Beach Day!

Monday was a beautiful day, so we packed up the dogs and headed over to the beach, with our Michigan friends.  It was one of those days, were you didn't want it to end. It was so enjoyable!

There wasn't much wind when we got there, but later in the day it came up. So, Rick got his new trick kite out and we each had to try it. Very nice and alot of fun!!  The dogs got to play in the water and I played with the camera. I like the one with the shell and the ripples of water.

Yesterday we started packing up, we are heading north Thursday.  I hope we bring some of this nice weather with us!!-M

Saturday morning we went to the Rockport market days. We heard that the "cake lady" was there.  She makes these wonderful individual cakes from scatch. So, we had to pick up some to try. German Chocolate, Lemon, Carrot and Hawaiian is what we got. Hep, they were right, they were wonderful!

In the afternoon we decided to pack up the dogs and head over to the beach in Port Aransas. Our Michigan friends did the same, with there two golden retrievers. The beaches were only half as full as last week, so we found a nice spot that was next to an area that was roped off with yellow tape. There were other people around, so we didn't think much of the roped off area. We sat down and just enjoyed the waves and sun.  Then out of the clear blue sky, something swooshed down by us and landed within the taped off area! Skydivers!!!!! We looked up and more were coming in-Sooooo Cooool!!!!

While we were there, a group of about 12 or so, jumped 3 different times.  So, to top off a nice day at the beach, we got the entertainment of skydivers also.     My nephew skydives, so Drew if you read this, wouldn't this be a great place to drop in!?

Last night a group of our neighbors, got together for a cookout.  Rick has a nice set up for grilling. He has an old washing machine tub, sitting on a few bricks, that he uses for his fire pit. Then he has a nice big grate, connected to a metal rod, so he can swing the food over and off the fire.  He soaked corn in there husks, for several hours and then roasted them just like that. Yum! He also grilled Hamburgers, Brats and Italian Sausage, we sure don't go hungry down here!
It's going to be another nice day-I better go enjoy it!!!-M

Go Fly a Kite

We went and ran a few errands yesterday morning. Vel was on a search for some books, from an author that she likes.  There is a Used Book Warehouse in town, with tons of books that we went to. She came out of there with a big smile on her face!  She found a couple of books, that will last her a few days!            
Then in the afternoon, we went to the big field by the marina to fly kites, with our Michigan friends. They have several neat kites. The wind could of been blowing just a little more, but it was still alot of fun!

I tried the trick kite, and kept it up for a little while, but I think I need more practice! So, darn we will just have to keep trying!-M

WWII display

Tuesday we went to a WWII aircraft display at the Aransas County Airport. They had 3 planes to see, a B-24, B-17 and a TP-51c Mustang. They also had a biplane that you could take a ride in for only 60 dollars, which was very tempting.  You could also schedule a ride in one of the big planes for 450 dollars-ouch!  But that would be cool, too!

We spent about an hour there, going inside and seeing some of the tight quarters that the airman had to be in.  Vel got online, when we got home, to read some of the history of the planes. 

She read that they would be in the cramp gunner postions for 7-8 hours on missions. Wow, that's hard to imagine.

On our favorite street, we saw a front yard full of flowers. There were alot of the Bluebonnets, which is the Texas State flower. How pretty!!-M

RV maintenance

We defrosted the refrigerator yesterday, it's one of those things that needs to be done every now and then.  We also had a slow leak in our outside water filter that needed attention. The hard water here in Texas is very rough on the hoses and connections. The metal on the inlet valve just crumbled when I took it off, so off to Ace Hardware I went. I connected back up with all new brass fittings, but it still was leaking. With the neighbor's suggestion I ended up putting 2 washers together in one spot and Viola it worked!  That's one nice thing about RV parks, the neighbors are all very helpful and have alot of RV maintenance experience.

Just thought I would throw in a picture of this dog we saw on the beach last friday. It looks like the owner gave it a haircut in the shape of a lion. It seemed quite friendly, but very interesting looking!-M

Spring Breakers

Friday we went over to Port Aransas to the beach to see the chaos of Spring Breakers.  We weren't disappointed! We went early enough so we wouldn't have a long wait at the ferry. Ours was only 30 min. going over and we got right on going back home mid afternoon.  But, the line of people going over to the beach at mid afternoon was at least an hour long-Wow! Hope it was worth their wait.

The normal quiet beaches, were full of cars, golf carts, RVs, tents and lots of people.  I wonder if it gets this busy during the summer months? It was windy and right around 70, so there were a few people in the water, but not alot. They were mostly on the beach, playing ball, laying out, building or digging in the sand or just walking along the water. I think the guy on top of the RV had a great idea.

