OUR VACATION 2008....PART ONE!

hola folks!! it has been a LONG TIME since i updated our blog but i have been so BUSY enjoying our family back as one that time has just FLOWN! we have a lot to write about so here it goes!! (JUST A NOTE, PHOTOS WILL BE ADDED SOON!!)

well, to start things off, we are all doing GREAT being back together and get back in the groove of being a family together again. it was not HARD AT ALL!! i am so happy to say...i know that SOME people have a really hard time getting thing working again after such a long seperation but for us, THANK YOU GOD, it just felt NATURAL and everything just fell into place!! the boys did well and daddy and mommy did awesome too! josh is loving on daddy all the time and so are the other 2 boys. it is so great to see daddy playing with his boys....that is something the TRUELY missed! i know that for me, i lost a little of that when he went away. i noticed that it was WAY WAY WAY harder to PLAY with my boys after he left....i think i lost a little of my "fun" and "easy" way with the boys and i know it makes me sad thinking about the last year where i SLOWLY lost the ability to just have fun with my boys....i know it was just part of the stress and the seperation but know that dady is back, i PLAN ON GETTING IT BACK!! i find myself REALLY trying so hard to not just brush off my boys when they are being silly and trying really hard to be silly with them....trust me, after a YEAR of correcting them and really feeling uptight, it is hard to get out of it but i am WORKING ON IT!! my boys mean the WORLD to me and i am sad at myself for letting that part of myself go away....so these last couple of weeks with james, i have tried to let HIM being the dissaplinator and kinda TRY to keep a low keep...i guess i didn't realized how much work it took being both daddy AND mommy and how much stress it put on me!! so, i am trying my hardest just to be a MOMMY and not both right now....I AM A WORK IN PROGRESS!!!!

SOOOOO, on to our vacation....we are having SOOOOOO MUCH FUN!!!! we love our rv and we are just ENJOYIN BEING A FAMILY TOGHETHER....the boys and i NEEDED to get away from that house that has keep us tied to it for a YEAR....it felt GOOD leaving it behind and just not worrying about it!!! since james left, i had NOT been away from the house overnight other than the hospital! so this was so needed ESPECIALLY since when james is home, we tend to go out of town at least ONCE a month!!! and what was more important than that is THAT WE ARE BY OURSELVES, WITHOUT NURSE, WITHOUT THERAPIES AND APPOINTMENTS...just OUR FAMILY....NO ONE ELSE!! we felt bad cause our nieces and nephew wanted to come but we just explained that we needed to be together just us and that after these trips, we would RV again and THEN they could come...i am so happy that we stayed STRONG on that because we needed this time just for us......well, what i have done is kinda JOURNALIZED (is there such a word?!) and i will post PART ONE, WHICH IS OUR GULF COAST ADVENTURE and then later i will post PART TWO WHICH IS OUR HILL COUNTRY ADVENTURE!! SOOO, happy reading as i post!! take care and GOD BLESS...

OUR VACATION 2008

JULY 8TH
OUR FIRST VACATION in over a YEAR!! and boy, we are soooo excited to FINALLY get MOVING!! yesterday and today were both days of trying to get EVERYTHING together....PACKING OMG is soooo HARD with 3 little ones in everything and wanting something....ANYWAY, we FINALLY got the trailer packed and ready to go TODAY....we had to STILL drop off the dog to the KENNEL and then we could head off...well, we had to make it here by 5pm and it was ALREADY 1200!! and did i forget it was RAINING?!?!?! soooo, we were off...we had a GREAT trip here to ANCIENT OAKS RV PARK in ROCKPORT, TX...it did rain almost the whole way but it was OK!! i told james, 'i don't CARE if it rains...i just want to GET AWAY from HOME for a while!!' and he agreed with me! we were just so happy to be OFF in our RV and be together as a FAMILY!!!

