A Breather at the Beach

Steven and I both started feeling like we needed a vacation around late April!  We keep trying to plan a few days away, but it just hasn't seemed to fall into place.  Our half-week vacation for a Catholic conference at a resort hotel won't be taking place until late August, so we've got a little while to wait.  It's more of a mental break that we all need.  I think we're emotionally exhausted from the events of this year with the baby's arrival and the temporary move for that, and then some new job duties and more travel for Steven, plus trying to plan our upcoming move.  Not to mention he moved his entire office and warehouse to a new location this spring too.

Normally we visit the beach a few times a month during the summer, but this year we've been busy with swim team, lots of traveling for Steven, and the beach has been covered in seaweed too.  But we finally just decided to make a day trip to Padre Island National Seashore on Friday, for a quiet family day.  It was definitely what we needed; a little "breather at the beach!"

The weather was great, overcast with the usual breeze, and the water was cool but warm enough for the kids to enjoy swimming.  After swim practice and a work meeting Friday morning, I was off to HEB for special beach food, and then we were on the road by about 10am.  We were at the beach from about 11am-6pm!  A full day!  They fished, swam, Mary Clare and I read books, played on boogie boards, and searched for shells.  Here are some photos of the day in all its gloriousness...

Mary Clare was tired of swimming after a morning of swim practice, and wasn't happy about going to a beach without showers, so she enjoyed a good book instead.  

Caught this just as the seagull was flying over

Trying to keep Katie happy and out of the sun was a hard job!  I forgot her sun hat, so we ended up putting up the shade tent later on when the sun started peeking through.

Happy with his seaweed catch! 

Katie in the Bumbo seat on the beach.  A new experience!

Tommy wanted to fish all day and would whine whenever Daddy would declare a break.

First dip of her toes in the water that day.

Reeling in a big one!  

They each caught some catfish.

We took off baby's sandy swimsuit and she had a little accident on Daddy!

Little stinker!  (It was just a wet accident though, this girl only does the other business once a week!)

Got the camera settings wrong here, but I liked this of Steven talking to Daddy after he'd just dipped the baby in the water to clean her off.

 We decided to take a drive to some different areas of the park.  Here we spotted a coyote up on the dune!

And this was over near the bay side of the island.

We drove down past mile 15 (almost an hour driving down the beach, this is the only place in America with this much "wild" beach!)

We got close to the "little shell" area, and stopped to search for shells and let Daddy fish some more.

Tommy was asleep in the car.

Always following after his daddy! 

Here's what the sand (and seaweed) is like in this area.

And we finish off with Ellie, my always-willing model :)

Independence Day 2014

Let Freedom Ring!

Our holiday weekend was spent at home with lots of resting and family time.  We were sad to miss the usual parade, BopBop's birthday party, and fireworks that we usually attend in Houston.  But Steven has been under the weather and traveling a lot for work, so it was best we stayed home for a quiet weekend.  

On the 4th, we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast, Mass at noon, the church picnic from about 4-9pm, watched the neighbor's street fireworks, and I visited with another neighbor until close to midnight!  We didn't get a beach visit, shopping outings, or other outdoorsy stuff this weekend, but we did have more time to rest and to work on our family and sibling relationships ;)  Onto a new week!  Here are photos from the church picnic...

7 Quick Takes: Life Theme Songs

Jen over at Conversion Diary asked about the theme songs of our lives earlier this week.  I thought I'd join her Seven Quick Takes Link-Up to share Seven Theme Songs for my life!

~~1~~

Good Morning

from Singing in the Rain

This is such a happy song that brings up joyful memories of dance classes, a tap solo, and fun times on stage.  I also have fond memories of dancing to songs from 42nd Street, Fame, A Chorus Line, and West Side Story.  This one is still a motivating song for me when we need to wake up early and get going in the morning!  Barry Manilow songs would come up a close second to these for happy childhood memories, songs I can remember listening to with my mom in the car. 

~~2~~

Everybody Dance Now

by C & C Music Factory

This one was used for a big group jazz dance for competitions I did in middle school.  And as a theme song, I love to dance and am currently enjoying it on my "Technotronic" Pandora station during my jog/walks!

