Camping in Corpus Christi

Josh had the week off before starting the fall semester this coming week, so we thought we'd visit another part of Texas that we haven't yet. We made our way down to Corpus Christi, which is about 3 1/2 to 4 hours southwest of Houston. We were excited to actually try camping on the beach. When we went to Destin in April, we camped near the beach, but we still had to walk about a mile or so to get to the beach. In Corpus we actually had a seaside view from our tent.

Unfortunately, it wasn't quite what we were expecting. It was beautiful and the water was warm, but we didn't take into account the wind and its impact on camping. First, it was a feat just to set up the tent. We had to throw all our stuff in it even before it was up just to get it to stay on the ground. Then we had to unzip all sides of the tent so that the wind would flow through it and keep it up rather than cause part of it to collapse. Unzipping it was needed anyway because it was too hot without the air flow. Guess what happens though when the winds can rip through your tent at night? You get everything that comes with the wind, and by the beach, that means sand. It was bad enough to eat the sand for dinner. We roasted hot dogs, and it was pretty much unavoidable to keep the sand off them. But believe it or not, I'd rather eat a little sand than sleep with it. By morning, our tent was covered in sand, ourselves included. Poor Eli woke up in the middle of the night crying because he had sand all over in his eyes. He and Josh spent the rest of the night sleeping in the car and left me to brave the tent alone. I definitely didn't get a lot of sleep. However, had we not had the wind, we would have roasted to death, so I guess it was a blessing in disguise. I know that anywhere in South Texas is going to be hot in August, but it was scorching in Corpus. Needless to say, we cut our trip a little short, but we did have a great adventure that we can laugh about later. :-)

After packing up our camping gear and finding a much needed shower to get the sand off, we went to the Texas State Aquarium. Can you tell we like aquariums? It was a good one. We especially liked the dolphins and sea turtles.

Bye, Mommy!

Those are Eli's words to me when he's about to get into trouble and doesn't want me around. I'll ask, "Eli, what are you doing?" He'll look at me, wave, and enthusiastically say, "Bye, Mommy!" In other words, Get out of here. I don't want you around to see what I'm about to do. I started asking, "You're going bye, bye? Well, where are you going?" That one thwarts his plans sometimes, but usually "the boy" is not to be deterred. He just tells me point blank like it is. He points his little finger at me and says, "Go!" It doesn't get more clear than that. Since I know exactly what he wants me to do, I know exactly what he's going to get into:

T-R-O-U-B-L-E!

Another Year Older

Josh's birthday was yesterday. Since he had to work all day, we just had a low key celebration at home in the evening. He asked for homemade pizza and blackberry cobbler, so that's what he got. Eli and I actually surprised him on his gift this year. That's a first! Josh loves spoiling surprises. He usually guesses and takes all the fun out of it, but not this year.

We also celebrated with him on Saturday morning by going to the downtown Aquarium. It was Shark Weekend, and we thought Eli would enjoy it. We're not really sure what was so "shark weekend" about it (we went once before Eli was born, and it seemed to be the same), but it was still fun. Eli really enjoyed the train and the sharks, but we discovered he's more like his mommy than his daddy when it comes to heights. I went on the Ferris Wheel for Josh's sake, but it's not really my thing (though I did surprisingly well on it this time). We thought Eli would enjoy it, but apparently, it's not really his thing either. He kept saying, "done, done," and he looked like he was going to throw up. Josh keeps saying he's going to raise his kids to do the adventurous things with him since I don't like to do them, but maybe they'll end up being more like me. Poor Josh! ;-) Happy Birthday anyway. We love you!

"The Boy"

I've been amused recently by the way Eli refers to himself. He calls himself "the boy". I don't know if children his age say their own names or not, but he seems to struggle just a bit. Maybe we gave him a name that is too hard to put together and pronounce. I'm not sure because he says other people's names just fine. When he does say his name, he basically leaves off the first part and calls himself "I". More frequently, however, he says things like, "no touch the boy" (don't touch me); "No kiss the boy" (don't kiss me); "The boy sleep" (I'm going to sleep); "Mommy the boy dress" (Mommy, get me dressed). When I ask, "who is the boy?" he points to himself and says "I". Funny! Oh, how I love "the boy"!

Messy Boy! Does anyone else's child look like this after eating spaghetti? As you can tell, I strip him so that I don't have to deal with the laundry mess.


Biker Boy! He barely uses his own, but he sure does love his daddy's bike!