2014 has come to an end....LET'S RING IN 2015!!

HOLA MY LITTLE BLOG!! who knew it would be MONTHS since i posted something. life has come speeding by and it has been a whirlwind of a year!!! really, it feels like i have been in a FOG this year...could be my FIBRO and what they call FIBRO FOG, i guess any excuse i will take it! right?

Well, this year my boys turned ALEX 12, MATTHEW 10 and JOSHUA 7....these boys keep growing and growing and THANK YOU GOD they do! who knew that i would have such amazing boys and that they are just so wonderful and loving....they have grown into such beautiful and loving boys...they show us each day how much they know that they are LOVED by us their parents and how much we want them to know GOD'S LOVE....that HE is the most important person in the world and that they should love and honor him every moment of their lives...

This year we have had so many things happen to us. we bought a new BOAT for our family...this boat we call MATTHEW's boat because it is a PONTOON and that gives him the ROOM to roam around the boat so that he can go on the water. he had not been able to be on the water in our other smaller boat because he had no where to go. but now with this bigger boat, he is more comfy and he LOVES being back on the water!! we also love being able to take more family out on the boat with us.



MATT got his new KAYE WALKER and he has started to do his walking and getting stronger and doing SOOO GOOD! we are so proud of all his new accomplishments! He has been walking to and from the bathroom and also up and down the stairs....soooo proud of him and how much better he is getting on walking!! <3

EASTER 2014 was really a nice family time with so many people there joining us at our home. The kids enjoyed being there and having all their cousins there to crack cascarones on each other! The food was amazing and all the goodies you just can't beat!!



Matthew started in a BASEBALL LEAGUE called the MIRACLE LEAGUE OF SAN ANTONIO....he was on the DODGERS team and boy, he LOVES it soooooo much! he has such a good time hitting home runs and being on his team....he played 2 seasons...the spring and the fall and he always gets so happy and excited when we pull into the parking lot....such a HAPPY BOY!! GO DODGERS!!






ALEX AND JOSH have also started their 3rd year of CYO BASEBALL THRU PRINCE OF PEACE! This will be Alex's last year playing baseball...this year he was with the ROYAL TITAN'S....and Josh was with the PADRES...and it was the first time he was with an all male team!! no more T-BALL for him!!! He's in coaches pitch and he did so well this year! Both boys did amazing! so proud of both of them!!






This year, we ended up going to GREAT WOLF LODGE for our summer vacation. we had soon much fun and soon enjoyed being with our little family, splashing around and just getting wet. what memories our boys will have of this time with each other.....they are just young for a little while and then they grow up and don't want to be with us anymore, so we have to enjoy. Life is amazing and we have been so happy that GOD has granted us each other...

Towards the end of this year, we have continued to be BLESSED with good health....ALL OF US, THANK YOU JESUS!! Matt has done amazing and we thank Him everyday for every moment...just watching all of us growing and getting healthy and happy is amazing....

So, as we closed 2014 and are now in 2015, we can only PRAY that we continue to grow and give THANKS to GOD for all the blessings in our life and Pray we have continued GOOD HEALTH and happiness...in HIM!!! BLESSING TO ALL!

DAY 5....ON THE ROAD HOME!! :)

started our day with the signature breakfast and then just packed up and OUT the door we were by 1030!! i LOVE MY KIDS...they are such GREAT GREAT GREAT TRAVELERS!!! they just hang out and watch what is going around the drive and play with games etc. alex has started his CAR LICENSE WATCH and it was so much fun checking out all the different car and their plates...it ended up taking us about 6 hours or so...we made it back JUST IN TIME to pick up our pooch, SIMBA from the vet...he was soooooo excited to see us!! :) he is just such a GREAT part of our family...it was awesome to see him and have him back in our home..i know that he was in shell shock and wondering where we were...he is STILL such a puppy...not even a year old!!

