A day about town

We woke up bright and early...well, not too early and had a little hotel breakfast and discussed our plans for the day. In case you didn't know, I'm a die hard Galvestonian, even though I only started traveling to Galveston after I met Dustin in 99. He's heard it a million times and it may come as a shock, but I believe that I must of had a past life there because I feel so at home. I don't know how to explain it, but it is home to me and we are planning within the next five years or so to move down there. My most favorite thing about Galveston is the history of the island. We came across an interesting memorial to Hurricane Ike while planning our trip. In a nutshell, the oak trees of the community were lost due to flood damage, but a few people commisioned local artists to create a masterpiece out of the leftover trees to for a memorial. I thought it was just awesome. The Galveston website gave the street addresses for each one, so we set off to find them!

(This particular sign was in front of the Herons, but it tells the story of all the oaks.)

The lady who was the owner of this oak was jogging back to her house and we exchanged hellos. She is a local celebrity mind you. :)

The mermaid one was awesome, but upon closer inspection, it looked like a scared mer-man with a baseball mitt...

After being told that I was driving down the wrong street while searching for these carvings, Dusty and I had a big laugh, made a u-turn, and we headed back to our hotel for a much needed nap. After we woke up, we headed over to Bishops Palace. I was devestated when they said no photography in the house. But I got a few shots from the outside. I so wish I could've grabbed a ghost photo. Blasted.

The man who built the house was very interesting. His name was Nicholas Clayton. The woman who gave the tour got me more interested by saying that he went from being a rich man to being a pauper, so read his story if you're interested too!

Before going to lounge by the pool again, we headed to Murdoch's souviner shop. Apparently, they have been blown away three times, but have rebuilt every time! Amazing.

We hung out on their pier and had a good time looking for souviners for the kids. From the looks of it, they might be working on rebuilding the flagship hotel. Dusty thinks they are just tearing it down. Who will be right??? Time will tell.

Dusty being silly

Yeah, this is me....blah

The new flagship???

I saw this painting for $79 which I loved, but couldn't buy. I took a picture because I plan on painting it one day.

Noah's turtle pillow pet.......so excited to give it to him!

Livi's little mermaid dolly. She's gonna love it!

The sad thing is, we have to get up at three in the morning so I can be back for Jury duty. I would love to get picked, don't get me wrong, but I would love to stay here for a few more days!!!

Galveston, baby!!!

As you know, if you have kids, few plans can be made in advance. Spur of the moment is what works best for us. After the party last night, Nanny and Paw Paw took Noah and Olivia to thier house to spend a day or two with them while we went to Galveston for a little romantic gettaway. As much as I hated to leave the kids, we both needed some R&R away. On the way there I teared up thinking about how much fun Noah J would have if he got to run a round on the beach, but I tried to not let it get to me.

Our first detour was a little place called "Buccees" which is just a glorified beaver mascot travel stop. After wondering around for about an hour in the huge place (it's seriously that big), we thought we'd better head on.

Soon we got to Houston and got to see the smoggy backdrop of the city (which I totally love by the way). And we were almost there.

We drove around after we got there and stopped at our usual place on west beach (beach access number four) and enjoyed the ocean and "porkupus" (my made up word for the seaweed and junk that washes up on the beach that they don't clean up, lol)

We finally made it to our hotel and we had a pretty good view considering we only paid $40 for a room with a "view".

We relaxed and lounged by the pool and jacuzzi and had a pretty great night just being together. It was weird without the kids, but nice to be together again as a couple. :)

A night for a Queen...a 40 year old queen

Tonight we met at Papacita's in Longview to have a surprise party for Michelle who is Dusty's first cousin. She was turning the big 40, so we all got together to surprise her. Sadly, the surprise was ruined by our brother in law who was unaware that the after party was the main surprise. None the less, we had fun...

Dusty's parents...Ronny and Barb waiting for the birthday girl

Noah was really excited!

Crown and all...the birthday girl, Michelle!!!

My gift to Michelle after we left the restraunt........a old lady night gown, perineal care spray, dental bath, one a day gummies, geritol, and mid life crisis pills...........

Red Pill: take one for hot flashes

Green Pill: for Stress

Yellow Pill: for Incontinece

Brown pill: for chocolate cravings

Orange pill: depression

We had a good ol time and the best gift of all was the "One year supply of rubbers" which included ONE RUBBER!!! given by an anoynomous person, which may or may not have been Dusty's dad!!! How funny. Livi showed out with her new walking and Noah showed out with being silly. What wonderful babies we have!!!

Livi walking!!!

Kaylen, Kim, and Noah

Kaden and Hayley

Gonka and Livi

Having fun

Today we met my sister Crystal at Dairy Queen and don't get me started on the service there. Let's just say that I had a good time and forget that the Dairy Queen in our town SUCKS!!! Anyhow, we had a lot of fun catching up with my sister and her kids.

Livi and Dee Ann

Destiny

Dalton..."Doc Doc" and Livi

Dee Ann and Livi's doll, lol

A new haircut

So, one of my favorite things to do is pick the kids up from daycare and see the looks on their faces. Today, we got the kids out early so we could take Noah to the local barbershop for a much needed haircut.

Bub pointing to the others that we were there

Livi was all smiles too

We got to the barbershop and had to wait in line and Noah seemed to be in a pretty good mood....

Looking out the window waiting his turn

That is until his turn came and I put him up in the barber chair. He started throwing a fit. We tried to calm him down with a lolly pop, but that didn't work either. Finally I had to sit down too and hold him in my lap. It calmed him down, but that didn't stop him from crying.

After it was all done, we gave him another lolly pop and he was all smiles in the car on the way to the park.

We had a good ol time at the park. I can't tell you how much I love these little babies!! They are my life. :)