Ahhhhhhhhhhhh......

Well, we made it home today!
We started out the day IN A HURRICANE! Hurricane Dolly made landfall today in South Texas. We woke up to very light rainfall. But hey, it was hurricane rainfall, so we took pictures of us "in a hurricane". How often will that happen??? We were almost all packed up already, but we finished STUFFING the car and headed out from Victoria. (awwwwwww)
As soon as we got out of town, the rain really kicked in. We were tempted to stop at a "hurricane evacuation route" sign, but it was pouring and we already had some pics, so we headed on home. We had to get about 45 miles away before the rain actually quit, but the clouds lasted much longer.
It is a LONG LONG drive from Victoria to home. Of course I couldn't sleep last night, but I really wasn't too tired.
We had planned on stopping and swimming at Turner Falls again, but it was 4:30 before we got that far and we were sure ready to get on home! We finally made it home around 7:30. WHEW!
Of course, we spent the entire rest of the evening unpacking! And we left the stuff in the trunk! Man did we aquire! We got most of that stuff put away and did a few loads of laundry (yes, there's more). We settled down at 10 o'clock and watched a movie in OUR CHAIRS! lol Overdue showers to follow and then to our OWN BEDS! lol
We had an AWESOME vacation! One of a lifetime that we'll never forget. I'm so glad we got to go and do the things we did and stay as long as we did. And we're so glad to be home again.
Since we have very boring everyday lives, the posts on here may slow considerably now, but I'll try to post now and then when we have an extraordinary day. Thanks guys for your interest in our pictures and posts!

Hello Dolly!

It appears Mother Nature might have other plans for us. Right now we have plans to head out of Victoria on Wednesday morning. However, what with a HURRICANE coming toward us and all, we may have to head out tomorrow just to avoid the "get the heck out of here" traffic. We'll see, but yes, we are aware of the tropical storm/hurricane and yes, some of the predictions at this time have it headed right for us here, but we will be out of here before it makes landfall.

Down Time

These last few days that we've been back in Victoria have been down days. Colton, Popi, and I really doing not much of anything. There's been alot of TV watching.
However, I'm getting very homesick and now know that we will be coming home this week. I'm ready to be home! I miss my house and my BED! lol
I saw online the other day that Colton's school supply list is ready. School is only a few weeks away! Can't believe that! But I'm excited about it too! I miss my friends and socializing and I miss Tiff too! In that case, see some of you soon!

Horns and Rangers - the shooting kind

Yesterday we decided to stay somewhere where there was air conditioning, so we headed in to San Antonio on the city bus (that was interesting in itself!). We went to the Buckhorn Museum by the riverwalk. It is basically a shrine to taxidermy, but alot of the things in there were world records or very odd species or whatever, and the sheer number of horns in the place was impressive. There were several exhibits in this museum, such as Texas life, Alaska, under the sea, and birds of flight.
Also attached to this museum is a Texas Ranger museum (the shooting, law keeping kind - not the baseball players). Colton wanted to be sure to go to the Texas Ranger museum in Waco, but when he saw where we were, it never dawned on him that this wasn't the right town. Of course, alot of the displays in this museum were pictures or possessions of a certain former Ranger and their acts of heroism, but there was ALOT of reading - which was quite interesting to the average adult, but to a 7 year old, after the 30 seconds it takes to look at these 5 guns, we should be moving on. They also had an old west type town set up inside with little facts here and there. This was alot more interesting to Colton! However, by this time, it was mid-afternoon and we were starving!
We decided to head down to the riverwalk and see what we might find to eat down there. We did find a place called the Lone Star Cafe - DO NOT stop to eat there. It was fairly priced had the food been edible. However, after showing the waiter the state of our dinner, he did throw in a free Texas brownie for dessert! By then it was time to head out of the heat and back to camp.
Colton had seen some bikes for rent all week at the campground, so this day we finally got back in time to rent one. He got to ride the little bike/dune buggy thing for a while hour, then spent the rest of the evening in the pool with his goggles. He loves them!
Today, we packed up camp early to avoid the heat and headed back to Victoria. It's nice and cool in the house! We are both getting pretty homesick by now. I don't want vacation to be over, but I do miss home. I'll try to get some pictures added to this post. It took all day to add them all to dotphoto!
The last picture is a picture of Colton and his "friend". This guy and his family were camping next to us for the last few days. They are from Venezuela originally and now live in Houston. I think because of growing up with Joe, Colton likes to socialize with kids Joe's age. This kid was a very nice and respectful guy! He and Colton exchanged email addresses before we left.

