Weekend in Port O'Connor

On Friday, Dave, the girls and I loaded into our mini van and headed to Port O'Connor TX to visit family and have tons of fun! Dave's Uncle Erny lives in Port O'Connor, but all of his aunts and uncles joined the fun as well. We also got to see Dave's grandpa, and great uncle. As well as, some of Dave's cousins. But, the persons of the most import, especially to our girls, were Granny Ruth (Dave's mom) and Papa Don (Dave's step-dad). We didn't have much time, but we packed in as many exciting activities and delightful family events as we possibly could.

On Friday, after we arrived, we barely had time to say hello to family before it was time to get our wired girls to bed. After we got the girls to stop jumping on their beds (and bouncing of the walls) and lay down, Dave and I couldn't help but snooze ourselves. Getting to bed slightly early on Friday night proved to be a very good idea for us. We had no idea at that time that the next day would be loaded with great things to do.

After waking up and eating a delicious breakfast, the four of us, and Granny Ruth went shopping for a little while.

After we got back from shopping, the five of us headed to the beach to walk on the pier and visit the ocean. We stopped at the swing set nicely positioned by the pier before we actually went for our walk. Here's a picture of the girls and Dave on the swings:

And then the same three cuties walking on the pier:

This next photo is the view from the swing set. I know that the gulf isn't as perfect as some other beaches, but it's still the ocean, and I enjoy delighting in it's beauty.

Below is a picture of me and my girls right before it was time to head back to Uncle Erny's for lunch.

After lunch, we headed back to ocean (it's about 2 blocks from Uncle Erny's) to see if we could spot a few dolphins with our girls. But all we saw on this trip was this fella':

It was about time for the girls to take a nap, and Dave and I were about to hop onto a boat! ---Thursday night before we left for our trip, Ruth asked Dave if he'd like to go sea fishing. Dave wasn't sure at that point whether or not he wanted to go. It wasn't until Saturday that this rare opportunity to fish in the sea was also presented to me. We decided it would be best not to pass the opportunity up!

We got to go fishing with Uncle Erny's neighbor, Darryl (a great fishermen) and his Uncle Delfido.  No kids allowed- just adults. As we took off, with wind whipping through my hair, I looked at Dave and said, "Isn't this fun? We are on a date!"

 First order of business? Catch a live cabbage head jelly fish with your bare hands. This task was appropriately managed by Darryl. Dave and I got to touch it. Here's a pic:

After that, we got to fishing. Darryl doesn't like to stay put if the fish aren't biting, so we moved the boat around a few times before Dave and I caught our first fishes of the day. They were both grunt fish. They look just like perch, and apparently taste like them too.

After we moved again, we caught some sea robins, and Dave managed to reel in this beast of a grouper:

I wasn't really sure how he even felt this little guy tug on his line. Darryl said we would let him go and grow to be about 300 lbs. In ten years, Dave and I are definitely coming back to find him again!

After catching the little fish, Darryl moved us to a place where he knew we could catch some small sharks. I reeled in the first one. He was about 2.5 feet long, and probably around 10 lbs. It was so great! (Obviously I need to pack more clothes next time, because I did not even have a t-shirt along to throw on to go out on the boat in. Packing light is overrated.)

Dave reeled in the second shark. This little 2.5 footer got a little bloody, but we figured he'd just attract some bigger sharks.

 We got to reel in a few more little guys, and our biggest one was about 3 feet long, 12 lbs. Darryl said he usually doesn't keep these kind of shark unless they get to be 4 foot long. Otherwise, there just isn't much meat. We didn't catch any "reds" (I think these are red snappers) that day, which are "good for eatin' ", but don't worry, we invited ourselves back to fish another time. Darryl was so kind to accept our invitation. He even took us fishing this day after canceling his personal plans, as a favor to Dave's uncle. He won't accept any gifts or money in return. Isn't he a saint?

After fishing, Darryl cleaned his boat up and came back to Uncle Erny's to eat some steak, and boilin' pot style shrimp, potatoes, corn and sausage.  Of course there was also gads of desserts to be consumed, but we won't talk about how much food was actually eaten yesterday....now, will we?

I was also glad to have grabbed a shower before dinner, along with clean pants and undergarments, but unfortunately the same shirt. (My other one from yesterday was dirty as well.) --Don't look at me like that. I know it's disgusting, but what else was I going to do? That's right, I just decided to go on with life.

Then, we had some quick family photo ops before we loaded the girls up to get them in bed late, just to hall them to church this morning. I liked this one:

Granny Ruth doesn't like to take pictures, so I am so glad to have one of all of us. I'm gonna frame it.

As the sun went down, and our girls whined about leaving, we loaded everything up again. I noticed Darryl leaving his house, fishing pole in hand. He's a tournament fishermen, so he's got to practice, I guess.

Today we went to church, and then brought the girls back for some much needed rest. We went to the playgroud to let them play after naptime while we played volleyball in the very nearby sand volleyball court. We thought it would just be the two of us, but another couple joined us and we had a great time. It was fun... however, I think I will be soar and bruised tomorrow.

Anyway, that was our exciting weekend. It was a great time. Make sure you check back soon because next weekend, Dave and I are going to a costume party with our Sunday School class. We are gonna pull off some pretty awesome characters, so stayed tuned! Thanks for reading, Amber