Life's a Beach

We decided to take the girls to the coast this weekend. Thankfully, you're never more than a few hours from the beach in Texas. So, on Thursday we piled in the car -- along with the ridiculous amount of stuff you need to take a trip with small children -- and headed for Rockport. Both Derek and I thought this was a 2.5 hour trip. Our GPS quickly told us what morons we are, as we were in for something closer to 3.5 or 4. Yippee.

We got to Rockport around 8:30 p.m. after stopping for a quick dinner. We stayed at the Inn at Fulton Harbor. It's a cute place, but they stuck us on the 2nd floor. Blech. Remember all the "stuff" I mentioned? We now have to schlep it up a flight of stairs. Yea!

Rockport is a typical REALLY small coastal Texas town. A few restaurants, some run-down beachfront housing and locals who know you're "...not from around here."


Rockport in its entirety. No, I'm not kidding.

We went straight to bed Thursday night since we arrived so late, determined to get an early start and head to the beach. The girls didn't disappoint. Addison woke us up around 6:30 to get our day started. We got dressed and decided to head for the beach. After driving around Rockport looking for a good beach, we decided to head to Port Aransas (about 20 minutes and a ferry boat ride away). The girls loved it. Addison immediately put on her cheesiest grin (along with her sunscreen and hat, of course).


"Beach baby, beach baby..."


Both of the girls shortly after we arrived. Ainsley decided she was going to make a project of digging...and digging...and digging...


Addison found this little stuffed beach/soccer ball thing at one of those tacky beach shops we stopped at to buy beach towels before heading to the water. Best 99 cents ever.


Addison in one of her favorite spots...right next to Daddy.



Ainsley was on a mission to find every shell on the beach. I believe she did it.


Addison with Daddy down by the water.


Miss Ainsley down by the water...still looking for shells.


We finally got her to put the bucket down long enough to play with the ball she found at the tacky beach shop.

That evening we headed back to Rockport and our hotel. We had a recommendation from one of my co-workers to eat at a place called the Boiling Pot. You order family style and get a huge pot of potatoes, shrimp, corn and crab. They bring two hammers, and you whack away at it until you unshell and eat everything. Ainsley had fun cracking open the blue crab. We decided she had a little too much fun and decided it was too pulverized to eat.



It's all done in a Louisiana/Cajun spice mix, so it's pretty hot. But, Ainsley still ate every speck of corn on the table. Who knew she had hot sauce running through her veins?

We headed home this morning and made it back before lunch. Both girls were fabulous, and Ainsley is planning to take her shells to Discovery Day (Show and Tell for us old folks) on Monday.

Wow - only 2 showings? REALLY?

OK, so, yeah. We've had the house on the market six weeks now, and we just got our second showing. TODAY. I'm so tired of this I could scream. Someone. Anyone. PLEASE. BUY. MY. HOUSE!

Happy Fall Y'all

Well, it's fall in Texas. Not that you can tell. It's still 90+ degrees outside, the leaves on the trees are either green or dead, and most people still walk around in shorts. But, it's official, because the Great Hill Country Pumpkin Patch is open again.



We've taken Ainsley for the last few years, and it's wonderful. They've got pumpkin painting, a hay bale maze, a hay ride, face painting, a sing-a-long, scarecrow building, and a really cute band they call the Great Hill Country Symphony (think washtubs, spoons and kazoos).

Ainsley loves it, and this was Addison's first year.

It takes about 90 minutes to get there. Enough time for Addison to ruin her Halloween-ish outfit and have to be put in the backup outfit. Great.

Ainsley wanted to start off by painting a pumpkin. I rolled up her sleeves and kept praying "Don't tip the paint on your dress. Don't tip the paint on your dress."



Well, it seems all I really had to worry about was her wiping her paint-smeared hands on her dress to get the paint off her hands. Great. It's tempera paint and did come out, but jeez.



Next we made her pose for ONE good shot in the hay maze. She's still at the age where she'll do it without the obligatory "Mooooom."