A Post From Colton

The last time we went to Shamu, we got soaked! My mom was still calling Shamu. She keeped saying "Oh no Colton! You are always getting me into this wetness!" When we go to the Shamu show she says "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Colton, oh my gosh!" And then I think it is cool but she thinks it is COLD after he splashes little becomes BIG splashes! Then we went to the Viva and that guy was so dangerous. He went to the roof and then the other guys with suits went to the roof. Those three guys, the crazy one, jumped off the roof and so did the other guys with the suits on. And then we went to the Steel Eel. She was screaming and then when we got our pictures taken at the end of the hill, she was smiling! I was like circle on my mouth and then we saw our pictures. She laughed and I cracked up. Then we went to Lost Lagoon. We went to the relaxing pool. And she was scared. She was afraid. Because the squirtin things, and I was jumping up and down cause of the rapids. Then you know what the rapids did to us? Made us jump. There was little holes what blowed up! Then I was scared because I was walking ALL the way up those big, big, big slides. And then I got to the top. I was safe. And I went down the slides, and I was going backwards. I WAS AFRAID! That's all I can think of.

A Few Pics From The Water Camera

Agua

Today was water day at Sea World for Colton and I. They have a whole quarter of the park that is alot like White Water, and Colton and I had made plans to spend the day in this part of the park.
Of course, since they're on the way, and since it's now tradition, we had to stop at the dolphins first and get a few pets in. The girl next to Colton really had one enchanted, so Colton got alot of touching in today. Still way too cool!
Then off to the Lost Lagoon. We started off buying a waterproof camera that we could take with us all day. We went in their version of the lazy river and floated around at least 5 times. Colton wore his new goggles (his 4th pair this summer) and had a ball swimming/floating face down through the whole ride. Their lazy river has fountains that spray you and even some rapids - that was interesting. But we really enjoyed playing in there. Then we went off to ride a slide. Now, for anyone that may know about my last slide-riding adventure, you'll understand why Colton rode down and I waited at the bottom with the camera! He said it was "freaky" because it was covered all the way down and you couldn't see ANYTHING! Then off to the wave pool. I have horrible memories of nearly drowning when I was pre-teenish at White Water's wave pool, so I was RIGHT beside Colton the whole time. Of course, he's an expert at the waves because he's spent so much time with the REAL ones, but I got beat up trying to stay beside him in case he started to drown in the 3 ft of water. Hey, those waves are BIG!
During the past two Shamu shows that we've seen, they've chosen a child at random from one of the gates before the show opens and this kid gets to go up on stage and share their "dream" and Shamu comes right up to them on the stage. Well, yesterday we had to hang back after the show so he could ask one of the trainers how the kids got picked. So today Colton wanted to make sure that we were out in front of the gates in plenty of time to possibly get picked out of hundreds of other kids. So we left the Lost Lagoon and headed ALL the way over to the other side of the park to the Shamu show. And since we have the waterproof camera, we might as well sit on the front row again. What the heck, we're already in our swimsuits! So we did. And like last time I only HOPE the pictures are half as good as the views we had.
We also caught the end of the Viva show again (with the dolphins and beluga whales) and the end of the "critter" show with all kinds of critters. It was cute.
Then back to the Lagoon for a little more time swimming. Mind you, I'm already burnt to a crisp, but hey, I tan out pretty well.
Once we decided to leave, we went ahead and made all of our souvenir purchases (now we're broke!) and headed out. We had been so busy today we hadn't eaten lunch, so we stopped for Chinese food on the way back. We made a quick trip downtown (nightmare)(thank God for Garmin!) to pick up Ed and Earlene who spent the day on the riverwalk, and headed back to camp.
Earlene had a few things she needed to pick up from Wal Mart, so we headed to the nearest (thank God for Garmin!). I asked the photo lab person what time they stopped taking things for one hour developing. He/she (I couldn't tell) said 7:45. It was 7:50. Shoot! So I left the camera there to pick up at 10 am tomorrow and got those pictures on disk so I can share them right away. I did get to add pictures from yesterday this evening, so be sure to check those out. I have NONE to add from today because my camera decided not to work for some reason. Right when Colton got the chance to take a picture with the Shamu character. Boo. But leave it to them, they were right there to take one for us (with both of us in it). It was expensive knowing that I could have done just as good, but SO beautiful, and such a great memory picture. I'll have to wait a few days to get to a scanner to load that one!
About the title: I decided today that I've never been in a more culturally diverse place than in the last few days. Our little campground here has had a tourist company come in with different groups each night with all of these different people (most of them Joe's age or so) from everywhere around the world! First night was the French people. Yesterday alot of Sweedish and German. Today seems to be alot from South Africa. Interesting listening to them while you're all crammed in the bathrooms together waiting. And then there was Sea World. SO many cultures. So many languages. And the people working at Sea World (and at the Space Center too) - lots of different accents and names on the name tags that you could never say right if you tried. Was funny today... there were about 4 different people working at this one stand and these were really different names that I had never heard of. Then there was the obvious manager of the stand off to the side. Obviously American. Name tag: Big Mike. It fit. LOL

