Merry Thanks-mas!

While we were in San Antonio for the Thanksgiving week, we celebrated Christmas with my parents, brothers, sisters-in-law and nephew.  The year that Jarrad and I got married, we started spending every other Thanksgiving and Christmas with my family – alternating the years from Thanksgiving to Christmas.  It has worked out perfectly! 

Thursday morning, we opened gifts after Kyle got to the house from working around 11:30am.  We usually take turns opening gifts, but this year was more of a free for all.  I don’t think I even saw Meg open all her gifts. 

Everyone was completely spoiled (again) and had a great Christmas. 

***Luke snuggling up to Jarrad***

***Meg got a Looney Tunes collection from Meme and Poppy***

***Megan playing with her v-Tech reader from Meme and Poppy***

***Meg got her very own bow & arrow from Kyle and Sheryl this year***

We had an amazing week!  I was sad when it was time to pack the car up and head back to Mansfield.  But, I start a new job on Monday and Meg starts a new before and after school program.  We needed to get home so we could get settled back in for the changes we are about to face. 

Birthday weekend

Meme, Poppy, Taylor, Ruth & Luke came to Mansfield this weekend for Meg’s birthday party.  Meme & Poppy came in on late Thursday night.  They didn’t get to Mansfield until after Meg’s bedtime, so when I woke Megan up Friday morning, I told her to go look in the guest room.  She was so surprised both of them. 

Poppy, Meme and I ran a few errands to get ready for Meg’s birthday party.  We also went to lunch with Megan.  Meg’s face is beat read in the picture because some genius thinks that recess BEFORE lunch is a good idea. 

 

Ruth, Taylor & Luke got in around 9:00pm Friday night.  We were so excited they were able to make it for the weekend. 

Since Meme, Poppy & I ran most of the errands for the birthday party on Friday, we got to do some shopping on Saturday.  Taylor was looking for some Tech gear and we needed to go to the mall to pick up Meg’s birthday cake.  While we were at the mall, we let the kids play in the play area for a little while and they also rode the merry-go-round. 

 

Saturday night was Meg’s party – stay tuned for a post all of it’s own :)

Family Vacation 2010 {Part Seven}

Jarrad had to leave out on Monday, so before his flight, we went to the Texas State Aquarium.  Jarrad, Megan, Kyle, Sheryl, and I headed into Corpus after breakfast. 

Meg was very excited about going to the aquarium.  Kyle and Sheryl had been to the aquarium before, I was so excited to experience it thru Megan’s eyes. 

***Meg at the entrance***

***Meg with a turtle***
 

***Kyle, Sheryl & Meg***
 

***Isn’t this guy cute***
 

***Meg, looking at the alligator***
 

***Meg and Daddy touching stingrays***
 

***Meg loved, loved, loved this dolphin***
  

***Kyle, Meg, Mommy & Daddy***

***The Family***

***Meg and the otter that Uncle Kyle bought her***

We had a wonderful time at the aquarium.  After the aquarium, we had to take Jarrad to the airport.  We were sad to see him go home a day early, but it was important for him to get back home to see one of his oldest friends that was in town for the day on Tuesday. 

After dropping Jarrad off, we headed back to the house in Port A for our last afternoon of vacation.  The wind was so bad that we decided to head to one of the pools instead of fighting the “breeze” at the beach.  We had a wonderful afternoon.

Monday night, we cooked burgers and stayed in.  After dinner the Boones/Koppes came over and we sat out on the balcony telling more stories and laughing.  It was a perfect ending to the perfect family vacation!

Tuesday morning, we had to pack up and head back to the real world!  I was so sad to leave, but am glad we have such great memories.  I hope that family vacation is something we will do as the years go on! 

Family Vacation 2010 {Part Six}

Sunday evening, we headed over to the Boone/Koppes place for a shrimp fry.  The food was great, the company was even better. 

My parents have known Brenda since high school.  The Boone Boys (Landon, Ryan and Justin) are the same ages and my brothers and I.  Landon and I are the oldest (three weeks apart), Ryan and Taylor (five weeks apart) and Justin and Kyle (five months apart).  I don’t have many childhood memories that don’t include the Boones. 
That evening, we cooked, visited, laughed, ate, drank, laughed some more, and told stories.  Some stories were true, some were half truths, some were plain old lies. 

For instance, one of the lies that may have come up involved the accusation of me biting Landon when we were little kids.  It is believed that I bit Landon when we were little kids because he stole my plastic donut.  The story claims that I bit Landon on the forehead and left teeth marks.  Believe what you will, I claim my innocence. 

Megan fell completely in love with Ryan.  One point while dinner was being fried up, I went looking for Megan.  I found her, Ryan and Emmy dog swinging in the hammock on the balcony.  It was such a great photo opportunity.  They looked like they were solving all the world’s problems….knowing Meg and Ryan, they were. 

Sunday was a GREAT night.  Nothing is better than good food and GREAT friends. 