She decided swishing her dress was necessary next. Thankfully she had pants on. Dress swishing isn't something I would take a picture of when she does it with her other dresses. Her teacher and I have talked to her about this...




Amazingly, she sat still for another "mom" picture in the pumpkins. Aww.



Here is Addison with the scarecrow. The scarecrow was a new addition this year and one Ainsley wasn't too sure about (hence, there are NO pictures of them together at the pumpkin patch). And, you can see Addison's non-Halloween getup here...nice.

Ainsley took a look at the goats and bunny rabbits at the petting zoo, but the big hit was the horse and baby chicks.



She agreed to touch it - and this is MUCH closer than she agreed to get last year. This worked out well until some other rugrat told her the horse was going to kick her. Have I mentioned how much I love other people's children?



Amazingly, she decided to hold a baby chick this year.



And even touch it. This was a huge improvement over last year when she practically threw it across the pen when it dared to move in her hands.

Overall, we had a great time. It's amazing how quickly the last few years have gone. It seems like just yesterday we were there taking this picture...

♫ Please Come to Boston... ♫

I managed to wrangle a trip to Boston out of my company to attend a social media/social networking conference in Foxboro, MA (about 20 minutes outside of Boston and the home of the New England Patriots).

My oh-so-fabulous hotel room. Whee!

The conference was actually held at Gillette Stadium (very cool) where the conference planners planned for 70 and 300 showed (not cool - they ran out of food).

The view from the luxury-box level where our conference was held. Nice.

After the first day we wrapped up with a very nice cocktail reception where the vendors were able to pitch their wares to all the attendees. Amazingly, there were actually some pretty cool products there!

My friends Leslie, Christine and Christine during the evening reception.

We got a tour of the stadium from the luxury boxes all the way down to the sub-level area where the visitor buses arrive. We saw {a replica of} the visitor locker room as well as got to go down on the field and snap some pictures.

The view from the field. Not many people get this view. Very cool.

This was followed by a great dinner with new friends at a fabulous seafood restaurant a stone's throw from the stadium. We had a blast talking and laughing (and drinking...just a tad).


My new friends Bob, Amy, Thomas and Christine at SkipJacks for dinner. Yum!

The next day began more information about social media and other hi-tech influence on marketing and public relations. I learned a lot, but the best thing I learned was that I love Boston. It's a beautiful town, the people are SO friendly, the food is great, and there is A LOT to do.

We went to Harvard and Cambridge on day two, which was so much fun. This was followed by dinner/drinks on Newberry Street for more great fun/friends, fabulous conversation and awesome people watching.


My new friends Ben and Kara at Sonsie on Newberry Street.


More new friends - Liz and Jamie. Again, this is at Sonsie on Newberry.

I can't thank my new Boston friends enough for showing me an awesome time in BOS. I plan to return as soon as I can with the whole family in tow. This was an amazing time of year to be in New England, as the weather never got above about 70, and the leaves were all amazing shades of red, orange and gold. What a gorgeous place!


This is kind of a lame photo, but it's the only one I had time to snap. It's from the window of my rental car as I'm turning onto I-95 headed to the conference. I think some Boston drivers were getting slightly miffed with me while I took this! haha!

Ainsley's (boy)friend

He's a friend. He's a boy. Does this count? His mom and I say "Yes!"

We went to Jacob's 3rd birthday party (yes, a younger man) yesterday. Jacob and Ainsley go to school together. And, although they're not in the same class they see each other on the playground and his mom and I are friends.

So, Amy has this really cool train show up for the entertainment portion of the shindig, and these two decide to cuddle up next to each other in the very back.

What does Amy do? Chaperon, of course! They're too cute together. This picture was taken the day after our all-school carnival where they walked around the entire time holding hands.

Amy and I have already picked out our dresses for their wedding...


Ainsley and Jacob riding the train together. Aren't they precious?


My friend Amy holding Addison while I ride with Ainsley on the train. What a pal!