Gummy Bear

Well, Ariel still has not scheduled an appointment with the neurologist or the follow-up visit with the general practioner.  She continues to have episodes pretty much every day.  She said she can feel it coming on for an hour beforehand.  It sounds horrible.  Sometimes I find her very frustrating.

We had a good weekend.  A friend came to visit from out of town so I had a few of our mutual friends over for dinner.  We stayed up late and I drank too much.  It was totally unplanned, but we had a great time!  We let Aiden stay up since our friends had their daughters with them (3 and 8 years old).  Both girls fell asleep on the couch while watching a movie.  Aiden was sitting straight up, eyes wide open, refusing to fall asleep.  When everyone left and it was time for him to go to bed, he still fought us.  I swear, that kid would never sleep if it was up to him.

Sunday we went over to the Yeager's house for dinner.  Aiden and Luke had a dance party towards the end of the night.  I had turned on music before everyone came on Saturday and he showed me his break dancing moves for the first time.  I had no idea he liked to dance like that!  In the past, he has pretty much refused to dance for us.  That's why we put him in the dance class at his daycare.  I guess it opened him up to getting his groove on because he chose to dance on his own.  The funny part is he and Luke have very similar moves.  It was so cute.  They really enjoyed dancing to this music (it really is very catchy):

"Listen here, Cupcake!"

GREAT WEEKEND. The end.

Not really the end, but I'm having a hard time putting all my thoughts in order about this weekend. Let's start with the baby shower. It went great! Sort of. Friday night, Rachel came over to help me make all the desserts, including decorating. Everything turned out great that night. But overnight, the icing melted off all the cupcakes, which is exactly what happened to the cupcakes I made for Aiden's birthday. Unfortunately, this time we didn't have time to fix them the next day. Last time, Rachel came earlier to repair the goodies. This time, she got a flat tire, which postponed her arrival. To solve the problem, we decided to call them glazed cupcakes. HA.

The only other snafu was the slushies wouldn't freeze. It froze solid in my freezer over night, but managed to completely thaw out on the ride to the party house. Then there wasn't enough time for it to refreeze before the shower. Bummer.

Besides that, everything went smoothly. A couple of Alexa's friends came early to help me set up the food table and we finished with enough time to chat for a bit before the first party goer arrived. We had food, talked, played a few baby shower games and then rounded it off with glazed cupcakes. I got to meet a bunch of Alexa's friends for the first time and they were all so friendly. One of the girls at the party even brought her 3-month old baby girl Mackenzie. ADORABLE. And the perfect accessory to bring to a baby shower!

After the party, we hung out at Chris and Alexa's for a few hours. All the guys hung out at their place two doors down during the party. Our long-distance friend Chris W. even showed up for a bit. It was great to catch up! Blair and Aiden each got to be one of the guys for the afternoon. Aiden loves following Blair around to see what he will do next.

Travis and I were discussing parenthood the next day. One of the couples that came for the party didn't have any kids and is not planning to have kids for many more years. Travis said he knew the guy didn't have kids within moments of him walking in the door because of how much he cussed. What's funny, is I remember those days. I used to be that person. That person got toned down a bunch even before I got pregnant because of all the babies that I was surrounded by. That has only become more so since Aiden has begun babbling.

Once Travis and I came to this realization in our conversation, I started thinking about parenthood. I have always had a hard time picturing me as one of the parents that I remember as a kid. I still feel too young to be one of those people. I kept thinking that maybe it was because the parents I remember had teenage kids, which means I have another decade before I reach that point. But now I'm thinking it has more to do with having a child. It forces you to become more responsible and selfless and authoritative.

I'm not sure how I feel about it, but it looks like I just might turn into a traditional parent yet!

Happy Birthday Mom!

It's always so nice to have Travis at home all weekend. It makes it seem much longer than the ones where he is working on Saturday. This past Sunday, Chris and Shannon stopped by on their way back to Dallas. This was Chris and Aiden's first meeting. Unfortunately, Aiden was pretty sleepy and not really up for socializing. Too bad. =(

After they left, Travis and I made a quick run to the grocery store and then headed to the disk golf park. Aiden was still really tired and cranky, so I ended up heading back to the car after 15 minutes of him crying in his carrier. I fed him in the car before going back out to the course.

Asleep at the wheel

I put Aiden in his carrier facing me so he could sleep on my chest, but he would have nothing to do with sleeping. Instead he observed the great outdoors.