well, this vacation will be going down as the THE BEST VACATION EVER!!!!!!! it felt so awesome and we had so much family time!! and you know that we were just together the WHOLE time and you know this because if you know ME you know that i am a READER..i love to read and i can put down a book a day and during a normal week, i usually read at LEAST 2 books...and i think the WHOLE 5 DAYS i think i read about 50 PAGES...PAGES...PAGES!! that is crazy!! so NOT ME! we had soooo much fun and it was just GREAT to be together...the LODGE was like that...all we had is FAMILY TIME...from the water park, to running around the lodge looking for clues for the MAGI game...it was just amazing!!! and what was funny, is that in a LITTLE park of my mind, i thought of this vacation as MY MAKE A WISH vacation!! cause i KNEW that i was going to have surgery on my cancer on tuesday 31st and i didn't know WHAT i was going to have to do after the surgery wether i was going to have to do chemo/radiation....so, i want to think and i KNOW that GOD gave us this AMAZING VACATION so that we could just be with family and just be TOGETHER...I THANK YOU GOD FOR BLESSING OUR FAMILY WITH SUCH AN AMAZING VACATION!!! <3 <3

DAY 4....LEGOLAND DISCOVERY IN GRAPEVINE

SOOOOO, today our day was going to revolve around LEGOLAND DISCOVERY ZONE...we are making this trip for our beautiful son ALEX who LOVES legos!! :) we started our day with a YUMMY breakfast at the hotel and it was REALLY good! kinda like a bistro type of yummy stuff and it was just GOOD!! then we headed on down the STREET and ended up in line to buy tickets for LEGOLAND.... the wait was FOREVER (about 1:30 hours) but it was worth it. it was soooo awesome seeing the boys get to play with the legos and build things and see all the different creations that where built there at the place...it was AWESOME!! we were there for about 4 hours and the boys all had a GREAT time...!!

after that, we just picked up some to go meals, went back to the hotel room and ate and relaxed and watched a movie....afterwards, all the boys went SWIMMING for a couple of hours...it was really nice if a little breezy...i just hung out and watched the boys and enjoyed reading a bit on a lounge....

after wards we went back to the room and just CHILLED OUT and watched tv and relaxed and then off to bed....we packed and put as much as we could in the car and just left the smaller stuff so there was not that much left to put away...sad that this trip is almost over!!! :(

AWWWW....LAST DAY AT GREAT WOLF LODGE..

SO, TODAY, we were ready to leave the LODGE....well, not READY but it was time for us to go...we decided to get everything packed up and then continue on our QUEST to finish all the stuff we had on our PAW PASS...so, we packed up and were out of the room at 1100 and then we walked around the lodge, go all the goodies we needed to get....at 1300 LEGO LAND group was there and they were having LEGOLAND CONTESTS and the boys joined in for a couple of contest! of course, alex had a BLAST!!! and we had lunch there at the LODGE and then after we were done, about 1530, we left the LODGE, drove DOWN THE STREET and checked into our HYATT PLACE HOTEL ROOM!! wow, this vacation had DEFINETLY made our BEST EVER VACATIONS!!! really, we have just had such an AMAZING time here in GRAPEVINE!! so, after we checked in, it was time to RELAX...nothing to do but watch a movie on our HUGE screen TV and then just RELAX, RELAX, RELAX!!! that was the plan for today to recover from the craziness of the LODGE!! so, after we watched our movie we headed out to eat some DINNER at BUFFALO WILD WINGS for some wings....OK, i personally DO NOT LIKE that place but dad wanted to go and it was his turn to pick, so we headed out and as USUAL, i ended up not eating my stuff and sending it back and then ordering something ELSE and then ended up with a HAMBURGER when i asked for a chicken sandwich!! but THANK YOU GOD, we are so blessed and i didn't complain and ate my burger, which was good....it was just nice to be out!! we get back to the hotel and.....EVERYONE PASSED OUT again!!! it was funny to see everyone just falling asleep where ever they were sitting...this adventure had really taken it's toll on our bodies but we would not have it any other way!!! THANK YOU GOD for another amazing day!!!

