Paradise Found!!!

SADLY, with all the bad publicity of the BP oil leak, many tourists have gone places other than the beach for their summer getaways. Fortunately, down here in the Galveston area, there is no sign of oil or tar. UNFORTUNATELY, our Galveston beaches are located at the ideal location in the gulf of Mexico so all and everything gets washed up on shore here, resulting in sticky, stinky, salty, mucky, and muddy brown water, in which fish are sparse. Fortunately, we are lucky enough to live close enough to this beach rather than no beach at all. Contradictory, yes, however, my children have yet to realize that all beaches are not equal. To them, Galveston beaches are paradise found. Dead smelly seaweed and all.











IN ADDITION to the wonderful beaches, Galveston has a feel all of it's own. Historical, Eccentric, Balmy, Lazy and even a little .....shall I say not my preference but easy to overlook those parts.
Most Beautiful house EVER!!! According to Kelsey.


Most patriotic house! According to yours Truly:)


A quick visit to the National oil Rig Museum.



The Coolest Fan EVER seen!!!! According to Carter.

I wonder if the suits are all the same styles from the early 80's.


How many hurricanes has Gaido's been through?

Sneak a peek of the local flavor. Todd told me this guy was my cousin. Maybe!

Bought many seashell from here over my 35 years in Houston. Of course because a person rarely finds a whole seashell on this beach.

And everyone always end up back to main strip - Seawall Blvd. - where anything can happen and anything can be seen.

The San Luis - the best place to stay on the island.

Todd caught this early that morning. Jealous?

Some of the world's most famous surf dudes!!

Galveston's famous amphibious tour guide. (although it's really not amphibious, just looks like it), People still pay for it though.

See what I mean by anything can be seen?

One way to get around.

The historical and once elegant Flaggship Hotel - over the ocean. They decided not the rebuild after Hurricane Ike. The bridge to it was washe away and so there is no way to get to it.


A closer look of the Flaggship.

One of it's current visitors.

And to finish, a photo for the young at heart.

Odds and Ends of Summer

A few pictures I thought I lost. Before the fireworks started on the Fourth of July, backstage at Kelsey's recital and Kelsey with another friend at a cooking class where they toured Italy and prepared and entire Italian meal with dessert.Yummy!

Texas Style Adventure or Escape

Have to share! Looking for a last minute getaway with the girls, I stumbled across this site. It's great! Thought I would share with you all, whether you are looking from within Texas for a short jaunt, or looking from up North, say like Nebraska, and looking for a reason to come South and visit your family and cousins!! So click on the green link below and have a browse. Happy Day!!
Texas Vacations

Our Fabulous Family Fling

We had summer plans to visit Disneyland and see some of our friends back in California, but realized we needed a much more flexible plan when we sold our house and had to find another. We decided to change the plans to go back to our family favorite spot for Fourth of July - The Hill Country Hyatt in San Antonio. If you think you are experiencing de ja vu, you are not!! We did go there last year as well and had such a great time we had to return for another. It held up to all our grand memories and even more. This year was even better with the kids a year older. We decided to stay a week instead of a weekend so we could do more this time around.

Since the kids are a year older now, we chose visit the Natural Bridge Caverns, did some hiking, and visited the historical Kreisch Brewery on our trip home. While we thought maybe we could submerge ourselves in some cold beer, none was to be found at this brewery, but we did find it very interesting just the same. Even the kids liked it, finding it a "kinda scary and cool".

So much to do at the resort we really didn't need to leave for find fun. However, we had plenty of time for exploring.







We were not sure what the kids would think, but we decided to go to the caverns anyway. They loved it and wanted to go back everyday! They are very cool - literally!We also got to pan for gold and gems. Good thing every bag of dirt was guaranteed or we would have had some tears.








On my birthday, we ate dinner at one of my favorites, P.F. Chang's, just up the road at La Cantera. Even my most picky, Kelsey, found some yummy Dan Dan noodles she loved! Finished it up with the perfect sized dessert of course.




Carter took us on an impromptu hike in the beautiful San Antonio Hills just outside Helotes, Texas - in flip flops of course. Sunset included.



On the ride home, we stopped off at the Kreisch Brewery on Momument Hill in La Grange, Texas. Very panoramic and I learned many new historical facts about Texas I never knew.


We returned home Thursday evening and Kelsey made us a welcome home dinner. It was delicious!! Could not have completed our perfect vacation with a more perfect ending.