On Friday, July 27th, we took off for Galveston after work. We were going for a family wedding, Charlsie and Josh. My next post will have the details and pictures of their beautiful wedding, but this one is about everything else we did.
We had the car packed Thursday evening for the most part so we could leave as soon as Luther and I got off work on Friday. We left town and on the way out went through a drive through to grab a bite to eat. There was no way we would make it to Galveston without eating. I had my lunch earlier in the day around noon and Luther was so busy at work, he didn't get a lunch. We decided to take the tollway once we got in Houston to make sure we did not get stuck in traffic.
I guess we arrived at our hotel around 9ish and Brandon got there about the same time we did. We were staying with Papa and Honey in their room and when we got there, Clay and Colleen and the kids were there waiting on us. We had no clue, but there had been plans made for the whole family to go eat at the Rainforest Cafe. We quickly unloaded Moose's kennel and put him in there and we were off to dinner. We were not hungry, so we decided we would order a desert to share.
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| Front Entrance |
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| The Gator in the water |
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| The Gator with his mouth open |
There were so many of us, we had to sit at 3 tables.
It was a lot of fun visiting with everyone. I sat with Charlsie, Lucy, Hilda, Kayli and her mom. Luther and Ryan sat with Honey, Papa, Kelley, Mike, Mitchell and Adam. Lindsay, Brandon, Clay, Colleen, Garrett and Payton sat at the other table. When they brought out the deserts, the staff made Charlsie, Lindsay and Kayli's mom stand and flutter like butterflies in the forrest because of birthdays and a wedding. That was funny to watch. They were all 3 good sports about it! It was very late when we were done and we just went back to the hotel and finished unloading the car and went to bed.
We were sharing a room with Honey and Papa, so it was very interesting. The room had 2 double beds and Luther and I are used to sleeping on a queen. Let's just say we were very close. And of course, Moose had to sleep on the bed at our feet. I'm glad we all love each other. Ryan slept on a blow up twin we brought with us. We found out the next morning it had a slow leak.
The hotel was nice, it was the La Quinta on the east seawall. You could see the ocean from our front door. It was on a corner with a signal light, so it was very easy to cross the street to the beach.
Saturday morning we woke up and the hotel offered free breakfast. The boys went down to check it out, but came back with McDonald's because they didn't like what was there. It was a continental breakfast, not a full breakfast.
We got dressed and Mary Anne and Lindsay went with Lucy, Hilda, Kelley and Charlsie to do wedding stuff. Honey was making all the bouquets for the wedding that morning with fresh flowers. We went with Papa, Brandon, Clay, Colleen and the kids to The Strand to check it out.
The Strand was really cool, but not much of a kid place, so it didn't take long for them to get bored. It was a lot of shops, bars and restaurants.
It's really neat because it is historical Galveston and the buildings are old and beautiful. It reminds me of New Orleans, but much much wider streets. It was rather hot, but we still had a fun time together.
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| This is the view from where we parked. |
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| A building across the street from where we parked. |
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| Beautiful old buildings |
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| You could really move these and play chess. |
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| Haha, I kissed Justin Beiber! |
The Justin Bieber story is funny. Ryan can't stand him and I am always teasing him about the Bieber. This one shop had a life size cardboard of him and Ryan was not with me. I asked Brandon to take a picture of me and the Bieb just for Ryan. When he took the picture, he told me to act like I was going to kiss him and it turned out super funny. We showed Ryan when we caught up to him and he just rolled his eyes. Brandon and I got a good laugh out of it!
We were also going into another shop and there was a couple sitting outside on a bench with their huge dog. The dog lunged at the kids and scared them a bit, but they were fine and the owners had a good hold of the dog and called his name. I thought they said his name was Moose and I asked them. It was and I told them my dog's name was Moose, but he was a little poodle. They laughed at that.
When we got back to the hotel, it was about noon. Clay, Colleen and the kids decided to go swimming in the hotel pool. I went to Lucy's room and helped Hilda with the table decorations. When I finished that we decided to go to lunch next door at Denny's with Papa, Lindsay and Brandon. After lunch, Ryan, Luther and I decided to walk down the seawall to Murdoch's. It is a big souvenir shop on the seawall over the ocean. It was destroyed when hurricane Ike came through Galveston, but they rebuilt a new and bigger one.
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| Murdoch's |
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| The breezeway at Murdoch's |
The walk wasn't too bad. It was hot, but we had an ocean breeze. We walked around and I bought some wooden wind chimes for $10.00. I had seen some earlier at The Strand just like them, but they were $25.00, so I could not pass them up for this price. We got some slushies and sat on some chairs in the breezeway when we were done looking around. It was really neat and you could feel the waves under the building. Once we finished our drinks we headed back to the hotel. I must say the walk back was not nearly as much fun as the walk to Murdoch's.
We got back to the room and found out Moose and Papa had an adventure of their own while we were gone. Moose scratched Papa's arm (not on purpose) and he had to get Honey to come doctor it up. The door was left open and Moose got out, so they had to get Lindsay to come to our room and help find Moose. There was a bit of anxiety, but everything turned out fine. Lindsay found him still on the second floor, but on the other side of the hotel.
We all took turns at this point getting ready for the wedding. It was on the beach at 7:30 with the reception following. My next post is all about the wedding.
Sunday morning, we got up and went to breakfast with Honey, Papa, Lindsay and Brandon. Oh, I forgot to mention that somehow I got the pleasure of sleeping on the leaking mattress with Moose that evening. It wasn't too bad. I slept well and did not even know it was deflated till I woke up, but once you wake up, that's it unless you blow it up again. Anyway, we packed and left after breakfast because Luther wanted to drive to Surfside and show Ryan the beach houses. Boy, were they awesome!
It was a great time with family and it was nice to be at the beach. I would love to go back sometime and visit when we can spend the whole time just hanging out.
