Summer can't be over yet?

Even though September is coming to an end. I haven't felt like summer is really over. Maybe it's because I don't have kids in school or I'm not going back to school myself teaching. Maybe it's because we spent the first half of the summer moving and getting settled in our new house. Or maybe it's the fact that we live in Texas now and it really doesn't start to cool off until the end of September. Whatever the reason is, we had to get in one last vacation. We decided to see some of the great state of Texas, drive down eight hours to Corpus Christi, rent a beach house in Port Aransas and most importantly RELAX.

This was a much needed get-a-way for BOTH Stephen and I. We didn't start off on the right foot though, as Stephens car broke down about 3 miles from our house. Oh wait...it actually broke down about 40 miles from our house, but someone was anxious to get home and start his vacation. So he kept driving as far as he could. He almost made it home.  But we still had to wait over an hour for a tow truck, with the other car pack ready to go.

With that minor bump we were ready to leave.

First stop. San Antonio, Texas
We spent the weekend with two of Stephen's co-workers who are in the same rotational  program with AT&T. One of them was transferred to Dallas and drove down with us.  The other has her assignment in San Antonio. Where we met up and she was kind enough to let us crash at her house for a night. Both Josh and Jane were so great to help with Andrew and put up with a cranky baby as he didn't always get his naps.

The first night we drove downtown and did a "Taste of the River Walk" for dinner. The River walk is one of my favorite parts of San Antonio. It really comes to life at night and is a beautiful river that runs underneath the city with a bunch a restaurants and shops that line it. We bought a pass where we had tickets to 12 different restaurants and we could sample a small dish from each. We really got to see the river walk from one end to the other. The only problem was...this place was not "stroller friendly" and there were a TON of stairs! Thanks to Josh for helping us carry the stroller every 10 minutes up and down the stairs.

The next day we decided to head to the San Antonio Zoo. I always love the zoo and seeing the animals. I think this is the 4th time Andrew's been to the zoo and each time he is enthralled with a different animal. This time he loved feeding the fish and seeing them swarm towards the food. It was pretty funny.

After a fun afternoon, we headed down to basically the farthest you can get before hitting Mexico. Port Aransas was on a beautiful island out in the Gulf of Mexico.

We were taking a risk going right during hurricane season. Thankfully no hurricane, but the first morning we did wake up to lightening, thunder and pouring rain. All of the homes and most of the business are built on stilts. It's a pretty awesome sight.

So we took advantage of the weather, took a ferry and went into the city of Corpus Christi. We spent a few hours touring the Lexington Aircraft Carrier. It was in operation from 1942-1993...almost 50 years. It was amazing to see all the different areas and how it operated. Very Interesting. With all the airplanes....Stephen was in heaven.

Since we were right there we walked over and spent the afternoon at the Texas State Aquarium. This was probably my favorite Aquarium of all time. You were able to get up close with so many different animals. It was right on the bay too, so you could see a lot of animals in their natural habitat. My favorite was definitely the dolphin show, where we got soaking wet.

The weather cleared up enough and we were able to get in a few hours at the beach. It was a fun day, but we were certainly ready for bed.


The next day was all about the beach and playing in the ocean. We still didn't have blue sky, but that didn't stop us. We rented a few kayaks and played in the bay most of the morning. I think we would have done it longer, but poor Andrew didn't like wearing a life jacket. I sat in the front and tried to keep him happy most of the time by singing songs and playing games, while Stephen sat in the back and rowed the entire time. Thanks sweetheart! Nonetheless, we enjoyed exploring and seeing the area.

Then off to the beach. The water was warm and we had a blast playing in the waves. Andrew is all about walking. That's all he wants to do these day and it was no different at the beach. Walking and water....his two most favorite things. I think he was in heaven. He walks along by holding your fingers. So we went back and forth and back and forth hundreds of times. I tried to see if he'd maybe get interested in the sand, to give my back a break. But after a few handfuls went into the mouth...it was back to walking. :)

Family Photo :)

That night,  we had a little football party. Watched the USC vs. Stanford and the BYU vs. Utah game. We had quite the set-up.

Headed home early the next morning and was so incredibly grateful that this little guys slept in the car. This is a rare occurrence in our household. He  N.E.V.E.R falls asleep in the car. We wore him out and literally went non-stop for five days.

This last week has still be in the 90's at our house most everyday. I think I'm still in denial that summer has come to an end....and that's okay with me! I'm loving this "fall" weather!