Last post to come soon :)

Family Vacation 2010 {Part Five}

Sunday was day three for family vacation.  After we got moving on Sunday morning, we headed back down to the beach.  Meg couldn’t wait to get back down to the beach for some more fun in the sun and surf. 

The wind was HORRIBLE that day, but we all still managed to have a great time.  Since it was Sunday, the beach was pretty vacant.  We had so much fun. 

 

***Meg, Poppy, Luke and Taylor***
 

 

***Luke and Megan***

 

***Making a sandcastle***
 

 

***Beautiful Meg***

One of the things that Megan loved doing was sitting on the boogie board while someone helped her up and over the waves.  We did this for hours and hours.  I think we all took turns before the day was over. 

***Meg and Kyle***
 

 

***Meg and Mommy***

 

***Beautiful Megan***

Sunday night, we did a shrimp fry with the whole group.  More to come :)

Family Vacation 2010 {Part Four}

Saturday night, after a fun filled day at the beach, the adults left our kids with the grandparents and decided to go out to dinner and then headed to a club.  Dinner was great, but the real fun began at Sharkey’s. 

Being the “grown ups” that we are, we got to the bar super early.  Which actually worked in our favor because we got a great table right at the dance floor.  We had great laughs!  There was poetry in the women’s bathrooms, very interesting people watching, a dancing couple that were really good… 

…but, nothing could compare to Wonder Woman’s retarded cousin :)  This woman was dressed to impress for a night out on the town!  She had on a black pleather mini skirt with a zipper all the way up the front, a red halter top that was interesting.  To top the outfit off, she was wearing bright read rain boots.  We referred to her as Wonder Woman’s Retarded Cousin (WWRC). 

 

Ruth and I managed to squeeze in a few dances before the night was over.  We kept laughing because we would get so tired dancing – we just can’t hang like we once could :) 

We didn’t shut down the bar, but had a great time still!  Still more to come on our vacation. 

Family Vacation 2010 {Part Three}

Here is a short video of Meg on her boogie board.  She had hours of fun riding the waves!

Family Vacation 2010 {Part Two}

Saturday morning, we were all up pretty early.  We made breakfast, loaded up the truck with all of our tents, chairs, coolers and beach toys and made our way down to the beach.  Kyle & Sheryl drove Kyle’s truck down so we wouldn’t have to lug all of our stuff down the boardwalk. 

***Meg, Poppy & Luke*** 

Meg, Poppy, Meme, Ruth, Taylor, Luke, Jarrad and I walked down to the beach.  We managed to get there before Kyle and Sheryl, so we took Meg out into the ocean for her first time.  She wasn’t sure at first because there was tons of seaweed, but she put on a brave face and let daddy carry her out there. 

***Meg and Jarrad walking into the ocean***    

Taylor and Ruth brought a small blow up pool for Luke.  It worked out perfectly, he loved playing in it while we were out there. 

***Luke and Meg playing in the pool***

***Adorable Luke***

After all the tents were set up and our “nest” was made, Jarrad and I took Megan out into the ocean to splash around.  She loved every minute of it. 

Poppy brought two boogie boards, so we got her out there on one.  She had an absolute blast riding the boogie board.  She’s so light that she could ride a good wave all the way in.  I was able to get a few videos and will post them soon. 

All-in-all, I would say that our first day at the beach was great.  Meg was one tired little girl by the time we headed in for the night.  Once we got back to the house from the beach, she showered and went straight to bed.  This was at 5:00pm.  She slept thru the night. 

Saturday night the adults went out to dinner and left the kiddos with their grandparents.  More to come about that wonderful night. 

Family Vacation 2010 {Part One}

This year, we headed to Port Aransas for our annual family vacation.  We left out on Friday, July 9 and came home Tuesday, July 13.  This year, family vacation was a little different because we met our long-time friends, the Boones, there.   Meg was super excited about family vacation this year because we were going to the beach.  This was her first time. 

***Meg is ready for the road trip*** 

Meg, Jarrad and I rode down with Meme and Poppy.  Meg was pretty quiet on the ride down because she was watching movies.  We were all excited to get there.  In true Poppy fashion, we had to plan our trip down around lunch.  After lunch, we got back in the car and continued on our journey down to Port A.

***Beautiful Meg in the car***

***Welcome to Port Aransas***

We arrived in Port A about an hour before check-in time, so we did a little shopping.  Outside the shop was a guy with a few parrots.  He asked Megan if she’d like to meet them.  This led the the picture below :) 

 

After we did a little shopping, we headed back to the rental office to get our keys for the house.  We unloaded, went grocery shopping, had dinner and then headed to the beach that night for some crab hunting.  This was Meg’s first time at the beach, she was so excited. 

***Meg and Poppy crabbing on the beach*** 

She had so much fun crabbing.   We headed back to the house to go to bed.  Meg had a big day ahead of her, so I wanted her to get some sleep. 

 

Stay tuned for more family vacation :)