Our Arrival & Assessment, Bird house is Full & Our Fish are Growing

At 3:30 the alarm went off and I heard the coffee start. It’s programmable so I had set it last night so when Gina and I woke up we would have fresh coffee. We both looked at each other and said just a few more minutes. We did get up at 4 o’clock and enjoyed our coffee together, and then it was like, we need to be on the road. We still had everything to load up into the truck. However, she did get everything packed so it was easy to load in the truck. The last items to load were all her new plants and there were more than what I thought she bought. Then she told me she went again Thursday morning and bought a few more. I like what John wrote about Brenda the other day about our wife’s. They seem to know how to blend new items into their existing things and then when we ask they reply back “I’ve had them or they’re old”. Anyway she thought I wouldn’t notice any additional plants. However, I did since I barely had enough room for what she bought Wednesday.

Well, we got loaded and our home shutdown for the weekend and got on the road at 5 in the morning. That was only an hour later than we had planned on so not bad for us. We talked on the phone just about the whole way since she was driving the car and I was in the truck. Let’s just say that when we start traveling a lot Gina is not going to be driving a car while I’m towing our home down the highway. She didn’t like it and neither did I. We did stop for a potty break and had to readjust the plants since some of them decided they were not secured enough. We made it to our house at 10:30 in the morning and started unloading the plants. Once they were unloaded Gina went to assess her Garden and realized that she had probably bought too many plants. She really expected most of her seasonal plants to be dead but they seemed to be blooming and looking great. They just needed to be pruned and cleaned up.

Still looking Nice

Blooms are out in full

Still a lot of Color

While we were looking around we noticed our bird houses had a lot of activity and realized that we had babies inside.

One of Gina's Bird Houses

Baby Birds

Ok, I know Howard and Linda and other dreamers are bird’ers but I’m not one. I’m like that is a blue one or a Red one and so on. I couldn’t tell you more than a few official bird names if anyone asked me what the name of that bird is. So if you want to know what these babies are I cannot tell you other than I call them wrens. I do not know if they are the same birds that come here every year but birds that look like them have been coming here every year for the past twelve years. They really like it here since they seem to build their nest everywhere around here even if it wasn’t meant to contain a nest. Gina has little bird houses all over her Garden along with bird feeders that seem to keep the birds happy and coming back every spring.

More of Gina's Bird Houses

Next, we watched our Koi fish in the pond and admired how much they had grown. Their colors seem to be getting brighter. We do not believe we lost any during the winter.

Some of Our Koi Fish

So all in all Gina was very pleased with how everything fared and looked. She said that she shouldn’t have as much work to do in getting her garden ready for the wedding next weekend.

My dad stopped by along with my aunt & uncle so we visited with them for awhile. We really enjoy visiting with them whenever we can it just doesn’t seem like we have much time. Once they all left we started unpacking the rest of the truck. We are learning what we want in our new home so we bring different things to it and then decide whether or not we like it. If not they get brought back to Louisiana. We had a lot of those items this trip. Gina had a hair appointment for 6 o’clock this evening. Around 7 o’clock Thomas and I decided we wanted to go eat. We decided on Outback since he likes their fried crawfish tails and I like their blooming onion. I called Gina and she said she would meet us there. We had a great time, the food was good, and our stomachs were full. Thomas left to see some friends and we went back to our house. Gina and I were both tired and I laid down on the couch and was out. I’m not sure what Gina was doing but she woke me up at midnight and said she was going to bed so being the good husband I got up and went to bed with her. We had a long day but it was a very nice day for us and we always enjoy coming back to Louisiana.

Until tomorrow Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.

Heading to Louisiana, Bad Weather, Let's be Safe

This morning started off the same except I was excited that Gina and I were driving to our house in Louisiana this evening. I think it’s been five weeks since we had been there. I got another ride into work and Gina kept the car so she could get it packed up since she would be spending the week there. She has doctor’s appointments this week.

