A Family Day

The girls came to town to join the Birthday festivities for Nathan and Laura. We had some free time together while Bruce was at a Sail Seminar on Saturday. We hit the road and found ourselves in Port Aransas at the Port A Beach Club for lunch.

It was Sand Fest weekend and we thought we would be smart and leave our car where it was and walk the beach to the Sand Fest area.

Long story short, we never made it as far as Sand Fest, but we had a great time "not" getting there. The day was beautiful if a bit cool.

I don't think I've ever seen this beach so full of people. Everyone was well behaved with all of their beach paraphernalia spread out. There were kites flying all along the beach. The pics do not do the kites justice!


We enjoyed the walk as we took pictures and laughed a lot.

This poor specimen is the only sand castle we found, but at least we did find one... of course it's a perfect opportunity for a "feet" picture. Don't groan... it's catching on!

I was so happy to have both of my girls home for a visit. I enjoy every minute of their company when we're together. We see how other families interact with one another, and we appreciate what we have even more.

We gave up on finding the Sand Fest as we looked down the beach and saw people, but no sign of the exhibits. We did have some shopping to do...

We had already wrapped up our gifts for Laura, but had nothing for Nate. We hit the shops. No sense in making it boring... we had some fun with the hats. It's been a long time since I was thrown out of an establishment for playing with the hats!

But we had to risk it! They were fabulous, but we must press on.

Brittney was playing with my new I Phone and wouldn't give it back! I've become addicted... but I'm not worried, this too shall pass. We danced our way through the shops until we had found what we were looking for, then raced back home to dress for the evening.

We were to meet Mark, Laura, Charles and Annette at the boat and Bruce was late getting out of his seminar. I had planned to wear Capri pants but the girls vetoed everything in my closet but this one dress that made me look about 12 years old. They even did my hair. We were a bit late getting there. And then, the girls had to take more pictures!

Everyone was on the boat when we arrived. Annette was sketching. She really is good. She just starts sketching whatever in in front of her... where ever she happens to be. It's kind of neat.

I had planned to bring out some drinks and maybe a snack or two, but our day had not made that possible. I scrambled below to find some beverages for everyone. Luckily, we had something on board.

The wind was blowing and with our shortened time, we thought about ditching the sailboat ride, but everyone got busy and got it going. I could do nothing in this dress...


We took a nice motor around the marina area. The waves were pretty tossy even inside the gap so we gave up all thought of raising sail and going out, even for a short jaunt. We took our wind beating and went back to the slip.

There was still time left to get Laura to open her presents. What to get the girl who has everything...? Sailing gear! Laura and Mark have some unused sailing lessons to do this summer. Bruce and I are trying to encourage her to get into sailing... I found the most lovely sailing shoes that I thought would be perfect for her. And they were!

And what would a Sailor Girl do without a nice new pair of sailing gloves! Well, now we don't have to find out! She's all set. Well if it wasn't what she was expecting exactly, she gave a good show of appreciation. I was happy.

We left the boat to attend the Wine Tasting event at the Bay Yacht Club. We had scored a coup in having a guy from the new Specs come out and talk while we tasted the wines. They had chosen 6 lovely wines for us. It was very informative and I found one wine that we will definitely buy.

We left there as soon as the tasting was over and went over to have dinner at Water Street Oyster Bar. I must say that it's been a while since I had anything really spectacular there, but this night reset the bar. They had a tuna in a wasabi vinaigrette with feta cheese on top that was to-die-for. I don't know what was going on at the other end of the table, but we had fun on our end.

We had a nice little brownie with ice cream in honor of Laura's birthday. She was so touchingly surprised and honored. We sang the birthday song and she blew out the candle and it was all over. This long wonderful day was at an end. We said our goodbyes and spent the drive home happily re-hashing the days events. It was a good day...