  I don't think these guys really were spring breakers, but maybe law breakers.  It's nice of them to empty the trash!            So, we got our beach fix for the week. I think we will wait until it quiets down before we go back.  Which won't be long.

Last night at the club house the campground put on a Shrimp Boil. Very tasty! They used some big pots outside with their propane burners and threw Shrimp, red potatoes, sausage and corn on the cob in the seasoned boiling water.  Everyone brought a dessert or side dish. We went home stuffed! -M

Dentist visit

   We went to Corpus Christi yesterday, so Vel could see a special Dentist about a tooth that has been giving her trouble. The end result was it had to be pulled-bummer. They pretty much did everything to save it, but it was not to be. Driving down Ocean Drive, we stopped at a park and got a picture of the skyline. We carefully drove through downtown, because of all the spring breakers, that were at the beach and marina area. They were pulling in and out of parking spots and people all around.

We saw this statue, while we were stopped at a light. Not sure what that is all about, but it looks interesting.

I went to a HEB plus grocery store, while Vel was at the dentist. Its along the lines of a Super Walmart. It has a little bit of everything it seems. Nice store.  After she was done we stopped at Sunset Harvest for a few things, and then headed home. So, I got my Grocery store fix for the day-Ha Ha!-M

Sambuca

I love black licorice, so last night after our Corned Beef and Cabbage meal with our neighbors, they brought out a bottle of Sambuca. Of course I had to try some, it is a very smooth licorice tasting liqueur. Yum! But was told you have to be careful, because it can "kick your butt"- I can believe it!

Today we are heading to Corpus, Vel needs to see a Dental Specialist about a tooth, thats giving her trouble.  It's going to be a great day for a drive. If she's feeling up to it, we may need to make a few other stops. We'll see-M

Happy Birthday, Zach!

Today is my nephew's 7th birthday!!!

Happy Birthday to a toothless St. Patty's day, Darth Vader kid!

Hope you have a Great Day!! 

Geocaching again

Yesterday afternoon we went Geocaching, again. It was a nice day, but a little windy. I think it was blowing in the rain that we are having today.

One of the places for geocaching we went to, was a cemetery. The wild flowers there were beautiful, in one area there were the red, white and blue ones and in another area  yellow ones. And the aroma was very nice!  It usually takes us a while to get through the cemetery geocaches, as we both like to look at old headstones and think about the history of the people buried there.  Vel probably could spend all day there, in fact about 10 years ago, on a trip with my folks in Biloxi MS, we dropped Vel off at a cemetery there and then we went to the laundromat to wash clothes.  We thought about just leaving her there, but decided not to, so we went back to get her after we were done. Ha Ha!

See the tiny black container in this picture, that is the geocache.  We have found a few this size. And there is a teeny tiny piece of paper in there, so we can sign the log. Pretty neat!

There is another geocache in the base of this tree. The plants next to the base are some type of Yucca plants, that are blooming. Spring is here!       It's a day to stay inside today- So, maybe I'll attempt to work on my taxes-M

Kayaking

Yesterday was a beautiful day, so we decided to go kayaking.  We checked the tide chart and so we know by the time we get to the kayak area it will be between Low and High tide.  When we got there, we noticed the water level was lower than the last time we were there, but still doable. But, there was an area where we would of liked to go through but, the water level was just to low. Oh well, we just toodled around the main area and still had fun!     We saw this Snowy Egret, it had found a spot where there must of been alot of food, because when we got close he/she didn't want to move.  At one point it ruffled it's feathers, like it was telling me to go away, so I did.

The water is quite clear, we could see schools of tiny fish, little crabs, regular fish (I saw one about 2 feet long). Then at one point Vel saw two tails flopping above water, when she stopped to investigate, she realized it was two sting rays. Cool!  Later on I saw 5 small sting rays swimming and then all of the sudden they hid under some vegitation.  

The last time we came here, this oyster bed was under water, this shows you how low the tide was.  I need to read more about oyster beds, I would think the oysters would dry out, when the tide is so low. Hum??

When we got home, we threw the dogs in the car and went to town.  We let them out for a walk a couple of times, so they could enjoy the nice weather also.  We definitely can tell it's Spring Break here - Alot of people are out and about!-M

Search for Beignets

Wednesday I made a trip to the Grocery Store, and then drove over to downtown Fulton. I saw this little red and blue building in front of one of the resturants and it had a sign on it saying "Beignets Thurs through Sunday mornings".  I was excited, I would be making a trip the next morning to Fulton for sure.   Well, about 8am I was off to Fulton and when I got there this is what I found, No more sign, saw dust on the deck and no one around-what the heck?   Later in the afternoon Vel and I did a few errands, and decided to drive by it again.  This time a guy was working on the building, so I got out and asked him about it.  He said the restaurant owner was opening it up, maybe this weekend. The restaurant doesn't open until 5pm so I wasn't able to go in and ask. So, maybe this weekend we'll be able to have Biegnets!!!  We shall see!

