South Padre Island - Summer 2014

We decided we were not quite ready to take the kids all the way to Florida, so we settled on the prettiest beach in Texas which is by far South Padre Island. Door to door it took us 7 hours which was really manageable for everyone. We had the extra hands of Mimi and Grandpa which was really helpful. We were able to split the kids up into pairs in each car which helped as well.

I was interested to see if we were "beach people" or "mountain people." At the end of this trip, I would say we are a little bit of both! Matt mentioned that he would love to be able to go to the beach and the mountains every summer. Boy, do I agree!

South Padre really grew on me during our 6-day stay. I think in a few years we may venture all the way to Gulf Shores or Destin, but for now, Padre is a good fit for us.

The rental we stayed in was OK. It had some quirks about it which would prevent us from renting it again, but it was in a great location and I would say it is a must to be have a beachfront property with a pool when you have small kids.

The weather was absolutely perfect. I was surprised how cool it was by the water - I don't really ever recall feeling uncomfortably hot the whole time I was there which is pretty remarkable.

Some of the highlights included: boogie boarding in the surf, watching Matthew experience the ocean for the first time, digging in the sand with construction equipment, bay fishing with a guide, the Adventure Park go-carts, dessert at Dairy Queen, Eco-Tour/Dolphin Tour and going to the dunes at the far end of the island.

I am looking forward to future beach trips with the family. . . wherever they may be!

This was our set up on beach days - perfect!

Our view of the condo. We were the one on the far right. No one else in our building during the week we were there

Visiting the sand dunes at the end of the island. Very cool.

Craft Time!

We rented a guide and went fishing in the bay.

Will looks like a natural fisherman

A tiny quarter fish that is completely flat. Fascinating!

Our guide, Captain Vere Wells. A chain-smoking, crusty native who knew exactly where to take us but was short on conversation skills.

Matt's beautiful Red Fish.

We caught our limit of Speckled Trout! A total of 20 for the 4 of us.

Captain Wells in his boat

More craft time with Mimi. Putting shells and marbles in plaster paris

Alivia loved the crafts - the boys. . .well. . .not so much

Rainy day visit to the local t-shirt shop while the littles napped

Bringing the construction trucks was perfect for the beach

We flew our little kite! Will loved this.

The King and Queen on their thrones under the canopy

Matthew really liked the small pools of water

A look down the beach - there was seaweed but nothing gross or smelly

Will said his favorite part of the week was "the water." He would love to just walk in and out of the waves

The pool was TINY but the kids LOVED it because it was just their size. Matthew stayed in the spa area and just walked around and around. So funny.

Visiting the dunes again

Crazy Hair!

We ran into some pirates on Pier 19. Look at Matthew's face - too funny.

More fishing pics with Captain Wells

A portion of our catch!

Visit to Turtles, Inc. a rescue center on the island

They are beautiful creatures

 

The Dolphin/Eco tour. It was at 3 pm and everyone was hot. The littles were restless. . . .

Adventure Park! The kids got to drive their own go-karts. Alivia LOVED this - she said it was her favorite activity of the week!

Such a great school year

WOW. What an amazing first year at Austin Classical School. It is such an amazing feeling to have utter peace about where your kids are going to school. This year has had so many highlights and I feel blessed to have been involved with ACS in its inaugural year. The community has been amazing. I have met some really wonderful friends through this year.

Dusty organized a Field Day to bring together the families to have some old-fashioned relay races on a hot Spring day. Here is a shot of all of us after fun in the sun!

Iron Man - The Woodlands

My brother is an Iron Man! He trained for about a year with Ryan Schooler. Matt and I were sort of on the fence about whether we wanted to go watch or not and I am SO GLAD we did! It was such a neat experience. That whole culture is amazing to be a part of (even as a spectator). And I could tell it really meant a lot to Peyton (and Emily!) that we were there. We left baby Matthew with Nanny Alva which was a good move. The kids did really well watching the race. It really was cool to see all the athletes and the time went by really quickly.

We headed down there on Saturday morning which gave us most of the day to watch Peyton and Ryan. They had already finished the swimming and were on their bikes. What was really fun was how often we got to see them and cheer them on. At the transition from bike to running was the first time we saw Peyton and he was so glad to see us. And then we positioned ourselves on the banks of the river walk in The Woodlands and could see them several times as they made the 26 mile loop around us. We held up signs and they would even stop and talk with us for brief moments. AMAZING experience!

Peyton finished the race in 14:32. CRAZY!!! I am so proud of him.

Not sure if this is for Ryan or Peyton, but we could follow along with our phones 

The bike transition area - look how many!

Ryan finished the bike section first - it was so fun to see him kiss Christy S.

Peyton just starting his MARATHON (26.2 mile run)! 

Ryan at the finish line with his family

Peyton and Ryan - IRON MEN!

Brownie Troop 1512 Campout!

I offered the land in Bertram for our first Girl Scout campout. Man, I was totally dreading this whole event. Thank goodness I like Anaise and all the other moms! It turned out to be much more fun than I thought and it was really great to see Bertram through the eyes of others. It makes me appreciate it so much more. The weather was perfect - a little windy - but that kept away the bugs and best of all it was not too hot!

I don't think Anaise realized how much the little house has back there so we brought our own water, cooked on the campfire and slept in tents. The only time we went inside the house was to use the restroom which was such a nice amenity.

The girls before we left from L-->R: Kyra, Avery, Madeline, Alivia, Elizabeth, Katherine, Ivy

The girls loved the whole experience. I have a feeling I have a few more campouts coming up in the next few years!

Unloading the firewood

Our tent!

An overview of the campsite

Exploring at the tiny river - so sad to see how low it is now. . . 

