November Beach Trip

At Smittys

 We went to the coast over my birthday (35) and the Birth of Baha'u'llah.  Unfortunately, Sierra couldn't come because her class camping trip was at the exact same time.  It was weird not having her with us...  The Azadis and Johanna's mom joined us which was really fun.  Mom and Jessie and O, the Sepulvedas, the Duhans, and Paul and Jill also made appearances.  It was a good trip, although we did battle both bedbugs (Luke got chewed up and we had to switch rooms) and high winds.  The water was warm and everyone surfed and swam and dug in the sand.  We ate BBQ on the way up and Brian made yummy breakfasts the entire time, which was awesome... 

Crossing the ferry - lots of dolphins

Man O' War

Shrimping boat

At the birding center - thousands of Red-Headed Ducks.  Also saw some Roseate Spoonbills, some herons, coots, cormorants...

Port A has an awesome skate park

Sheltering from the wind

Enchanted Rock

Brian and I have developed a nice tradition over the last few years of getting out of town on our birthdays. We usually head to West Texas for his (June 18) and Port Aransas for mine. Unfortunately, this year the red tide - which is a toxic algae bloom that makes you cough, watery eyes, etc. - was terrible in Port A, so we had to scrap those plans. We still wanted to do something for both my birthday and the Birth of Baha'u'llah, which is an important Baha'i holy day on the 12th of November. Another tradition we love is celebrating Baha'i holy days by getting out into nature with the kids. So... I had a nice low key birthday at home, and then on Friday we went to Enchanted Rock. We hadn't been there for a few years, and were very impressed by everyone's independent hiking/rock scrambling skills. It was perfect weather, if a little bit windy, and we had a great day. I think my favorite part was listening to Autry and Luke converse (in strong British accents) as we climbed. It was something like this:
Professor Luke? Yes, Professor Autry? I believe I've found gold! Oh, I believe you have! Let's dig it out, shall we? Of course! We are going to be quite rich aren't we? Oh yes! Professor Dad! Professor Mom! Can you please put this gold in your pocket? Lovely!
They kept us quite entertained with all the professoring as we huffed up the rock...



We stopped at our place in Stonewall for peach ice cream and cobbler on the way. It was 11:11 on 11/11/11 while we were there. Very exciting.

href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBWmColqWbyVef4tk_1mRdDK015vZ1SbDEzMM6CA6hyphenhyphenjSWRZ4AQMb9PkNtEdiVPSEwGWI2KfMiZbWhav14wi9HjqWyRrYjqfpNNGDsd6ZY1YiHE4t0pGFJRjXMIwFPLxAiIYsZL7USd_E/s1600/DSCF1299.JPG">


There seemed to be a heart theme on our climb. Heart cactus...



Heart puddle...



There may have been some relaxing at the top...

Luke is eight!

Luke Kai turned eight this week. He was quite excited, requesting his favorite dinner (Fessan-Jan) and decided in honor of his birthday he wanted to take a one hour shower. Which he actually didn't end up doing, thank goodness, considering we are in the worst drought EVER. On his actual birthday (Thursday) we brought cupcakes to his class, he was victorious in the first soccer game of the season, we had his fave dinner, and then mom and the aunties (including Grace) came over and we watched some funny footage from the day he was born. His party was on Saturday, and we played soccer and had cake and presents at the park. It was fun celebrating our sweet boy. Luke at eight is a total and complete joy. He is snuggly and funny and thoughtful. It can be hard to get his attention, as he is usually completely immersed in his imagination, which he expresses with stories and art. He is still into mythology, thanks to the Percy Jackson novels. His newest interest is Egyptian mythology. He will happily have his nose in a book all day, and becomes totally immersed in whatever it is he is reading. He also likes legos, soccer, drawing, webkins, and playing with his sisters and Jack. He always tells us he likes the country more than the city, quiet more than noise, and being home with his family more than crowds. He is very proud of his uniqueness and so are we. Happy Birthday, Lukie Loo!