Tuesday, August 16, 2011

hittin' the road

*better late than never, a blog that just needed to be recorded for memory purposes...






I mentioned to Joey a couple of weeks ago that I wanted to try and go on one more "get away" trip before going back to work. I didn't have any idea when or where, I just knew I wanted to get outta town. Another beach would have been perfect but I was game for anything. One day I walked out into the backyard where he was working and asked him about his Monday/Tuesday schedule for the next week. With not much going on and jobs that could wait until Wednesday, I pursued my plans. A quick trip to San Antonio. He kind of turned his lip up at the thought because he said it was kind of far but I quickly pointed out that it is no farther than the deer lease. He said I had him there. I researched, enlisted advice from Facebook friends and found an affordable place to stay on the Riverwalk. Booked the Indigo and sealed the deal.



Monday was business as usual for Joey. I ran errands, ran to my house, filled the car up and waited for him to get home. My goal was to leave between 3:00 and 5:00, we left at 5:00 on the dot. Our first stop was dinner, Whatburger. Then it was smooth sailing. One of the many things that I love about him is that there is never a moment that we aren't talking, laughing, punching each other or singing along with the radio. We played the "ABC game", which I won, and "name that tune" where he had to guess the song and the artist from songs on my iPod. It was funny. We stopped for a fountain drink and snacks about halfway there and completed our journey 5 hours later.



We made it to our hotel about 10:00. We got to our room and decided it was a good time to walk the river and go visit the Alamo. We enjoyed the walk hand in hand. We crossed a bridge, crossed some streets and made it to the Alamo and the wax museum. He wanted to go in the Haunted House and even upgraded our tickets to the "intense" tour. Oh my goodness. I loved these as a kid but not so much as a grown up. We got "scared" and then rode a Tomb Raider ride, complete waste of money. From this we walked over to the Alamo and attempted a couple of nighttime photos. It was late so we headed back to the hotel along a pretty shady route, one where a boy was selling pizza from the back of his bicycle for just $5.00.



We got up in time for breakfast at the hotel, checked out and headed away with no plans in mind. We went back to the Alamo but did not want to pay $10 for parking just to take a clear picture. So, we decided to head back and find things to do along the way. We passed the Alamodome and remembered that the Cowboys were at training camp so we went and got cash for parking only to find out that practice wasn't for three more hours. So much for that. We drove on and stopped in New Braunfels/ Gruene. I fell in love with Gruene and can't wait to go back there. We took a foot dip in the Guadalupe River, enjoyed it's coolness for a minute and then went to do a little shopping. It was fun to just look around but too hot to want to buy anything to carry around. From Gruene we went to eat at CenterPoint Station in San Marcos, one of my favorite places to eat. It's like a fried food heaven. I drove from here and took us to the much talked about Czech Bakery. I had to find out what the hype was about - we went straight from fried food heaven to sweet stuff heaven. Because I was so overwhelmed with the choices and he was too lazy to get out of the car (haha!), we ended up with a dozen cookies. They were good for the next three days.



We got home Tuesday night, which was one week from starting back to school. This trip was a great ending to the perfect summer. I am so blessed to have someone who can keep up with my randomness and my whims. I think he is who I have been waiting on all my life.

Friday, August 5, 2011

upside down & inside out

I've started this blog three times. Evidently I have a lot of ideas and can't stay on track. I should have created an outline to keep my thoughts organized. ADHD readers will have no trouble following, structured readers may be a bit bothered. Sorry about it!

It's hard to believe that we are in the final stretch of summer 2011. Time flies when you are having fun... true statement.

Now, my thoughts ...

School:
Just 10 more days before inservice, 12 days until meet the teacher, 16 days until the first day of school. I have been working in my room and attending recent trainings in order to get back into the teacher/ work mode. I'm almost ready. It's not ever that I am not looking forward to the teaching part of it - I love that. It's just hard to give up late nights, sleeping late, swimming with friends, vacationing, fun times with the kids, afternoons at the lake and lots of time with the boy. All of these combined have made for a perfect summer.

Kids:
It's been an eventful summer with the kids. We've gone camping, to the beach, to the lake, to the movies and made the most of our time together. They've grown and matured over the past two months: Clayson can drive, Trey can mow and Ashlyn can straighten her own hair. We have not spent a lot of time at my house but it didn't matter where we were as long as we were together.
(side note: sometimes I feel "guilty" writing happy things about my life when my kids are gone. Of course, I miss them and would choose to have them with me all of the time but I can't. When they aren't with me they are with their dad. I can say a lot of things about him but I will always give him credit for being a wonderful dad. He gets his time with them and I get mine. When they are with him, I live the life that I have come to know. They need their dad just as much as they need me. And it's soap boxes like this that make me realize that I worry/ care too much about what others might think or how they may judge me as a mom. On with the blog...) I have had a fun-filled summer with Clayson, Trey and Ashlyn. We have also enjoyed some great times with Matt and Kayla. If there is power in numbers, when we are all together - we've got the power.

The boy:
Joey and I have enjoyed making some new memories for the second summer in a row. We've been to Mexico, Florida, San Angelo, Lake Whitney and I still hope to squeeze in one last summer retreat before time becomes limited between work and sports. We have spent all but seven days together this summer. The best thing about this is that we have so much fun together, we are completely comfortable with each other, never get tired of each other and continue to keep it real, simple and fun. It's been our relationship "motto" for the past 15 months and has worked well. I am thankful everyday for the happiness that he has brought into my life. This happiness carries over into all areas and it shows.

Done. Maybe it wasn't as bad or as random as it could've been.