Texas

Leaving CO again was a bit traumatic for some of us. Especially so close to the holidays, I think we were all wanting just a bit of home, rest, and familiarity. Having a place to stay for several days on end helped out quite a bit. Though our time in Canyon Lake was more idyllic than our time in Padre Island National Seashore!

Walking in the Fog

Beachfront Camping

We were a short walk from the beach, which was magnificent. When it was, that is. Much of our time was spent in deep fog, for which we paid heavily in the loss of power because our solar panels just weren't collecting enough. Blech. We were perpetually damp, our stuff started rusting, and our food was soggy. We did have good times, though. We got to Padre Island on Wednesday before Christmas, and my parents came in the next morning. We checked out my mom's hometown of Kingsville, TX. We got to learn about the King Ranch, check out the cute stores, and eat at a counter-style diner in a pharmacy. We also drove around and saw the parking lot that had been their home, the school my mom went to in Kindergarten, and the church the family went to shortly before leaving Texas for the north.

Visiting the Lexington

We all headed out to the Lexington on Christmas Eve day. My dad had actually landed on the Lexington at one point in his training, but the rest of us were seeing it for the first time. It was very impressive. I did decide that I would not have made a good sailor. I just did not like the tight quarters. Especially the bunks that are stacked three high. Then my dad had to one up that one and tell us about bunks that were stacked five high. Uh, no thanks. We spent about four hours aboard, and we could have spent more time, but I had to get back to the trailer to make our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of gumbo.

Christmas Eve Present Game

My mom loves to play present games at Christmas. It took some growing pains, but now it's a Christmas-must. My mom has a right-left story that someone reads, and this year we did the rotating, instead of rotating the presents. We had stellar gifts, such as: bacon brittle (not a hit), ninja erasers (a huge hit), and a fidget buster (a hit that broke quickly). The kids are getting so much better sports about this game, too, which makes the evening so much more pleasant!

Presents

St Andrews at the Sea

We attended mass on Christmas day, which we typically do not do. We're Christmas Eve mass people, typically. But I gotta say, I liked the smaller crowd, mass in the middle of the chaos, and just a healthy reminder the day of the event of why we're celebrating at all. We may be done with the kids' mass! My mom told us to meet them at St. Ann's by the Sea. Except that it's St. Andrew's by the Sea. It met all the rest of my mom's description when we looked it up, so we took a chance, and were right to go there. Instead of having mass outside, we were inside the family life center because the pews were wet from all the not-rain we were having. It was a 10am mass, so we did our stockings ahead, along with breakfast, and then after mass we had lunch and opened the wrapped gifts. After the hullabaloo, most of us went to see Rogue One. My mom opted to stay back at their hotel and just rest. I'm jealous, but I liked the movie, so I guess my choice was a good one.

Mikus Family

The day after Christmas we headed out to my mom's cousin's place. We got to spend the day with family I only see once in a very long while. The last time I saw them was for my grandma's funeral in 2012, and I can't remember when I saw them before that. We had a good time chatting, eating, and watching the kids play with the cats.

Portuguese Man o War

Flip Flop

Cleanup Crew

Our last hurrah at Padre Island was to do a beach cleanup as part of their Jr. Ranger program. NS also needed service hours for his next BSA rank, and J needed a service project as the very last requirement for his Wolf rank. Yeah!!! In addition to the Jr. Ranger badge, K and NB also got a patch for the beach cleanup. Pretty cool. NS found a flip flop while were cleaning up that ended up as home to quite a few barnacles. It was neat to see. K identified objects we kept finding as Portuguese Man o Wars. We took pictures and showed them to the ranger, and she confirmed K's identification.

Right now we're in Kerrville, TX. We're not sure how long we're staying here. It's got full hookups, which is good for our depleted battery, but we're not crazy about the site. We're sitting right off the road, with lots of traffic, and the vibe of the place isn't what we enjoy. But it's got full hookups. We're going to Big Bend National Park next, which has NO hookups, so full hookups is a luxury we hate to give up. We'll see how long we last. We have chores to take care of, so we're here for some time during the day tomorrow, but will we stay tomorrow night? Stay tuned....