DAY 2 OF OUR VACATION....

so, today is day 2 of our vacation and we were READY and had so many things planned for today. we planned to eat our breakfast and do some more MAGI QUEST and look around the lodge until after lunch. we had planned ahead and brought our OWN BREAKFAST/LUNCH stuff so that we didn't have to pay the CRAZY amount at each of those meals instead just ate in our room and BOY we are happy we did that! and then we were READY for our watermark adventure!!! we got dressed in our swimsuits and then got going! the BEAUTIFUL thing about that waterpark is you don't have to take your own towels they provide them for you!! and then our key to our room was our wrist bands!! pretty cool huh?! so we really didn't have to bring anything and since it was indoors, no sunscreen needed! :) so, we played around until about 1800...went to our room, got dressed and headed out to eat at GOLDEN CORRAL!! :) and it was not the best...but it was not packed so that made up for it all because with sooooo many people at the LODGE it is CRAZY how awesome it was that there was not a crowd!!!

so, afterwards we get home and we play MAGI QUEST until 2300!! yep, it is sooooo addicting! we were running up and DOWN that those stairs, boy, i got a SERIOUS work out that day!!!!! really, it was CRAZY and i didn't know how awesome that game was! really, i can't wait to come back JUST for that game!! and next time, i hope the boys can go on their own...i know alex would LOVE that because we were dragging him DOWN because we were sooooo slow and if we had matthew with us, then we had to use the elevator (THANK GOD!!)...regardless, it was AWESOME and at the end of the night, the boys had FINALLY finished their whole QUEST and were MASTER MAGI!!!!! we could have started the ADVENTURE part (yes, there is MORE to the game) but we knew we would not be able to even get CLOSE to finishing it!! we didn't get to fight the DRAGON but i was talking to someone else and they came back a YEAR later and their game was saved and they were able to start their game where they left off!! COOOOOL!!

so, after all that long day, EVERYONE was EXHAUSTED and i think within 15 mins of coming into the room and getting ready for bed, they WHOLE ROOM WAS QUIET!!!! snoring, coughing, etc was going on in the room...NICE!~!! i forgot to mention that one of the BIG things unfortunately, was that JOSHUA had a COLD during all this time...poor baby was coughing and snotty all weekend!!!!! ;( as soon as we get home, OFF to the drs he goes!!!

GREAT WOLF LODGE...WE ARE HERE!!

after a 3 hour delay on the time we had wanted to make it out of the house (1000 in stead of 0700) because there was SOOOO MUCH to do to get out of the house...we are OFF! IT was a nice steady drive out of town to grapevine texas....only DAD was the one that kept stopping to go potty!! hehehehehe...i told him he was worst then the kids having to keep stopping for HIM to go potty...but really a nice ride over there...our phones & iPad got a work out because our dvd players were messed up so they were playing on the electronic toys instead!! anyway, at 1645, we pulled up into the BEAUTIFUL LODGE and WOWOWOWOW, it was AWESOME to be there and see all the HUGE WOLVES there...wowowow, just coming INTO the place was AMAZING!!!! and the check in was BEAUTIFUL!!:) i mean, really, the whole EXPERIENCE was right in front of you as SOON as you get off the car! and the view of the indoor water park...REALLY?!?!?!?!?!?! IIII WAS SOOOO EXCITED! about excited as the kids! we check in and head up to our room (7018), we entered our BEAUTIFUL room with the KID CABIN inside and we went NUTS! the room is REALLY roomy and the VIEW that we had out of our window was pretty cool!

sooo, we had ourselves some SANDWHICHES and ate something then got dressed in our swimsuits and we were OFFF!!! wowowoowowo, that water park was soooooo cool! there was sooo much to do for the little kids and in the park and we had a BLAST!!! they went on all the kids slides and all the pools and had suuuuch a BLAST!!!