On the way home yesterday morning I saw a group of Roseate Spoonbills along the road. So, I had to pull onto the side road and take some pictures. ( I wasn't the only one doing this)  I just think they are cool birds!

Vel's flowers are starting to bloom!  You can sure tell it's spring here in Coastal Texas, the grass is greener, the wild flowers are up and the Live Oak trees are loosing their leaves to make way for the new ones.  Vel also has a pot with snapdragons that are about ready to bloom, but the squirrels (that are plentiful around here) have eaten the tips off a couple of the plants.  So, we'll see if they make it! It's going to be another beautiful day-I'll go enjoy it for all my family and friends in Nebraska (where it was snowing yesterday-YUK!)-M

Dogs, Wii and Dutch Oven

I didn't take any pictures yesterday and I wish I would have.  We started the day off with taking the dogs for their walk and then they got a bath. It has turned real humid down here, so it took a while for them to dry.  It was nice out, so we were able to let them sit outside in their little fencing area.                        We decided to go to the Mexican Potluck supper at the clubhouse, yesterday. So, I decided to make Dutch Oven Chili Relleno Casserole and I had a cake mix in the pantry to throw in my other Dutch Oven.  Both turned out good, I didn't burn either one.    Then when we got back to the rig, our neighbors came over to play a little wii, that we set up outside, underneath our awning.  Vel wanted to show the wife the flying bird game/exercise on the Wii Fit Plus cd.  It was pretty funny to watch two women flapping their arms like they were flying. (I wonder if their arms are sore today)  The husband kind of stay at their rig, I think he was too embarressed to come over at the time!  When he came over, we played a couple of games of bowling and then headed back to their rig, to sit by the fire for the rest of the evening.       It was a beautiful and fun day!-M

Wind blown trees

We pretty much hung around the rig this last weekend, except for a trip to Wally World. Fulton had their annual Oysterfest, that we went to last year.  Instead of spending money going to it this year, we decided to buy a 1 gallon shop vacuum. Sounds like a good trade off??  We have a nice wall to wall vacuum from the rig and you can use it outside with it's connection in the basement and long hose. But we can't always get the car or pick-up close enough to vacuum them out. The CRV is full of sand!, from the dogs and us, so a little shop vac sounded like a good idea!  I'll try it out in a couple of days.

The wind blown trees are along the Fulton Beach road. You can definitely see which way the wind blows off the bay! I believe they are Live Oak trees-how cool!

I thought I'd throw in some beach pics again, from over in Port Aransas. There are some nice homes just over the sand dunes. And you can camp on the beach, I think there are just certain areas that you can camp. But it seems you see them all over. Guess I'll have to check it out if we ever pull the rig to the beach. You see everything from tents to big motor homes. How cool to wake up to the sound of the waves out your front door. But you would have to know if it was high or low tide when you park, so you don't wake up to the waves at your front door!   Later -M 

Flying Kites

Last Tuesday when we went over to Port Aransas or "The Island" to the beach, Vel got out her Pirate Kite.
She bought it last year here and has gotten it out a few times. But as she was standing there flying it, I think she must of gotten bored with it. Because when she got back in the car, she asked if we could stop at the kite shop to check out the stunt kites.  So off we went to check them out. 

She found one that was reasonably priced and wouldn't explode when she crashed it. The owner of the shop was very helpful, and gave us a alot of tips on how to put it together and how to fly it. So, back to the beach we went.  She did a few nose dives with it,(as shown in picture) but I think with a little practice and patience,  she'll get the hang of it.

We usually see a ship or two coming or going out of the jetty, when we are at the beach.  But this one seemed to be larger than usual. Not sure what kind it is, only that it's BIG!

The sun is out and it's almost 70, so I better get out and enjoy it!-M

2 more whooping cranes

We drove over to where we saw the whooping cranes a few weeks ago, and we saw that 2 more had arrived.  They were wandering around in the water, just looking for food. How exciting!

So, I got the best close up I could with my little Canon camera. It doesn't do too bad.

We also saw this White Ibis on our drive. I think they are neat looking birds, walking along the shallow water,with their curved beak pecking at the water for food.

These chairs are on private land, but they look so inviting!  All you would need is a glass of wine!  We've had some very nice days lately, hope it continues!-M