Crochet Me Crazy

I am finally able to sit down at the computer after over a week. I am going to be posting lots of pictures in the photo album of our week. We have been on a week long spree of fun! Our spree started with camping at Rusk-Palestine State Park Memorial day weekend. We took a train ride on the Texas State Railroad. It's about a 3 hour round trip on a restored victorian steam engine from Rusk State Park to Palestine State Park. We got off at Palestine State Park and had a pic-nic. We had an hour and 1/2 there before we rode back. We all had a really good time and the kids especially loved it. We drove home from camping Monday night and got in late, of course, like we always do. Alison had her ballet demonstraion night on Tuesday night that we had to be back for. It's a big deal where all the grades demonstrate what they have learned for the year. We brought a boquet of flower and she was presented with her exam certificate. I'll be posting pictures of this event in the album as well. We left the same night after her performance to spend a night in Galveston. Jeff had some meeting there the next day so we decided to stay there and let the kids spend a little time at the beach. Our hotel was right on the Sea Wall but unfortunately it was where it was only rocks and not sandy beach. We didn't have the truck that day so the kids and I took about a 2 mile hike to the nearest McDonalds for lunch! We didn't realize it was going to be so far but there was no turning back once we started! We had a bad experience at the LaQuinta Inn and Suites on the Seawall in Galveston. We always stay in these just about everywhere we go. It is our normal practice to get a late checkout, which is usually at 1:00 because a lot of times the kids and I are there without a car until Jeff gets back. Every single hotel has always been very happy to store our bags for us and we hang out at the pool until he gets back. Well, the girl at the desk at this particular hotel really had an attitude problem. She didn't really want to help store our bags and then she had the nerve to tell us the kids couldn't get in the pool because we had already checked out! She even said we should've checked out at 11:00 because they don't do late check-outs. She was obviously uninformed because we have stayed at more LaQuinta than she has worked at. (They only do late check-outs for frequest stayers that are in the rewards program) Anyway, Jeff asked to talk to the manager but he was conveniently "out" and she didn't know when he would be back. In any case, we have an email and phone number. We ended up walking across the street to the beach and the kids played around on the rocks. Michael caught a dozen hermit crabs and they had fun letting the waves splash on them. When Jeff got back, we drove down to the sandy part of the beach and took a little time there to let the kids play before we left for the next part of our trip to San Antonio. We got into San Antonio late and went straight to bed. We had the truck that next day and I was planning on driving to Blanco to spend the day at the river but I decided to just hang out at the hotel. The kids swam all day long at the pool. We ate at our favorite restaurant, The Alamo Cafe, in San Antonio when Jeff got back home and then headed home. We would have stayed another night but we had to get back to Houston for the KSBJ Summerfest we had bought tickets for. We spent the next two days all day at the Summerfest. It was a huge deal at the H & H Ranch near Intercontinental Airport. There were all kinds of things to do including a lazy river and pool which was really nice because it was VERY hot! There were three different stages with Christian artists playing all day long both days. The highlight of the whole thing was seeing the NEWSBOYS play last night! We were right up front and they are so awesome! Anyway, I managed to keep from getting sunburned the whole week until yesterday. Now I am a lobster today. The spree is over now and my house looks like it could use a visit from Kim and Aggie! We've only been home long enough to rush around and throw things together as quick as we could. Now its time to straighten things up and mow the jungle.