WELL, we got here at about 4:30 and it started RAINING!! we set up the RV, and started to put ALL our stuff away that we KNEW we could not do WITH OUT!! :) u know how that goes...we had SOOOO MUCH STUFF!! but, at least THIS time, we will be out here for more than a couple of days!! we here for 6 nights and 7 days! and of course AFTER james was soaked and had the RV up, IT STOPPED RAINING!!! oh well!

we had a GREAT trip here, the boys are having a BLAST and going CRAZY in the RV and can't wait to go swiming and fishing tomorrow GOD WILLING!! the weather is suppose to be BEAUTIFUL (even though i think it is just fine right now) and HOT! we headed over to the nearest WALMART to get the things we decided to wait on until we got here....we have also learned soooo much from just looking at all the other RV'S...we are also something of an ODDITY because aparently, not many people have SEEN a HYBRID RV like ours and we have been getting lots of people stop by to ask us about it and they just think it is the COOLEST thing!! :) we LOVE OUR RV! they have asked us all about it!! if you haven't seen a picture of it, let me describe it to you: it is a TRAVEL TRAILER when you look at it, it looks like everyone else BUT ours has THREE drop down doors, 2 on side in the BACK and one in the VERY FRONT nd when you drop those down, there is TENT ENDS just like the POP UP TENTS and we now have 2 queen size beds and a king in the front!!!! wow! tons of room!! we just LOVE IT!! but, HERE IT IS:

July 9th, 2008:

TODAY was such a beautiful day to wake up to! Of course, even after such a LATE NIGHT (probably went to bed after 1am) our boys don’t know NOT TO WAKE UP EARLY!! Yep, everyone was WIDE AWAKE by 730 am!!!! I can tell you this, that since we had kids, we have NOT slept in in OVER 5 years!!!! Yep, all our boys are EARLY RISERS! Usually by 7 am, EVERYDAY, they are up and running! So I guess an extra 30 mins IS vacation time!!  anyway, it was GREAT to wake up and just KNOW you are out with your family in our RV and just enjoying our time together!! We had a lot to do in the morning…we had to finish putting the POP UP GIZMOS on the bunk ends…what this is is a SOLAR BLANKET especially made for our RV that goes over the BUNK ENDS so that it can keep the HEAT OUTSIDE!1 what is owesome is that in the WINTER, you turn the blankets so that the silver stuff in on the BOTTOM and that will keep the heat INSIDE!! Gotta love that! Anyway, we heard about these thru my RV FORUMS that I visit and they all swear by them so we ended up getting them sight unseen and BOY we are SOOOO HAPPY we did! They did the job and IMMEDIATELY you could feel the difference in the bunk end and it was not as hot as it was!! WOW!! GREAT THING TO HAVE!! Soooo, we did all of that and then alex, james and matthew went SWIMMING at the pool and I stayed back to let Joshua have his nap. Well, the boys came home, and we gave them baths and OOOHHHH how fun THAT was!! Our bathroom is TINY in size!! It is just too funny…and I am a SMALL person and I STILL felt like I was a giant in that shower!! Very small…the boys loved it though and there is a tub for matthew and josh! Anyway, after we did that we headed out to explore ROCKPORT, TX and just look around…wow, it was BEAUTIFUL!! There are so many beautiful HOUSES out there expecially those on the BEACH….wow..and then we decided to go eat at THE BOILING POT resteraunt and that was an EXPERIENCE! James and had never been there but we decided to try it out…it was kinda spicy but it was pretty neat to see them just DUMP the food on our table! We had a lot of fun making a MESS, the boys had a BLAST with their “hammers” to crack the crab legs with and just enjoying the food…crab legs, sausage, blue crab (the whole thing! James scared alex with it!! He almost fell of the chair!), potatoes, corn on the cob and shrimp! Yummy! It was all so good but it was a bit spice for the boys so after we ate, we headed out the the McD’s and had some food for the boys! We really just had so much fun today! And to top it all off, we went SWIMMING at about 9pm and all the boys had a BLAST!! We then came home and made us some HOME MADE POPCORN with real butter and sat around and enjoyed our night snack! After the 2 youngest were in bed, we ended up sitting outside in the BEAUTIFUL sultry night and sitting under our awning and enjoying the night sky with all those stars out there….we bought some OUTSIDE CARPET GRASS for the boys so that they can be outside with us and not be worried that they would be no place to put them but with that grass, we can put them on the ground and they can crawl and roll around on it! And I like it because I can just come out of the RV and be able to just step onto a clean area without my shoes!!

