back at the beach

First of all it took us nearly twice as long to get to the beach as it did to get home. Although this seems to be a fairly normal phenomenon when beach going I still have yet to understand it. On the way there we drove through Needville. They were having their annual city wide yard sale. From the car I saw some of the most wonderful deals waiting to be had, screaming buy me as we zoomed along. Unfortunantly Sam was driving both ways and so needless to say nothing new but some sand and a shell made it home with us oh and our new twilight movie!

We got to the beach. It was Truman's first time, and he seemed to like it alright. He's hoping it will be a little less windy next time, though. As most of you know the beach here is not quite like the beaches we were used to going to as kids. We drive right out onto the beach, pick our spot between some other lucky beach goers and pull the back of your car up to the beach, open the door and throw your kids and goods out, and your ready to enjoy. There is also that familiar yet totally unfamiliar sound of the ice cream man driving down the beach. We didn't get anything from him this time but we have before. I could bore you all forever telling you all the details of our trip but I guess I will stop now.

Just a few pics of our hole digging, barbie kite flying, passie sucking, we're not in California anymore, bus riding, peanut butter eating, 1st time going trip to the beach. Followed by our asleep before the movie started, quick stop for Twilight ride home.

a little playing in the water

a whole lot a digging

more digging

more "manual labor"- sam

peanut butter sandwiches

boys with barbie kites

one set of our neighbors at the beach with the #2

the famous hole

our recruited helpers

Truman and his passie addiction

icecream man

our sweet baby

the sleeping crew on the way home

What a fun trip to the beach!!

...you go and do something and totally redeem yourself

So I don't know if you can reasonably take all the credit. But look!!

All I can say is wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles!!

Just in case you were wondering the sleeping bag was Isaac's birthday present from my

"dang mother-in-law".

Dang my mother-in-law...

look what she got us into. If she weren't so fun I wouldn't end up with messes like this at my house. Next time she lets Isaac and Addie do something like this she needs to start by saying," this is only something we do at my house your mom's don't do this at home."

Get ready the boys weren't satified with the end product and are looking forward to trying again at your house!!

Happy Birthday Isaac 4!!

While the boys (minus Truman) were at church I decorated the house for Isaac's birthday. I put up signs and balloons all over the main floor. Isaac was totally excited when he saw them all. It was really fun to watch.

We tried to find Star Wars wrapping paper, but we settled on Spider Man and Dark Blue when none could be found.

Isaac and Beckam opening up presents.

There are some fun advantages to having no one around for holidays. Everyone sends packages. So it's really exciting when they get delivered, and then they all get wrapped, and you get to open them on your birthday. Isaac has been so excited about turning 4 he talked about it a lot. So much that Beckam started saying it was going to be his birthday too, and that all the packages that arrived were for his and Isaac's birthday, and that he was turning 4 as well. Sometimes it turned into a no it's my birthday no it's mine war, but in the end Isaac was great to let Beckam open some of his presents and we even got Beckam one of this own. Needless to say they both had a great birthday.

Star Wars!!

Just checking out the new toys.

Isaac loved all the fun thing he got.

Thanks everyone!!

Baby Truman enjoying the festivities.

Isaac requested a blue light saber cake for his birthday.

Sam and I did our best to oblige.

It took a little while, a little help, and a bit of spit to get the candles blown out.

We opened all his presents after church so the boys could have them to play with all day. But the cake wasn't ready so we had cake after dinner. Isaac decided he needed to have a present to open when we did the cake so he took it upon himself to re-wrap a few presents. He even played the part very well by acting totally shocked by what came out of the box, " wow, I've never seen these before, what does this do."

I can't believe I have a 4 year old. Isaac is a crazy, silly, sweet boy. We love him very much.
Happy Birthday big 4 year old!!

the boys

Just a few pictures of the boys hanging out in mom and dad's room watching movies.

I had to post these just to prove (mostly to myself) that they do sit still for more than 2 seconds every once in a while.

Do I look older??

Truman's a month old.

spLisH sPlaSh !!

I have to admit there are some advantages to Houston's springtime.

Nana is back and she brought Papa!!

We were so excited that Nana and Papa were coming to visit the boys were anxiously awaiting their arrival. My dad was able to pair this trip with his medical meeting. So he was able to kill 2 birds with one stone and we were able to see him so everyone wins.

The boys

Nana and Papa with their grandkids.

everyone.

We had heard from several sources several times that the swinging door is the place to take visitors. So we finally took my parents and ourselves to check it out. Isaac loved all the meat. My favorites were the turkey, green beans. We had lots of fun and Isaac said we definitely need to go back.
(Before I posted this we went back for Isaac's b-day dinner and I thought it was horrible.)

Nana and Beckam

Isaac Papa and Dad

Goofs! Look at Isaac posing for his blog picture.

The next night:

My mom wanted to take my dad for a walk around the neighborhood so he could check out our lake and see the progress on the new pool and playground. We started walking around the lake and found more entertainment then we had bargained for. We saw 3 different boys jump a bike off a ramp into our lake o' yuck. It was pretty entertaining. The best part was watching them try to find their bike after they landed in the water. Isaac was glued the second we saw the jump and later asked Sam if he could do that. Sam said yes but that he had to do it with him, and not today. (Oh and by the way I am loving the weather.)

