Galveston, Day One

On our first full day of vacation, we played at Schlitterbahn.  That's all.  Seriously.  The ladies and James did the waterslides.  Lots and lots of waterslides.  Jay Michael and I did nothing but the Lazy River.  It was fatastic.  I spent four hours on a raft with a happy and involved little passenger, lazily drifting along at times, and racing through rapids and wave machines at times. 

Waterslides are a pleasure for which poor James paid a dear price.  Everyday on vacation, we had great stuff planned and James vowed he would hang back and take it easy.  His back and legs will not let him participate like he used to.  His pain meds keep him constantly moderately sedated.  But, true to the hands on Dad he is every day, he was right there with the kids, and every evening, he was laid out and hurting.  He was smiling, but, he was hurting.

I added this picture of the locker key.  We couldn't get the key to work.  We ALL tried it.  Then it dawned on me.  Is this the key to locker 696?  Or, is it the key to 969?  We all had a good laugh out of that one - our brains were on vacation just like we were!  (In our defense, I can only come up with three numbers between one and 999 that can read upside down and backwards - 666, 999, 969 and 696.  So, the odds were decently against us getting the key that would scramble my vacationing brain.  Oh well!)

After we solved our locker puzzle, I sprayed everyone with sunscreen the way a good Momma does.  Although Joey offered to spray me, I never was sprayed down.  Those four hours fried at least four layers of my skin and I was so very very sunburned.  Huge understatement.  Well worth it.  James and I both paid a price for an amazingly fun day.  And Rita's.  We went to Rita's three times in this week.  And loved it EVERY time.  Ahhh, Rita's! Great stuff.

Attitude Adjustment

Don't you love a house on stilts?  I DO.  I love the outdoor shower, the decks with an ever-present on-shore breeze and the view of the nearby water.  Who needs TV?  I remember as a child my mom made custom draperies and some of her clientele had amazing beachfront condos.  Why, in the name of all that is precious, would anyone hang drapes over a window that showcased the ocean?  I didn't understand that then, and now, as an adult, I LOVED that this little beach house in Galveston, TX, had open views on the waterfront windows.  We stayed all week in this house.  Jay Michael called it our water house.  I called it relaxing.  The 'name' of the house at the rental company was Attitude Adjustment.  It has three bedrooms and two bathrooms and a large enough washer and dryer set that I could easily keep up.  Those decks drew us outside and we sat and talked and laughed until we fell asleep.  (I even slept out on the deck one night...)  By the way, if any of our landlocked friends and family ever spend a week at the beach - a house is THE way to go.  Privacy, full kitchen, laundry, and that home-away-from-home feeling.  It was truly a vacation.  More posts with more pictures to follow.

Lynyrd Skynyrd

I remember when I was ten.  I had an amazing present that year.  Dad took me to see Beatlemania.  I was immediatley hooked.  I loved the crowd; I loved the volume level; I loved the unity created by the music.  Since that pivotal moment in my life, I have been to more shows than I can remember.  Lucky for me, James loves a good rock show, too.

This pictue is a little blurry - sorry.  That's too bad, too, because I want Rachel and Samantha to remember this one - their first rock show - Lynyrd Skynyrd.  They played all the classiscs - Freebird, Simple Man, Sweet Home Alabama, Gimme Three Steps - and I'm proud to say Rachel and Samantha knew the songs and sang along.  Rachel wasn't too happy at first (she's not fond of crowds), but, she was up and dancing soon enough.  James and I love rock shows.  It's our big indulgence.  I hope this is just the first of many shows for the big ladies, too.

Stingers, 2012

Jay Michael, Hope, Walker, Jason, KK, Whitney and Nathan

Stingers, 2012

What a great group of 4 and 5 year old kids.  They played in the heat and in the rain; they ran drills; they {tried} to learn the rules of the game of soccer.  They learned to pass the ball and come togther as a team.  Sort of.  Mainly, they laughed and goofed off.  They watched the passing trains and kicked up the dirt.  I was worried that our little man was too small to play and too young to understand the rules.  But no, he was ready and he learned so much.  Thank you to Coach Tim - Jay Michael had a great experience with his first organized sport.  We had to drag him away after every practice and game.  Thank you.

We did this "victory tunnel" after every game.  So. Darn. Cute.

Look at those happy faces!

Spring Break, 2012

Spring Break, 2012 -- Okay, so I'm a little late with this.  But I'm telling ya, the busier you are, the less time you have to blog and the more stories you have to share.  Story of my life...

This is the view from atop Mt. Pinnacle, which rises 1,011 feet above the Arkansas River.  Our friends, the Hazeslips, hiked to the top and Rachel, with her friend Lindsey, and Charlotte, with her friend Sydney, got to come along.  It's hard work, but the view from the top is spectacluar, don't you agree?  How sweet of them to climb it for us and share the view.

Another day I took the little three to the big city - Little Rock.  There's a trolley ride through the downtown area (free; gotta love free) and you can get off and back on whenever you want to.  We crossed the Arkansas River, heard all about the older buildings and generally enjoyed an afternoon ride.

We found a great park with an oversized Indian head (Joey does love a silly pose, huh?), a spiderweb climbing thingy, and....

This tunnel slide is about one story high!  There's a huge log next to it, with notches cut into it, so that the kids climb up and do it again.  Jay Michael had a huge time.  One bad part about this park is this - see how the kids can slide down, and if they choose not to come stright back up the log, there are tunnels and ladders to get back up to the top of the slide level.  I literally lost the little ladies, because they were playing in the tunnels and kept popping up in different tubes.  This is great fun, no doubt, if you are 9 and 7.  For a Mom, it's a little unsettling.

We crossed a walking bridge over the Arkansas River to get to the park.  On the walk, Joey found this - a homeless man's home.  It is nestled down in the girders of the bridge sturcture.  (That's the river at the top of the picture.)  He'd be protected from the wind, encased on all sides, except the top, so he wouldn't roll off into the river.  Secure, but, sad.  We had a good talk about it.

Samantha had a trip to the lake for three days with her friend Laura.  No pictures from her.

Junior High Talent Show

Rachel and her friend Lindsey entered the talent show at their junior high.  The made it into the show, but, in the end, they didn't place.  They did get big cheers from the crowd, though.  So big, actually, that in the video Lindsey's mom shot at the show you couldn't even hear Lindsey on piano.  This clip is from a rehearsal session, and it showcases them really well.  I'm so proud of them both - they performed for the school (7th, 8th, and 9th grades) plus the faculty and parents.  Rachel is in 8th grade and Lindsey is in 9th.  Way to go ladies!

Stars

Can anyone guess what this is?  Look closely and you can see the steps.  Any ideas?  I'll tell you.  It's my birthday present from James and our anniversary gift to ourselves!  I took this picture waiting for the encore at the TOM PETTY and the HEARTBREAKERS concert!  Now, I have been to a lot of shows.  A. Lot.  But, Tom has been on my "must see" list for a while.  When we heard he was coming to town, James and I were hoping the stars would align and we would be able to afford such an event.  Good tickets are pricey and good tickets for good shows are essential.  So, with a little help from a timely tax refund, we had great seats and enjoyed ourselves immensely.  Tom was so personable - he let me sing to him!  I, plus the rest of the sold out crowd, sang Learning to Fly (a background song on this blog for years now) and he harmonized and did back ups.  Amazing.  There's just something about a live show and singing anonymously in a crowded house that is empowering.

Next on our concert list is Eric Clapton (coming this summer) and Lynard Skynard (coming in a few weeks).  Stay tuned!