after we were done swimming (about 2030) we order a pizza from the WOLF DEN (not bad price for a LARGE CHEESE PIZZA it was only 13.00!!) can't beat not having to leave anywhere!! so we ate some pizza, went to pick up the MAGI WAND (we were only suppose to do ONE wand and have them share it BUT with josh wanting one too, we had to get another WOLF PAW PASS!) so we got started on the QUEST and boy, that game is SOOOOO MUCH MORE than i had EVEN thought it was! everyone told me to make sure that the boys did it and wowowowowowow, that may have been the CHERRY ON THE TOP!! really, this game is AMAZING and if i could of, i think I WOULD have done the game if i could do it by myself!! but it was EXHAUSTING because you had to go UP and DOWN the stairs and it was CRAZY!!!! but fun...and all you saw where TONS of kids playing the game and some where in their jammies and others in regular clothes just running around pointing their MAGI STICK. i wish we could have let ALEX go on his own or with his brother but even though we saw a lot of kids without parents, we just COULD NOT do it!! maybe the next time we come (because we WILL come again, GOD WILLING) we will let him go on his own!! :)

ended the night after 1100 time that the MAGI game ends and EVERYONE dropped off for a LONG comfy night in our beds!! GREAT FIRST DAY!!!

SUMMER VACATION 2012

WOOOOHOOOOO!! GONZALEZ VACATION IS OFFICIALLY STARTED! :) dad has a week off work and we are going to make the mOST of our time as a family!!! we are starting our vacation at the WONDERFUL GREAT WOLF LODGE IN GRAPEVINE TEXAS! i have heard sooo much about this place from other friends that have come out here so i thought since our RV is out of commission for a bit, we would do some traveling in our car....so i BOOKED us a 2 night stay at the LODGE july 22-24....the boys and us are sooo excited and we can't WAIT for it to start. I NEEDED this time with my family because on the 31st, with my surgery to remove the cancer tumor out of my arm, i knew that for a while afterwards, i would not be able to do much...this week is going to be our get away, and my time to just relax...we are starting to pack our MILLION and one things of STUFF and get everything ready. there is always sooooo much to pack because with 3 boys, stuff gets CRAZY! the only thing is that there are NO TOYS this time...just stuff. i figured that they would not have down time with there being a INDOOR WATER PARK there, i figured we would be TIRED by the end of each night....soooo, HERE GOES OUR VACATION!!

getting READY!!!

WOOOHOOOO!!!! we are heading OFF to go to JELLYSTONE RV RESORT tomorrow for a couple of days! :) LOVE being able to head out and just get away for a while....we are also going with some GREAT friends of ours for thier FIRST RV TRIP in their BRAND NEW RV that they got this week!!! WOOO HOOO!!!!! i know that THEY are crazy excited as we are...we will love being to show them the ropes....what is funny is that we have NEVER been camping with any other family or friends!!! yep, in all our ears, we usually go by ourselves....so it should be pretty cool to have another family with us...they also have 3 kids too...i know the BOYS will have a BLAST!!! and being able to chat with my girlfriend...nice!!!


sooooo EVERYONE have a GREAT weekend....see ya soooooonnn...

OUR VACATION PART 2!!!

OUR VACATION PART 2

JULY 16, 2008
Today, we were so excited to start our SECOND TRIP in our 2008 vacation!! We are so happy and EXCITED because we are going to go to THE GAUDALUPE RIVER RV RESPORT!!! The drive over here was beautiful! TEXAS HILL COUNTRY is just awesome and so beautiful. it only took us about a BIT over an hour to get to the RV RESORT and that is awesome to know so we can COME BACK!! It was a QUICK trip to make it out here and we didn’t even USE a1/2 tank!!! Anyway, we get into to town and I for one had NEVER been in Kerrville and it is such a cute town!!! I can’t wait to explore this town and see what it has to offer!! Soo, we got to the park and Wowowowowow, DEFINETELY going to be coming BACK HERE!!! It is so BEAUTIFUL, much nicer than the other park. REALLY an nice looking place and that is part of what is perfect about it. They have BEAUTIFUL trees all over and the RV spots and just perfect, on level ground and on concrete slabs with a concrete table and bench on a concrete slab….VERY NICE!! We got our site up (#72) and put our house together and then we just RELAXED….the breeze here is just amazing and NO MOSQUITOS!!!!  what a RELIEF! And let me tell you, the people here are really friendly….they have cabins and the walk to the water is just a couple of feet or so! There are 3 pools….although, sad to find out that 2 of them are for ADULTS ONLY…and they have a nice spa area. But everything is IMMACULATE and there are workers constantly patrolling the area just making sure that everything is fine. So after we got everything together we went SWIMMING, of course! The boys could NOT WAIT to get in there. They are my little fish! So, we went out there and went swimming and just relaxed all day. We did have to make a detour down to the WALMART (which is just down the road!) because my dear hubby left our bag of toiletries at home!! And I CAN blame him cause he was the last to use!!  but we set up our site with our solar lights, our grass and our chairs….feels so GOOD TO BE OUT HERE!! We are here till NEXT WED!! OOOHOOOO!!! James was kinda upset because there is this beautiful pond on site that has BIG FISH and there is no fishing there!!! Man, he is BUMMED!! He is going to try to work the workers here and see if he can do it or not!!