Thanks for the show!

Sam Houston Monument:

holy crap!

I totally should have taken a picture for you to more fully illustrate this. Sorry for being such a slacker!

This is Taryn's place holder for my story, I assume. I didn't go see the statue, instead I watched a car fall on a man. Way more interesting. While I was waiting in the parking lot, a nice Mexican family with mom, dad, and three kids pulled up in an older SUV with a shredded tire. The teenage son came over and asked to borrow my jack. I gave it to him, but then got back in the car to watch Beckam and Truman, who were asleep. I kept peeking in the mirror to see how it was going; we love Taryn's car but the jack that comes with it is a piece of crap, as I'm sure you'll agree in a minute here. The crank arm is maybe a foot long, probably not even that. So the kid was under the car jacking it up, and all of the sudden I hear this crazy scream and jump out of the car to see the kid trapped under the axle of the car, which rocked off of the jack since the parking brake wasn't set. But I only saw it for a second, because his dad ran up, grabbed the car by the tire well and hefted it off the kid, who slid out. The wheel had ripped up his arm some, and his chest had been whacked with a 1/2 ton SUV, so they took the appropriate 30 seconds to make sure he was okay and then set the parking brake, borrowed someone else's jack, and got back to work. CRAZY. FETCHIN' CRAZY. The kid was pretty solid, and the wheel had stopped the car from cutting him in half, but he still got smashed pretty good. His mom was caressing his ribs while dad worked and I'm sure he's got one sweet bruise to show for it. Lessons: 1) my jack sucks, 2) dads can lift cars when boys are under them, 3) I don't want to fight any barrel-chested, nice-mannered Mexican kids in the area of Huntsville (or their dads, or probably moms, grandma's, pets, etc). Apparently I could hit him with an anvil and it wouldn't even slow him down. Glad the kid was OK, he was really cool about it all.

Don't borrow my jack. It sucks.

Papa Nana Isaac and Sam (Sam Houston that is).

Isaac had to show Papa how you could climb up behind his head.

Huntsville State Park (again):

Here are a few pictures of us hanging out in the park before we went to ride horses..

Beckam practicing this climbing skills, on the tree. When you have no mountains you have to improvise a little.

Dad's climbing too.

If dad's up a tree does that mean I can hurry and hit my brother with this huge stick?

Hey guys don't fight.

Get the squirrel.

Hanging out on the fishing dock. We went over and checked out the other side of the lake this time on the camp ground side.

Last time we were here the ranger mentioned that they had horseback riding. So when my parents got here and I was talking to my mom on Friday afternoon trying to come up with something fun to do on Saturday, I mentioned the horses and she seemed interested. So I made a couple phone calls. Next thing you know Truman and I are on a horse both for the first time. Not to digress too much but I found something out this weekend. I thought I had ridden on a horse before when I was younger. On of those distant fuzzy memories. Well apparently my memory was a fake. Well at least my parents say they can not confirm said memory. So I guess my parents never took me to ride a horse. We decided that if I had it had probably been with my cousins. So now I need to call my aunt. Anyway back to the story. We went horsebackriding it was lots of fun and no one got injured. The funniest part was the lady that worked there my new bff Ashley. She thought Truman was the coolest thing since sliced bread, but better! The second she realized we were there she wanted to see the baby and when we got done with our ride she came running, yes running not jogging to help Truman and I back off the horse. Beckam (aka mr. chatterbox) who was riding with my dad just kept saying, "Me like this horse" over and over. He had a huge smile on his face the entire time. Nana and Isaac were on the SLOW!!! horse but had lots of fun. Isaac did start to loose patient about 15 minutes before the ride was over. He kept yelling back to Sam and asking if we were almost done. I think he was getting pretty hungry, we all were. Truman fell asleep the second the horses started to go and enjoyed his bumpy ride along the trail. Sam was our camera man that is why there are no pictures of him.

Papa and Beckam riding Hercules.

Nana and Isaac riding slower than tarnation Harry.

Mom and Truman riding Purdy.

Dad rode Blackjack.

Getting ready to go.

Out on the trail.

Mom and Truman back from our ride.

(sorry Nick!)

Wet!!:

Me again (Sam), Taryn's really overachieving getting me to blog more than once a year, even twice in the same post. As the title suggests, we're wet. Why? Because Beckam gracefully rolled off the rocks around the pond in the Woodlands (the ones with the "Do not climb on the rocks" signs all over the place) into the nice warm, recycled water below. He flailed for a minute while me and Jim stood there, then I jumped in and grabbed him. Jim had Truman in the carseat, so it was my turn. He wasn't happy, and the comforting hug made sure we both got pretty wet. The ladies shopping at Anthropologie gave us some pretty funny looks as they walked out past me and my soaking wet, crying child, but we're used to that. Seems like anytime we go anywhere, I come home with a wet right foot. That's my dominant step-in-to-save-the-drowning-kid-playing-where-he-isn't-supposed-to foot. SITSTDKPWHISTOF for short. Thanks Beckam.