Big Thrills... No, Really Big

Today was another day at Sea World. Colton and I took off on our own today, and he started out with no holds barred and went straight for the huge roller coaster! Now, I'll post a picture or two of this thing, but when I say huge, we can see it 7 miles away on the highway! We bit the bullet and rode and it was pretty cool! And, we survived.
Then we went to the penguin exhibit. We happened to walk in while they were giving a demonstration. We got to see them bring out the new King Penguin chicks. They were "babies" but they were huge! This whole exhibit was cool, pun intended, and we went back twice today to watch them.
Then we went to have a way over priced lunch of pizza and a turkey leg. And then we headed back to the dolphins. It was so neat yesterday to get to touch and feed them that we just had to go back again. Colton and I both got to touch and pet again today. You just can't get enough of stuff like that!
Of course, we went back to see the Shamu show again, this time from a little higher up so we could actually take pictures and videos. Still very cool to watch these huge animals do things like that. And pretty cool to watch those poor suckers on the front rows get soaked! haha!
We headed back to camp for some spaghetti and a little evening swim before bed. I had to use my computer time to pull about 75 pictures off my phone from the last few weeks, so I don't think I'll post any pictures on dotphoto today. I'll try to get most of these and tomorrow's on tomorrow. But I'll post a few pics here tonight so you guys can better appreciate our stories!

Awesome

Today was a great and extraordinary day! We went to Sea World for the first time ever!! The first thing that we did when we walked in was come up upon a viewing of the bottle nosed dolphins. They had fish you could buy and feed them and it wasn't all that expensive for the experience, so we did. Colton and I both got to feed a dolphin that came right up to us! It was so cool!
We also saw 2 of the shows there. The "Viva" show which was very awesome because it had synchronized swimmer, high divers, trapeze girls, music, beluga whales, and dolphins. It was so cool to watch! And of course, Colton wanted to sit in the splash zone, so we were on the second row. It made for some cool pictures and videos, but I couldn't take as many as I would have because I was afraid to have the camera out!
Then we went to see the "Believe" show with Shamu! It was as neat as the other show and as exciting as you would think. Of course, we were on the front row again. I'll just say, we were SOAKED. Totally and truly SOAKED. It was so worth it! Again, I got some good pictures and videos before the show started since we were right in front of the tank (below sea level), but couldn't chance the camera being out of the baggie during the show!
Colton and I also rode the huge "log ride" called Journey to Atlantis. It even goes backwards for a while! We had fun.
We were TOTALLY pooped out by the time we got back to camp. We took a short swim to try to cool off and ended up not eating dinner until almost 10! I'm going to TRY to load some pictures on dotphoto, but my phone internet connection is actually faster than the campground's, so we'll have to see how many load!

On The Road Again

I haven't posted for a few days, and even this one will be short, but I will make sure to post tonight! Yesterday we loaded everything up and headed out to San Antonio. We will be here for almost a full week. We are staying at a KOA which is nice and has a pool that Colton and I enjoyed last night. It's MUCH less humid here than on the beach, so the night actually got cool last night. The internet connection here is spotty, so pictures may be few and far between.
Today we are going to Sea World!! I will post again tonight and HOPEFULLY post some pictures too!

