Dad rented a beach house from a friend of his. I was being a little dramatic and high maintenance because I found out it only had 2 bedrooms. I just couldnt’ picture how my whole family, plus mom and dad, plus Diana were going to fit. Oh I was wrong. Oh so wrong.
We were crammed in, but it was perfect. The house is on a canal and so it had a dock and a boat (that we didn’t use this time…next time we want to use the boat!). This vacation was the last hurrah for the summer and also for my maternity leave. It was the perfect distraction for me. I got to spend my last weekend off of work playing with and enjoying my family…not worrying about work. What a HUGE blessing.
Mom and Diana took Alison with them to the beach on Wednesday. Dad met them there. Jake, Reed and I joined them on Thursday. Then Dad left Thursday afternoon for a meeting. Dad and Randy came back on Friday. Sheesh. I’m tired just typing all of that! The beauty of this weekend was that everyone did whatever they really wanted to do. We took it easy inside. We went to the beach. We cooked together. We fished. We napped (well, in theory we napped…with three little kids we didn’t nap as much as I would have liked!)
Favorite moments from the trip…
1. Friday night we were on the dock fishing. Out of nowhere Reed declares, ‘it’s good to be fishin’ It was hilarious.
2. Reed watched every single boat launch and load back up. We were 2 houses down from the boat launch and he couldn’t have been any happier. This boy is OBSESSED with all things trucks and trailers and hauling things and trailer hitches. You should see his school journal. Obsessed. That boy was literally in heaven.
3. Alison named her babies (finally). She named them Astronaut (pronounced aster-not) and Bonnet. Man I love that little girl. She is so spunky and confident in herself.
4. I got to sit on the beach and relax for approximately 4.2 minutes. Saturday morning we had a lighter crew (see details below) and I was so excited to quietly sit in a chair and read a magazine. Who the heck was I kidding? I had Diana and my parents with me. There’s no way I could keep my mouth shut and read. I had too much to talk about!!! Plus I had Alison to play with.
In typical Baldwin fashion, it wouldn’t be a trip/vacation without an injury. Reed tripped on the dock when he was running to see a boat launch into the canal. He peeled back the skin on his big toe. I was so thankful that mom was there. I could.not.deal.with.the.blood. Seriously. I couldn’t look at it. Just nasty. Unfortunately this happened on Friday night, so Reed couldn’t go to the beach with us on Saturday morning. Luckily Randy didn’t want to hit the beach either, so he stayed at the house with Reed and Jake.
All in all the beach weekend really was the perfect end to the summer and to maternity leave. Thank you for renting the house Dad. Can’t wait to do it again next summer when Jake and Rhett can swim in the ocean too!!
The Aggies are now part of the SEC and baseball season is finally upon us. For all the hoopla that the football team got for entering the nation’s toughest conference in football, baseball has flown under the radar. The SEC claims recent National Titles in 2009 (LSU), 2010 and 2011 (both South Carolina). Needless to say, the all-around competition has taken a step up.
With that said, tougher competition usually equals higher expectations, and higher expectations usually equals more attention (media and attendance). We got our first sign of this when season tickets sold out shortly after they went on sale for the season. We had to mindful of when the general admission single game tickets went on sale so that we could guarantee tickets for the games we wanted to go to. The next sign came when we pulled up to Blue Bell Park around Noon with our camper… there were already a fleet of RV’s setup for the weekend, and we even thought we were early! Gone are the days of this little secret vacation spot we have in College Station during Spring Break for some college baseball. No more last minute tickets and prime tailgating spots without fighting the crowds. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted, but it won’t deter us by any means.
The Friday night game is always my favorite. The anticipation leading up to the series and the cool weather under the lights makes for a really great environment. This game did not disappoint. It was a tight game with plenty of drama (see “What’s the Deal with Superman”), and the Ags won. We had friends meet us at the bus afterwards, so Reed got to stay up EXTRA late with us and our guests.