One of the guys (who we met up with at the course) threw his frisbee into the top of this very tall tree. Lucky for them there were a bunch of vines hanging down for them to pull and shake until the frisbee fell free.

Nice throw.

It was a long day for Aiden. We have to be careful about doing so much. Aiden has started to get distracted very easily. He used to sleep anywhere, but now it's like he'd rather stay awake and be a part of the activity than fall asleep. By the end of the day he is a monster version of our son; one I'd rather not know.

It was so nice outside though. It was so peaceful; a little cool, clear skies, the mosquitoes were as under control as we could hope for in the middle of a park with ponds. Great weather. I hope we are so lucky this upcoming weekend!

The Ride Home

Sunday before we left Chris and Shannon's, we hung out at their house. After breakfast, the boys went in the backyard to let the dogs run around. I looked out the big picture window to see Chris pulling weeds out of the ground while Travis watched from afar. I asked Shannon if she knew what they were doing. She knew not. We stood at the window trying to figure it out, when a little baby bunny came bounding out of the tall grass and into the dog run. He was so tiny and cute! And then we realized that there were dogs out there with this tiny, cute creature. EEK.

We ran outside and Shannon yelled at Chris to grab their bigger dog. Then Lightning Fingers Shannon caught the little bugger. It was horrible because he wouldn't stop screaming until Shannon let him go. He was SO UPSET. She put the bunny in a kennel with grass so her daughter Caty could see it before releasing him away from their home. In the afternoon, they let him go farther away from their house in hopes that he wouldn't hop right back to the dog run.

For lunch we ordered take-out pizza from an Italian restaurant in town. Chris stopped on his way back to pick up some Dublin Dr. Pepper. I guess the difference is that it is made the original way - with pure sugar cane, as opposed to high fructose corn syrup. It was so cute because it came in little 8-oz glass bottles. The pizza was AWESOME. I was so mad I didn't have room to fit the remaining pizza in my mouth before we left. I was a big fan of food before I got pregnant, but I cannot even begin to describe the awesomeness of it during pregnancy.

While we were on the road at one point, I mentioned to Chris that I had not seen any Bluebonnets since I moved to this state. Shortly thereafter, he showed me fields and fields of the flower. This purplish-blue beauty lined the highway for a good portion of the trip home. We left their house around 2 in the afternoon and since there weren't horrific thunderstorms, we made it to Houston in record time.

When we reached Houston, Travis pulled off for gas. While I was waiting in the car for him to finish pumping I had to sit staring at a bum leaning against the gas station. A moment later, a woman (that we had seen walking drunkenly down the sidewalk) walked up to the man at the next pump. She loudly slurred a request for a ride. "Just a block," she said. "Just a block is all I need." I don't know if she was tired of walking or if she might have other ideas for the ride there. When she said she would pay him for his troubles, the man agreed, but said to give the bum the money. She walked over to the bum, pulled him down to her (he was really tall, she was really short), kissed him on the cheek and handed him the money. Then she walked back over to the car and got in for her ride. I was thoroughly creeped out.

Once we were back on the highway, we started to discuss where to stop for dinner. You know those delivery trucks that aren't full size, but local grocery stores use them to transport goods? Well, we saw one of them driving down the highway, back door open, FULL OF PEOPLE. Travis immediately wondered out loud if the driver knew all his illegals were in plain view. As we got closer, we realized everyone was wearing Houston Chronicle jackets and at least half of them were not of hispanic descent. Even though it may not have been a truck full of illegal aliens, I'm pretty sure that method of transporting people is NOT LEGAL.

When we got to the south side of Houston, we ran into a horrible detour. The entire highway was being re-routed to the feeder. That has stop lights. Travis was too frustrated to follow the masses, so he turned off into a neighborhood. We quickly found ourselves in Mexico. No joke people. Every house in that neighborhood had a hispanic family sitting out front. Once we got into the business section, every sign we saw was in spanish. Every store and restaurant served mexican food and looked like it was straight off the streets of Mexico. We were definitely the only white folk in the area. The only reason I knew we hadn't been transported south was because I recognized some of the Houston street names. IT WAS SO WEIRD.

