Corpus Christi

We went to Corpus for a couple of days. We of course stayed at the Navy Base in Corpus. Everyone of our vacations revolves around a base of some sort. Brad likes to use his retirement perks. We can stay on the base pretty cheap. We went to the beach a couple of times. The boys are so different. Mason loves the water and bugs us to get in with him. If we won't get in he finds people to go near. He is a little scared to be out there by himself. Brad and I took turns getting in with him. Tanner played in the sand building sand castles and sandballs. He would bomb his castles with the bombs. He just entertains himself. The water was very pretty. We discovered Brad's hidden talent on this trip. The hotel gave us a frisbee. Mason and I threw it around a little and then Brad threw the frisbee and he was really good. I began laughing and saying I can't believe we finally found a sport you are good at.

Mason had his 11th birthday on the 29th. Time sure does fly. He is growing up so fast. It is amazing. We went to Corpus for his birthday. I told them after they turned 10 there would be no more big parties. I think he had a good time. We went to Olive Garden for dinner at his request. We also went to ride go carts and putt putt golf. Mason is so competitive Brad kept score at Mason's request. It was Tanner, Mason and me playing golf. In the end we all equally sucked. I scored a 72 and the boys scored 73's. We were about 30 strokes above where we should have been. Mason thinks he is a great golfer because he can play Wii golf.

We went bowling too. Tanner had the bumpers up and Mason kept saying it wasn't fair. Mason insisted he and Tanner play another game with out the bumpers up. Tanner kicked his butt. It was pretty funny. For the record I beat all of them, Brad included. (I don't know where my kids get their competitiveness.) Poor Brad got a bowling injury. I laughed so hard. I told him he must be really out of shape if he pulls something while bowling.

Next week both boys are playing in the World Series. It will be a very busy and very hot week.

I'm Back!!!!!

What a wonderful trip. We left Sunday morning around 7:30. It was a 10 hour drive. It was me and three other women in the car. We spent the whole trip talking. We didn't turn on the radio once. The drive seemed to go by really fast. The reason we went to Kansas was for a Love and Logic conference. It was really good and I learned a lot. I learned so much more about how to be a good parent and teacher. I even got to use a little of my new skills one of the nights we were there. Brad called and told me he had a problem with Kyle. He wanted a help trying to figure out how to handle the situation. I coached Brad and he handled it very well. You know parenting a teenager is new territory for us. The attitude is just about enough to send me over the edge.

The best part of the trip was the evening entertainment. It was so much fun spending a week just thinking about me. Doesn't that sound selfish? We played a game called left, right center on Monday. I was planning on winning, but ended up losing every game. It was fun anyway.

Tuesday night we were suppose to go to a baseball game, but we got rained out. We went to a movie instead. After the movie we went to Sonic for some ice cream. We sat outside at the tables so we could all place our own orders. While we were sitting there this car drove up with a group of ladies. The lady asked us how to order? We got a great big laugh at this poor ladies expense. I told her, "Just push the red button," but she kept going on and on about how to order. We asked them if they were first timers and one of the ladies said, "Yes, I don't eat this kind of food." Well, she doesn't know what she is missing.

Wednesday night we went and saw the Wichita Wingnuts baseball game. We had so much fun. People in the crowd kept coming to us and asking us if we would please come to every game. We were hooting and hollering and having a blast. We sang happy birthday to a 70 year old lady. Remember there wer 23 of us. A little while later two little girls came up and asked us if we were professional cheerleaders. They wanted us to sing happy birthday to one of them. They were too cute. Of course we sang to her. They had the biggest smiles on their faces when we were done. Those poor people didn't know this is what you get when you let a bunch of ladies out without our husbands and children. We just don't know how to act. The beer might have had a little to do with it too.

Thursday night we went to a dinner theater. It was Breaking Up is Hard To Do. The food wasn't that great, but the musical was excellent.

That was the end of the trip. Great fun was had by all. My family grew while I was gone. Mason was given a hamster by his cousin. He named it Abigail. The girls in the family have now tied the boys. It is me, Penny (dog), Cleo (cat), and Abilgail (hamster) against Brad, Mason, Tanner, and Kyle. Bad news is Abigail doesn't help with any of the household duties. One of the jokes we had on the trip was how nice it would be to have a sister wife. We would have someone to share all the household chores, how bad could it be? LOL I sure could have used that sister wife when I got home and had to spend all of Saturday trying to put my house back together and get it cleaned up.

Time for fun

We just got back from out trip to my mom's. Every year my mom gets the boys Schlitterbahn tickets for their birthdays. So we decided to make a little mini vacation out of it. We stayed at mom's house. She lives about 25 minutes from New Braunsfels. They are in Colorado at their cabin, so we had her house to ourselves. We went up Wednesday morning and stopped in San Marcos. Brad has a canoe he has really been anxious to use. We took our first trip down the San Marcos river. When we got in the canoe was rocking back and forth and I just knew we were all going to get dumped in. I wish we could have had a picture taken of us. It was me in the front, the boys in the middle holding Penny, and Brad in the back. I think I have been twice in my life. Once was at summer camp. It wasn't very successful. We just kept going in circles. I went with my brother once about 20 years ago and we did pretty well. Needless to say, I forgot how to paddle. Brad kept telling me to paddle right. I eventually figured it out. It turned out to be pretty fun. We stopped when we came to some rapids and let the boys swim and play in the water.

That night we went to Gruene for dinner at the Gristmill. We love to go there. The next day we drove into New Braunsfels to eat lunch. We stopped in at this little cafe/antique store. I found a church pew I have been looking for, for my entry way. I was so excited! Then we went and did the tube shoot and floated the river. It was really fun. We met my brother in San Antonio for dinner. It was nice seeing him again.

We went to Schlitterbahn on the 4th. It is the first time Brad has been able to go with us. We had so much fun. We stayed there the whole day. The only thing we were sad about was we didn't get to see any fireworks this year. By the time we got back to mom's we were really tired and I wasn't sure where to go and see any. We got home this afternoon. We hadn't been home 30 minutes and Mason was asking what we were going to do the rest of the day. I guess he expects the 24/7 fun to not stop.

Tomorrow morning I leave for a week long trip to Kansas. I have mixed feelings about this trip. I have never left my family. I know people that are always going away on a little trip with just their husband or away with friends, but I just haven't done it. Well, I take that back. I did go away one weekend about 4 years ago on a retreat with our church and one weekend to my grandmother's funeral. I love spending time with my kids and husband and anytime I go somewhere they are with me. I am looking forward to the week with only adults. It is a work related conference and about 20 of us from work are going. We are planning on doing some fun things in the evenings. Of course Brad is not going to be taking care of the kids by himself. They are going to spend a few days with Mimi and then she will bring them back here for the rest of the time. I am sure they will be really spoiled by the time I get back.