One thing about sleeping in an RV or camper at Blue Bell Park… you WILL hear the train go by ALL night. I think Juile counted 12 that first night. Forget thinking you will sleep through it, no matter how tired you are, just hope you can go right back to sleep.
Saturday was the big tailgate as always, and our friends from Dallas and Houston descended upon College Station to join us. The kids are all growing up, and we are not done multiplying either so there are still new faces every year. The game was packed so we relegated to the lawn where everyone could be together and spread out by the playground.
On Sunday we are always ready to go, but it is always the most relaxed time around the ball park. We got Reed out on his new bike around the parking lot and then packed the truck and camper. One of these times we will stay for the Sunday game (and this should have been the time), but we opted to get on the road.
The Aggies swept the series against Georgia. To the SEC: Welcome to Aggieland!
We’ve been using our popup camper for about a year now. Between the lake and tailgating, we have broken it in quite well, and the kids are used to the accommodations. However, all of those trips have been along side the Reasonover’s bus, which has all the OTHER amenities (ie: running water, heat, fridge, kitchen, microwave…). So we haven’t exactly been roughing it. It was time for us to branch out on our own with our little popup and take a weekend alone as a family.
Cliff notes version:
We went to Guadalupe River State Park. One trip to the ER. One night of freezing temps. Campfire meals. Plenty of laughter, screaming and crying. Lots of walks and fresh air. Hundreds of rocks thrown in the river. Best part of the weekend… the grin on Reed’s face when we woke up in the popup and sang “Happy Birthday”.
Check out the pictures, videos and full version below.
Full version:
Guadalupe River State Park is 30 minutes outside of San Antonio, and even closer to our side of town. This was perfect to focus on the destination and not so much the road trip. This is the shortest trip we’ve ever taken with the popup. The lake and College Station are each 2.5 and 3hrs respectively. We opted for a Saturday to Monday since the drive would be so short. It was certainly a nice change since we are always facing traffic getting out of town after work on a weekday, so we allowed ourselves the luxury of going-with-the-flow the morning we left.
We were in our spot by 11am, and that was after a trip to HEB on the way for last minute items… like diapers. The weather was amazing and the kids were in a great mood. This was shaping up to be a GREAT weekend already.
Then all of that derailed…
Not 15 minutes after we had setup the camper, unloaded the truck and began unpacking, I was playing a little baseball with the kids. Alison went to go get the ball and tripped over a rock sticking out of the ground. She cried instantly, and when I scooped her up, there was blood down her face and a puncture wound on her forehead from another rock she had fallen onto.
I handed her off to Julie and raced for the first aid kit that I had packed in the camper (hat tip to Scouting). We cleaned it, and after confirming with Laurie over the phone, we were off to the hospital. We scurried to pack the valuables in the truck and throw the rest into the camper. The park headquarters recommended a few urgent care facilities (Boerne or Bulverde), but we knew she needed stitches and our recollection of Reed’s stitches at an urgent care facility was NOT pleasant. Julie’s gut was to go all the way back to SA and go to Methodist Children’s Emergency.
The cut was jagged enough that the doctor confirmed the need for stitches instead of just gluing it. Julie stayed was Ali and I waited with Reed in the lobby. Reed was a champ through the whole ordeal, but Chick-Fil-A and the iPad certainly played a role. Laurie met us in the waiting room just in time for me to go back and meet Julie and Alison right before the procedure. The doctor and nurses were amazing with her even for the short time that I was there. Blowing bubbles and singing songs was certainly not part of the experience at an urgent care facility.
Three stitches later, the doctor asked us what we were going to do about our camping trip. Julie replied, “Well, I guess we are going back.” The doctor and all the staff in the room smiled. “That’s my kind of family!”, said the doctor. Indeed we did go back. Our weekend was derailed and now Alison had a band-aid on her forehead, but three hours start-to-finish we were back at the campsite!
