Very burry, couldn’t be helped, but I can tell how long my hair is getting. I had to let it down for the ride back. We got sprayed too! Not as much as I wanted to, but it was still cool!
I had an awesome weekend! It really felt like a mini vacation. I got to go see my sister, Ann, in Friendswood, where we had a gender reveal party for my nephew’s new baby, I tried new food, went on my first (and second) ferry ride, and had adventures and a nice “girl’s” evening.
My youngest two boys and I left home Friday about 5, and headed to Ann’s house. My youngest son, Jacob, got to see Downtown Houston for the first time while we were on I-45. He is usually asleep, but woke up just as we were entering Houston. Actual Houston, past all the suburbs around it. It was right at sunset, and he marveled at the skyscrapers with the sunset and clouds shining on them. Downtown Houston really is beautiful. The traffic and overflow of people sometimes seem to drown that out for me. It’s always good to have a 10 year old perspective to remind you that there is still beauty there even with flaws that seem to take the front seat. We came up behind construction with a 15 minute slow down, so I got to look and point things out to him. It was fantastic!
There is Christian and Lizzy at the party. I just love them both so very much!
We got to Ann’s house about 8:30 and there were hugs and kisses, bays and howls (she has Patsy the half Redbone hound dog, and Cherry the Treeing Walker Coonhound, both rescues), and laughter from grown ups (Ann and her boyfriend, Shannon) and kids (Ann’s Isabelle and Isaiah, my Zack and Jacob) filling the universe as we made our way into the house.
I also got to meet my nephew’s girlfriend, Lizzy. She is a wonderful young lady. Beautiful and sweet. I’m very proud for my nephew, Christian meeting such a great person. She actually works in home health and works with Isaiah, who is a Fragile X kid.
That boy has really become a ham! He is definitely a performer! I am so very proud of him and it is amazing to see how far out of his shell he has come. I told Isabelle that I was going to whoop her if she didn’t stop growing, and her reply was, “Oh Randa! (she still calls me Randa and she’s the only one allowed to) you can’t whoop me for that. You always say those jokes. I know you won’t do it.” Then she laughed and I laughed. If that girl is not my sister made over, I don’t know what to say, either. We all stayed up way late catching up and joking while the kids all talked and jabbered about the whole world and played with video games and Legos.
Big, big hugs after Christian hit the ball that was filled with blue powder!
Saturday, I slept pretty late, got up drank coffee (nobody is surprised by that) and then we all loaded up and headed out to a park to celebrate the gender reveal of Christian’s new baby. That was so much fun!
He can still swing that bat. He was so nervous about missing the ball and it just being a total flop, but he hit it perfectly on the first try! Aunt Tootsie is getting a new great nephew! I am so very excited and so very happy for Christian and Lizzy.
We all made a guess before as to whether we thought the baby was a boy or a girl and wrote down what we thought the name would be, and I chose boy and Mandi. I don’t see anything wrong with a boy named Mandi, personally. That won’t be his name though. I did hear what his name will be from a little birdie, but my lips are sealed!
Zack and Jacob enjoyed the park very much and got to play on the playground. We then left and went to eat at Ellie’s Kitchen and Catering where I got to try out a Greek restaurant for the first time. It was not the first time I have eaten Greek food, but I had never been to a restaurant that serves it before. I had meatballs with buttered noodles, corn, homemade pita bread, and homemade hummus. It was all excellent! If you’re ever in the area, I would definitely recommend them! Here is their Facebook page; check them out!
Me and Christian. I don’t know if you can tell that I am happy, but I am!
After that, we took all the kiddos and Shannon back to Ann’s house. She and I then set out for our Girls’ Evening.
I got to ride on a ferry for the first time, and it was awesome! We got on right at sunset. It was beautiful! We drove down Bolivar for a ways and were going to go look at Crystal Beach, but saw a bunch of police down there and we decided we didn’t need to chance any weirdness, so we headed back to the ferry.
Kind of an interesting factoid for y’all: the convenience stores over there keep port o potties outside and do not let people use the inside restrooms. From what we understand there was a time when “party crowds of younger people” would come through and trash every store’s bathroom that they visited, so they simply took it away and you can decide whether going is really worth it or not.
We rode on top of the ferry going there, and up at the front, lower deck coming back. Then we drove along the seawall, and I got to see Pleasure Pier all lit up. It was beautiful!
We passed by Hotel Galvez and Spa and I said, “Wow! That place is beautiful! I feel drawn to it and would love to stay there a night sometime!” My sister laughed and then told me that the place is famous for being haunted. Well, of course I want to stay even more now! One day, she and I will go stay, and it’s right on the seawall and has an amazing view! You can see its beauty here if you want to. There are stories about its haunting everywhere if you Google it.
We stayed up super late again Saturday night, and I slept very late on Sunday. We visited for a little while and headed out of Ann’s driveway after hugs, “I love you’s, I’ll miss you’s,” and promises to see each other soon. Jacob hollered back, “May the Force be with y’all!” He knows his Aunt Ann very well! The trip didn’t last as long as we wanted, but we got to spend good, quality time together, and that’s what matters most. Until next time, “May the Force be with y’all!”
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