Birthday Blast

What do you get the girl who has everything?  Well, Zaira might not have everything, but she does seem to have what she needs.  So, when her birthday came around this weekend, we had to find a way to make it special.  We thought long and hard about not wanting to bring any more toys into the house.  In spite of the fact that we have all these boys in the house, we also have a lot of girly things left over from Amanda (and also my old dolls and toys).

Then I had a brain storm... for those of you who have read the blog or seen our pics on Facebook, you know that we had a very special butterfly bench at a park for Zaira to take pictures throughout her first year.  We have really missed that bench since we moved away.  SO...I looked into buying her a butterfly bench.  We could never afford the one like the park, but we found a nice one (on a much smaller scale) for a price we could afford.  Michael put it together and set it out for Zaira to find.  We were so pleased when we saw how much she loves it!  We hope to have many happy butterfly pictures for a long time to come!

It happened that her birthday was also the last day for the summer reading program at our local library.  The boys had been telling Zaira all week taht the library was going to help celebrate her birthday with an ice cream party.  The librarian heard and made a big show of her arrival.  We have such an awesome librarian!  The boys were almost as excited as Zaira as they walked through a spray of bubbles to start out the fun afternoon...all for Zaira they insisted! (more on the library event in my blog later this week).

Michael had his military weekend so we did not have a lot of time to celebrate, but we did make an amazing FOUR layer CHOCOLATE cake with CHOCOLATE icing...emphasized because it was really that extreme!  We also had Amanda come for a visit.  She had made Zaira a special gift...her very own tail!  It is so cute and Zaira loved wearing it and rubbing it on her cheek!  I thought she would sleep with it but we distracted her with the chocolate cake.  However, the tail will be a cherished play thing I am sure!  She also opened her card from Gramma.  Zaira was very excited to learn she was going to go shopping (Lord, help us when she is a teenager!) with her cash gift!

On Sunday, after a Family Fun Day at the park with Michael battalion, we added to the fun weekend with a trip to Corpus Christi.  It is a short drive down that way (as we discovered when we took Henry to camp) and we thought Zaira would enjoy a special memory.  Of course, we all would be able to enjoy the memory with her so I guess it ended up being a family gift for Zaira.  We had a restful evening at a hotel and went to bed early, so we could go to the beach before the break of day to see the newly hatched Kemp Ridley sea turtles released into the ocean!

All I can say about the experience...if you have never had this opportunity and are able to get to the Padre Island National Seashore, you need to find a way to do this.  While we waited for the release, we also had a chance to photo the large full moon of the season (known as the Sturgeon Moon).  We got a few pictures before listening to the ranger talk.


It was a great visit to the beach and the sea turtles are adorable.  They are highly protected from being endangered.  We were able to stay gathered around the release area in order to clear the way for their successful trip into the water.  It was a wonderful experience.  This makes you remember that all life is important...no matter how small...and that is certainly true for these little turtles as they are only the size of an Oreo cookie..."a bite size morsel" as the park ranger told us.

The picture I missed...found on line.

To continue our nature theme, we headed to a nature preserve in Port Aransas in search of the Roseate Spoonbill and other coastal birds.  We traveled down the Salt Water Trail and saw various species.  However, we had almost returned from the trail with no sign of our "Rosie-bird."  Henry and Edward had run ahead while the rest of us lingered on the trail to look.  When we were almost back to the trail head, Henry and Edward ran up and told us that they had seen it!  Did we see it fly overhead?  NO!!!!  So we dejectedly headed back to the van.  However, as we were walking through a pavilion, we saw it!!!  I tried to take a photo but it was amazing how fast this big bird could soar through the sky!  But, it was a beautiful sight to see.  It makes me want to return in the fall when the population increases.

We also stopped at the beach here to let the children enjoy a salt water swim.  Zaira did not think much of the waves and clasped on to Michael the entire time.  The boys had a blast jumping through the waves and watching the surfer camp next to us.  Brendan splashed in the lower waves close to shore.  I got to take pictures and enjoy the breeze.  It did not take long for the sun to warm things up.  The sand got hot and we decided to stop and look for a cache with our GPS.  We found it under a bus stop bench near the pier.

After that excitement, the plan was to cross over on the ferry and find a place to have an early lunch and head home.  The ferry ride here is not very exciting as it only lasts about 3 minutes, but we were out on the water along with the larger ships for a little while.  We were not doing well at locating a restaurant, so we continued the path home.

We were heading back into Corpus Christi and there she was...the USS Lexington!  Brendan saw her first and hollered out..."There's an aircraft carrier!"  I was surprised he knew what it was, so I asked him how he knew..."I am a genius, Mom.  I can think!"  Oh my!  So, our nature study then became a history lesson.  We postponed our hunger for food to sustain our hunger for knowledge.