JULY 10TH, 2008
WOW, we are just having so much fun enjoying ourself without any worries. It has been VERY RELAXING for both james and i. he made mention that he NEEDED this time because he had been really stressed out and he hated feeling like that. He kept feeling like that he was just wound up tight but now, MORE RELAXED! As I told him, it felt GOOD to be out of the house FINALLY! I had been stuck there for a year without any break, over 365 days total spent there EXCEPT for the short “break” that we had when matthew was sick in the hospital!!!! I know I could have gone where ever BUT with 3 children and having matthew and all his equipment BY MYSELF was just a bit much. But now, our family is COMPLETE and we are OUT OF THERE!! And we are already dreaming and planning on our NEXT RVING experience after these 2 weeks!!

Well, back to our vacation…we went driving around the ROCKPORT/FULTON area and if you have never been over here, it is BEAUTIFUL and the properties are gorgeous and the view is amazing!! We enjoyed just playing tourist and driving around and having fun! We came home and went swimming for about an hour and just had fun with the boys…all the boys LOVE the water….matthew can’t swim in anything but either FRESH water or CLORINATED water due to his g-tube so no ocean or river for us! But that is why we had to have a park with a pool for him because he LOVES to swim! We then took the boys to go see WALL-E at the local cinema 4….CUTE PLACE!!! It didn’t look like ANY movie theater I have ever been to. It was TINY and looked like just a normal building. It was a CUTE movie too! Everyone enjoyed it! Well, we then had a visitor come see us today, it was james best friend! He is currently at the police academy here in CORPUS CHRISTI and he came by and we went out to eat at MOONDOG RESTAURANT…..it was really good and it was GREAT talking to him and just having a great time together. (And on a side note, He and his wife are going to be the GODPARENTS for matthew when he gets re-baptised….well, actually, he can’t get RE baptized but they have to formalize it at our church since when he got first baptized, it was in the operating room at a couple of hours old!! So we are very excited about that!! ) we then went fishing out on the bay and it was fun watching the “men” try to fish and net get birds nest!! But everyone had a GREAT TIME!!!

JULY 11TH, 2008
Wow, today, another BEAUTIFUL DAY here in ROCKPORT, TX!!! It has been GORGEOUS out here with NO RAIN!! It is just sunny and breezy. We are far enough away from the ocean that we don’t have that STRONG constant breeze going on just enough to keep stuff a BIT cool! It has been in the low 90’s and just awesome! Today, we ended up going over to PORT ARANSAS my favorite place!! I always say that when we win the lotto, that we are going to build us a vacation house out there!! Port Aransas is just a very touristy kinda place but it is such a SMALL place that it is PERFECT! We always go there when we come to the coast, just tradition. When we were driving over from rockport, only 6 miles away, we realized it had been 2 YEARS since we had been to the coast!!!!! I can’t believe it had been that long! And there had been so many changes out here! We noticed new buildings and new things along our way! Very nice! Matthew was 2 and alex was 3 the last time we came here!!! WOW! But we enjoyed our trip down memory lane and cruising around, james stopped and tried to fish a bit but it was too windy and the sand was blowing everywhere! We were on the JETTIES and it was pretty bad. But that was ok…he told me that he had A LONG TIME to be fishing and THIS TIME was just for us family and being together! Awwww…that is why I LOVE THIS MAN EVEN MORE EVERYDAY! So, we picked up a couple of things from our local HEB and came home, went swimming and then came home and BBQ!! Yummy! It was really good until we realized we had no CAN OPENER!!!! So, we did it the old fashion way and used a knife to pry it open!! Everything was really yummy and we had such a good time…the mosquitos are OUT right now and with the wind kicking, the candles won’t stay lit! so we ended up having to eat inside even though we had planned to be OUTSIDE! And our little matthew is really sensitive to the bites…..again, just another WONDERFUL day on our vacation!!!