Yep, I fit this blow up mattress inside the tent and don't regret it one bit

Me and my precious girl

Katerine Dugan getting settled in

Taking the Girl Scout Pledge

Some of the moms - Anaise, Lisa and Sheila

Our fearless leader - Anaise Corbitt

Each girl git a hat and a bandana

All their stuff had to fit inside this white bucket (except sleeping bag) which also served as their seat for the overnight

The girls planned all the meals!

Kate, Sheila and Kristine

From L-->R Avery, Kyra, Alivia, Madeline, Sophia, Ivy, Katherine and Elizabeth (not pictured: Sophie and Audrey)

What have you been doing for the last year?

Women's Development! It is an intensive leadership/theology class offered through our church, Austin Stone. Matt did Men's Development last year. Whew! It has been intense and hard but I have learned so much and am so glad that I did it.

Every Wednesday night I went to a lecture from 6 - 9 pm. Then I would meet with my LTG (Life Transformation Group) that included Michelle Spears and Angie Phillips from 9 - 10 pm. And on Friday mornings from 9:30 - 11:30 our entire 8-woman group would gather at one of our homes to share our stories, prayer requests and other life issues. And throughout the year we had day-long Saturday seminars about various topics including "Gospel-Centered Counseling" and "The New Testament" and "The Old Testament."

We read almost the entire "Systematic Theology" by Wayne Grudem. It turned out to be an amazing read for me - I think it was my favorite part. It is such a rich book that helped me to realize how complex and amazing God is. I walked away feeling like I know so little about God. And learning to trust Him more and love Him more. Thank you Mr. Grudem. I hope I can meet you some day to thank you for introducing me to Systematic Theology.

I just completed my oral and written exams last week. I think I will miss the intensive learning, but won't miss the ongoing weekly commitments. It has been hard on the kids and Matt to have me be gone during the week.

Sarah Grant, Courtney Miller and Michelle Spears

Angie and I before our oral exam - see the Systemic Theology book?!

Our entire group - from L->R: Catherine Garza, Noelle Otts, Courtney Miller, Christy Mangum, Angie Phillips, Sarah Grant, Michelle Spears and ME!

Catherine and Angie celebrating after our Oral Exam

Noelle's husband, Brad, made an amazing dinner for us one night

To John on your 4th Birthday

Dear John:
One of my many nicknames for you is "Joyful John" because that describes you so well. You light up the room when you enter and always seem to have a smile on your face. Your preschool teacher talks about how she loves having you in her class and I can see that you are friends with everyone there - girls and boys.

We decided to take your paci away and move you to a big boy bed on your 4th birthday (it was definitely time). But boy, you have really missed your paci. It has been 6 weeks and just the other day you said to Daddy, "I miss my paci." I've noticed that you chew on your fingers and bunny now when we read books together because you miss your paci. I wish we had not waited so long to take it away. It has been a hard habit to break.

Because of this, your sleep habits have changed a little bit. Before taking away your paci you never awoke before 7 am, but now we had to put a clock in your room that changes colors to let you know that you CANNOT come out of your room at 6:15, 6:30 or 6:45 like you were doing. Now you have to wait and play in your room until 7 am. After a few mornings of not watching the clock, you have gotten into a rhythm with this. But just this morning, I heard you rustling around at 6:15 am!

You still take a long nap every day - at least 2 hours or so and seem so ready to go down for nap when 1 pm arrives. I wish I could get you into bed a little bit earlier, but we always seem to have activities going on that prevent that.

I think I am going to have you and Matthew start sharing a room in the next few months - we will see how that goes.

You love anything that has to do with construction and can name any piece of equipment that you see. When we ask what you want to do when you grow up you say "I want to be a worker." Matt is hoping you will join him at Risinger Homes one day! Anytime we ask what sort of toy you want you say "a backhoe" or a "front-end loader." Your favorite songs to listen to in the car are from "20 Trucks" CD. I can sing everyone of those songs now, too.

God has gifted you with the gift of encouragement - just like your Daddy. Without training or teaching you, you know how to give sweet words of encouragement to everyone in the family. You will often come up to me after dinner and say, "Mommy, thanks for making dinner for me tonight." And the other day he said, "Mommy you look really pretty today." It is so sweet.

You still have some stuttering at times when you speak, but it has really improved over these last few weeks. Thankfully you never seem to notice it and it certainly does not bother you.

You still love for me to be the one that reads books to you every night. You get very upset and shed real tears when I go out with friends or with Daddy and will miss putting you to bed. It is definitely our sweet time together. You won't really let me snuggle with you much after we read books, but you do want me to lay in bed with you and sing some songs. But one of the stunts you pull lately is telling me that you have to go poo-poo after we have gotten you all settled in bed for the night. It drives me crazy! At that point I call Matt in to see you through all that and get you settled in again.

I love you so much. Your sweet smile, and precious voice. And some of the things you say just make my heart melt. You are going to make the best husband and father some day. It is a joy and privilege to be your Mommy!

Love,
Mommy

John's 4th Birthday

John's birthday seemed to be at a busy time this year. It was right around Easter so we combined it with an Easter celebration at Austin Country Club and invited the Mezgers to come with us to celebrate. It turned out to be really fun! ACC is really set up for large crowds with kids and had all sorts of activities to entertain everyone from face painting, to an Easter egg hunt to an inflatable slide. The buffet was really nice and there was even a cookie decorating station. I hope we get to go again next year!

We had to have our own special Easter egg hunt because we missed the scheduled one! The manager was so nice to arrange it for us.

John loved this slide!

Balloon artists are always a favorite

Family shot

John and his BFF, Blake Mezger

Helping Matthew find some eggs

Melissa Mezger and me!

Alivia loved the cookie decorating buffet

Showing off our creations

Mom had her hip replacement about a month prior - she is getting along great but still moves a little slow