Two Years and Counting

Two years ago this weekend we came rolling into Houston, so I guess you could say we celebrated by enjoying this beautiful place! And we kept saying that we should go camping when there is a 60% chance of rain from now on because the weather was so great. The 15 minutes of rain we did get was at night and was a light sprinkle. After being in such lush foliage all weekend, when we drove back into town, it seemed so . . . lacking. Sorry about the splattered bugs on the windsheild, but here we are getting to the campsite. 

This will be known as the Pie Iron trip. What is a pie iron you ask? It's like a little metal enclosed dutch oven I guess. We made all sorts of good things on them. 

We canoed again and Collin got to try his hand at rowing. It was so pretty!

I thought I would be camped out after so much time in a tent but it was actually nice to have time to do all the activities that we wanted to do and also have some time to kick back. . . 

Here's the little fisherwoman again lounging in luxury.  She is always first to catch a fish. We, okay, they caught enough for Jon to eat a plate full. The next day we saw a sign that said the fish here had high levels of mercury, so if Jon starts growing a horn or two, we'll know why. 

Happy Friday

One of the many reasons I love homeschooling is that we can wake up in the morning and say, "Hey! Let's go to the beach today!". It only takes an hour from our front door to the sand which is so great because WE LOVE THE BEACH!!  The beach in Galveston stays shallow for a long time so you can go really far out without it being too deep, which is nice with kids. The water might not be very clear, but it is so warm*. What's so great about clear water if you can't play in it?? And play we must. Collin had his skim board and body surfed (a fish jumped out and scraped his stomach which he thought was so cool), Grace and I wave jumped and played in the sand. It is also so nice to have older kids now because they can go play and I can read under our beach umbrella if I want. 

*Yesterday I was talking to my Tahitian sister-in-law who lives in Hawaii and she said that she doesn't like going to the beach because the water is too cold. SEE! It's not just me being a wimp! It really is cold! (I would wear my wet suit every time I got in the water in Hawaii if I could!)

Anyway, have a GREAT long weekend. We are going camping. Yes, again! And there is a 50% chance of rain, so it's going to be interesting. I can already tell. 

Revelation

The other day Grace asked to sit on my lap and then immediately wanted to get off because my legs felt like "needles". And why not?? Who has time to shave their legs after showering? I am exhausted after a 10 minute shower! Let me explain. I have come to the realization that I like to have choices. 

I have 5 different shampoo/conditioner options. So, how do I figure out which to use today? What will I be doing today - will I have to go out in public or will I mostly be at home? How much work do I really want to put into my hair today? Do I go curly or straight today? How is the humidity today? Sultry, or just muggy? Shampoo 2 or 3? Does my hair even have a chance of staying straight if I decide to go that route even after using the "straight" shampoo AND my anti-humidity serum? Shampoo 4 or 5? Ok, do I want to use up the stuff I used to like (5), or use my new fav (4)? Whew!!! 1 down, 3 to go. 

Next comes face cleanser options. Most important criteria: How's the zit situation today? (my body is still producing hormones like I am pregnant! When will it stop?!) Is it under control for the moment? If so, do I use my zingy peppermint soap or my yummy cloud berry soap from Finland? OR do I need some of the medicated soap today? Which did I use yesterday? Option 3, 4, or 5? I can't remember!

Finally to body soap. I only have 4 options right now, so I can narrow it down to the most important criteria - smell. Again, do I want to use up the stuff that smelled good in the store (after smelling about 10 other products) but now smells like yucky chemicals even though it is called "citrus leaf"? Or go to my new fav, Dove Grapefruit and Lemongrass. If I go with this option that means the gross stuff will be around longer, but the Grapefruit is "energizing", which I definitely need . . .

I need a nap. Wait, that will ruin my hair . . . but was I going to go curly today or straight? If it was straight, then the nap won't matter because I'll be blowing my hair dry but if it was curly . . . 

One guess . . .

As to what we did this weekend! Camping, of course!! The Houston summer is almost here, so we are trying to get in a few last trips before it starts steaming any more that it already is. We went to the closest state park to us on this trip. Huntsville. We went there when Collin was a toddler and have always wanted to go back. It was just as pretty as we remembered. 

You know when you read those southern books like Eudora Welty about the nights "coming alive" with sounds? THIS was one of those nights. It was a serious "symphony of nature". Birds calling, insects buzzing, bullfrogs croaking, baby 'gators chirping, leaves rustling in the wind. . It was so pretty and . . . Southern, laying in a tent with all of that going on . . . and then the native redneck souped-up pick-up thundering in at 3am right next to us (of course!) and it's occupants "hackin' n' yackin'", "smokin' n' jokin'" and strumming on a "gitar" till the crack of dawn. 

We woke up and headed on a walk to get the lay of the land. . . 

And inspect the local insect species.

Then we got down to the "bidness" of fishin'. It was so funny to hear these people (the nicest people you'd ever meet, by the way!) talking in the accent and saying things that we joke about Texans saying! Notice the alligator warning on the dock . . . 

The little fisherwoman with her little pole and her little catch. She kept giggling like I have never heard before. 

Collin said about 50 times that what he was MOST looking forward to on this trip was the fishin'. He was up at the crack of dawn asking when we were going. The poor guy was watching everyone else pulling them in and he wasn't. This lady who "done caught 30 already", her husband told us, even took him to her "honey hole" as she called it and put a new leader?, bobber? something to help him and the fish stopped biting. Finally after 2 hours, he got one and it was a big 'un and well worth it. After that, he reeled in one after the other. 

