Father's Day

We had a fun Father's Day weekend.  First, we got together with Tim's parents, his brother and my sister-in-law and went to dinner.  Luckily, Blake and Sydney were at my niece's ballet recital, so we just had the little guy with us.  He was so quiet and good, which is rare when you have to wait awhile for food!
Since Dad is more of a cooking out kind of guy, we went to my sister Stephanie's house on Sunday for ribs, steaks, appetizers, drinks, dessert and some swimming in the pool.  It was a perfectly relaxing day spent with family and all the dads too!  My sister and I lucked out with our guys!  They are wonderful, hands-on dads that do it all!

I have so many great memories of my dad!  He loves his family!  I used to go to his office with him on Saturday mornings when I was little, many times a friend would tag along.  His office was gigantic.  We would play tag, play with office supplies, pretend we were bus drivers in the meeting room with all the chairs, get snacks from the vending machines and clean and organize the supply closets (yes, I had the cleaning/organizing bug as a child).  Dad would always take me to lunch and then K-mart on the way home to get me a toy.  There was one cold and rainy day in December when he took me to McDonald's.  The smell of the french fries was lingering in the air at the drive thru.  I remember what a fun day at the office that was.  Still to this day, when I smell McDonald's, it brings me back to that day, and not for the smell of grease, but the closeness I remember feeling.  It was just the two of us!  He was my protector, he kept me safe and would have done anything for me.  I looked up to him and was so proud that he was my daddy! 

Although this post is a few days later, Happy Father's Day Dad!!  I love you!

My dad and I at my sister's wedding in 1997.

Sunday, Sunday!

So sorry for the long post, I can't help it!! :-)
Sunday, Sunday...I can remember growing up as a little girl and oh how I did not like Sunday afternoons or evenings.  It meant the start of the new week.  It meant going back to school and missing my parents.  I remember looking out the front windows of my childhood house as the sun was setting thinking about how much fun I had over the weekend either playing with friends, going swimming or going places with my mom and dad.  As I watched the sunset and waited for CHiPs (yes, I'm so a child of the 80's) to start, I remember the smell of dinner cooking.  My mom always made the best meals and I think that's why I love cooking so much today. She always made sure we had dinner on the table every night (and that meant a home cooked meal...no fast food)!  Many times on Sunday, I remember in between commercials for 60 Minutes, my dad making the best steak ever outside on the grill.

It was during our family dinner time, that I remember feeling so loved and safe.  We talked, we laughed, we watched my older brother Kirk stick beans in his nose, we sat there until we drank all our milk (even the milk that I spinkled with Lawry's seasoned salt) and we didn't get up until we were told.  I held on to that last bit of family time together until the next night.

So, where am I going with all this you ask?  Well, I still get that "Sunday night feeling" that I had as a little girl.  Even though I don't go to the office anymore, I still dread the weekend coming to an end.  I always love the new memories that we get to make and share!  I love being with my own family and hate it when everyone scurries off into different directions on Monday morning.  I miss our family togetherness!

This weekend was much needed for me to renew and refresh!!  We have not had a weekend home in three weeks due to travels, baseball, my niece's birthday party and spending Mother's Day with family.  We were supposed to have Blake's baseball tournament all weekend long, but it was rained out, sigh!!!  I didn't want to seem overly excited, but I soooo needed this time to chill out and do whatever I wanted and to not be on a schedule!

As the rain came down so hard Friday night, I attended Wine Night at a friend's house.  It was a nice getaway for several hours and a great way to start the weekend.

Saturday morning came around and it was still raining, I love rainy Saturday mornings and days!!  Tim said the whole tournament was cancelled!  Yay!!!  I went back to bed and slept until 10:00 - haven't done that in awhile!!!  When I woke up, I decided it was going to be a cleaning and organizing day.  Mom took Blake to the Children's Museum along with my nephew Jacob.  So the house was quiet without Blake and Sydney fighting!!  It turned out, I was in Sydney's room ALL day long.  Yes, it was that messy and trashy and so unorganized.  How did this happen in such a short time?!?!  I guess it's the six year old in her!

I had two big trashbags full of just trash stuffed in her closet, under her bed, in her drawers.  Oh my!  I am a neat freak and when it comes to closets, it all has to be in color order and one side is short sleeved/warm weather clothes and the other side is long sleeved/cold weather (if you wanna call it that here in Texas) clothes! 