A Long Drive and A Litlle Rest

Yesterday we packed up the tent and headed back to Victoria. Sad to leave the ocean, but sure glad to be back in air conditioning! It was a REALLY long drive back to Victoria, but Colton and I slept alot of the way, so it passed quick for us.
It was nice to get back and sit in the cool. We had a great dinner of fried shrimp, crab meat, and a whole lot of corn on the cob. Stuffed!
Today we lazed around and headed out to WalMart to get our waterproof camera pictures developed. I was of course a little disappointed, but just because none of them captured the hugeness of the waves that we were playing in! I added these pictures to the Moody Gardens album on dotphoto cause that was the day we took the pictures. I hope you can tell that Colton was up to his little waist and the waves would come and they were WAY over his head! It was fun.
I think the next few days will be hanging around the house (unless Colton and I get to head out to a beach for the day), so we probably won't have many pictures or blog material so to speak, but I'll do my best to update.

Rain Forest and Oceans

Today we got up and Colton made us all pancakes and bacon for breakfast. He decided to wear his official Waffle House hat since he was the official cook. We got around and headed back into Galveston.
Today we visited The Moody Gardens. This is not a garden per say, but has several buildings and attractions that you can choose to visit. They are all pretty expensive, so Colton and I decided to go to the aquarium. It was a great time since they had a special exhibit of sharks, but still not as cool as Tulsa in my opinion. We also watched one of those 4D movies that surround you and the seats move. It was WAY to short for the money, but Colton enjoyed it.
After that, we went to the Rainforest Cafe in Galveston. We all thought the one last year in San Antonio was much better, but the food was good. And we got to have a VOLCANO since it was Ed and Earlene's 24th wedding anniversary. Yummmmmmmm!
Then we headed back to the campground to play in the ocean for the last day (we head back inland tomorrow). Colton and I got to go out to the BIG waves and boogie board and body surf. I used the waterproof camera for those pictures, so we'll have to wait until we get back to Victoria to develop and post those. I hope they turn out HALF as good and I saw through the viewfinder. Colton got the sunscreen and I didn't so I got a burn, but it will be OK. It was worth it. We had hours of fun in the ocean. Back to the tent for some spaghetti for dinner and now it's time for bed! Whew, what a trip!

Hello??????

I know you have to sign up to comment on here, but if you're reading this blog, at least send me an email! I have had almost NO communication with you Okies!

Out Of This World

Today was a great day! Colton and I got to go to the Johnson Space Center in Houston ("Houston, we have a problem..") Anyway, it was really neat! We got to tour the building where the astronauts train with all the actual size training modules. They had the real sized space shuttle, most of the living areas of the space station, and some of the new moon rovers that will be the next vehicles to drive on the moon - the "chariots". We got to drive around the entire facility and see rockets, etc. The inside of the museum part was a kid's DREAM. The biggest play center I've ever seen. All kinds of little things to stand in line and wait to do with a bazillion other kids (ha! spell check didn't check me on bazillion!) There was also alot of information that was just cool to know. We got to see two movies on the big screens. One was of a blast off and even shot out smoke at us! Colton had a ball and was VERY tired when we got back, but perked up just in time to hit the beach for a short swim. Tomorrow is our last full day here, so we have only a few things planned and time to get back to take one last swim in the ocean. LOTS of pictures on the dotphoto site!

Waffles and WalMart and Ferries, Oh My!

Yesterday was a long day with endless driving (it seemed) to see a few cool things.
We got up yesterday morning and went into Galveston. We stopped for a very loud but good breakfast at the Waffle House. Then we just headed North up the coast. Galveston was cool because we were on "Seawall Drive" which is just what it sounds like - a road that drives right along the sea wall. There were all kinds of hotels, places to eat, and tourist gift shop type things. We decided to hit one of those early, so we went in to the first one on our side of the road. It was CRAZY packed, and had Colton not found the "most awesome shark necklace in the whole world" (and it was pretty cool), we would have skipped it and ran. But now we've got to stand in line to check out, literally for 30 minutes, so might as well get a shirt or two, too.
We left there and headed for the ferry. Of course you wait forever in line to get ON a ferry, but last year we got to see dolphins from the other ferry so we were excited to test our luck this year. This year's ferry was a much longer ride across an international port with the big boats. One, very quickly for a big boat, crossed our path, so that made for some fun in his wake! Boy did we rock! We did get to see a few dolphins - they're quick out of the water and back in. You just have to look for the fin!
After the ferry ride, unless you turn around and get back ON the ferry, there wasn't much to do or see unless you went ALLLLLLLL the way around and through Houston to come back down to Galveston. We did stop and have lunch on a beach through there, but other than that, it was a long ride and Colton and I slept most of it.
Came back to Galveston Island and hit the WalMart. They have their own touristy section, so we hit that too. Bought another t-shirt and Colton got his boogie board. Then back to the beach! We went out and Colton got to test his board and goggles until the sun set. I used up my entire memory card in my camera taking pictures of him. Then he and I walked down the beach looking for shells. It was great! Back to the tent for a movie and bed.