She called me at lunch time and said she was going shopping for a comforter set for Thomas’ bedroom. I said ok but do not forget about picking me up today from work. At 3 o’clock the sky turned dark and guys in the office were talking about tornado warnings being issued and then we got told that we could leave early to beat the severe weather before it got to Houston. I called Gina and she was stranded at Steinmart since in her words it was raining cats and dogs and the store had lost power. I told her to just stay there until the weather improved and that I would get a friend to drop me off at home. I left work at 4 o’clock and the weather was bad it took 45 minutes to get home compared to 20 minutes normally. Then Gina called and said that she was leaving and would be home in a few minutes. She did find a comforter for Thomas’ room along with some other items. I didn’t inquire about the other items since I wanted to discuss our drive to Louisiana. So we sat down after she got inside and we turned on the local weather which showed thunderstorms and tornado warnings all the way from Houston to Missisippi. Being that it was a little after 5 o’clock and we would be driving in bad weather the whole way we decided to play it safe and just wait until tomorrow morning to drive home and allow these storms pass through. After we made that decision we looked outside and the weather seemed to be getting very nice in Houston and by 6 o’clock the sun was shining through the clouds. We were both hungry but didn’t plan on being in Houston tonight but we always have something we can eat. So we decided to grill the chicken that we took out of the freezer yesterday. We had grilled chicken with a baked sweet potato. It was a tasty for a quick throw together meal.

After we ate I noticed that the blackwater tank was full so I went outside and opened the valve to empty it. For whatever reason Gina and I were not tired tonight maybe we just had too much adrenaline flowing through our body since we had been so excited about going to our house in Louisiana. We had stayed up watching TV until after 11 o’clock even though we both knew we had to get up at 3:30 in the morning for our trip to Louisiana. Finally, around 11:45 we got in bed and said goodnight to each other.

Even though we did not drive back to Louisiana today, it was still a wonderful day. Neither Gina nor I are looking forward to next week since I’ll be in Houston and she will be in Louisiana. She’s dreading her doctor’s appointments and I do not want to be in Houston by myself since I have gotten so used to her being with me every day. But we both know Thursday will be here very quickly and it’s only four days and it sure beats six to eight months when I was riding ships in the Navy.

Until tomorrow Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.

Spring Showers and Plant Shopping

I woke up this morning moving very slow and tired. For some reason our AC decided to drip water / condensation on the bed in the middle of the night and Gina thought one of our dogs pee’d on the bed. So I had to get up and see where the water came from. Then if that wasn’t enough my phone rang at 2 o’clock in the morning only to be a wrong number. I normally can fall right back to sleep but I was restless and seemed like I just never went back to sleep. I got another ride into work today. Gina wanted to look around town (shopping). A lot of days I drive in to work and come home at lunch and drop the car off to her since she doesn’t get moving very early. However, I knew today I wouldn’t be able to since I had a meeting with the president of the company I work for along with meeting with the client I’m working for right now. Besides that I knew I would get a very nice lunch out of the deal. It’s pretty hard for me to pass up a really nice (FREE) lunch. Well let’s just say when I called Gina at 12 o’clock she was at a plant nursery and when I was finished with lunch she was still there.

This where Gina spent her day

I think this time of the year is the best for Gina because she loves her garden and she loves to expand it. So today was a very good day for her. She was in her element, plants, plants, and more plants. I called her again at 4 o’clock to let her know that I was getting a ride home and she was still at the plant nursery and said just meet me here and then we can go home together. I said ok I’ll meet you there.

Gina searching for the best plant

Low and behold when I got there she had three carts full of plants and she wasn’t finished. We decided that they were not going to fit in the car so we left and went home and got the big truck. So who do you know that takes a big semi-truck up to a plant nursery to pick up their purchases? We do, everyone there just stared at us as we got out of the truck and started wheeling out three carts of plants and began to load them in the back of the truck.

Gina ready to load her plants

When we finished Gina tell tells me to meet her inside since she wants some more bedding plants. She began shopping some more. All total, she spent 8 hours at the Houston Garden Center. She was there so long that when she checked out, the young girl said, you must be tired since you have been here all day. Gina just replied back, no, I feel great!! Once we left the plant nursery the spring showers, really they were thunderstorms let loose. It was ok until I had to back my truck up and I could barely see out my mirrors. We waited a few minutes and it slacked off enough that Gina was able to get out and make sure I wouldn’t hit our home. Now it’s just sprinkling but you could tell it was not finished raining. Of course my lovely bride says we have to take the plants out of the truck or they will die. So we take all of the plants out of the truck and put them in front of and under our home to protect them from the rain. Just as we finished moving the plants from the truck it let loose again. We made it inside before getting too wet and we both looked at each other and said that was close now let’s eat. We were both hungry and even though she had taken chicken out of the freezer to grill we decided to have leftover taco meat and made soft tacos. This was a full day for Gina, but she was extremely happy with her selections and now she cannot wait to see how they are going to look in her garden. Finally at about 9:30 we went and got in bed and I know I was out quick. I’m not sure about Gina but I’m sure she was out quick too. We both ended our day very happy. Gina with all her new plants and I was happy because when my bride is happy, I’m happy.


Until tomorrow Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.

Another Great Day

Usual morning in that I put coffee on, had a cup and went to work. I did have a friend pick me up and bring me to work since Gina wanted to go shopping today. I had another easy and smooth day at work. I spoke to Gina and she was at Walmart (figure that). She was picking up a few items that I we needed. Next time I spoke to her she was at Hobby Lobby. I believe outside of shopping for clothes this is her favorite store. Although I do not know why since we out of space in our home, both shelf and wall space. I reminded her of that and she says I'm buying a couple of things for our garden back in Louisiana. Here are a few pictures of our garden.

Garden Entrance

Looking Right from the Entrance

Looking Left from the Entrance

We are having a wedding on April 4th in our garden and she was picking up a few items to decorate it with. Our children’s adopted grandparent's son is getting married in our garden. If you know Gina she will have it looking great. She also reminded me how nice it was not to have me looking over her shoulder since it gave her time to touch and hold every item in the store. She reminded me of a t-shirt in Fredericksburg that said “Shopping with your man is like hunting with the game warden”. I guess that about sums up why women like shopping without their man. Plus, I believe we can normally find a million other things to do than watch our wives shop. It might just be me but I like to think I’m in the majority of husbands. Really, I do not mind most of the times to go with her but it is nice to let her go by herself since I know she really enjoys it.

When I got home she was cooking again. This is wonderful since normally she waits for me to get home so I can put something on the grill outside. However, today she wanted to try something different. She was making Mexican pizzas. They are really a tostada's but she called them a pizza. I thought they were great since I love all Mexican foods. We then walked up to the library here and she found a few books to read. While while we were walking back home she asked if we could go to TCBY. Me, being the good husband said of course we can, anything for my sweetheart. So off we go at eight o’clock to get frozen yogurt. I joked around with her that it took 40 minutes of driving for her 12 minutes of delight. Once back home I had to sew a button on a pair of pants that the dry cleaners had broken. I love the easiness of dry cleaners but they always break buttons in their presses. Normally they fix them but I had reminded them twice and it just didn’t get fixed so I decided I would sew it back on and be done with it. It kinda reminded me of my early days in the Navy when I had to fix our own clothes because there was no dry cleaners or alterations at sea. Once I finished my sewing I tried to work on this blog but just couldn’t get into it. So I went and got in bed and watched TV while Gina was reading her book. I know that it wasn't real exciting but none the less it was our day. We consider everyday that we get to spend time together is A Great Day.

Until tomorrow, Gina & I hope you all have a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.

I leave you all with this poem. I would give credit to the author but it’s unknown.

God’s Minute
I have only just a minute,
Only sixty seconds in it,
Forced upon me – can’t refuse it,
Didn’t seek it, didn’t choose it –
But it’s up to me to use it,
I must suffer if I lose it,
Give account if I abuse it,
Just a tiny little minute . . . .

But eternity is in it.

A Beautiful Day in Houston

I needed to mention that I did get to meet Raymond & Annette on Saturday night after we got back from dinner. They’re another couple from the RV-Dreams website. With everything that was going on this past weekend I just forgot to mention it. It’s always such a pleasure to meet other RV-Dreamers.
This was just a relaxing day in Houston. I got up and went to work and Gina slept in. Work was a pretty easy day finally, seems like I haven’t had too many of them the past six months so it was nice to have one. Once Gina got up and had her coffee she decided to go do laundry. It was such a beautiful day with a light breeze that she decided to get her swim suit on and lay by the pool to soak up a little sun and start working on her tan before summer gets here. She then decided to surprise me with one of my favorite meals: salmon patties, macaroni & cheese and baked beans. When I got home and out of the car I could smell something but thought it was next door but as soon as I walked in I knew it was her salmon patties. What a wonderful surprise. We sat down and ate, but mostly we just enjoyed a quiet evening with very good food. After dinner we went for a walk with Zoey & Angel.

Our Babies (Zoey & Angel)

The campground is pretty empty now that spring break is over. Once we got back I decided to check the RV-Dreams chat room and low and behold most everyone we knew was on there. I chatted for an hour until CSI Miami came on then had to say good night so I could go get comfortable with my lovely bride and watch TV. Once CSI was over I cannot say I remember much other than giving Gina a kiss and telling her good night. I really like these kind of days except for work which I know will not be long before that will be behind me and Gina & I can spend more time with our GREAT RV’ing friends. I ask everyone to keep my son-in-law’s grandfather in their prayers today since he will be having a heart bypass surgery along with a valve replacement. These surgeries happen all the time but he is 84 years old and the doctors said he will be one of the oldest patients to ever get a valve replacement. Until tomorrow Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.

More Racing and Children Head Home

I got woke up by Zoey jumping on my chest and licking my face. Normally this means she wants to go outside so I got up at 6 o’clock and let her out then she takes 10 minutes to pee. I wasn’t happy but she is our baby. I put coffee on once I decided to stay up. We are meeting Shane & Nicole at the go-cart racing place since they didn’t get to race yesterday. Nicole called and we decided we would meet at 11:30 so they could get on the road for home.
Gina decided since we had all our children there to race except for Parker and Ashley and she felt bad since they were not there too. She brought her Macbook and got them up on video chat so they could see how much fun they were missing. Not really we just wanted to include them.

Ashley on video chat watching us

We are ready to Race

Shane in his cart giving the thumbs up

Nicole is all smiles & ready to show us boys how to race

Dad ready to show his children how it's done

Dad passing Nicole

Nicole on the straightaway

Thomas passing Nicole

Shane out racing by himself

Race is over and everyone waiting for their lap times

The race ended and Thomas had the fastest time followed by Shane then Dad followed by Nicole. (She may drive her car like she’s racing but on this track she was just taking a smooth Sunday drive). Shane and Thomas wanted to race again but Shane wasn’t feeling up to the second race so Thomas and Dad went head to head for this race it was just them and no one else to interfere. The winner is “DAD”!!!! Dad was 0.047 seconds faster. But over the three races Thomas clearly was the winner and he did have the best time overall. Like I said yesterday this is a lot of fun and it was a great finish for our weekend with our children. We got back home and Thomas packed up and headed home. We then sat outside and ate boiled shrimp for a little while then Gina decided she needed to go to the grocery store for a few items while I put some ribs on the grill and boiled some potatoes and eggs for a potato salad. Gina got back and we ate dinner and just settled in for the evening watching “Cold Case”. It was a wonderful weekend both weather wise and being able to spend time with our children. We feel so blessed when we get to spend time with our children. We are going back to Louisiana on Thursday so we can take care of some doctor appointments and tend to some items around the house there. Until next time take care and we will just have to see what the future holds for us to enjoy.

Soccer, Racing, and Eating, A Full Day of Fun

We woke up early this morning so we could go to the west side of Houston and watch Shane play soccer. Of course I had no idea that there would be so many soccer fields. Well guess what I forgot my camera so we had to use a backup old camera that is kept in the car which is a circa 2000 model. It’s really old but it is kept in the car none the less but at least we had something to use to capture the moment. There must have been 20 fields and these are full size fields. They were as far as I could see in all directions. I Had to call Nicole and figure out where they were playing which took a few minutes but we finally found them and set up our chairs so we could watch.

All set up ready to watch Soccer

Shane getting to kick the ball

Shane is a really good player but he should be since he has been playing since he was six or seven. Even before we got to sit down he scored a goal. Must have been Gina bringing good luck to him.

