Spring Break 2008

Hey all,

You might wonder why I titled this post like that, seeing that I am not in school. But, I do teach and my sis in law (living in WV) IS in school. How does that apply to me? This year on her spring break she came here to visit!! Boy did we have fun, fun, fun!!!!! Ron's other sister, who lives in FL also came. They drove alone to AL where they spent the night with friends, and left one vehicle there and drove from there to here together. They got here late Sat night, and after almost of week of fun, left Fri. am early.

Mon. we went to the Iwo Jima memorial and had a really good time. We got to visit with a couple of Vetrans of Iwo Jima. It was really interesting. One of the men we talked to has his name on a plaque out by the memorial. We took pictures of it. I wish I'd had a tape recorder because I always have a hard time remembering stuff I hear just once, unless something later on triggers it. History never interested me much, but this is LIVING history which is sooooo much more interesting!!! My grandpa I think was in WWII but I never talked to him much, and don't know if he ever talked much about it either, and now he's got Alzheimers (sp) so bad he probably doesn't remember much. Wish I talked to him more...

After the memorial, we went across the border to shop!!!! They both found a few things they HAD to have, and we got some Mexican Coke!!!! Yes, it is different than American Coca cola, and I'd say it rivals my favorite American Soda -- Dr. Pepper. Us three girls also got our hair done. What do you all think? We figured out how to fix it so it wasn't down, so we left it in for a few days.

Tuesday was the lazy day!!! The girls were really tired from traveling, so we just lazed around. We did go to Taco Fiesta for supper, which is a treat for us because just about the only time we go is when we have company!! It's the best steak fajita ever!!!!! So, if you are over down this way, make sure you contact us so we can introduce you to some of the best Mexican Food there is!!! (Besides Bro. J's!!!)

Wednesday we went to the wildlife refuge. We went around lunchtime, so we stopped at Subway for sandwiches and ate a picnic at the refuge before we started hiking. We didn't see much except a bunch of birds. We did se a heron of some kind. I think a blue heron or something. Different than the ones we saw on the beach the next day. Ron could tell you what it was, but when it comes to all that, I'm pretty much clueless!!! Like I said, I don't remember stuff very well until I'm told several times. If I read it, it's different.

Thursday was beach day!!!! We went fairly early because we wanted to stop at the light house at Port Isabelle (before you cross the bay to South Padre Island). Once we got the beach, it was about time to eat, so we set up the grill and got everything ready, and then realized we had forgotten a lighter to light the charcoal!!!! Now what? We had driven down quite a ways too, to get away from people and traffic, so there wasn't much luck of someone coming by real soon either!!! Ron did stop one person, but they didn't have a lighter or anything, so we decided to try to light paper with the cigarette lighter from the truck. Finally, we got a napkin to burn, and put it on the coals and wouldn't you know, it worked!!!!! The wind blew the flames out pretty quick, but it was flaming long enough to get the coals going, so we were able to do our hamburgers, and then chicken. What we do it cook hamburgers for lunch, and then put chicken on after the coals start burning down, and close the grill so that the chicken pretty much just smokes. Boy is it good!!!! When it's just about time to eat, I spread BBQ sauce on it. Needless to say, when I do that, there's never leftovers!!!!! It was pretty windy, so the waves were kind of rough, which made for great boarding!!!!! I don't remember ever catching so many good waves to ride!!! I've about figured out how to catch them so that I don't get summersaulted under (knock on wood!!) so we'll see how it goes next time!!!!

Friday Ron worked early, and so the girls left when he did. I went back to bed!!!!! (Not fair, but that's how it was!!!) I did have LOTS of housework to do when I got up, so was really busy all day. One of Ron's sisters put a hole in our air mattress (or course on accident!!!). We tried to patch it, but didn't get it right, so still need to mess with it. Hopefully we'll remember to get to it and get it fixed before we have company again (which could be Aug.) Anyway, that about sums up the week. I'm going to try and post pics, but if they don't load fast enough, I'll have to figure something else out to get them on here. It's not the same with out pics!!!!!

Yesterday was back to normal schedule. I started getting sickish on Sun, and wasn't feeling the greatest yesterday, but we still had school!!! The boy I teach was kind of excited about another long break (since I wasn't feeling well) but that was quickly deflated when I told him as long as I'm not puking or running a fever, we're having school!!! Believe me though, yesterday I would have rather stayed in bed!!!!! I'm feeling much better today. Do you suppose it has something to do with the Vitamin C's I've been popping since Sun? Whatever it is, I'm glad it's working!!! I hate the stuffed up head and runny nose, sneezing and all that stuff!!!! Glad it's almost over (I hope anyway.)

Quick update on the chickens. We've had them for almost 7 weeks now. We put them outside in the pen a week ago last Fri, and they are doing well!!! We got a live trap to sit outside the pen in case something came snooping around, we might catch it before it gets in the pen at the chickens. (Like last batch we had.) Anyway, yesterday or sometime Sun night an opussum was prowling around and found the trap. Boy were we glad it was there!!! Other wise we'd be some chickens less, or completely chickenless!!!! Anyway, Ron disposed of it, so there is one less opossum to bother the chickens.

Well, that's about all the time I have for this time. Hopefully it won't be so long till I post again. We'll have to wait and see!!!!

Until next time,

Esther

P.S. Just had time to load the one picture. Will get more on later.