Now, where were we…
We were in an RV hookup lot that was about a 1/2 mile walk to the water. As soon as we got back, the best thing for us all was to get out and enjoy the great sunshine by the water before it got too dark and we needed to cook dinner. Alison was showing no signs of slowing down. A stroller ride, throwing rocks in the river, and a stop at the playground were just what we all needed.
Dinner the first night was foil wraps of chicken and potatoes over the campfire. Dessert was another foil wrap that Julie stole from The Pioneer Woman, called “Banana Boat“. Sweet gooeyness of marshmallows, caramel, chocolate and crushed graham crackers mixed into a sliced banana still in the peel! Awesome and a keeper.
That night was COLD. We had electricity of course, and a space-heater to warm the camper, but it was no match for the 35 degrees that first night. The kids slept wonderfully, but Julie and I were up chatting a shivering to keep warm. I also heard our cooler get attacked by the racoons you could hear in other campsites around us. By the time I got out there, the cooler lid was open and a rather fat raccoon was waddling under my truck. I surveyed the damage and he had only just disturbed our eggs.
Sunday morning was still very cold. We stayed in the camper as long as we could stand it, but our tummies started talking louder, so I got the stove setup for Julie. Eggs with cubed ham and potatoes is what she cooked while I did some dishes from the previous night. Julie’s prep work before we left certainly saved us a LOT of time getting meals on the table while we were out there. I commend her on that for sure.
We took our second trip down to the water after breakfast, and did a little more walking this time to see a different part of the river. The park has a “Discovery Center” down near the parking lot closest to the river, so we spent a good while in there with the place almost to ourselves.
Nap time back at the campsite was more of a rest time, at least for Reed. Julie and Alison were out, but Reed laid with me and could not lay down long enough to go to sleep. I at least got to lay down for a while and he sat up next to me just peering out the windows of the camper at our neighbors or watching the iPad. At least he had some down time.
We made our final trip to the water after nap (this time we drove) and spent it throwing rocks into the water at our original spot. Julie and I just sat down and let the kids be kids. Reed was piling rocks into his toy truck’s bed, and Alison was getting dirty in a tiny inlet of water. I videoed the scene and got some classic footage of them at this age. We stopped at the playground on the way back and stayed until Reed’s meltdown killed the mood. Fortunately we had the truck and could just throw him in and not have a long hike back to fuel his fire.
Back at the campsite, Reed and I got the fire ready while the girls took off to shower. Sausage and hot dogs over the fire, along with chips and then s’mores for dessert made for a rather simple meal after a long day. It was warmer the second night, so we stayed up and enjoyed the campfire a bit longer. When it was time for bed, the kids practically put themselves to sleep (the sign of a good day outside). We enjoyed a quiet, late-night beverage by the fire before we turned-in ourselves.
We slept much better and warmer the second night. No raccoon attacks, either (that I know of). When Reed woke up, the three of us sang “Happy Birthday” to him there in the popup. The grin on his face was a shining moment from the whole weekend. He had talked for months about camping for his birthday, and here we were doing it.
We made quick work of breakfast bars and packing before we loaded up. At Reed’s request, we stopped to pickup some donuts on the way home.
So May turned into one heck of a busy month! Three out of the four weekends on the road somewhere in Texas… College Station, Houston and now Dallas!
The Browns (and the Keiths) invited the whole crew to stay in Southlake for the weekend for food, swimming, and more food, and more swimming. This version of the trip was little more suburban than the last one, but the agenda wasn’t all that different.
Thanks to Britt and KC for the awesome hospitality in the beautiful new home. Julie and I said several times how much we wished that there weren’t so many miles between us, but it is worth it every time we all make the effort.
Our annual trip with the Pikes took us to Jellystone Park in Waller, Texas. We have finally settled that tubing the river, or doing anything around a public river is just going to have to be put on the back burner until the kids get older. So, we have abandoned our usual spot in New Braunfels and in fact have leaned more towards the Houston-side of Texas, to the family-friendly Jellystone Park.
