Let's go to the beach!!!!

As we were driving to San Antonio, we kept seeing signs for Port Aransas, TX. Jim turned to me and said, "maybe we should go to the beach". That's all it took to convince me we needed to go. So when we arrived to San Antonio, we got settled in, and pulled out the laptop to see what we could find as far as lodging was concerned. Little did we know Comfort Suites was waiting our arrival!!

We pulled into Port Aransas, right before check-in time on Wednesday, mid-afternoon, changed our clothes, put on the sunscreen, and headed to the beach.

We finally got to the beach!!
We quickly came to find that the jellyfish had the same idea we did... a day at the beach would be great!! There were quarter-sized jellyfish all over in the water. It was so bad it was hard to really enjoy the water. Ruby enjoyed spending her time making mud pies, sandcastles, and digging in the sand.

She even made a new friend.
Jim and Tristan were on a mission to catch as many jellyfish as they could.

Occasionally, one would get a little too close for comfort, and Jim and Tristan would jump around.

Ruby helped Zoe make tide pools for the captured jellyfish. I only wish I had taken a picture of all the jellyfish in their new abode.

After a great afternoon at the beach and some driving around, trying to find a place to eat, we came across this yummy place. I think the other families on the island had the same idea because the wait was longer than Ruby and the others could handle. But, we managed to make it until the food came out.

Hanna wasn't quite cooperating for the picture.
After everyone's tummies were full, we called it a night so we could make it an early morning at the beach. Turned out to be a GREAT idea because the water was almost clear of jellyfish. I think we only saw 2-3, and the beach wasn't crowded at all!! We didn't get many pics because we were playing in the water. This would have been a great picture, if the camera lense hadn't fogged up on us without us knowing.

Before leaving the island we had a couple requests. A gift shop next to the hotel had shark tooth necklaces that Tristan couldn't live without. It also had these cheezy photo boards... Zoe's idea!

All the kids... mostly Tristan... wanted to take a picture in the sharks mouth.

It was a GREAT 24 hours at the beach!!!

Morgan's Wonderland

Morgan's Wonderland is an amusement park designed by a father for his special needs daughter. It opened this last Spring, and when it opened we had so many people tell us about it. So, we decided this definitely needed to be on our "To Do List". Boy are we so glad that it was!!

When you walk in the front door, you are greeted by kind, friendly people, eager to get you started on your day of fun. They give every family member a bracelet that allows you to walk up to monitors throughout the park, and see where everyone in your group is in the park at any given time. Thankfully we didn't have to find anyone this way, but if we did, it would have been very helpful!! We loved the sculpture at the front of the park, too!
The train was an attraction we wanted to see first, as well as the carousel. The kids all had fun taking a tour of the park on the train. The neat thing about the park is that everything is wheelchair accessible. The park is in San Antonio, TX, and it worked out just so that we visited the park on August 3. Needless to say it was HOT, and we had been up late the night before. Despite the parks efforts of making the park as comfortable as possible with misting fans and canopies where possible, we did have our occasional meltdown. This is one that was documented.
Thankfully they were few and far between, and didn't last long, but just a little taste of reality for you, the reader.

One of the highlights of the park was the Sensory Building. Not only was it relief from the heat, but it had some really fun rooms furnished to stimulate a child's imagination. One room was equipped with green screens, allowing kids to be weather forecasters, and having their own few minutes of fame. Another room was set up as a miniature grocery store. There were grocery baskets and shelves stocked with all the essentials, not to mention the meat counter (complete with the lobster tank) and bakery, and to top it all there were two checkout lanes with registers that beeped when you swiped your products. Definitely a favorite. Another room had touch screens that allowed the kids to pick their ride and decorate it. You can see Hanna's green speedster below.
Next to this room was the one you can see below. It was positively one of the favorites. These images are being projected from the ceiling of the room, and somehow are sensitive to people and movement. The butterflies are flittering around until someone stands still long enough, allowing them to land on your arm or body.

The one below was a coi pond that responded to movement across the floor. Hanna really liked this particular one!

Jim's favorite was the one you see below. The rocks or colored pebbles run down in straight lines until someone stands in front of them. Jim was catching them in his arms, and when it's piled as high as it will go, they start to spill over the edge... Lot's of fun!!
Ruby wanted in on this action, too!


If you ever want to go back in time and feel like a kid again, a carousel is definitely a way of getting there. We rode this ride twice, and loved every minute of it!

Even Zoe, at 13 yrs old finally decided it was okay to get on the second time around!

This was by far, Ruby's favorite part of the whole park. We started out on the carousel, and ended our day right back where we started, thanks to her persistence!! This may have been the reason for the meltdown previously noted :)

Mini-Tousa Family Reunion

Over the 4th of July weekend my parents (aka: Gramps and Nana) and my brother Jeff and his family came to visit. We had so much fun reconnecting and spending time together as a big family. Things we did together as a family: went to the Ballpark in Arlington to watch the Texas Rangers on 4th of July and watched fireworks after the game, found relief from the Texas sun by swimming at the pool, took a daytrip to Austin, and lots of cousin sleepovers... So much fun!!

Ruby Ballerina

Ruby has been wanting to take ballet for some
time now. Amanda, a lady in our ward, teaches
ballet at a little studio not far from our house,
and Ruby loves her. So, I thought it would be
the pefect place for Ruby to give it a try.


As you can see, she's not at all shy!!! She loves
it, and looks forward to it every week!

Stella

So, we took the plunge and decided to get a dog. I found this cute dog to adopt, Stella. Her foster parent brought her to our house on Memorial Day, so we could meet her, and, of course, the the kids fell in love with her. She seemed to have such a great temperament. So, Jim and I decided we could keep her. We went out and got all the essentials: food, leash, chew toys, kennel, etc... Jim and the kids wanted to take her to the annual Dallas Symphony Orchestra conert/ fireworks at Flag Pole Hill for Memorial Day. She did such a great job around all the people and kids.

The kids have had lots of fun taking her for walks, taking turns feeding her, and giving her lots of hugs and kisses. Unfortunately, throughout the week Jim has come to the conclusion that he is allergic to this sweet dog. I had to contact the foster parent and tell her that this arrangement was not going to work after all. The kids are taking it pretty well, but I think it's going to be pretty heart breaking when the foster parent comes to pick her up today.

We hope Stella finds her forever home real soon, and that we can find a dog to which Jim is not allergic. That's been the one bit of hope that has made this transition better for the kids. Bid us good luck in finding our forever dog!!!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow... NO MORE!!!

On February 11, this is what it looked like in our neighborhood. It was one of the largest snowfalls Dallas had seen. Our poor kids did their best to have fun in it, eventhough we are totally not equipped for snowy weather. Ruby wanted to make a snow angel, and then she was pretty much done, but Jim, Zoe and Tristan were on a mission to build snowmen and a snow fort. They had lots of fun doing it, but we were so happy when it finally got back to normal around here with warms temps, and sunny days.

Then... the second day of Spring and here are the remnants from our back yard of the 3rd, but maybe 4th (I'm starting to lose track) snowfall of the "season". We didn't get a chance to play in it or get good pics because church starts at 9:00am for us, but I had to get a quick snapshot before it all melts for proof to all those who used to live in Dallas, and can hardly believe that we have had as much snow as I am claiming. It was supposed to be just a dusting, but I guarantee we cleared off more than just a dusting from our windshield before church this morning. It is fun, and I am glad that it clears out so quickly around here. Hopefully we can get back to our sunny days and warm temps... the way Dallas is supposed to be!!!