Shrubs and Salsa Online

Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday, Dear Jakie,

Happy Birthday to you!!!!

… And many more, on channel 4 …

So, Jake’s been in public school, and Camden’s been at a new school, for one whole week.  Five days.  And they are both sick!!!

Jake has not been to a doctor in 4 years.  When I’m in the doctors office with Camden, they ask me about Jake — “Do you still have Jake?  We haven’t seen him in years…”   Now, he’s got strep throat.  The boy is miserable!  Poor thing.

In addition, Camden feels very warm, although the thermometer says he’s not feverish.  He felt bad all day at school.  Wes feels like he’s coming down with a sinus infection and for the last couple hours, I’ve started feeling nauseous and achy.

Anyone want to come over and take care of us?

Sherri

Jake and Cam, with whipped cream on their noses while eating Fried Ice Cream at a Mexican restaurant.

Well, Camden has been “trying” to do it for the whole year now and he’s finally accomplished his task. He’s gotten such bad grades that he’s being kicked out of the science magnet middle school program. Today, Friday, January 16th, is his last day there. As of Monday, he will be attending the local middle school (which just so happens to be across the street.)

Jake has been talking about going back to public school for a few weeks now. We thought he’d do it at the beginning of next year. But since Camden will be attending the same school starting next Monday, Jake, Wes and I think this would be just as good a time for him to go back as well; maybe better, because he’ll have Camden there to sort of guide him.

I can’t decide if I’m happy, nervous, sad.  Wes has been bugging me for years to get a job, so now I guess I’ll have to get one…  It won’t be a “real” office type job, though.  I’m thinking Starbucks or McDonalds (I’ve done that before, and it was kind of fun), or one of the new craft stores opening up around me here.  Good news is we’ll have vacation money now.  Look out Max!  Here we come!!

Sherri

So, Wes and I were sitting around, watching TV on Friday, wondering how we were NOT going to be bored on Saturday.  We knew we wanted to watch the Ravens football playoff game on Sunday (go Ravens!!!) but had no plans for Saturday.  Then we saw on TV that Galveston’s Grand Opera house was reopening and they were having an open house.

Apparently, they had been undergoing extensive remodeling when Hurricane Ike hit and did even more damage.  We had never been to an opera house (didn’t even know Galveston had one) and we had received gift certificates to Joe’s Crab Shack for Christmas (thanks John and Pat) so we decided to take a drive down to Galveston for the day.

We arrived in Galveston around lunch time.  To get to Joe’s, we had to drive a short distance on Seawall Blvd, which, as it’s name implies, runs beside the beach along the Gulf of Mexico.  We caught a glimpse of something big washed up on the shore and decided to go back after lunch to see what it was.

The weather was beautiful!  We sat out on Joe’s patio enjoying the sunshine and surf (love the smell of the beach, don’t you???), getting sunburned while we got a full belly.  The beach is across the street behind Jake and I in the picture, but it’s hard to see with the glare of the sun…  (Oh, sorry to those of you in snowy climates … ) I had a cobb salad, Jake had a fish sandwich and Wes and Cam shared crabs.   For dessert, we had a Sea Turtle sundae and OMG, it was so good.  The best dessert I’ve had in years.

Anyway, after lunch we drove back down the beach to see what that big dead thing was.  Wes and I said it was a dolphin, but Camden and Jake predicted it would be a shark.  Turns out it was a dolphin.  There was only one and no one appeared to have called authorities.  It had no signs of why it died.  Lots of people were looking at it…  We also saw a big dead fish further down the beach.  (Last summer, we found a dead shark on the beach when we stayed at the time share in San Leon.)

We walked down one of the jetty’s on the beach.  They are comprised of huge squares of granite stacked next to each other.

By then, it was 1:30 PM and the opera house was only supposed to be open until 2 PM, so we had to skidaddle.  We weren’t sure where it was, but we found it.  It’s really pretty on the inside.  Everything is new and shiny.  They had cake and lemonade.  We got to go in the balconies and those cool seats they have on the sides (why can’t I remember what they are called???) You know, where the rich people usually sit???

Anywho … after that we went home.

Someone asked me how Galveston looks these days.  Actually, Galveston looks pretty damned good!  All the boats and debris that were piled along the freeway are gone.  All the piles of trash, debris and old furniture that were piled along every street are gone.  Most stores are back open again.  People seem to be getting their homes back in order.  The beaches, while they are not as big as they used to be due to massive erosion from Ike, are clear and clean and pretty again.

I’ll admit it now, before you read too far … I was lame with the Christmas pictures this year.  This is all I got…

We had a great Christmas.  We stayed home this year, didn’t travel anywhere.  Wes cooked us a delicious dinner of turkey, stuffing, gravy and a boat load of other stuff.  It was all very good.  We all got good presents — Wes got fishing gear so he can go surf fishing; I got a brand new cruiser bike; Camden got a bass guitar, gift cards, and an iTunes gift card; Jake got Lego’s from Santa, a new DS, money and gift cards; and the dogs got new toys.

Sherri

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