Birthday Celebration

Since I checked in last we've been busy, as usual. But, it's all good.

As part of her pageant winnings, Addison had to ride on a float in the McDade Watermelon Festival. It's a long way from home for us and we have to be there far too early in the morning, but she likes it anyway.

Then, last week was Dax's birthday. We celebrated his big day by closing the office and taking the day off. We got up early and headed to Corpus Christi to the beach. Dax, Wyatt, and Kirsten toured the USS Lexington while the rest of us played around on the beach.

When they were done, they joined us and we continued to play in the sand and water.

Fortunately we were able to save them from the mouth of this giant shark!

As you can see, they were terrified!!

Once that was under control we headed to Blackbeard's to eat dinner before heading home.

It was a good day! I love that we can go do something like that with no fighting or whining from the kids, just an all around good time. I hope the birthday boy enjoyed the day as much as the rest of us did.

Independence Celebration

I hope everyone had an enjoyable July 4th.

My parents were in town and the family went to enjoy the parade. Plus Addison & Abigail were in the parade. :0)

Who's the clown in the jeep?

The marching kazoo band.

Here are our two. Notice neither one of them are throwing candy...or even paying attention for that matter.

All in all, we had fun. Later that night we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows in our fire pit. It's a good thing we did it then too because the next day the county passed a burn ban.

Hope your family had a great day too!

Another Happy 4th of July

This year we were busier than usual for the 4th of July. With Addison and Abigail being cheerleaders now, they were participating in the parade in town.

Here are some shots of the float decorating that went on Sunday evening....

Oh! Wait. Those are all adults doing the work.

Where are my kids?

I found them.

They actually helped far more than the older girls. The 8th grade cheerleaders were inside eating the candy that was supposed to be thrown at the parade.

On Monday, we had to be at the parade early, early for the girls to be at their float. So we dropped them off and the rest of us went to the cafe to have breakfast and then wait for the parade. And, honey was it hot!

But we enjoyed the parade anyway.

See the joy?

 Okay, at least my Mom looks happy.

It appears that Habitat for Humanity didn't have time to finish their float.

 I'm kidding!

I always like these guys.

Here come the cheerleaders!

 Addison is on the far left at the end of the float. She's busy yelling something....apparently. Abigail was on the other side and you can't see her in this picture.

All in all, it was a good time. We had an enjoyable evening at home. We didn't have any fireworks this year because of the drought. They've all been banned. The stands weren't even allowed to open because it's too dry for any kind fireworks. That was a bummer!

5th of July Parade

I know that most people would have had a 4th of July parade, but we don't do that here.


Seriously, last year we had a 3rd of July parade.


At first I was able to justify the reasons. It's Market Days weekend, the crowds will be too much, etc. But now it's a 5th of July parade?


I'm starting to wonder.


Anyway, we arrived early to claim our spot (and parking place) and then headed to the cafe' for breakfast.


We enjoyed breakfast with friends and managed to take long enough eating that we only had to wait about 30 minutes for the parade to start.


Here are some of the highlights.

This is the current sheriff (driving.)

This is Jesse. He built this 'scooter'. Behind it he's pulling his wife in a re-mastered radio flyer wagon.

Cowboy action shooters.

The boy scouts' float this year. They always outdo themselves ....... and everyone else.

The only problem with the parade (aside from the heat) was that this is an election year. There were at least as many (if not more) 'floats' telling us who to vote for as there were community organizations and 'just for fun' floats. I guess that means the parade may be downsized quite a bit next year.

And it's anyones guess when our town will actually have the 4th of July Parade. The 4th is on a Monday next year. Maybe we'll actually get to celebrate on the actual day! Gasp!!

Happy 3rd of July

It's Market Days here in Wimberley on Saturday so we're celebrating the 4th a day ahead. While I understand this concept for the parade in the morning I am a little lost on the fireworks later tonight. Market Days will be long over by then so it shouldn't be a problem to do them on the 4th. But, as always, nobody asked what I thought about any of it.


I woke the kids up early so they could go to breakfast with Dax & I and we would be in a prime parade viewing location early (which is very unlike us). Addison slept in Wyatt's room and here's what I found when I opened the door to wake them.

She's sleeping on a trunk with a chair pulled close to rest her head in. During breakfast she did tell me that it was an uncomfortable way to sleep and she would never suggest it to anyone. Hmmm. Who would have guessed?

After breakfast we still had about an hour or so to wait until the parade started. The kids were just really wound up and excited about the parade. It was hard to keep them calm until it was under way. See:



Their excitement is sometimes a little overwhelming. I'm sure you can see what I mean.

But, the parade finally got started and it was good. It was pretty big this year. Here are some of the entries. (The cars are for you Dad!)




Unfortunately they weren't throwing steaks, just candy.




This is the float that the Boy Scouts built for their entry into the parade. I'm feeling pretty certain that they won first place for that float. They even had dry ice smoke coming from the back.

He had a sign on his bike that said 'King of Pop' and a boom box playing Michael Jackson songs. This picture doesn't do his sequenced pants justice!

This one was shaped like a jet. Pretty funny.

So there you have it. All of the parade high lights and you didn't even have to sit in the sweltering heat to see it. Aren't you sorry you missed it?