Blowouts, Beaches and Birds

For a while now, I've been thinking of a new weekly feature to help me "keep on task" with this blog, as Becky so ever-lovingly reminds me about once a week. :) Gracie hasn't had a riding lesson since some time around Thanksgiving due to all of the rain and one minor attack of the sniffles (so no "Saddle-up Saturdays" in quite a while). I get so busy with my chores and laundry and the 732 other things that I have to do on any one given day, that this little blog baby of mine tends to get neglected. I just simply run out of time (and doing this does take lots of time). So, I've been batting around ideas...I thought about making weekly blogs about things I was grateful for and entitling them "God's Grace" or maybe sharing a funny story from the week (the Lord knows there are no shortages of these with we three stooges!) entitled "Funny Fridays"...Then, last Thursday, Jack and I awoke to NO MORE GAZEBO. The wind had blown so hard throughout the night, that it literally decapitated my poor little gazebo. That same day Mom and Daddy came in so that Daddy could help Jack complete the other side of the barn stalls and so Mom and I moved the furniture to the porch and Jack put the peaked portion of the gazebo in our garage by the time I took this picture, but I just want you to know that this makes me want to create a weekly feature entitled "Things that make me want to cuss". So there. A real blowout.

But, we put our best game face on and Mom and I took Gracie back to Rollover Pass - the girl loves being at the water. On the ferry ride...

Hello...anybody in there?

Wasting no time with adding to her collection...

She found a stick...which means you have to write your name in the sand, right?

Right.

Then, she's off again. With her stick.

It's quiet today. Nobody but us for miles.

It's so good to see the sun for a change.

Really good.

Sunday evening, right before the Saints won (way to geaux, Saints! Who dat!), hundreds of these birds flocked to our pasture.

I guess our swamp was calling their name.

Love is in the air...Valentine's Day is Sunday...hugs to you all from our hearts to yours.

Beach+Cold=Shivery, Wrinkly Fingers (& Bliss)

What to do on a Sunday afternoon when it's cold, drizzly, and your five year old is bouncing off the walls? Take a drive, of course.

We caught the ferry in Galveston over to Bolivar...
She doesn't miss a beat...on the way home, she said, "Daddy...Mommy...I know exactly what's gonna happen now...we're gonna drive on this land, then we're gonna float on a boat and then we're gonna drive on some more land that's not this land and then we're gonna be home, right?" She's taking it all in here so she can wow us later :)

For the three people in this entire world that don't know, Jack proposed to me on the East Beach in Galveston and if there was one pelican flying that evening, there was a thousand. It was as if he had put in a special order. So, now, of course, I love pelicans. This beautiful white one was waiting to greet us at the ferry dock as if to say, "Hey! I know you!"

A year and a half later, the devastation of Hurricane Ike is still very evident.

Lots of folks are still living in travel trailers where their homes once were...

There are vast areas that used to be filled with rows upon rows of homes and now, there's only a scattering of palms...

...but they are beginning to rebuild and the communities are starting to form again...

Just beyond Rollover Pass, we found a wonderland of seashells...

She was thrilled beyond measure...

Desperate not to forget her bag of shells on the shore...

Exploring the foam...

I have no idea...the girl has just plain lost her marbles...

I like this picture...it shows her clean neck...later at The Original (our favorite Mexican ever), it becomes a gloppy mess of black beans and queso!

She's telling him all about it...

We found some oyster shells fused together and they reminded us of angel wings...

uh-oh...tired, hungry girl is surfacing...so is her big girl tooth...the other...not so much.

Heading back to the truck...

...and after a minor meltdown, another brief stop...

We stayed till almost dark. The lighting was beautiful and would have made for some great pictures if not so blasted cold...

...but I didn't do so bad with these. We had a great time and it was so nice to see the sun for a couple of hours...

On the ferry ride back, this gigananormous thing passed us...one of the newer ships for our port...Royal Carribbean's Voyager of the Seas...it made Jack and I start discussing this year's vacation...yippee! Yes, indeedy...a trip well worth having to do all my chores today!

Have a good week...

Happy, happy day!

Jack and I met 8 years ago today. How time flies...He also found Romeo, my gelding, by Lady's side the same day. So, it's a day to celebrate...or lay in bed and snuggle with your daughter and watch movies...Jack and Dan are working on the other side of stalls in the barn today. It's cold, but it's not raining and the sun is out a bit. It's a good day.

Jack took a little break this morning and met his brother to handle some family business for his Mom and his brother gave him this letter from their grandmother's belongings that he had run across recently. As you'll read, the love of horses goes way back in his family...I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did...the man from Dickinson, Battistoni, is Jack's mom's dad's dad (Jack's great-grandfather) and Johnnie is Jack's grandfather. Enjoy!

(just click on each page to enlarge it)

Can you say GREEN?

Not much going on in these dreary days of winter (at least anything that doesn't involve lots of mud and horse poop), but I've mustered up some tidbits...

a) Gracie had her 100th day of school Wednesday and they had a big celebration in the gym this morning, I hear - they bounced balls 100 times, tried for 100 hula hoop twirls, etc. We also spent last weekend scavenging the house for 100 things...nuts, bolts, nickels, dog food, cat toys, and lip balm all made the baggie of goodies. :) This is her necklace of 100 fruit loops...

b) This is Grace in her sleeping bag that she received for Christmas from some of our friends...she's camping out in the kitchen while I make dinner...

c) Jack's friend, Dan, came over a couple of weekends ago to help Jack repair our front gate openers and he brought his daughter, Jacqueline, with him. She and Gracie played and played while the boys worked....on the computer, with the XBox 360, lite brite, barbies...you name it, they did it!

d) Jack is having his '69 Shelby Mustang GT 500 painted...this is in the painter's garage with just the base coat...he swears it's gonna be "turquiose" out in the sunshine...just looks neon green to me...
...and speaking of green...this weather is depressing - my entire yard and pasture is one variation or another of BROWN...I need some GREEN (maybe a slightly less neon shade than that of Jack's car...). I'm seriously thinking of pitching all my plants and going artificial - they don't turn brown! Yuck...

Even my cows think this is yuck...this was actually taken about a week ago and then we had some nice sunshine for a few days in a row and things were just about to dry up a bit and then...last night, the wind and rain were blinding...now, it looks just like this all over again...fun, fun, fun!

Stay warm...happy weekend!

Cocoons

Gracie got a butterfly kit from Santa and she has watched with great anticipation the caterpillars spin their silk, change into chrysalids and now reveal as adult butterflies. They are pretty Painted Lady butterflies and she is thrilled...although a little concerned they may be cold without their "cocoon"...

She breathes with her tummy, tastes with her feet and has 10,000 eyes...cool! I would love to crawl into a cocoon about now (been cleaning house all day), but instead, I'm off to muck stalls... happy flying, Painted Ladys!

Jacqueline Grace is 6!

Dan's (the same guy that helped Jack and Daddy build our barn stalls) daughter had her 6th birthday party at The Main Event. They had pizza and cake and she opened her presents...

Grace's cousin, Brooke, came too...

They had a tickle fest!

...and then the party was on...Gracie bowled for the first time ever...

So did Brooke...Gracie is testing her out, making sure she can pick up the ball...

Even the Dads gave it a try...not really Jack's thing, but Uncle Justin got three strikes...

Dan found just the right (goof)ball to throw down the lane! :)

Brooke tossed that ball and was ready to move on to something else...

Then, there were the games...most were a little old for our age group, but they seemed to have a good time...

A glance at our girl in action...

Hope you all are having a good weekend!

Tooth #2...see ya!

A self-portrait...January 13th...and another one bites the dust!