Today we took a little trip to Lake Corpus Christi State Park. We had no real intentions when we went, we were just ready to get out of the house, and it was rainy this morning so it was a little cooler. We just drove around and looked (the lake itself was so low that all the boat docks were closed). Here are a few pictures of us in and around the "old" pavilion.

The Beach

We finally made it to the beach. This is what we look forward to every year when we talk about our summer vacation. The birds and the waves and the sun! We love it. This post is a summary of the past few days. We did have internet and computers while we were camping on the beach, but there never seemed to be enough time to update posts and pictures.
We left Victoria on Tuesday the 30th. We drove Earlene's car with the trailer that Popi "designed" for last year's trip. Of course, it couldn't go SMOOTHLY, so the trailer lights didn't work for some reason. We decided to try to make it the whole way and deal with it when we got there. We pulled in to our campsite at Mustang Island State Park on Tuesday around 2:00 pm.

We got our tent set up and headed over to the water - it was only about 110 that day! We took enough time at the beach to cool off a little and then came back to the site to finish setting up camp. We had spaghetti for dinner and relaxed for the rest of the evening.
Wednesday we just hung out around the beach and the campsite for most of the morning then headed in to Corpus to see where we could stay cool. We tried a mall, but it was dead, so we found a REALLY good Chinese buffet! We did a little shopping and a little hanging out in Corpus, shopping and such. Colton has had some skin issues this week, so while we were in Wal Mart, he was scratching away. We had checked him and he was broken out all around his torso, so we ran over and bought some Benadryl. Of course, this made him PASS SMOOTH OUT on the way back to camp, and he was alseep for hours. Earlene and I used our seperate computers to watch different movies that we had picked up from the Red Box.
Thursday we decided was a beach day. We went to the beach early and set up our shade canopy.

Colton swam and swam. He absolutely LOVES the ocean waves. He could be out there forever!

He did stop to eat sometimes.

This was also my mommy's birthday, so Happy Birthday, Mom!
It's always breezy in the evenings off the ocean, so Colton got to get in a little kite flying! I don't remember it being so easy when I was a kid!

That night we had watermelon with some neighbors and also got some help fixing the trailer lights.
Yesterday, Friday, we got up quite early to start packing things up. We wanted to be done before the sun came up! We made it, with the help of some clouds. We rewarded ourselves with McDonalds on the way out of town! We love McDonalds breakfast. We stopped on the way back at several t-shirt shops and the "big tree". It's a really, really, really, old tree. And it's big!

We were welcomed back at home with some lovely surprises! (sarcasm) Some kind of animal had managed to crawl into a small ice chest on the porch and die. Several days ago. Did I mention it's 110 down here!? Then we figure out there is no electricity in the house. Apparently there had been a storm here while we were gone and lightening managed to hit the pole. Ice chest to the pasture and electric company fixed the electricity and we're all good!
This is the 4th of July. We actually have no plans for the evening. We got up this morning and Colton got to make breakfast for us. He LOVES to cook.

They have these lovely creatures down here called fire ants. They love to bite your feet and toes and they sting like, well, fire! Colton being the "sensitive" boy that he is, does not agree well with these ants. He has about 5 bites on his left foot and it has now swollen so badly it looks like his poor little ankle is broken!

And we've already established that Benadryl knocks him OUT, so today we're watching movies, editing pictures, working on computers and cell phones, and keeping our feet up on ice. Well, one of us is!
Happy 4th Of July Everyone!

We Took The Long Way Home

Sunday morning we got around in Austin and had a great breakfast prepared by two of the most hospitable people I've met, Pat and Linda, Earlene's brother and sister-in-law. We had decided to take the scenic route back to Victoria. Boy did we ever! We went south out of Austin and headed toward the shore. It was a LONG LONG LONG drive! Colton was restless and Poppy actually got sick once, but we finally came out in Corpus Christi around 5:00. We went across the big tall bridge and out toward Padre Island. We didn't stop at Padre, but went a little further east and found what we were looking for - Mustang Island. We went in and looked around and got information about making reservations for the next week's camping trip. The lady told us to make reservations online as soon as possible (next week is the 4th), so while Colton played in the water for a few minutes, we used the phone and the computer and made our reservations for the only nights they have available, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Got a few pictures of us on the beach and headed back thru Aransas Pass and Ingleside and back up to Victoria. Now we have today to pack and prepare and we will leave out tomorrow morning! We are excited!