We brought them home, about 16, we had a fish fry and each got about 3 bites each. And no, I didn't fish. I loved fishing until I grew up had to bait the hook and take it off the line and felt like a murderer. But just to prove that I used to:

Mother Bear vs. wimpy girl

                 

These last few weeks have been an emotional roller coaster for me. Without boring you to tears with ALL the details, although I have vented some (ok, a LOT) to most of the 3 readers of this blog, I'll share a couple of incidences. Yay for you!!! 

First, in case you remember from last year, the highlight of the summer was Scout Day Camp. We have been counting down the days since it ended last June for this years camp. About a month ago I asked when it was since I knew it was getting close. Our Pack Master (for those of you who don't know scout lingo - and it is seriously it's own language - he/she is the person over dens) said, "we're not going". I thought I had heard him wrong (remember, this is the Readers Digest version of this story) so I asked about it again and he said, "we're not going because we don't have the man power." I could feel the fur starting to stand up on my back and my teeth getting pointy. After talking about it some more with him, I was in full Mother Bear mode. MY BOY has been looking forward to this ALL year and you're telling me no???!!!!  I DON'T THINK SO!!! So, I did what any MB would do and went over his head to the Primary Pres. and said, What do I need to do to get my boy to Day Camp? Long story short, Day Camp is in a few weeks, and yes, we're going - all of us. 

This incident made me feel like I was finally getting some back bone after 35 years! I have never liked confrontation (and never will) and usually just give up the fight and concede defeat. But never again!! Victory!!! 

A few weeks later . . .  Our neighbor (another Readers Digest version of long story), whom we've only seen once and that was right after Ike, sent us a nasty note saying that she's going to turn us in to the city for having a rabbit within 100 feet of a residence and berated us for leaving a pile of "infested branches" on the curb. They were put out on Saturday, she gave us the note on Sunday and the garbage comes on Friday. . . so they were out there for less than a week. Now I feel eyes watching us every time I go outside. My fur and pointy teeth have gone away, my pony tails are coming out and I feel a tear coming on. Great. Here comes wimpy girl again. . . 

The moral of this story is . . . anyone want a cute, spotty, FREE rabbit??? Please?

El Guadalupe

We tried our luck camping again this weekend. We headed north and west to Guadalupe River State Park. Even though Jon had gotten off work early, we were still rushed and didn't take into account San Antonio rush hour traffic. We decided to forego the traditional Tin Foil Dinner for a fast food hamburger or else we'd be eating at 9 pm! We got to the park and after digging the tent out from ALL the other gear and boxes and coolers, the boys started setting it up when I realized I had left the chocolate for the s'mores on the cupboard at home, waiting to be put in the cooler to keep cold. Thank goodness there was a Valero's not far away, so Grace and I jumped in the car to go get chocolate. After a lot of wrong turns we got on the right road and captured this picture . . . 

We made it back and had our s'mores and hit the hay . . . except that it was about 80 degrees and no wind and Jon was snoring and . . . at about 3:23 am, I realized that I HAD packed the chocolate!! (Don't ask me why I didn't check before assuming, ok?!). When we finally got up (NOT woke up, except for Jon, who slept the whole night!), I was ready to get all packed up and head back home. The sacrifices we make for our kids. We headed out to the river after Collin and Grace did a lot of exploring in the Scrub Oak and Jon and I read by the fire. 

A pack of water guns supplied numerous amounts of fun . . . 

Jon spent about 52 min. blowing up the boat . . . 

And let the kids loose . . . 

As if we weren't having enough fun, the boys found a tree to jump out of . . . 

We are going back SO soon! Anyone want to join us? I PROMISE I'll remember the chocolate next time. Oh, wait, I did remember it so we had double the chocolate, which I'll bring. We are also looking to invest in some Pie Irons and try to turn out some goodness with them. 

Newest Webelos

Collin is just cruising through Scouts! He got his Webelos badge and numerous pins at his last Pack Meeting. This is the happy Webelo with his leader, Jacob Nunnery. 

Notice how long his hair is getting. This was a couple of weeks ago too! This Saturday is his first ever (LONG story) Pinewood Derby that he has been waiting for since the day he started scouts! More pictures to come . . . 

Gators and 'dillos and snakes . . . Oh My!!

You know when you pull in to the state park campground and see a sign like this, you are in the south and it's going to be an adventure!! We were setting up our tents when our friends little boy said, "Mama! Snake!" Sure enough, we look in the tree (a magnolia, of course!) and there is a snake shimmying up. Our friend Tom, then proceeds to tell us that there are a lot of snakes in the area. Information that should have been divulged BEFORE the trip! (I was telling a lady from our CoOp we saw some snakes and she said they were really bad this year. Yay!) After getting set up we went on a "hike" and saw an armadillo scamper across the trail. Although we never saw a gator, we heard a baby calling for it's mother. Yes, we impressed our friends with our knowledge of baby gator sounds. 

A lot of the trees had been blown down by Ike so there were stumps all over for the boys to climb on . . . 

The next day (Grace's birthday) we got up early and after eating a breakfast of champions, I mean campers, made by my honey, we set out to canoe on the lake. 

It was SO pretty but my camera had died (does anybody see a theme here?) so I only had my phone and didn't get many or even great pictures. I had to row plus, I was comforting and consoling Grace during 75-80% of the ride. Every time there was any movement no matter how small in the canoe she would cry. She also kept asking if everything was an alligator. When we got out though she said "That was SO fun!"

The highlight of camping for me is always the S'mores. I absolutely love them. The highlight for the kids was the hammock that I teased Jon about bringing because he has been known to bring so much stuff that never gets used. I was eating my words on this trip. At least one person was in it the entire time. This one is Grace talking to Emily and Garrett while eating.

Collin practically lived in it. He took his meals there, read there . . . .

Got harrassed there . . . 

We can't wait to go again before the Houston summer sets in.