Finally, I hung up pictures and cute little things I got from the girly section at Hobby Lobby.  It was finally starting to look like a cozy room (her room redo will be in a future post).  I hung up four paper lanterns that we used for her birthday party in the corner of her room.  When she saw it all, she was soooo excited.  I still have several to dos...finish her wall letters, take down fan and put up chandelier, get new comforter, find a leopard dust ruffle, paint a few walls a different color-there is way too much pink going on and finish re-doing my old childhood desk for her.

So today, I got to sleep in late again till 9:30, loved it!!  The sun was out today and I was ready to get out of the house after being in it all weekend!!  I'm just that way.  I was feeling cooped up even though I was getting so much done!

Tim surprised me by taking me to my most favorite restaurant ever at Market Street in The Woodlands called Jasper's.  Wow, twice in one week, my sister Stephanie and I met there on Thursday!  One of my most favorite things to eat ever is their Masa Soup.  It's to die for.   If you are in Plano, San Antonio, Austin or The Woodlands - you must try Jasper's!!

After Jasper's, I had to have my cupcake fix!!  Blake found his momma a new cupcake shop that is close to home.  It's called Frost, so we had to try it!

I loved this sign in their shop...

We tried three - S'Mores, Snickerdoodle and Chocolate Dream, mmmm!  They were so yummy.

Sunday, Sunday...there's always next weekend, family time, baseball and new memories!

Have a great week!

Shannon

Our Day at the Beach

Once again, I am so far behind on postings. Dad had mentioned taking the boys to the beach over the Labor Day weekend and I thought it would be fun to go and bring the kids. Blake has only been to Galveston twice - once when he was three and last year to take family pictures (not to really play at the beach). Sydney has never been there and of course it was Brody's first time to go to the beach. I looove the beach - watching the waves crash, the sand, the salty air (although I'm not fond of the humidity), the birds and the seashells. It's so calming and peaceful there.

After going to Destin, Florida for Spring Break many years ago, I never wanted to go back to Galveston. Destin has sugar white sandy beaches and emerald water and Galveston's sand and water are nothing close! I never wanted to go back. After our little day trip, I realized what we have been missing! I am looking forward to our next visit.

We drove in on 61st Street and it immediately brought back memories of all the trips there as kids. I'll never forget the time mom was pregnant with David. We each got to bring a friend, so there were like 6 of us kids, mom and dad and another one on the way. We went to an ice cream shop on the way home and did mom and dad get some looks!! I remember all the trips there on weekends in high school, trips to visit Tim when he went to Galveston College for a short time, the times we went for Mardi Gras and trips with Matt and Steph to hang out at the condo. I missed those days, but it was weird to now be there with my own family! Blake was super excited about getting to the beach and wanted to camp out right on the Seawall. We drove and drove and the kids kept asking the famous kid question, "Are we there yet?" You could still see damage left behind from Hurricane Ike, but not as bad as last year when we took family pictures. It was amazing the further we drove in and all you could see is these big, beautiful beach homes and it didn't even look like the hurricane hit there.

Finally, we found our spot just past Jamaica Beach. The kids went straight for the water. I was kind of shocked that the water actually looked nice. Our spot was not crowded at all. There were not a whole lot of people around which made it even better!! Brody didn't know what to think. He loved staring all around trying to take it all in.

Here's a shot of him touching sand for the first time.

The weather was perfect, it was not too hot or we would not have made it there for the entire day. Brody was really good. He loved it when dad took him in the water for the first time. Big smiles and giggles were on his face when the waves crashed all around. Blake made sand castles, Sydney found a little girl to play with (what a surprise) and they buried each other in the sand, Mo enjoyed barking at people and eating ice cream, Tim walked Brody up and down the beach, Dad loved taking the kids in the water and I sat there and just chilled, it was sooo relaxing. I only wished I had a book. After our day at the beach, we drove on the Seawall and looked at the rebuilding they are doing. The Flagship Hotel is still closed, a huge piece of concrete is still loose so you can't drive in. We ended up eating at our favorite pizza place - Mario's where we have always gone, it was really yummy.

I was so glad we decided to go. I can't wait to go back, stay overnight and go to Moody Garden's, the Strand and walk the Seawall and go to those fun little touristy gift shops when they reopen.

Thanks for the great idea dad! We had a blast! Here are some pictures of our day at the beach.

I love this one of Dad taking Brody in the water for the first time.

First time Brody's feet touch the sand.