Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Family Vacation in Port Aransas

Last week we went on vacation in Port Aransas.  We had not been in 3 years mainly due to financial considerations. Originally we hoped for a trip with the Serrins sibling group and children but everyone is busy with camps and jobs and travel so only part of that group could come.  We did an online search and found a nice property a few blocks from the beach. 

We all arrived on Wednesday and met some close friends of Mitzi's who were vacationing nearby.  Then Thursday it rained and stormed - not ideal weather for a trip to the beach.  In the morning, we went to walk around on the main strip and let the kids get souvenirs.  One of the shops in Port Aransas has a huge shark in front that everyone always goes in and through and takes pictures.  Asher, Chiara, Alissa, and her friend, Danielle, posed before going to choose souvenirs and boogie boards. 


The kids were also good sports about posing in various face-cut out signs around the island. 

We filled water balloons and played catch (getting farther and farther apart with each catch) until we ran out of balloons. 


Chiara liked getting to pose in all three of the cut-outs in this board and it was low enough that she could reach all the spots. 


One of Chiara's souvenirs was this springy flashy guy. 


The weather turned more clear on Thursday but still cool (75 out) and then got hot and stayed hot and beautiful for the remainder of our trip. 

Our last night in town we ate at our favorite restaurant on the island - Shells.  We asked the waitress to take a quick picture. 

"On the way" home on Saturday we stopped at the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi.  This dolphin is fine - just playful and apparently he likes swimming upside down.


Monday, June 18, 2012

Father's Day at the Round Rock Express Game

My friend is working for Accenture. A few weeks ago she posted on Facebook that she had 2 extra tickets for a company party at the Round Rock Express game if anyone wanted to come so I responded immediately that Chiara and I would go. The party was great and included free food, free drinks, (not free alcohol), balloons, foam fingers, blow-up bang sticks, a T-shirt for each of us, and some other stuff I can't even remember. We also donated $5 to charity and spun a wheel to win a plastic bat, glove (for a righty so it won't work for Chiara), 2 pizza deal cards, and a picture of Nolan Ryan.

More importantly for Chiara the park has a bouncy house and playscape that are open before and all through the game and had another 2 big bouncy houses open out front a little before the game. The park also has a "train" that drives in the parking lot and the 4 of us rode that when the kids were ready for a break from the bouncy houses. We also saw (and Chiara hi-fived) the HE Buddy mascot.  And we saw Spike and his dad but not up close.  I can't even say how much joy it gives me to know that someone had the idea and then made an extra mascot for Spike's dad to be at the game. 

The greatest tragedy of the evening was that we never found the mythical face painting booth. Even without face painting we had great fun and got to spend a little time with our friends.

Chiara and the purple balloon
"We're #1!"
The four of us in our seats
They let the dads and kids on the field to play catch before the game