Right out of the Hanna Barbera cartoons, Yogi, Boo Boo, Cindy and Ranger Smith are all part of the scene. There are cabins, RV slots and tent camping spots for all types of accommodations. All of this seems to revolve around the great water park that is perfect for kids of all ages.
We opted for the 2-room cabin to share with the Pikes for our usual 4 days, 3 nights stay. The living room had a loft above it, which was perfect for Reed and Kate (both 3 yrs old) to sleep in. The loft had a fixed ladder leading up to an enclosed space that had two full-size mattresses on the floor. The extremely low ceiling clearance was only about 3 ft (no lie), which made it a perfect space for the kids. The bedrooms were quaint and could have used a few extra square feet, but we didn’t spend much time in there at all. The lone bathroom had only a shower which made bath time for the little ones a little makeshift. The best feature was by far the screened-in porch. Having the kids within earshot after they went down for bed and able to sit outside without the gnats was clutch.
We were pretty adventurous with our cooking, and opted to do all dinners over the camp fire, even though our cabin had a full kitchen. We didn’t know that the water park had pizza and burgers, or we certainly would have done that the first night there. I think the most success we had on the fire were the kabobs of chicken, beef, pineapple and peppers… the worst experience had to be the pigs in a blanket that Julie and I never really had a clear idea of the cooking and prep process (once again, had we eaten at the water park we would have avoided that catastrophe).
The water park is where it’s at. I will admit that it was overwhelming the first day we were there because of the sheer number of people. Unfamiliar territory and the first time on big water slides took a little while for Reed to get comfortable. However, by Sunday afternoon the park had significantly cleared out and it was much more bearable to settle in and spread out at the kiddie pool and the slides. In fact, Reed did eventually go on the slides all by himself after a series of rounds with him in my lap. Once again, having Kate around gave him the extra peer pressure he needed to suck it up and just do it. By the end he was doing the circuit (up the stairs, down the slide) by himself and we got to live the good life on the sidelines and cheer him on.
The other things we did while we were there:
1) Tried fishing with Reed for the first time… 2) Played some miniature golf… 3) Played football, teeball, and chased each other around in the field by the cabin… 4) Reed took a shower for the first time… 5) The girls took the older kids to the outdoor theater (saw Despicable Me) while Jim and I watched a Spurs playoff game.
This is the baseball weekend that almost wasn’t. I dropped the ball (big time!) and didn’t realize the first weekend we planned was also Parent’s Weekend. This meant no hotel rooms and no baseball tickets available. Instead we made a last minute switch to the Tech series the first weekend of May. This was not ideal for several reasons: Joe’s birthday, so no Browns :(, same weekend as Cornyval so no parade, we had a 1 day turnaround from New York to College Station. Thankfully we are all pretty good at this by now and it was still a great time!
**This is an overly long post. I just needed to document our fantastic trip in all its glory**
Randy needed to attend a management training. There was a session in New York in April. We knew we needed a break. So we booked it. I wasn’t so excited about New York. I have been there several times and really wanted to go to Chicago. Randy won since it was his trip, and we went. I was wrong. It was awesome. It was exactly the break we needed from life and kids and parenting.
The quick timeline:
Friday night – Zac Brown Band (San Antonio) best.show.ever. Seriously. Awesome show, awesome musicians, awesome entertainers. Go see them. (It helped that our generous friends invited us to join them in their suite with food, beer and wine, and to ride in the party bus. Double awesome. Only way to go to a show in my book)
Saturday morning – wake up early, shower and get ready for airport. Kiss the babies goodbye and head for the airport. Make it to the airport and through security in about 12 minutes. What the heck do we do for the next 90 minutes? Oh yeah…relax!! I could already feel the stress melting away.