At one point, we were sitting at a stoplight in front of Guarderia Infantiles waiting for green when we saw a Cutlass Supreme doing hydraulic wheelies. AT THE STOP LIGHT. In case you do not know exactly what I am talking about, I have found a link to a video demonstrating what we saw. I have never, in real life, seen a car hopping it's wheels off the ground before. Not to mention in the middle of traffic - not in some parking lot somewhere. I've seen dumbasses wiggling their car around on the hydraulics, but I have never seen a vehicle leave the ground like that. Except on TV. Where the hell were we?!

I was happy when we made it back to our part of town and were sitting in the booth at IHOP. Nothing like Belgian Waffles with Butter Pecan syrup and chocolate milk to help soothe the day away!

Stranger Belly Rub

Travis and I planned a trip to Chris and Shannon's house near Dallas-Ft. Worth for the past weekend. It is about a 5-hour road trip, so we decided to leave after work on Friday so we would have at least one full day at their house. Unfortunately for us, there was a serious storm covering most of east Texas, complete with tornado warnings across the whole state. It took us six hours to get to their house, so we got in a little late. We stayed up and chatted for a few minutes before heading to bed.

Our host and hostess were gracious enough to offer the pregnant lady their bed with adjoining bathroom for easy midnight trips. Another plus - they have a memory foam pillow top cover for their mattress. Both nights I woke up when the sun came up ONLY because my hip had fallen asleep. The only time I rolled over the entire night was when I got back to bed after a trip to the bathroom. I slept like a ROCK. Travis and I both slept like a rock.

Saturday morning we got up and Chris made us awesome breakfast sandwiches. We hung around the house and caught up on each others lives. For lunch we went to a local burger place and for dessert I had their version of an oreo "blizzard" that HIT THE SPOT. It was frozen yogurt, which is my fave. We went back to Chris and Shannon's house to work on digesting all the food.

They live in a gated community and the guard that was working was new and he was an elderly gentleman, so he seemed a little confused. He was cute! Chris and Shannon's house is pretty big and they have a Texas back yard. And by Texas, I mean that it has not been landscaped yet, so it probably looks like it has for centuries. The soil in their area is very rocky, so there are all sorts of flaky, sand-colored rocks jutting out of the ground. There are pine trees EVERYWHERE making it smell like a pine forest every time you step out their door. Chris also educated us in the fact that Mesquite trees grow rampant in those parts, so their yard and neighborhood was filled with them. They could cut off a branch in their own yard to grill their dinner! Ha!

For dinner, we went into Fort Worth. Chris grew up in this area, so he knows all the good spots to eat. He brought us to this great mexican restaurant with a huge, beautiful patio called Joe T. Garcia's Mexican Restaurant. I could not get over how busy this place was. I also could not get over the amount of pregnant women and children that were there. Seriously! I went to the restroom while we were waiting for our table and got traffic jammed in the ridiculously small bathroom when there were suddenly two large bellies in the tiny room. We managed to maneuver our way past each other. Then when I got back out to the waiting area, there was a pregnant woman in line in front of us. And THEN, we saw two gigantically pregnant women walk past on the street to go in through a separate entrance. So strange.

After dinner, Chris took us for a walk through the Stockyards. I guess it's the area where the cowboys used to coral cattle before heading north. Nowadays, it contains a large building where the local rodeo is held and the streets are lined with shops (that mostly sell cowboy gear), restaurants and bars.

Cowtown Coliseum - Travis and I

Fort Worth Stockyards - Shannon and Chris

Since it was after dark, the shops were closed and the nightlife was buzzing. We walked by a bunch of bars as Chris told stories of places he used to go to. We passed by a basement bar and debated going in. Chris knew the owner and he wanted to check it out. This is where the story of my first Stranger Belly Rub comes in.

I would like to first digress for a moment to mention that I sort of skipped the first Stranger Belly Rub step a month ago when I had a stranger forego the belly rub and go right in for the belly kiss. That's right, a stranger kissed my belly. The worst part is that it was my bare belly because it was when I was on the beach in a bikini for Robert's birthday. Ugh, so awkward. I thought the woman was leaning down to talk to my belly. Silly me - she wanted to KISS my belly. Phsh. I quickly backed up and went over to Ariel and Robert. Come to find out, the lady was on Ecstacy. I instantly freaked out wondering if the woman had any of it on her lips that might be on my belly now, absorbing into my bloodstream and making it's way to my baby. Talk about freaky. so taht was my first Stranger Belly Kiss.