~~3~~

To Be With You

Mr. Big

Now we'll move into love songs.  These next two bring back memories from my teen years.  Dreaming about boys, and now I can relate them all to my hubby :) 

~~4~~

All For Love

Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart, and Sting

One more love great love song with three of the best!  Bryan Adams was one of my favorites during this time; I loved all hills songs!

~~5~~

Take My Hand

The Kry

About midway through high school I found Christian contemporary music, started to find and discover my faith in God, and during this time The Kry was one of my favorite bands.  I had a cassette with one of their albums that I listened to constantly, especially when I went running during high school and college (using a Walkman!).  I remember giving a talk using this particular song at The Pines where I was a summer camp counselor.  It's all about taking God's hand to walk where he leads.

~~6~~

Lead of Love

Caedmon's Call

Caedmon's Call was THE band in college.  I'd put on Lead of Love to help me wake up each morning in my dorm room.  Similar to #5, it talks about following God's will and seeing how He has been leading us all along.

~~8~~

Ought to Be

Audrey Assad

Audrey Assad was one of the first artists I started listening to a few years ago as I came out of my early mommyhood foggy years.  It particularly brings back memories of the difficult events of the end of 2011 as Steven Joseph went through open heart surgery and then we embarked on our big move to South Texas.  It is like cold winter music to me, taking me back to that time of coldness and fear in my heart.  This whole album, "The House You're Building" is poignant to me as we have been working to build this home full of life and love.  "Love planted deeply becomes what it ought to be."  I hope that will be a motto for our family as we seek to plant the seeds of love with each of our children.

and a bonus since I can't ever follow the rules...
~~8~~

Lullaby

Billy Joel

I guess I had too many songs from childhood and young adulthood, and have already run out.  The truth is that music hash't been a very big part of my life since those days.   Recently I've been enjoying sacred music, and Latin polyphony, but I'll end here with a favorite lullaby.  Billy Joel's Lullaby is one of those songs I remember from my preteen years, but now relates to my life as a mother, ensuring my children know that I'm always here for them and that this "song" will continue after I'm gone.

"Someday we'll all be gone, but lullabies go on and on.  They never die, that's how you and I will be."



I just realized half of these links aren't going to work embedded on the blog, but it's too late to fix it, so you'll just have to click over to YouTube if you need some C&C Music, Billy Joel, etc!  Happy Weekend, and hope everyone in the US had a wonderful Independence Day!

Five Favorites--Summer Fun!

Linking up with Heather at 

Mama Knows Honeychild

To share five favorites for Summer Survival!

~~1~~

Arts and Crafts

We've been to the craft store twice so far for summer crafting stuff. The girls and I are putting together a Miniature Mass Kit for the boys. Almost all of this was from Michael's.

It's still a work in progress, but I'll share the details when we're done!

Playdough is always a winner, from baby through pre-teen!

~~2~~

Water Fun

A $25 inflatable pool was never so loved! 

Nor a $10 sprinkler toy

~~3~~

Doing our part

I'd like to do some more volunteer things with the kids, but we did a couple things last week.  We painted pictures for a great aunt suffering from cancer, and we attended a Memorial Prayer Service at the only abortion clinic in town that just CLOSED! We honored the babies whose lives were lost,

and prayed for the families and staff who have suffered in this terrible tragedy.

The future of the pro-life movement!

~~4~~

Bowling!

Steven came home from work early the other night and asked if we wanted to go bowling!  The girls had been before many years ago, so this was really our first family bowling night.  We all had a blast!

Tommy was the cutest, rolling his ball and jumping up and down while watching his ball slowly make its way down the lane.

~~5~~

Summer Treats

Gotta have some summer treats to stay cool here in Texas!  We've gotten popsicles, ice cream, ice cream sandwiches, and even had a few trips to the shaved ice trailer for the best snow cones in Texas!

Honorable Mention:

Summer cleaning

Had to include this pic because I was so proud.  One day last week, Steven Joseph cleaned and vacuumed my car almost all on his own!  We also did a big playroom clean out on Monday, dumping all those toy bins and finding all sorts of interesting things inside.  This isn't the most enjoyable summer activity, but it will kill time and keep everyone occupied during the long summer days!

