Vacation

Oh my goodness! I LOVE the beach! It was so awesome. Words don't even begin to describe how beautiful and awesome it was! OK now that I got that out of my system, let me get down to all the details.

DAY 1: TUESDAY
We had planned on leaving Tuesday at noon. Jennifer was going to get off of work at 10:00 to finish a few loose ends and I was getting off at noon. My boss let me leave at 11:00! (Have I mentioned that I have the best boss ever?) OK, so we're getting ready to leave and Jennifer's car won't start. It ended up that her battery was dead and just needed to be charged. We took it down to a local mechanics shop here in Clyde to make sure it was OK. He said it was fine so off we went. We ate at What-a-burger and we were on the road at 1:23! (I was really hoping to be on the road by 1:00 so leaving only being 23 minutes late isn't so bad for us!) So we took TX 36 down to Houston. It was a really beautiful ride! The kids were super good and we made awesome time. My Mom met us in Houston so we could just follow them down to Crystal Beach so we wouldn't get lost or confused. Let me tell you, my Mom's directions suck! So we were pretty confused most of the time. Going over the bridge from Houston to Galveston was amazing! We ate dinner at some place called Saltgrass I think. I don't really know, I was more interested in getting to the beach. By the time we got to the ferry it was dark. I thought we should just stay in the car but nobody else thought so. We went to the top to look out over the edge. Well everyone else did, I kind of clung to the walls. I was totally scared! After the ferry ride from H-E-double hockey sticks, we went to the beach house. It was wonderful! My Mom, Symantha, me and all of the kids went down to the beach. It was dark of course but we could hear the waves and we did get in just far enough for our feet to get wet. It was so much better than I remembered it being.

DAY 2: WEDNESDAY
I had wanted to wake up before sunrise so Anoe and I could watch the sun rise together but that so did not happen. When I did wake up (7:30) I woke up Anoe and asked her if she wanted to go to the beach. She popped right up and said yes. We woke up Alexis and quietly got dressed. I didn't want to wake Jennifer and her kids up. We went down to the beach and it was even better than the night before! We played in the water for awhile and just had fun together. My Mom and Symantha had bought everyone boogie boards so that was a lot of fun too. All of the kids had life jackets so the boogie boards were only for fun. We went out past where the waves were breaking and would let the ocean take us back in. My cheeks were hurting from all the smiling and laughing! Later in the day when it was Low Tide Jennifer and I took the kids out again. We went way out! I don't know how far exactly but when we would look back at the car it was really small. We were able to stand up still! Then all of a sudden the water got really rough and we couldn't stand up anymore. We agreed that we needed to get back in. Well instead of the ocean taking us back in, it was taking us farther out. It was so scary! Nobody even knew we were out there. My Mom and Symantha had gone looking for crabs or something. Just imagine Xander playing with the boogie board like he's riding it or climbing on Jennifer's back or mine. Anoe's wasn't feeling very good and the medicine was wearing off so she was just kind of there. And every time we tried swimming towards shore with the waves, we got pulled back out more. Yeah I was a little freaked out. I found out later Jennifer was scared too. So anyways, we obviously made it to shore and are OK. We learned our lesson about going out to far.

DAY 3: THURSDAY
We went to the beach again in the morning! Then after lunch we rode the ferry to Galveston. The ride was much better this time! My Mom and Symantha went to do something and we took the kids to do something else. We parked on Seawall and walked down to the beach there. It was so different than at Crystal Beach! We were within 250 feet of a pier so we couldn't get in the water. But that was OK. We walked up the shore line a little and found some crabs. We also got to see some sand flees! Not really exciting but in my world it was. Jennifer had bought Kalista some flip flops at the store earlier in the day but they were way to small! So went walked across the street to buy her some shoes that would actually fit her. We also picked up a couple of souvenirs at the store. We went back across the street and thought we would walk out on a pier to look around. Before we could even make it to the gate we were assaulted by the worst smelling crap ever! I don't know what it was but it was awful! It was a pier to fish off of so they charged. And since we had absolutely no interest in fishing we didn't go after all. On the way back to Crystal Beach we stopped and Ben & Jerry's. I got the best ice cream ever made! It's called caramel chunk I think. It was amazing! It was so good I think it must be the only ice cream offered in Heaven! Yeah it was that good!