Austin Continued

Here are a few pictures from the pool at Earlene's brother Pat's house in Austin:

Colton and Earlene's sister, Michele

Lifeguard checking things out!

Checking farms and fairy lands out on the back porch. Good times.

Austin Visit

We were sitting at the house COMPLETELY bored and with no plans for the weekend, so Earlene called her brother and sister that live in Austin and asked if they would like some company for the weekend. We threw a weekend bag together (including the suits since "Uncle Pat" has a pool) and headed out. Since we didn't plan so well, this put us going all the way through Austin in rush hour traffic on a Friday afternoon! It wasn't TOO bad though (we only came to a complete stop on I-35 once) and we made it in decent time. We went out to eat with Earlene's brother Pat and his wife Linda and Earlene's sister Michele and her husband Jeff. We ate at a mexican food place that they like to frequent. I personally didn't like the food at all. Made me miss Fuente Grande! But the company was great! Came back to Pat's house to relax on the back porch. Colton, Pat, and Earlene ventured into the water, but the rest of us just hung out on the porch. When Michele showed up, she and I got out the laptops right there on the back porch and got to harvesting our farms on facebook together! Fun Fun! I'm not sure what today holds, but we'll see!! I have pictures of Colton in the pool, but I'll have to post them another time.

Interesting Day

Today we spent most of the morning just hanging around the house and watching Colton play the Wii. It is extremely hot here during the day, so around 1:00 we decided to go find something to do in the air conditioning. I suggested the library and since Earlene had never been, we thought it would be a great idea, so off we went. They have a really nice library here with alot of cool stuff. As Earlene was getting her library card, we heard alot of talk around about the movie at 3:00. Apparently during the summer they show a movie every couple of days. So we searched around the kids section and looked at some books until 3:00 when we went in and watched National Treasure 2. The seating was rather uncomfortable, but it was nice to get to see a surprise movie in the middle of the day. There aren't many other details to offer for the day. Tomorrow we have some more errands to run, so we'll see where that takes us!

R&R

The last two days have pretty much been resting days - recovering sometimes as well!
Yesterday we had a few errands to run. Earlene wanted to take a card and picture to the hospital nurses that Popi loved so much. It was nice to meet them. We hit a few other stores and such (yes, of course Wal Mart was included) and ate out at a good Mexican food place for lunch. Back home after all the running around and we all just fell about tired. Had a lite dinner and watched Jon and Kate plus eight. Cried a lil. Sad. But talk about reality TV!
Today we had determined NOT to leave the house and just hang out at home. I have had two VERY hard nights with a sunburn on my back. I don't remember having a sunburn this bad since I was little - and that one came from Padre Island. Alot of pain and of course I can't put anything on it myself since it's the middle of my BACK! Stinks in the middle of the night! I'm sure I'll recover though. Just in time for our next venture to the sea!
The three of us (and the dog) decided today about noon that it was naptime. None of us really even ate lunch (we had a good breakfast though) so we are having spaghetti for dinner and then we'll plant ourselves for Deadliest Catch. Sounds like a good night to me!

Sun!

Beach today!
We packed up today and headed out to find some beach. Of course, any good day has to start with a trip to SOME Wal Mart SOMEwhere. Then off to the beach. We wound up in Port Lavaca. Even though it was Father's Day, it wasn't too crowded and we had fun floating around and getting sunburned!! Yes, we had sunscreen (bought it at Wal Mart - duh!). Hit the dollar menu at McD's for lunch and took it to the city park under a big tree and had a nice lunch with good conversation while Colton played on the playground. Back home to the AIR CONDITIONING to harvest on facebook (no, not obsessed!) and barely got that done before I keeled over and slept for an hour and a half! Up in time for dinner and now we're chillin' watching Hannah Montana and playing on the web.
Why of COURSE we have pictures!