Oceanside

Today we got up from the hotel, had their breakfast, and headed out for our adventure of the day. We had a general direction, but really didn't know where we would end up. We headed up the coast, following the Garmin (which Earlene finally succumbed to), and had a beautiful drive on the back roads. After getting on to Galveston Island, we came to Galveston Island State Park, so we thought we'd try our luck. They said they had ONE site left open because someone left out early this morning, so we took it! Our site is all but ON the beach! There is a fence between us and the beach, but one site over there is a boardwalk over to the water. The breeze from the water is nice and cool and, unless it STORMS, we will have a great spot for the next few days! Plans to travel around again tomorrow too, so be sure to check back!

July 4th Continued...

Well, after the car ride we wound up in a town called Palacios. We wound through town and found a bunch of people gathered around the edge of the bay. Earlene asked them if there were going to be fireworks tonight, and they said yes - around the curve by the CARNIVAL. On the bay. It was very cool and really special since we just happened upon it. Colton spent about an hour to ride 2 rides and then the fireworks started. It was really neat to get to watch them over the ocean and get to see Colton experience that too.

Change In Plans

This is a post that is actually coming FROM THE CAR while DRIVING DOWN THE ROAD!! Of course, I'M not the one driving, but how cool is it to be cruising down the highway ON the internet!!?? I guess while I'm at it, I'll try to add a picture that Colton and I took today while we were matching in our July 4th outfits.
Earlene had to work today, so our plans were to drive to Corpus when she got home and watch fireworks. Well, go figure, it's raining in Corpus. So she said let's just get everything packed into the car and head out for Galveston tonight! So we made the mad rush and loaded everything into the car and trailer and headed out. Of course, we hope to catch some fireworks shows along the way and I'll post and add more pictures later too!

Rain and McDonalds

Since most of you don't know this, I will share a little background from our trip to Texas LAST year. We left a few days after Joe graduated and came down to have fun in the sun on the beaches of the ocean (the boys had never seen the ocean before). Of course, last year was the year of RAIN here and in Oklahoma, so it rained almost the entire time we were here. We did swim in the rain a few times and went on our touristy adventures in the rain, but it did get old. And of course, as soon as we were back in Oklahoma, it dried up down here.
Well, they kept telling me this year that it was so dry down here. Texas was bordering on a drought and they probably wouldn't even be able to do fireworks because of the severe dryness around here.
Then we showed up.
I'm pretty sure it's rained a little bit at least every day that we've been here. It follows us too. If we go to the mall, it rains there and not at the house. It's sad, but true. I even heard the news anchors the other night talking about how amazing it was. It was the FIRST of July. They had already had more rain in the month of July than they had in the whole month of June! However, it's supposed to clear up this weekend. We are leaving town Saturday for Galveston/Houston. They have rain predictions for the next week....... Sad........
The rain does however cool the temperatures though. The afternoons here have been in the 101 to 105 area. This morning while it was raining, the outdoor thermometer got down to 75. It was nice!
I did have pity on Colton today and took him to the McDonald's with the big play place. He had a great time with his new "friends". I have to remember those days that I had a home daycare and would spend days with no adult interaction. It was pathetic when I got to see grown ups! So I guess I know how he feels to not be around children for a few days. I will keep this in mind.
Tomorrow is Corpus!

Just Cause...

In case any of you all have a myspace or facebook, I decided it wasn't that good of an idea to let everyone know that I wasn't home, so I won't be posting any vacation info on there anymore. I let just the "important" people in on this website, so you guys can still get updates, but if you see that I'm "at home" on those two sites, you'll know you're all special enough to know better.
Today we didn't do much. Went shopping a little at the mall. Bought nothing. Well, double doozies, but that was a given! LOL
Tomorrow should be another around the house day, getting ready for our jaunt to Galveston. You know I'll add more pictures then. Until then or unless something picture worthy happens, I'll talk again soon.