Vacation '08

Call us crazy, but we were actually pretty excited about ol' Eddy (Eduardo to you lay people) bringing us a little action. We got the oil lamps out along with the flashlights and batteries. We raided Walmart of all their bread and water (Oreos, Pringles - the necessities). We cleared the backyard of the grill, picnic table, plants, etc. Tied down the boat. We were set and ready for the 60-70 mph winds heading towards us. We waited, and waited, and waited. Up at 5am, we were clearly disappointed when we realized we barely got the rain and wimpy wind. Wind knocked over my tomatoe plant and that's about it.

So in case you were watching the news and saw that we had a hurricane heading our way, be rest assured that we are fine. It was a good practice run and I've realized that I am far from being perfect in the area of food and water storage and emergency preparedness. It was a good feeling to know that we could last a good while if we needed to. So bring it on "Fay"... we'll be ready for you.

Ok. So we are loser vacationers. Totally brought the camera and left it safe and sound in the glove compartment of the vehicle while we enjoyed a 10 hour day at Schlitterbahn, Galveston. We came home lookin' like a bunch of raisins, but had a fantastic time. No pictures to prove it... you'll just have to trust us. We all rode the rides again. We all bombed on the boogie board but spent most of our time in the Lazy River. Maddie and Zack braved the killer make-your-heart-stop-beating slide that goes straight down and survived. They actually came down smiling. It was a beautiful sunny and windy day. Thursday night we got to our hotel, unloaded what little luggage we had then headed out to the Rainforest Cafe. VOOLCAANOO! We were stuffed silly. We spend the rest of the evening swimming in the hotel pool. So fun. Maddie met a new friend, as usual. The boys tried their hand at designing my wet hair in several new fashions. Mike tried to avoid getting drowned by the 4 of us. He's just so conveniently tall and strong and well, he makes a good flotation device. And we love him!!

The next morning we went to IHOP and stuffed ourselves silly again then, of course we headed out to the Schlitterbahn. We ate and drank our share of burgers, sausage on a stick, corndogs, chips, Dip-n-dots, water and gatorade. Our favorite parts of Schlitterbahn were.........

Zack - Cliffhanger

Maddie - Cliffhanger

Mike - rapid part of the Lazy River

Graham - The Wave river and being old enough to wander off on his own

Chelle - Showing off my new cute bathing suit cover up! And the river, because it's called lazy for a reason!

We would like to have avoided seeing the poor young man losing his shorts to his knees during boogie boarding! On the way home, we were craving Chinese. There's a tasty restaurant in the mall on the way home so we donned our real clothes over our bathing suits and walked right in just before closing time. YUM!

The whole weekend pretty much mimicked last year right down to spending Saturday at the Texas City Dike with our catamaran. It was great fun until... the boat broke. Oh you should have seen poor Mike. It was so sad! After setting up, Mike took the kids out for a good, long run. While they were out, a catamaran went over. Mike brought our boat back in and he and Graham took the kayak out to help get the other boat mast up. Just as they did, yet another catamaran went over so Mike and Graham paddled a few feet from there to help them out. By the time they paddled all the way back in they felt like their arms were about to fall off. After a little rest and h2o, Mike decided to head out on his own. Without lugging another 3 on the boat, he could go faster. And he did... for about 5 minutes. He had gotten himself into his trapeze and was hanging on the boat when SNAP, CRACKLE, POP! One of the hulls cracked big time. He quickly got the boat on shore and that was the end of that. Sadly we cleaned up, loaded up and headed home. Here are a few pictures.

Mike and the kids catching some pretty decent wind.

Ouch!

Mike and Graham paddling in after saving the day... twice!

Zack and Maddie building, uh, something!

Not sure what the rest of the season holds for us. Mike has done some research on buying a new boat versus fixing the old one. Just seems a shame to quit now when we still have at least a good month of sailing yet to do! To be continued.....

So that was our weekend in a nutshell. Great fun. Mike is already talking about another Mini adventure for 2009. Many of you know about the trip for 2 to Mini United in Italy that Mike won several years ago. Well in '09 it will be held in England. That's where Mike served his mission and he is itching to get back out there for a visit. Perfect excuse! Guess we best start saving up now, huh?

So sad it takes a tiny hurricane to get me motivated to post. So sad.