Anyhoo, back to my first Stranger Belly Rub. It was a drunk guy. On the streets of Fort Worth, in front of a bar. Turns out he was the co-owner of the bar we were debating on entering. The guy was telling me how beautiful my belly was and he wouldn't quit touching me. Everyone quickly made the move to leave the guy in front of his bar.

I'm thinking I must have a pretty intimidating resting face. My mom has had many problems with just such a problem, so it only fits that I should have this issue too. Because why else would the first strangers to touch my belly be on drugs and alcohol? Why not the sweet old lady at the pharmacy? Or some young woman at the grocery store? The logical answer is that I must look like I'm going to punch them in the face if they get near me and the only people stupid enough to look past that are high or drunk. The only logical answer, right?

After the belly rub incident, we settled on an outdoor bar with a band playing outside. It was nice for me because it wasn't very smoky. The band played a few of their own songs and threw in a sprinkling of songs we would know - like Sweet Home Alabama. It was so nice out, but we were all stuffed from our mexican dinner that we didn't stay long.

At one point, a group of middle aged people came in and sat at a table close to the stage. One of the guys was wearing what appeared to be a belt with a gazillion pouchs attached to it and we were discussing what we thought it was. Our question was answered when the guy meandered on the stage while the band was mid-song with his pouch-belt, pulled out a harmonica and started jamming with the band. It was hilarious! He didn't appear to be a part of the band at all. He just went up and joined them in the middle of their song.

Harmonica Man is in the white hat on the right side of the stage:

Crazy Chris Topher (and Shannon)

We got home late that night since it was a 30-minute drive back to their place. Sunday morning we ate and ate some more. All in all I would say it was a weekend full of sitting and eating. That's our kind of weekend!

I have some good stories about the drive home on Sunday, but I'll save those for later...

Goodbye For Now

Shannon and Chris came to stay with us this weekend for their "going away" party. I put quotations around those two words because I don't really feel like they are leaving. Yes, they have moved five and a half hours away, so we won't be able to meet for dinner during the week or be able to randomly stop by each other's houses. But, it's not so far away that we'll never be able to visit. Shannon's son is staying just north of Houston for a few months, so they will definitely be coming back to visit with him. They are hoping to do that every other weekend. We're hoping to be able to meet up some during some of those trips closer to us. They still have their house here, that they are renting out, leaving another tie to our area.

They got in Friday night around 8pm and we made dinner on the grill. We kept the evening early since they had driven for a large portion of the day and Travis had a full work day (and week). Saturday we just lounged around the house. The boys watched football and drank beer, while Shannon and I visited with Alexa. Since Blair has an early bedtime, Alexa decided to hang out for a few hours before the party. Both ladies helped me prepare the appetizers all afternoon.

Everyone started showing up for the party around 7pm, the scheduled party time. We had a pretty good turn out. We had the table full of food and the fridge was stocked and ready for the festivities.

Couple of the Hour

Sara and Dana

The most beautiful bald person I know, Rachel, and her boyfriend Scott

Ariel and Robert

Robert, me and Travis

Jäger shots. Blech.

Shannon and her brother JT

(with Chris giving her the floating bunny ears)

Shannon and Chris had TOO much fun and passed out before the party was over. We let it go since they were the Couple of the Hour. I think Travis and I made it to bed around 1pm. Funny how our parties end earlier and earlier as we get older. I'm not complaining though. Old lady Nikki needs her beauty sleep.

Sunday we slept in a little and then met Chris R. and Alexa for brunch at a nearby restaurant. Chris was unable to make it over Saturday because he was on a flight and he wanted to see Shannon and Chris W. before they left. We laughed at how HUGE the portions were at the restaurant. The food was great though. We need to remember that place, but maybe we won't go on a Sunday morning. It was ridiculously busy and the place is a seat-yourself restaurant. Yikes.

Let another week begin! (And the countdown for Thanksgiving is upon us - 10 days to go!)

Not Much To Tell

I have absolutely nothing exciting to report today. Friday I went up to Chris and Alexa's to help assemble some of their new Ikea cabinets. There are so many that I barely feel like I made a dent! After two hours of working, I went with Alexa to pick up Blair from daycare. I've never been before and I'm listed as an emergency contact, so it was nice to see where the place was and how things work. It always cracks me up seeing all those babies together. Crazy kids.

Travis and I kept the evening easy since we were so busy all week. Saturday morning, Travis' alarm went off like normal and he left for work. About 20 minutes later he was pulling back into the driveway. I assumed he had forgotten something and would probably run in and out in a hurry, so when I didn't hear the door open for several minutes I wondered if I had imagined his truck coming back. Finally, he came in and back to the bedroom. He had the day off!

First thing on his list? Go back to bed. I am in the middle of reading the Twilight series and am completely addicted to it. Even though I was happy to have Travis for TWO WHOLE DAYS this week, I was thankful to have a little more time with my reading. I seriously think I have a problem. I have to force myself to put the book down so I don't spend my entire day just reading. I am on the third book and the forth is in the mail from Overstock.com. Seriously - right now I want to stop typing and go read that book. Must wait...

We spent the rest of the day running errands... grocery shopping, a stop at Petco, a few moments at the bookstore. I still need to put everything in the checkbook. Ugh. I had plans to go up to a friend's house that I don't see very often for a little get together, girls only. Travis went as Quagmire to a bar in Houston for a Halloween costume party with Sara and JR.

Speaking of Halloween, check out a few of the Halloween costumes my friends are using for their kids this year.

Logan, the Golfer

Complete with knickers.

Wednesday, the Monkey

Sunday, I did nothing except go out for Vietnamese food for lunch and then read my day away. Travis made himself useful around our house and our friends'. He put the the gutter downspouts that were still knocked off from Ike and he took care of some paint cans that needed to be properly disposed of. Then he went over to Chris and Shannon's house to help Chris hang new cabinets. Everyone is getting new cabinets! I really want some to put around our stove, but that will have to fall somewhere after rewiring the house and putting tile in the kitchen and bathrooms. NEVER ENDING.

The Good and The Bad

First, the good. My chiropractor called me yesterday!!! Woohoo! I was a week overdue when I was supposed to have my appointment on September 12th - the day before the hurricane hit. We are now going on four weeks since that missed appointment. MY HEAD IS KILLING ME! It was bad off and on starting the week after the storm. Now it is almost a constant pain. First my neck hurts. Then I stretch, twist and turn my neck without realizing it until I have a full blown headache. And that will only go away with sleep (before starting the process all over again the next afternoon). Tylenol helps, but doesn't totally get rid of it.

Hence, the three exclamation points after the good news. I drove by the clinic a couple weeks ago and it doesn't look good. They are gutting it right now. I looked up chiropractors that I could go see, but I've been postponing it because the idea of starting all over again kills me. I would have to go to a new doctor that I don't know if I can trust. Then he'll probably take x-rays and I'll have to explain everything all over again. I like my chiropractor. I know that what he does works and I don't want to switch. Thankfully, he's available three days a week at another clinic in a nearby town until the one in Galveston is back up and running (hopefully in December). I made an appointment for next Thursday. It does seem far away, but I've gone five weeks already. What's another one?

Now, the bad. My Shannon and her husband Chris are moving to the Fort Worth area. =( =( =( Their business has all but crashed since the hurricane and they can no longer afford to stay. They have rented out their house and are looking for a house to rent in Fort Worth. Chris is from there, so they will know some people already. It just sucks. I went over to their house today to help paint in preparation for the new renters, but we ended up just taping off the trim and packing some boxes. Mostly, it was a chance to catch up on everything that has happened in our lives lately.

I am always surprised at how much crap that happens to Chris and Shannon. It never stops and they are good people that don't deserve that. Shannon started off the morning by explaining to me how when she got in last night her house was filled with diarrhea because their Rottweiler had gotten into the trash. Then there was no toilet paper when she needed to pee after her three hour road trip. The list of catastrophes goes on. I just hope that they find something good in this move. They definitely could use some positive in their lives. I will miss them. I foresee weekend trips in our future.

Miracle Method

Our friends Chris and Shannon started their own business last year called Miracle Method. It has offices nation-wide, but they are in charge of this area. They offered to do the sink in our half-bath as a belated house-warming gift. Chris came over this morning and finished sometime this afternoon. I told Shannon it was like Christmas for adults - I left home with a dreary, yellow faux-marble sink and came home to a brand new white and cappuccino faux-granite sink. WOW! Here are the results (I love it!):

The close-up:

It is still drying and we are not suppose to touch it for at least 24 hours. Needless to say, that room is shut off from our furry friends. I can't wait to go buy new bathroom decor. That room needs a splash of color.

[Check out the rest of the photos on Flickr.]

Friday in Photos

David, Stephanie and Wednesday got to our house Friday evening. Shannon, Chris, Sara, JR and Logan all came over to visit with them. Nothing too crazy - I just made a frozen lasagna and Shannon brought over a cranberry-walnut salad. Pretty laid back.

Logan's impression of JR. And a good one at that.

A very excited Stephanie. Lol!

Travis, a booger bulb and a beer.

Wednesday and the boys

CrAzY haired Wednesday

Wednesday was absolutely terrified of Travis the first time she saw him on Friday. We think she was just tired and freaking out a little because she went to sleep in a car she knows very well and woke up in a strange house. Poor kiddo! She did a little better once Travis took off his hat. By the end of the weekend they were old buds again. Phew!

"Hurricane" Party

Well, we are all still here. Edouardo never advanced to hurricane levels. We are still waiting for the last rain band to make landfall. Yesterday, my work let everyone out early and they excused us in advance from working today. Hurricane prep made things a little more hectic. We had to pull all the computers away from the windows and cover all the machines with plastic, in case the sprinklers came on. I even worked up a sweat carrying all the big stuff around. Then, when I got outside to go to my car, the heat was unbearable. My car thermometer said it was 96 degrees out, so I have no idea what the heat index was.

As soon as I left work, I called a few friends and found out that most everyone had today off too, including Travis. That meant Hurricane Party time!! I stopped at the liquor store to get the booze to make SoCo Hurricanes, plus some beer to supplement the evening. When I got home, I turned up the fan on the fridge and freezer and turned the AC to cooler. Then I went around and closed the shutters on all the windows. The house felt like a bunker. A bunch of people came over throughout the night. Ariel even stopped by for a few hours with fruit skewers for the Hurricanes. My camera is still in the shop, so please excuse the blurry photos.

Three Man

Everyone that came brought along beer, so the fridge was fully stocked right up until the end of the night. Most of the group moved over to JR and Sara's house around 4 in the morning. I can NOT BELIEVE we stayed up so late.

I woke up at 11 this morning. That has got to be the latest I have slept in for years. I was irritated to find the stench of stale beer in the air when I got into the kitchen. The first thing I did was clean up all the trash and wipe down the counters. I still need to mop. That is a horrible smell first thing in the morning. With a hangover. I was surprised (despite with the way I feel) to find we drank EVERYTHING. 1.75 liters for Southern Comfort, 750 mL of Jager, and who knows how many cases of beer. ALL GONE. Needless to say, everyone is feeling a little crummy this morning.

Oh, and check it out - Captain Morgan stopped by (or maybe it was just Chris...):

Well, I'm going to go lay down. I need to take full advantage of having today off from work.

Fantastical Timing

Oh what a loooong day. I was very busy at work all of yesterday morning and then had to rush out and attempt to take care of something for myself. And it was stressful. Bad stressful. After that, Travis and I went grocery shopping and brought that home. On the way home, Ariel sent me a text inviting us down to the bar she works at. She said the drinks would be on her. That sounded like the best idea I had heard all day. So we planned to make dinner, then head to bar. I was in the middle of scooping chili out of a can for our chili dogs, when SLICE. I swear the lid of the can carved right into the bone at the base of my pointer finger. And it would not. Stop. Bleeding.

My first thought was, wow, now all the botulism in this meat is spreading through my body. Keep in mind I was about to eat this stuff. I guess it just felt really wrong to have meat smeared into a wound. Am I getting too graphic here? Sorry. Well, Travis ran for the band-aids while I held the cut under running water. The first band-aid didn't last long. It quickly bled through, so I got out the gauze and tape. As I was stifling the bleeding, my phone rang. I wasn't doing anything except sitting there, really, so I answered it. It was Shannon and she and Chris wanted to treat us out to dinner! With margaritas! I told her I was in the middle of something, but I would call her right back. Once I had wrapped that sucker up tight, I called her back and seeing as the meal I had planned already had an ominous feeling, I said YES. Perhaps a little too energetically. Ariel told us to take a rain check and come down tonight. We'll probably take her up on that offer.

We met them at a taquería for dinner and margaritas. It was fantastic. Travis and I had a dreary evening planned for the two of us, and Shannon and Chris lifted us right out of there. They came over afterwards and we had a few beers. JR and Sara stopped by for a little while and we listened a little to this Dane Cook CD I got for Christmas (frickin hilarious) and everyone went home by 10:30 pm.

It was a good finish to my crappy day. I'm getting ready to head into work again. Hopefully I'll get out of there pretty quick because I have a lot of cleaning I would like to do around the house. Travis is doing a side job at lunch time, which gives me plenty of distraction-free time to kick ass on the housework. Then, it's back to work in the late afternoon. I can't wait for Sunday. That will be my real "weekend".

Rollin' on the River

I finally got the photos back from the river. Just like last year, they mostly turned out blurry. The lens was either covered in condensation or there was a drop of water obscuring the view. This is the best I could get with a disposable camera.

We got on the water around 10am. The water was FREEZING. After a couple minutes, someone said we should have just brought a bag, filled it with beer and let that hang in the water. It was that cold. After my ass went numb, I applied sunscreen and cracked open a beer. Yes - we started drinking at 10 in the morning. And it was awesome.

The river was at a complete standstill, so it took us at least an hour to get around the first bend. At that point we didn't mind though. We were just chilling outside, sipping on a beer. Chris got frustrated after a while and said he was just going to walk home. Here's Chris walking home (behind Jenna):

It really is very pretty there. We enjoyed the majority of our toob trip. It wasn't until the last couple hours that we were miserable with sunburns. I swear to you that we had group sunblock time, where we passed around the sunscreen so everyone could have a go. And yet none of us made it out unscathed.

There were people on docks on the side of the river, mooning us. There were people down stream throwing jello shots around. I think Shannon even caught one. There were people with their dogs on their tubes. There were people with radios built into their coolers. There was even a woman who I am pretty sure was doped out on some sort of drugs. She was squirming around in her tube, with vomit stuck in her hair. And then Jenna and I got wedged between her and another group of people. Disgusting. There were SO MANY people there. Do you see all these people behind me?! INSANE.

About half way through our trip (probably because that's when all the partiers finally got up for the day), the river suddenly became filled with all these people. Towards the end, we passed a campground called Rainbow Campgrounds. Ha! There were some very butch looking women sitting in chairs in the water. And do you know what happened? Jenna, Shannon and I (all drunk), ran RIGHT INTO THEM. I'm sure they thought we were trying to start a conversation. They just looked at us and said, "you gettin off here?" Ahhh! Noooo! She didn't seem to hear us and asked again. Again, I said NO. After accepting our decision, she got up and gave us a good shove back into the flow of traffic. Narrow escape.

Ladies, it's time to be jealous. Yes. This is my sexy husband and I am damn proud of it. Some girls even talked to him about his tattoo. Silly girls. Don't they know he's with me?

We're all still nursing our burns... Except Travis. Boo on him.

**Update** I forgot to mention how we nearly lost the cooler for the second year in a row. We lost it last year going over a three foot waterfall. This year, a bunch of us were tied to the cooler tube. At some point (after plenty of beers), Jenna and Shannon went on one side of a rock, and Travis and the cooler went on the other side of the rock. The result was a torn rope and a spilled cooler of beer. I tried to grab a rope that was tied to the handle to right the cooler, but I just tore off the handle. The top got knocked off and all the beer spilled out. Along with our bag full of IDs, clothes and snacks. I was more concerned with the beers floating away than our bag (drunkenness is bad) so I focused on collecting those. There were a bunch of people standing on the side of these "rapids", and they helped us grab everything. Nice people. When we got to the end, we had everything. Thankfully someone thought to grab our bag. We found out later that the same thing happened to our neighbors at the campsite. But whoever grabbed their bag, also took the liberty of removing all of their debit cards. Not nice people. That's what started that whole fight that I mentioned several days ago. We made it away WITH all of our stuff. Including the beer!

The Guadalupe

Toobing and camping this weekend went great! We left Friday afternoon for the campground with Shannon and Chris. I think we got to our site around 6pm. I could not believe it when we got to our site and it was the exact same two we had last year! What are the chances? Well, it turns out the chances are pretty good. I guess they try to put people who reserve two or more sites together at this location. I'm guessing its because one of the sites is pretty small compared to the rest and it is on a hill, so there is no place to park. Next time we go I'm going to request a different site because the slant of those sites really gets to you after a while. Not to mention you have to arrange tents and beds according to the slant so you don't spend the entire night rolling over your significant other. Anyhoo. We had plenty of sunlight hours to put up our tents and set up shop. Jenna and Seth borrowed our other tent, so we set that up for them before they got there.

Chris brought two hammocks. Of course he and Travis had to test them out immediately.

The boys started up the fire and the grill so we could get dinner started - hamburgers and brats. We ate dinner and even had time for S'mores before Jenna and Seth finally made it to the site. They had to work until 4pm and then they stopped for dinner on the way. We all stayed up until 1am and drank a little too much cerveza. Despite the late night, we were all up by 8am. I guess we're all used to our daily routines. Travis made breakfast burritos and then we packed up for the river.

Here's our camp during daylight (it is so pretty there):

We had a couple run-ins with "nature" during our first 20 hours. A little before Jenna and Seth arrived, Mr. Skunk decided to pass through our campsite. We all stayed calm in hopes that the animal would leave us alone. Until Chris threw a rock at it. UGH. Thankfully, he was just scared off. I would have ripped Chris open if that animal would have sprayed us. I have never been sprayed, or had a dog that was sprayed, in my life. And I'd like to keep it that way, thank you very much. Our second run-in, was with a creepy, crawly poisonous creature - the Texas Giant Centipede. !!! While we were waiting for breakfast to be ready, he ran under my chair. I didn't even notice until Jenna pointed him out. We got a photo and then Chris set him back in the forest.

YIKES! Gives me the jitters just looking at the photo.

Our plan for tubing, or toobing, as it is spelled down here, was to do the same schedule we did last year: take the bus upstream, float back to our campsite to stop for lunch, then get back on for the other half of the ride where we would be picked up and brought home by the bus again. Unfortunately, water flow was at an almost complete standstill. It took us 7 HOURS to do what took us 3 or 4 last year. The huge bummer for me is that I did not pack a lunch since I thought we'd be back by that point. I at least brought a few snacks. I usually eat every two hours, alternating snack and meal. 7 hours of crackers and granola bars just didn't cut it for me. About an hour before we finally made it to our campsite, I completely ran out of juice. I decided I would just float it out and hope I made it there before I passed out. Luckily, there was a random hot dog stand on the side of the river. Chris got out and grabbed me some chili Frito pie. Not my favorite, but desparate times call for desparate measures. About 15 minutes after scarfing that down, my energy came back and I was able to paddle myself the rest of the way back. We were all burnt to a crisp by this point, so we were ready to get back. I don't have the photos back from the river yet. I brought a waterproof disposable camera with, so I'll get those up later.

We were all so worn out after the river that the evening quickly fizzled out. There was a fight between two drunk dudes at the campsite next to ours. After one of the guys left, Chris invited the rest of them over to help finish our food for dinner. While dinner was cooking, I decided to run and take a shower. Despite the peanut butter sandwich I devoured when we got back, I felt dizzy while standing in line. I had to postpone the shower to lay down in the tent while I waited for dinner. I've found that when I'm this far gone, the only thing that will bring me back is protein. Travis was awesome and brought me a fajita to the tent. I was able to eat that and drink a bottle of water while I waited for life to return to my body. It was horrible. I got up and ate a little more, before heading back to the showers. I was still dizzy, but I think it is mostly because I was still getting my land legs back. I felt like I was floating in a toob for the rest of the night.

I'm sad I felt so crappy because it sounds like I missed a lot of fun. Everyone played washers with the neighbors while they waited for dinner to be ready. Then afterwards, everyone headed down to the pavillion to watch Seth sing karaoke. He's known for his amazing skills at the mic. Actually, that's how Jenna and Seth met - at a karaoke bar. He prefers to sing Prince, but the DJ didn't have that. He settled for Lisa Lobe. I know that sounds strange, but you've gotta know the guy to understand. So sad I missed it...

Sunday morning we all got up and assessed the damage. Everyone was sunburnt. Bad.

Shannon and Seth

We had camp coffee and then loaded up the trucks.

Jenna, Chris and Seth

Jenna and Seth were ready to head home. Sunday was Seth's birthday and they didn't want to spend the whole day on the road. We, on the other hand, headed to a local German restaurant called Oma's Haus. I guess the area is known for it. It was awesome. I tried schnitzel for the first time ever, which brought to mind Tenacious D. Good stuff. After we picked up some extra sausage links for our neighbor, Cowboy Willy, we started the ride home. It seemed a lot quicker than the ride there. Despite the three feet of grass growing in our lawn, Travis and I took the night off to rest. Why is it that we always need vacations from our vacations?