DAY 4: FRIDAY
My brother, Joey, and his wife, Katie, got in Friday morning sometime around 2:30. Joey, Katie, and I walked down to the beach so they could put their feet in like we had done our first night. When we woke up again, Joey, Anoe, Alexis and I went down to the beach to meet my Mom and Symantha. Joey and I went in with the boogie boards and when the waves would come in we would slam into them. It was so much fun. After awhile Katie, Jennifer, Kalista, and Xander came out. It was so much fun playing with everyone. For lunch we all went to this place called Stingarees. It was so neat there. They had a sign saying that alligators were present! As it turns out the alligators are only there during March and April, but still it was cool. We saw a jelly fish there too. And Xander found a crab on the grass. That night all of the adults played a couple games of Skip Bo. (Katie and I ate some heavenly ice cream!)

DAY 5: SATURDAY
Once again we started the day off at the beach. My Mom got in on the wave action this time. There was a lot of sea weed so Anoe was a little freaked out and wouldn't go in the water. She stayed and played in the sand with Symantha. Alexis came out with us a couple of times but the waves were really strong and it was hard for her so she only stayed out for a little while. You could see the storm coming. It was crazy (in a good way) looking. Symantha, Anoe, and I went up to the house to make lunch. While we were gone Katie actually saved Kalista's life! The waves started getting really rough and Kalista didn't have her life jacket on because her and Alexis were playing close to the shore. I'm not sure exactly how it all happened because I wasn't there, but somehow the waves were hitting Kalista and she could get out from under them to breath and Katie went and saved her! Another major reason I love Katie so much! That afternoon I had decided I had gone long enough without a Carmel Marchiatto. I usually have one 2-3 times a week. And I was going on 9 days without one! Yeah it's an addiction. So Jennifer, all the kids and I went to Galveston in search of a Starbucks. Joey and Katie were on they're way also so we met up. We went to Starbucks which was located in an awesome spot! We walked down a block and all of us took a buggy ride through the historic district. The tour guide was crazy! With the kids right there he was cussing at the horse and calling it stupid. It was bizarre! When he said stupid Anoe turned around and said "He said the "s" word." (Stupid is a bad word in our family) And Xander repeated the part the guy said about the horse having it's head up it's butt. Except the guy said a different word for butt. We (the adults) were trying to hold back our laughter. It was just the craziest most bizarre thing ever! When we were almost done with the buggy ride we saw some people gathered and we thought someone was break dancing because of the music. But it was this guy that was spray painting! I've seen one on the internet before and it was so cool. I bought one of the paintings! Joey is going to make me a frame for it! It was so awesome. It was pretty late when we headed home, but we had a lot of fun!

DAY 5: SUNDAY
We woke up to the chairs on the porch being blown around. The storm that was coming in was beautiful to watch. We hurried down to the beach so we could get some pictures before we left. On the way back to the beach house it started to rain. I started to walk faster so I wouldn't get to wet, oh no that's not how it worked out! It started raining so hard so fast it looked like we all had just jumped in the ocean with our clothes on! It was crazy. It takes the ferry about 20 minutes to make it from one side to the other with maybe a 5 or 10 minute wait. (Longer if after 10:00 p.m. when there is only one ferry running) It took us 2 hours to get across! The line was crazy. I think they were backed up because of the storm that had just come through. I don't know for sure but it took forever to get off the island!

We had a nice trip back. Everyone was tired and ready to get out of the car! This vacation was just what I needed in my life right now. I was able to spend a lot of time with God when I was just floating around in the ocean. It was humbling to just look at the great ocean he had created! And the beautiful storms coming in off the ocean were beautiful to watch.


I'll post pictures as soon as I get them!