Saturday, October 6, 2007

On the road again...

We packed up the car, dropped off Niles at his hotel and hit the road for Port O'Connor, Texas! It was great leaving on Thursday because there was hardly anyone else on the road. We stopped off in Lockhart for dinner. While in Lockhart, we usually have BBQ, but we decided to live wild and dine at Mr. Taco. The food was surprisingly wonderful, and Mia had a great time dancing with the mariachi's. We stopped again in Victoria for some soymilk (for my chai) and a good leg stretch. Mia talked me into a Little Bear DVD. Ok all she did was point at it and say 'a bear' which means Little Bear. Even though we didn't get to the house until 11pm, Mia was in great spirits due to, of course, Little Bear :)
Friday morning Tom and Daryl took off on the boat in search of big fish. Dee, Mia and I headed for the beach. Now, this was Mia's very FIRST beach experience, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I must say that the beach is lovely. Soft sand, smallish waves and the shallows (water only up to my knees...and PERFECT for Mia) go out for over 100 yards. While I was setting up camp, Nana tried coaxing Mia into the water. Mia just wasn't sure at all. When Nana asked her where the water was, Mia threw up her hands and gleefully yelled 'EVERYHWERE!!!'. Mia finally go their toes wet and loved it. She had a fun time walking the few feet between Nana and her Mama. She was so proud when she would make it to the other side. She did have to overcome the slight slope, mystical moving sand under her feet and little waves hitting her from the front and the back. She now has a frame of reference for seagulls (she saw pelicans last time), waves, shells and the beach. Nana had a phone meeting so she took the car for a little bit to get a better reception. While she was gone, Mia and I filled up 3 buckets with sand and made quite a sand castle topped off with a feather. Mia enjoyed sitting in the hole we made while digging. We had a snack and reapplied sunblock. When Nana came back we played for a little bit longer then went back home for showers and lunch. Mia ate soooooo much and took a looooong nap. I was able to get a little bit of work done then Daryl and Tom called to see if I wanted to be picked up to go out fishing. What a question! I was out the door before the phone disconnected :) It was a beautiful day on the water. Calm with a nice little breeze. I caught a hardhead (not a good eating fish so we just throw them back) the first time I threw my line out. I ended up getting my line tangled into a birds nest (a big knot so we usually just cut the line) so I had to switch rods. As soon as I threw that one out, I hooked something BIG. One problem. My reel was stuck! It just wouldn't turn!!!! Daryl grabbed the WD-40 and I ended up having to reel that fish in 1/2 turn at a time!!! Well, I caught myself a 26" Spanish Mackerel. Yay me :) Tom and I finished up the day catching shark after shark, but poor Daryl didn't get one bite! Oh, his bait kept getting stolen, but didn't have a fish to show for it. Tom got tired of catching fish, and I was about to reel in my last shark, when Tom told me to give my rod to Daryl and let him reel it in. Daryl was adamant about not wanting any one's 'pity fish'. He was cute. Saturday morning the guys went out again, but didn't catch anything. While they were gone, Nana, Mia and I hit the beach again. It was strangely calm. Not a wave and the water was so clear we could see our feet and hermit crabs!!!! There were oodles of hermit crabs. Mia wasn't too impressed, but I played with them for a while :) Mia swam a little and played in the sand a little. Oh, before we went out there, Mia log rolled down the bottom half of the stairs. She wasn't hurt, just a little scared, so everything after that added insult to injury. The poor thing stepped on a shell. It didn't cut her, but hurt a little. Then when we got home, she scratched the side of her face a little. She gave up and went down for a nap. She woke up in a great mood! :) Paw Paw, Dada and Mama watched the Red River Shootout while Mia hung out on the porch with her Nana and Memaw. Mia enjoys throwing Lego's into the cooler, off the porch and onto Memaws car. She was loving on Daryl's grandpa's beanie baby bear, and all of a sudden threw him off the balcony! Nana asked her if he flew. Mia said 'no'.
A new thing Mia does is saying she's 'pretty' when she'd all ready. Mia held her Nana's face in her hands and said 'pretty'. It just about melted Nana's heart. Mia wagged her tongue all weekend. Her lips got a little salty in the water. She does like to pucker up for some of my Burt's Bees lip balm :) Mia also had a great time playing with her new flashlight. Nana taught her how to hold it under her chin...soooo spooky...and say Boo! After the UT game, we all headed out to the boat so Mia could get some fishin' in :) We walked down, and Mia got all excited. She had her new little backpack on. She calls it her 'pack pack'. It had her little Barbie fishing rod and sunglasses in there. Her Daddy put a real hook and some bait on there and helped her cast from the end of the boat. Paw Paw ended up salting her line by putting a little live croaker (we use them for bait) on the end and secretly dropped it in the water. Mia, with a little help from her Dada, reeled in her very first fish!!!! She LOVED it, but would NOT touch it. She asked her Paw Paw for a boat ride, and Paw Paw always says yes. We tooled around a bit, and Mia was in heaven. Since we were there since Thursday night, it really did feel like a little vacation. Mia played with Nana, Paw Paw and Memaw so much, I was able to relax and watch our baby in action. This morning we said our I love yous, gave out all our good bye hugs & kisses and headed home. We had a Mexican meal in Cuero at Don Bravo's that I can definitely say was not the best tasting, but is sure was shiny (a little on the greasy side) :) Mia and I shared a cone from Dairy Queen... a treat I'll only indulge in on road trips. We're home, Mia is napping (that was way earlier...it takes a lot of work and time putting all the pics, videos and blog stuff together), I'm doing laundry and Daryl just picked up Niles from his hotel. We're home.

Beach Bunny



Crabs


First Fish & Second Boat Ride




Mia danced to mariachi music while in her chair. Ran around silly...with her tongue hanging out, played with her new flashlight an Mia danced to mariachi music while in her chair. Ran around silly...with her tongue hanging out, played with her new flashlight and wanted more and more of my ice cream


0 comments: