Friday, August 24, 2007

Surf's up, dude!


You should have seen Garrett on the body board. First wave he rode all the way in. It was awesome! On the way out he would ride the board and I'd make him jump the waves like a jet ski then he'd turn around and ride a big one in. The kid's like a labrador retriever "Can we get in the water, huh, huh, please, can we get in the water, let's go, hurry up, yeah, yeah, let's go!" He loved the beach!


Luke liked the big sandbox at the beach. We had the boy's tonka toys and Luke drove his dump truck all over the beach hauling sand, shells, water, and then daddy hauled Luke around. I think he kept hearing Garrett ask about sharks or something so maybe that's why he stayed on the beach. He liked the waves as long as I held him and jumped over the waves and hollered a bunch. Laughed his little head off then.

We went fishing Saturday night off the T-head at the hotel. Caught a croaker and an eel. Disgusting! Sucker swallowed the hook too. Stepped on him to try and hold him down so maybe I could get the hook. Yeah, he wrapped around my foot. Lady fishing by us asked if he shocked me when he did that. "No ma'am, that species isn't on the Texas coast." Why did I have to catch a freak wanna-be snake 1,000 feet out in the gulf? That's just not right. Garrett and Luke loved seeing it but I was done fishing by then. Dad told me later that Asians love to eat eel. Nope. Sorry. Not even on survivor.


Now this is a scary thought. Amanda, Garrett and Luke in the torpedo room of a WWII submarine. DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!!! Yes, those are torpedos on either side below the bunks. We toured the last remaining WWII era sub credited with sinking an aircraft carrier and also toured a WWII destroyer escort. If you haven't ever toured a sub, they are tight. No room to move around, really cramped. Luke loaded his diaper in the middle of the tour. My guess is that the people behind us weren't excited that I had to look at every switch, valve, door, nut, bolt, everything on the entire boat.

This was our first real family vacation. Only two days but what a blast! Oh, next time you're in Galveston stop at the Spot. It's on seawall drive. They converted an old house into a restaurant and added on to it a little. Got the pictures in a photo album at the entrance. Great burgers. Lots of meat, homemade buns, seasoned waffle fries. Kids meals come with a cookie from the in-house bakery. Sit on the upstairs patio.


Thursday, August 16, 2007

My wife rocks!

" Her children arise and call her blessed;
Her husband also, and he praises her:
Many women do noble things,
But you surpass them all." Pr. 31:28-29

That's my girl! Friday, August 17th, 2001 I caught her and tied her down with a little gold ring. Saturday, August 18th,2001 we arrived at the B&B in the picture above. Today we celebrated Garrett's 5th birthday. Tomorrow we celebrate our 6th anniversary. Am I glad? Yup. I suuuure am.

I told her one of the reasons I wanted to marry her was because she made me "better than I was, more than I am". Yes, it's a line from a Tim McGraw song but it's really true. She makes me grow. She's helped me grow in my career, helped me be a better dad, helped me see what God's love and strength can really do. When I wasn't worthy of being followed, she stepped up and said, no, make that SHOWED that God said her role was to submit and love me. Yes, we talked about it and always have known that's what God said but to see her really do it. Awesome.

My wife is smart (how many people ACE college physics????), she's funny (especially when she's not trying to be!), she is an awesome mom (gave up her job so she could stay home with our boys), she's a cutie (I love that smile!), she's MY girl!

I LOVE YOU GRACIE!