JULY 12TH, 2008
today, we are going to be going to the CORPUS CHRIST AQUARIUM after the boys have had their naps!!! we are sooo excited! but first, we did some SWIMING early in the day then everyone had baths and then naps and OFF WE WENT!! it was pretty awesome...the trip out to CORPUS from ROCKPORT was only about 20 mins....pretty nice drive along the coast. we got there and THANK YOU GOD someone told us about getting a discount there if we had the SEASON PASS for the SAN ANTONIO ZOO....instead of paying OVER $50 to get in, we ended up paying only $20!!!! WHAT A GREAT SAVINGS! so we went around and looked at it all and the boys REALLY loved it. they loved seeing all the fish and being able to touch some of them. it was just a REALLY nice time looking around. we saw the LEXINGTON but unfortunatly, it is NOT handicap friendly so we decided against going out there...i can't imagine that with having such a HARD time 2 years ago with matthew how it would be THIS year?!?!? YIKES! and having josh too! so, we looked around and then we decided to head on back to the RV so we could go swimming....that is one thing we LOVE TO DO ! the boys all enjoy it so much. unfortunatly, the MOSQUITOS are just HORRIBLE OUT HERE!! I mean, the boys went swimming and they got bit ALL ALONG THE FORHEAD!!! we counted matthew and he had OVER 24 bites by the time we got out of there!!! and when they walked in there was actually MOSQUITOES STUCK AND FEEDING ON JAMES!!!!!! i killed about 4 off his BACK! they were just going along for the RIDE!! i think that was the one big downfall and that was not able to go outside and ENJOY the breeze....i think we are going to invest in a ZAPPER for the RV and we can use it at the house too!!

JULY 13TH, 2008
we got up early and headed out early to do some more grocery shopping (and BOY, WALMART IS LOVING US!!!!!!) we went to pick up some MEAT for a BBQ that we were having at james families home...he has family here (mom's side) and we just had a nice day visiting with everyone and enjoying the AWESOME food that was of cooked and all the family time that we spent. james was able to visit with family that he had not seen in a VERY VERY LONG TIME....it was just really really nice. it was also our last full day of our fist leg of our trip....so after we spent some time there, we head on home and went SWIMMING for the last time....the whole time SWATTING and trying to ve very careful about the MOSQUITOS...then we head on home and took our baths and started to put away the stuff so that we could be ready to ROLL by about 1030 or so! it was much easier heading out then putting stuff in. we were happy we had such a GREAT TIME this trip....we can't wait to do it again sometime....


JULY 14TH, 2008
well, today, we are OFF BACK TO SAN ANTONIO!!! wow, what a WONDERFUL 7 days and 6 nights we had TOGETHER AS A FAMILY....we just enjoyed EVERY SECOND (except the mosquitos!!) but those come with the territory i guess....we will be better prepared on that front NEXT TIME!! today, we just packed up and headed out to go pick up our dog and head on home and do some LAUNDRY and restock....wow, i just LOVE our RV!!! we knew when we bought this that it was a WONDERFUL investment into our FAMILY. we look around all the other RV'ers and see them all with their kids and family...older kids, younger kids, family and know that we did the BEST thing for our family. thru this RV, we have a chance to just connect AWAY from our home in a place that is small enough that we are RIGHT THERE with each other. we are able to EXPLORE places around our area and further out as a family...we see what a this does for us. it keeps us close and i know, that now we started our kids out YOUNG doing camping, although it is in COMFORT for MATTHEW's medical needs, we know that because of this, they are going to LOVE the outdoors that much more. we have just been BLESSED to be able to do this for them. of course, now that we are doing this, james wants something BIGGER!!!! i am ok with this but he sees some of the others and wants a hand on THOSE! i told him AFTER we pay off the truck and this RV we will look into that....anyway, again, you CAN NOT BEAT the price that we paid for this week for lodging...we paid ONLY $150 for 6 nights and 7 days with FULL hook up (sewer, electricity, cable, water) and had all the comforts of HOME!! you GOT to love that!!! :)


now ONTO OUR NEXT ADVENTURE STARTING JULY 16TH!! :) I WILL BE ADDING PHOTOS SOON!!