All of Us after the Game

They lost that game but it was still fun to watch him. We went back to their hotel so Shane could get refreshed a little. He had another game in two hours so he headed back to the field and we went to get a quick bite to eat. We settled for Taco Bell and Popeye’s. It was quick so we could get back to the field to watch Shane’s final game for the day. They lost that one too but all the guys looked like they had fun. I had been telling Thomas about this indoor go-cart track in Houston for over two years and just seemed like every time he came to Houston we didn’t have time to go race but since we were just five minutes away we decided we would go have a little fun and be boys again. This place is called Track 21 and I had been there before and it is a true racing experience. (So much that your hands and arms hurt after you’re done) You have to be 16 and have a driver license to race. We paid our money and set through the pre race / safety briefing and then it was get your head sock and helmet and off to your assigned cart.

We're ready to race

They do this since they give you your lap times after your race is over and you can see who the fastest driver was which as boys someone has to have bragging rights and it’s not about who finished first but who got around the track the fastest.

Thomas getting strapped into his Cart

Dad is in his Cart ready to race

Dad & Thomas racing

It really is a true racing experience. Thomas had his doubts since he had been to a lot of go-cart tracks but when it was over he was like “WOW” that was unbelievable. I think we are going back over there today so Shane and Nicole can enjoy this experience. If you are ever in Houston and you like racing this is a must do item. The place is called Track 21 and you want to race on the F-1 course. It’s a blast!! Well Thomas and I had a great time and even more fun when we got our times since he had beat me for the best elapsed time by 0.814 seconds and he joked with me all the way back home. I’ll let you know how all four of us do later. Once we got back home we decided to boil and fry shrimp which we did and they were great. We had picked up some lump crab meat for our steaks last night and we had some left so Thomas decided he wanted some crab cakes with his fried shrimp. I’ll have to admit they were some of the best crab cakes that I’ve eaten before. Gina & I told him he’ll have to make them for us again. Then Nicole called us and asked us if we wanted to go out to eat with them at Pappascita’s Cantina and we said of course we do. I’ll never turn down any time that I can spend with my children. We decided we would meet at 8 o’clock at the restaurant. We got there and they were busy and we waited for an hour to get our table so in the mean time we sat outside and enjoyed some margaritas with our chips and salsa.

All of Us enjoying ourselves

Our children goofing around

Enjoying Margaritas and Chips & Salsa

Shane and Nicole got fajitas and we shared quesadillas. Thomas does really like Mexican food but he did get some queso and he enjoyed that for his meal. He wasn’t really hungry since he had just eaten fried shrimp and crab cakes. We left there and said that we would meet up around 11 o’clock this morning at the go-cart track before they got back on the road for Louisiana.

Around the Campfire with Our Children

I decided to get up and go in to work this morning for a few hours since Gina was sleeping in this morning and our children were coming to see us. Gina called me at 10 o’clock and told me our children were here so I said I would be right there. Once I got home we decided we would go to Sam’s and pick up some steaks to grill tonight. After we got back we didn’t do much except visit until about 4 o’clock when we started cooking and then we ate outside. It was a beautiful evening so we decided to lite a fire in our new fire pit and we sat around talking and enjoying the fire. Ashley & Parker called us from Grenada so we video chatted with them for about 45 minutes which was kinda of cool since they couldn’t be here. Gina had made a strawberry pie earlier and we all had a piece for desert. It was great as usual. She is a wonderful baker. Well around 9 o’clock Shane & Nicole left and went back to their hotel since he had to be at the soccer field at 8 o’clock for his tournament. Us and Thomas continued to sit outside and enjoyed the fire until about 10 o’clock then Gina went inside and started cleaning up from dinner then we all decided it was time to come inside and go to bed. We had a wonderful day with our children and look forward to tomorrow since we have never watched a soccer game. We’ll let you know how the game was so until then take care and we’ll see you down the road somewhere but in the mean time here are some pictures of last night around the fire.

Shane & Nicole

Gina enjoying her strawberry pie

Thomas and Dad enjoying the fire