved climbing it! I love the moss that grows all over...

Elysa's fish!
Elysa and her Pops


I promise Max was there with us...he just didn't make it in many shots. He's a little stinker though. The first night we were there he slept like a newborn - hardly at all. It was CRAZY - up screaming every hour, waking up the whole house, so I kept taking him outside to calm him down...I eventually ended up DRIVING around and sleeping parked outside with him. NUTS. As I was rocking on the big front porch with him around 2 am to get him to sleep, I was able to think. I was so MAD, you know? But I totally felt the Lord urging me to praise Him and be thankful. It wasn't hard to be amazed by God's beauty -- at night it was SO LOUD with all the bugs, frogs and whatever other animals were out there! (in fact, at one point a possum walked 5 feet in front of me on the porch!) Stars galore. I didn't expect to feel so refreshed being out in nature like that, but just being in the midst of God's creation was so awesome. I guess I was expecting it would be good family time, and was caught off-guard by how beautifully nature praises God. Just neat. Thank you Father.

Fireworks

Mesmerized...

3-D glasses from VBS :)

"Da!"
"that one was BIG!"
He LOVES him some paci and blankie. We never leave home without it.

After some loud booms Max was a little scared and I was happy to cuddle.
the finale

Time for bed!