My favorite part of the tour was speaking to a Korean War veteran who was refurbishing a large scale replica of the USS South Dakota.  He had been working on it for over three years and had at least  two years before completion.  We talked about the replica we viewed at Pearl Harbor, which got us talking about his father in World War II.  He told me how he was too young, so his father had to go in his place.  It was another chance to hear about history from someone who lived it.  I love those kind of opportunities!

Of course, the boys loved going through the ship and pretending to LIVE the history through their imagination.  They loved walking through the hull of the ship to see the daily routine on an aircraft carrier.  There were also several historical airplanes on the flight deck.  The children all enjoyed exploring the area and taking pictures with all of the fighter planes as these are highly decorated and bright colors.  Zaira even inspected areas that most would have ignored.  I think she would make a good inspector!

We did finally enjoy a seafood dinner (instead of lunch).  It was great to talk about the day with the children, while we sat out on the open patio.  It was especially nice to re-hydrate after a full day of being outside.  The waitress was kind and always kept our glasses full!  I wrote on several postcards to send home...as I love to do this when ever we go on an adventure.  There was even a live show and Zaira insisted that Michael dance with her.  She is such a Daddy's girl!  A great way to end her birthday weekend!

Well, we also got home to half a birthday cake!  So, we enjoyed our dessert before crashing in bed!  Michael especially enjoyed his sleep as he had only had about 8 hours of sleep over a four day period!  However, I think we all enjoyed a good sound sleep after the adventure at the coast!

Catch Up Post

When I got on the site this evening to post about our adventure of this last week, I was shocked to see the lapse in time since my last post!  I guess it has just been a busy summer with little energy to post at the end of the day.

July was spent with camps, VBS, and family visits.  But mainly lots of time on the road.  This summer has also been unusually cool with temperatures in the 80s and lower 90s...which meant a lot of time enjoyed outside, especially at the pool.

The boys were able to get back into altar serving at our new church.  They even had the joy of heading to the annual summer party at a parishioner's home on the river.  They grilled hot dogs and played throughout the evening.  I am glad to see them getting involved in church now that we are getting settled.

I also got involved at the church with VBS...all of those years of running the program, I enjoyed just teaching a short class each day with the oldest group of youth.  The focus was on David and the Psalms, so I was able to share the importance of praising God through the Divine Office...one of my favorite methods of prayer.  On the last day we had a fun water game day.  I guess God wanted to join in the fun as He had us playing in the rain...just a sprinkle!

We also had fun with my nephew, Karson, that week.  He does not get away from home often and we do not have opportunity to see him as they live south of Houston.  He seemed to like his visit and the VBS, which I am glad to know.

We dropped Karson off with my brother, just in time to run to the resale stores near our house to throw together some costumes.  Our library was having a Doctor Who party....and of course the boys could not resist the opportunity to dress up like their favorite Doctors.  Sean dressed in a cream colored suit that I modified to have red stripes...he was the fifth Doctor.  Henry borrowed the scarf Amanda made for Uncle Root Beer and we found a jacket and pants to add to the outfit.  Then we searched through boxes to find the hat my Dad loved to wear that was perfect for the fourth Doctor.  Edward seemed to have the easiest costume as he was the ninth Doctor and had more modern clothes.  We even found a genuine leather jacket that I hope to wear when the weather cools off this fall!

We arrived at the party just in time for the fun to begin.  I sat to the side and watched the boys mingle within the crowd of teens.  Mainly they just wondered through to the seating set up to watch a few episodes.  Then they entered the costume contest.  Without a doubt, Henry won first place (The Tom Baker Doctor will always be a crowd pleaser!).  He won a movie night for two and offered to take me to the movies!  Sean was the unofficial second place although not announced to the entire group and no prize was given out.  Most of all the boys enjoyed themselves with other Who fans!

We spent the next day frantically packing Henry for his week long wildlife camp.  The next day we drove him down to the Corpus Christi area and decided to make a quick stop at the National Seashore on Padre Island.  I had hoped we would be there to see the Ridley turtles hatch but the little critters did not cooperate with us!  We are already planning a trip back to try again in August.  It is only a 3-hour drive away so it would make a nice day trip.  The boys and Zaira still enjoyed the few minutes of ocean waves before heading on our way.  Actually, Zaira did not like the sand at first as you can see in the picture above...but she eventually figured it out and had a good time.

I will save the camp stories for Henry to tell...so check out his blog in the next few days.

During the VBS week and the week of Henry's camp, Sean and Edward were able to enjoy 4-H Insect Camp.  Sean was an assistant and Edward was a camper.  I will save those details for Sean's entomology blog.  All I can say...it was strange and oddly quiet with only the two little ones around most of the day.  But we did not just sit around...I was preparing for our trip to the national WHEP contest for Sean.  I also had to set up the meals for Michael while we were away.

I will save the second road trip adventure for another post.  I will also have Sean help me write a post for my 4-H blog (I have not written a post there in a LONG time!)