Pilgrim Audrey

Audrey's the cutest pilgrim I know! I had so much fun today going in to her preschool and helping out with the Thanksgiving Feast. It was fun to watch her interact with her classmates and see how much she enjoys preschool. It's been an adjustment for her. But she's stuck with it and now LOVES it. I'm so glad that I get to have the opportunity to help out with little things like this at her school.

Oyster Creek Park Fun

Once the weather gets a bit cooler we enjoy going to a local park on Sunday afternoons. Sometimes we're even able to meet up with friends. The park has trails, a creek, and green area to play on. There's always lots of turtles to see and once we even spotted an alligator. We enjoy a variety of activities from riding bikes to playing soccer to throwing a Frisbee. Here are a few pictures of our adventures this past Fall:

Ian checking out the water (luckily he was very cautious):

Don't you love Audrey's pose?

Rachel busy playing soccer with Daddy:

 Ian joining in on the fun:

Rachel red in the face from running with the soccer ball:

Ian and Daddy:

Taking a break from playing Frisbee:

Audrey all posed next to Ian:

Once upon a time Andy and I would take walks along the trails on Sunday afternoons with baby Rachel in her stroller. It's crazy to think that now we take three kiddos to play with at this park.

Nhung's Visit

My friend Nhung came to visit me this month! She came last year and while flying back to California she volunteered to get bumped so she could earn a voucher. Well, she spent that voucher on coming to visit me again. It's so enjoyable when she comes to visit. This time she flew in on a Wednesday and flew home on a Monday. With kids and school schedules, we just did a lot of hanging out those first couple of days. She tutored me on making Vietnamese egg rolls again. Yum, yum! Andy tried to get home each night at a decent time, so we could get out for dinner and girl talk. On Saturday we escaped for a quick getaway to North Padre Island. One the way down, I introduced Nhung to Buc-ee's which is a Texas-sized convenience store. It's fun to wander around and get treats at. I actually purchased the girls some cute baseball caps while there. Poor Ian... Here's a few pictures of our adventure to North Padre Island:

The hotel pool with the beach a few steps away:

Just sitting and enjoying:

The sunset:

Our attempt at a picture together:

We discovered North Padre Island doesn't have a ton to do. I'm sure it's busier in the summer. The weather was actually pretty nice, but we didn't bother getting in the water. We enjoyed just sitting on the beach and chatting. We then had quite the adventure finding a restaurant to eat at. We had to go back to the mainland and it took awhile to find something. But once we did, it was good. We enjoyed sleeping in on Sunday. Oh, it was nice! And took our time checking out. Sunday morning we ventured to a local omelet place. It was a yummy breakfast, well, almost lunch at this point. We did a little shopping and then headed back to Houston. Nhung flew home on Monday. We always enjoy her visits. It's a nice break for me from the realities and responsibilities I have. My girls adore her. They love that Nhung comes to visit them. As always, the trip went by too quickly. Next time, I need to fly out to visit her!

Sometimes...

Sometimes when things aren't going my way, I wish I could handle it in a similar fashion...

Someone got caught...

This little guy has turned into quite the climber!!!! I'm not a fan of this new phase at all.

San Jacinto Monument & Battleship Texas

The first Saturday in November, Andy got up and decided we needed go somewhere. He suggested the San Jacinto Monument and the Battleship Texas. He had some yard work to do, so he got going with that. We called the Mackay family to see if they wanted to join us and they were game. We packed a picnic lunch and headed out. Our first stop was the monument. I was quite impressed! It's located in the Houston Ship Channel. So, all the traffic in the channel sees it. It's also a bit taller than the Washington Monument. I thought this was a funny little piece of information, because Texas just has to be bigger and better than anyone else. :) Even though the sun was shining, it was a windy day. Here are some pictures of the monument and us:

I tried to get them to look at the camera at the same time - no luck!

In front of the monument there were some park rangers showing off a bit of Texas history.  There were various items from bayonets to dolls. Luckily the girls were most interested in the dolls:

About ready to head inside the monument:

We wandered around a museum a bit once we got inside. Then we had to wait for our turn to go up the elevator. The little boys enjoyed climbing on the benches while we waited:

Up at the top!

A few pictures of the view from the top:

The girls after our little tour of the monument:

We then drove a bit through the park and found a place to enjoy our picnic lunch. After eating lunch we headed over to the battleship. Andy had to remind me that the Battleship Texas was one of the ships that was part of the Normandy invasion. So, we've seen one of the places this battleship was put to use. Before touring the battleship we tried to grab a few pictures of the kids:

Our sailors:

We lucked out by overhearing a conversation about a groupon being available. So, I pulled up my groupon app and we all enjoyed a great deal to get in and explore.

Ian was determined to open this thing up:

Checking out the weapons:

We spent quite a bit of time exploring below deck. It was like a mini town. There was a barber shop, doctor's office, places to eat, laundry, a little store, etc... The kids really enjoyed exploring.

We then headed back up on deck and explored some more:

Love this picture of my busy boy:

We enjoyed our little Saturday adventure. We used to do stuff like this all the time when we lived in Europe and we miss it. We were especially grateful the Mackays joined us, because we had a bit of car trouble. The guys had to jump our car twice, once at the monument and another time at our picnic location:

For some reason after touring the battleship, the van started okay. So, we headed home figuring we need to go to AutoZone and find out what was going on. Luckily it was just the battery. So, we made AutoZone jump us again after having them test the battery and we headed to Costco to get a new battery. And the story continues. It's kind of a funny one.... But Andy made the comment that his car had been acting funny. So, Sunday after church he decided to try and start it. Well, of course it didn't start. Dead battery as well... He went to Costco to get one, so he could get to work the next day. Well, Costco didn't have the type of battery he needed. Luckily Walmart came through for us. Both batteries were just over 3 years old, but of course old enough to not be covered under warranty anymore. Kind of discouraging that the dealerships put such cheap batteries in. A battery should last more than 3 years... Anyhow, it made for an adventurous weekend. And thank heavens we were able to get the car started each time and didn't have to mess with a tow. As always, things could have been worse...