Happy Summering, friends!

Answer Me This and WIWS

Linking up with Kendra at Catholic All Year

And Fine Linen and Purple

1. How often do you take public transportation?
Pretty much never.  About once a year we ride the trolley around The Woodlands, and when I was pregnant with Ellie we took the Houston Metro Rail train a few times.  I saw a doctor in the Medical Center and the cost for parking there is outrageous, so we'd park down the street and take the train.  On vacation we've taken shuttle buses and of course the train, subway, and buses on our pilgrimage to Italy.

I do have one funny story about a train ride in Italy.  Steven thought it would be a good idea to take the train to the Trastevere section of Rome, instead of just a bus or subway.  We wanted to go to the church of Santa Cecilia.  So we arrived at the train station and found the "correct" train, even asking a lady who was waiting for the same train.  She assured us that indeed we were getting on the train to Trastevere.  But after a few minutes, we started to see the countryside and realized that we were not in Rome anymore!  We stopped once and our kind "friend" was getting off the train.  She leaned over and said, "Trastevere, next stop."  We were pretty sure she was messing with us, but we waited until the next stop to actually get off the train and figure out how to get back to Rome!

Another challenging public transportation story in Rome was similar to Kendra's Mexico story.  It happened when we got on the wrong bus along with our friends (we traveled with three other newlywed couples to Italy to meet the pope).  Apparently there was a Bus 79 along with a Bus 79/.  So we accidentally got on the "Seventy-Nine-Slash" bus and ended up on the wrong side of town.  I think we were also warned by someone that this was not the bus we wanted to be on, but one of us had the brilliant idea that we'd just ride the bus back around again and get off where we had gotten on.  This was my first experience of watching someone use illegal drugs just a few seats away.  And unfortunately when we got to the end of the route, the bus driver ordered us all off the bus at the depot.  Us and the drug user, that is.  We had to wait about 30 minutes for another train to take us back into the city. Thankfully we made it back, but what an adventure!


2. How many cousins do you have?
I have 13 cousins, but sadly don't see them hardly at all.  We had one set of cousins living in our neighborhood growing up, but they were quite a bit older and we weren't very close.  Steven, on the other hand, has more cousins than he can name; he says it's over 60.  His dad had 10 siblings, so that multiplies his number quite a bit! My own kids have 2 cousins on my side (I just have one brother), and 14 on Steven's side (he's youngest of seven), so 16 in all, and I'm not sure they'll gain any more first cousins.  But we have some fun holiday celebrations with his family and all the crazy kiddos!

Christmas 2013 at Grampatti and BopBop's house

3. Have you ever fired a gun?
I've only fired a bb gun when I taught "rifle sports" as a counselor at The Pines Catholic Camp.  My big kids have all shot a gun and gone hunting with Steven.  He really wants me to try a shooting range, but it's not really my thing.  He'll probably get me there one of these days though, because I'd like to feel more comfortable with one in case I should ever have to use one in an emergency.

Here are the kids getting a gun safety lesson 

from Steven and their godfather Enrique at the farm.

4. Do you ride roller coasters?
I used to love roller coasters, but I don't think I've ridden one since my early 20s.  The past two times we've been to a theme park, both Disneyland and Disney World, I've been pregnant and have opted to avoid the roller coasters since I already have somewhat high risk pregnancies.  I don't think I'd like them much anymore, since I'm now afraid of heights.  My kids were all really brave, and even the 5yr old went on roller coasters last year!

Splash Mountain Sept 2013

5. What's your favorite flower?
Tulips, ever since this memorable day...

6. Are you allergic to anything?
Not that I know of!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And what I wore Sunday....

New skirt from Old Navy!  Yay!

My last white peasant skirt was stained with black ink a few years ago, 

but I have kept wearing it  because I like it so much.  It was time for a new one :)

I survived Monday through Friday without Daddy!

I felt like SuperMom last week.  It was a lot of work, but we survived with a lot of crafts and about three playdates over here.  Thankfully we have a short week ahead and are working on plans for a fun Independence Day weekend.  What will your families do to celebrate?