Saturday evening – totally uneventful trip. In the best kind of way. We checked in, took a quick nap and then headed to find dinner. Ate some Chinese food and walked around Times Square and 30 Rock for 2 hours (our hotel was half a block from Times Square)
Sunday – sleep in. I know. Crazy talk. We rested and took our time getting out of bed. Crazy. Finally headed for Grand Central around 9:30. Hung out and shopped and relaxed some more. Hopped on the train to Yankee Stadium. Hopped on the wrong train going the wrong direction. Oops. Guess we won’t be watching batting practice. Made it to the stadium on time. I do not love the Yankees. I don’t even like the Yankees. But man they have a gorgeous ballpark. Wow. (Too bad it was FREEZING!! Should have taken a coat and not just sweaters)
Sunday evening – meet DB (little sister) and Jeff (boyfriend) for dinner. They brought a little treat…dominoes! We ate at an overpriced touristy Italian place…but none of us cared. We just wanted something simple where we could hang out together. And we did. Dinner was fine, the company was outstanding. After dinner we went to the pub across the street from our hotel. And we played bones for hours. We had THE BEST TIME EVER! Isn’t it funny how that happens? We were just planning to grab dinner and it turned into a super fun night (with a few more drinks than we planned on). DB and Jeff got on the train heading for New Jersey (and his parents house) at like midnight. It is another 90 minutes from there. Yikes!
Monday morning – all 4 of us are moving pretty slow. DB had hoped to catch an early train and spend the day with me in the city while Randy went to training. She didn’t show up until lunchtime. No worries! Just gave me more time to relax. DB and I spent that afternoon shopping and walking and chatting. Just a good sister date day.
Monday night – When Randy came home from training DB went to NJ and Randy and I went to dinner. We ate at “Bar Americain”. It is one of Bobby Flay’s restaurants, so I knew I would like the style of the food. I was right. I ordered fried chicken and it was amazing. For real. Who would ever pay $30 for fried chicken? I guess me 🙂 After the previous night’s alcohol consumption we laid pretty low and just went home on Monday night.
Tuesday morning – I woke up to the sound of a sound check at 4:45am. And never went back to sleep. So much for sleeping in! Good Morning America had Carrie Underwood on their spring concert series. The stage was less than a half block from our hotel. It was raining and I was being lazy. As Randy was leaving for the day he gave me the little nudge I needed to go down there. It was pretty cool, I must admit. The rain kept the crowds away and I was able to get pretty darn close to the stage. (When we got home we watched the recording of the show. You can actually see me several times. Too bad I didn’t put ANY makeup on and was wearing workout clothes…so I was actually hiding from the camera). It was pretty fun for something that just fell in my lap.
Tuesday afternoon – DB and Jeff came into the city again and this time we went down to Chelsea to the Chelsea Food Market. This is a super cool place for foodie nerds like me (plus the Food Network offices are upstairs). We spent some time just walking about the market and buying gifts. My favorite part was the olive oil and vinegar tasting shop. Holy moly there was some awesomeness in there. My favorite was the blood orange oil with dark chocolate vinegar. It came home with me. Jeff was born in Brooklyn and is a good Jewish boy…so he wanted to take us to the oldest kinishery in the country. I had no idea what a knish was or what a kinishery was, but I am totally down for traveling around and seeing non-touristy stuff, so off we went to the lower east side. This is what a knish is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knish. I didn’t LOVE it, but whatever. I’m glad we went and I’m glad to see a different part of the city.
Tuesday evening – we headed back to the hotel to grab Randy after his training ended. Then we all headed for Brooklyn. As you can tell by the content in this post I’m a foodie and a fat kid at heart…and Jeff had been raving about the pizza place he was going to take us for 2 days. I couldn’t wait! After a 70 minute train ride we were there. And it was everything he promised. Seriously. Best pizza of my life. We relaxed some more and chatted and ate delicious pizza and salad and wine and then had spumoni (again, not my favorite thing, but this place was famous for it). After another long train ride back to the city we said goodbye to DB and Jeff and hit the sack. We had to wake up at 4:30 for our return flight the next morning. Yikes!