JULY 17, 2008
Today, we woke up to a BEAUTIFUL DAY here on the Guadalupe river!! Really just BEAUTIFUL WEATHER!! It is so awesome here. The breeze here is just really nice. It is not hot and not cold just PERFECT!! We went walking around the campground and just looking at the river and all the area. It is really just a beautiful park and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT TO ANYONE!! Even if you don’t have an RV and just want a place to go, they have cabins here that you can rent out. The pools are CLEAN and the area itself is just well maintained. Thru out the WHOLE DAY they are patrolling the area and making sure there are no trash and such and just security! It was really nice. The place is really nice. So, we of COURSE ended up at the POOL that morning. It was really nice because we go there when it OPENS at 9am so that we can have just us in there and also to get it done in the AM so the babies can go have a bath and then a nap too! It works really well. We ended up BBQ some awesome food and just relaxing at the camp grounds….we also looked at fishing today!! We drove around looking to see if there was DEEPER waters somewhere and we found a couple of places. James and alex fished them too! Just looking around this town!

JULY 18, 2008
Wow! The RV’S ARE COMING IN!! they actually started coming in Thursday NIGHT…..it is so awesome because when we got here on Wednesday, there were SOME rv’s here but not many….there are 6 rows of about 12 sites in each (really nice sites) and there were probably about 12 or so rvs here already but by this afternoon the WHOLE PLACE WAS FULL!!!! There were so many out here! So neat to see them coming in. the different kind of rvs and the people. Until now, we were the ONLY HYBRID RV here but today another hybrid camper came in!! so exciting to see. You don’t see many of them out here. They are unusual. But I LOVE MY CAMPER. But man, parked next to the 5TH WHEEL RV’S, ours looks like a little TOY!!!! But again, we have had so many people come by to ask about our rv!!

Well, today we had some visitors!! We did our morning swim and then by lpm, james mom & dad came by to visit!1 AWWWW….WE HAD SO MUCH FUN! James BBQ some steak, chicken, & sausage and I made some veggies and some rice with some chips and dip….OMG YUM!!!! Really, it was like the BEST MEAL I had had in a long time!!!! We had some cheese cubes of mozza & cheddar and some awesome sweet grapes and strawberries!! It really was very very good! So afterwards, we took them on a walk around the grounds to see if we could see the deer that come out. And alex wanted to show them he could fish too!


JULY 19, 2008
Today, we did our usual swimming in the am and then after everyone was bathed and dressed and we took a drive out to FREDRICKSBURG, TX for the NIGHT IN OLD FREDRICKSBURG festival!! Well, it was kinda surreal going back to where MATTHEW had his last BIG SIEZURE on OCT 16TH, 2007!! Yep, we passed RIGHT by the helipad where he was airlifted to san Antonio and then when we got to the fairgrounds, I took james to where he had his big seizure….so hard to believe that it happened that time!! Kind sad for me…alex doesn’t really remember it until I reminded him about the helicopter and he then remembered! Well, of COURSE I forgot my camera but we had such a GREAT TIME. We got there and it was only 20 miles from where we were camped at!! NICE! So, we got there and alex, dad and matthew had a BLAST on the balloon thingies they had up and then we sat around and listened to some music and then headed over to get some goodies at the vendors. We then went around to look at all the artist stuff that was on sale….wow, we wish we could have gotten some of THAT!! If you have never been out to FREDRICKSBURG,TX, you need to! It is a beautiful town that has so many shops in the main area. We plan to go back there to check out all of the different shops when it get’s a bit cooler. It is a little to warm for matthew right now but SOON! We got back to our RV and decided to go swimming at about 9 pm…..it was very nice.

July 20, 2008
Today, we had to do laundry. So we decided to go into town and see if we could find a place to do our laundry and then we could go driving down HWY 16. I wanted to see what else was out there! So as we were driving down HWY 16 we picked up some ice cream from DQ (which on the way to the campgrounds from IH 10, we saw 4 of them!!!) we went looking for the laundry mat! We crossed over this bridge over the Gaudalupe river and there was this AWESOME PARK there and we decided to try it out after we put our laundry in. so we went back to the park and james fished for a bit while the boys chilled out….ok, only our PARTY ANIMAL MATTHEW was awake…so, we chilled out for about 30 mins or so and vowed to go back and do some more fishing. Anyway, on our way home, we picked up some CHURCH’S CHICKEN, you know you love THAT! And then we just made a fire and did some SMORES!! I think I am ALL SMORED OUT right now!! We have had them EVERYNIGHT!!! My poor teeth!

JULY 21, 2008
Today, after the ritual pool time in the AM…we BBQ’d some lunch today and BOY IT WAS SOOOOO YUMMY! We had FILET MINON (?) and some hamburgers for the boys and some greens….wow, it was so good!!  after we had some lunch, we decided to this time drive down HWY 27 to see what was there towards INGRAM and it was just SPECTACULAR driving!! It is so beautiful down that way with the rolling hills and beautiful river. The houses are awesome!!!! So pretty. Also, we found ANOTHER RV park right on the river that we MIGHT be coming to sometime in the future…it looks REALLY nice but NOT as clean/pretty as the one we stayed at….it was so nice to just drive around and see what was going on out there…they are such small towns and just such small shops and such. Really worth the drive!!! We got back to the RV and we ended up doing a BIG fire in our fire pit and just hanging out around it and watching Alex ride his bike all around and the other 2 boys just tumbling around the floor. It is so nice out here. Just so peaceful and quiet.

JULY 22, 2008
Today, we started to get everything together to head on out tomorrow. We got up early, as usual, and just had a nice breakfast and did our usual swimming! We also went to go FISHING at the park and just enjoy our last full day here at the camp ground. We BBQ for the last time and we just walked around the grounds and watched the deer and such. we decided to go EAT OUT FOR DINNER for the last time and we tried this resturant called BILLY GENE'S RESTAURANT and wow, that was a WONDERFUL RESTAURANT!! i mean, REALLY nice! we were really impressed with the service there. they totally treated us so awesome and also treated MATTHEW in his wheelchair like he was so important! really a great place and the FOOD!! OMG, IT WAS DELICIOUS!! i mean, we would HIGHLY reccommend it to ANYONE!! james had the CHICKEN FRIED STEAK, i had the CILANTRO & LIME GRILLED SALMON and wow, everything was just really yummy! i know we will DEFINETLY be back someday! after we ate, we went fishing at the local park for a while and just hung out. alex caught a FISH all by himself!!! james and i were just so proud of him! when we got back to the RV, we had to put up the awning because it got really windy. It seemed that everyone decided to go to sleep early!! We are SAD to see it end…


JULY 23, 2008
Well, we woke up early to go walk the dog. It was so nice to be walking around when nobody else was up and awake. We as a family went for a nice walk, saw some deer, let the dog do it’s business and then we took tons of pictures of us as a family. It was really nice and quiet! Then we got down to business getting everything loaded and packed and then hooked up! And then we were OFF!! We left the grounds around 1200 and we headed home. It was such a GREAT FAMILY VACATION. We both agreed it was the BEST we had EVER had in our lives! It was just such an awesome time of getting together and talking, laughin and just enjoying each other. THANK YOU GOD! We can’t WAIT to do this AGAIN!!! SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNN

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!!