Wednesday – this was another uneventful trip home…except in Baltimore. We were sitting at the gate for our next flight to SA when I realized this wasn’t the right flight. This flight had like 4 stops before San Antonio…and we landed in like 3 hours. I frantically pulled Randy out of the boarding line and we literally ran through the airport to the right gate. We ran up and the Southwest lady said the whole flight had already boarded and was ready to leave. Holy Crap!! I knew there was no way we were sitting together and apologize profusely…but somehow when we got on the plane there were 2 seats next to each other in the third row. Thanks for that one God 😉
We got home and took a quick nap before we picked up the kids. This last part was my favorite part of the entire trip…we opened the door to Randy’s parents’ house…and Reed lunged into my arms. He full body hugged me and didn’t let go for several minutes. This is huge coming from my non-hugging boy. Ali looked at us and when Randy picked her up she couldn’t stop giggling. She just giggled and giggled and giggled some more. Then we switched kids and they both did the same thing again. Wow. I wish I had it on video because it truly was the highlight of the whole trip for me. Love those sweet kids so much (but I REALLY loved our extended date!)
We have been home from vacation for over a week and I am just now getting around to writing a post about it. Life is just busy…which is why we needed a vacation in the first place!
Vacation was truly vacation this time. We packed up the kids and got on a plane with my parents and headed for Denver. The 6 of us rented a house in Estes Park for 5 days and went with no plans and no agenda. It was wonderful. We stopped at a grocery store on the way into town and bought all of our food for the trip and then headed for the house. The day we arrived Estes Park got 6 inches of snow. Awesome. Neither of the kids had ever seen snow before. (As you would expect, they weren’t that excited about it. It’s wet and cold).
Aside from taking a day trip to Rocky Mountain National Forest, there really was no agenda. Randy and I got to have a date night while my parents watched the kids, but the rest of the time was pretty free-flowing. The only thing on the schedule was to take a dip in the hot tub once the kids were asleep every evening. 🙂
Here are some pictures below, but check out the full Picasa album for more.
We descended upon Blanco, Texas for the weekend, along with 5 other families from around the state. Six families, most with multiple children, and ALL of them under 5 years old!
We needed a LARGE place to accommodate such a big group, and I give credit to Summer for finding this place. The property is right on the Blanco River, which under normal circumstances, would have been a great place to hang out. Given our extreme drought conditions, the river had dried up to nothing more than a few large ponds in this area. However, the house, pool, and accommodations more than made up for the lost river time.
To summarize the weekend’s activities, it went something like this:
Wake up, eat breakfast, play, swim in the pool, eat lunch, nap, play, swim in the pool, eat dinner, play, get the kids to bed, relax (Women=chat, Men=watch football), sleep… repeat.
We had a few significant events that made for a great weekend with friends. First and foremost, it was opening weekend for college football. This house had a bonafide “Man Cave” with a projection screen TV, wet bar, bathroom and wine cellar (empty). Every night seemed to provide a great game match-up to get excited about (Fri: Baylor/TCU, Sat: Oregon/LSU, Sunday: SMU/A&M). Second, on Sunday morning, a cool front blew in that gave us a nice change of pace from the 100 degree weather we had been experiencing for months. It was literally a breath of fresh air for everyone to just hang out outside and enjoy. And finally, it was my birthday on Sunday, and this trip allowed me a great place to just spend it with my family and celebrate with friends.
Dad rented a beach house from a friend of his. I was being a little dramatic and high maintenance because I found out it only had 2 bedrooms. I just couldnt’ picture how my whole family, plus mom and dad, plus Diana were going to fit. Oh I was wrong. Oh so wrong.
