James turns 6

Sensing a trend yet? Yup, James of course had a Star Wars theme for his 6th birthday celebration with friends and family at our place. We did the celebration on Super Bowl Sunday since we were having everyone over already, and then we were to celebrate on his actual birthday when my mom, sister and her family were to come down for the weekend. Two birthday weekends! Lucky kid! Anyway, here are pics from party #1:

Star Wars Cake.....
James and his cake

His favorite present of the day....a yoda force lightsaber from his cousin Michael....who is BIG TIME in to Star Wars and has a replica lightsaber collection of his own....he was excited to hear how much James was in to star wars and wow....what a great gift!!!

Michael training James on the lightsaber... :)

James LOVES IT!!!

James and Nate having a light saber duel......

Blowing out his candles......

Pretty cool room dude!!!

Finally got all the cool stuff James got for Christmas from Santa for his Star Wars theme room up and looking great right before his birthday. Once it was all together, he LOVED how it turned out!

Especially the wall with the glow in the dark planets and stars!!!

B-ball in the cul-de-sac

Our next door neighbor has a basketball hoop out in front of his house.....James took one look at it and HAD to play basketball!!! Especially when he saw the "big guys" out there playing (and Jaylynn too.....hee hee!!) They all had a blast!

Bolivar Island Feb 2010

One weekend in early February, we took a ferry ride on over to Bolivar Island. We hadnt been back over to the island since Hurricane Ike ravaged the island, including our friend Bill's beach house which it basically leveled and left nothing behind. So we were curious as to what state the island was in now, as it it had been well over a year since Ike hit.

Here are my boys on the ferry.....looked cold outside, but really the temps were pretty mild that day.....
James checking out the scenery from inside the ferry upstairs.....

View from the deck....

This is a motel that is on Bolivar, right up the road from where we used to turn down Bill's street. The motel was still standing, looked a little worse for the wear, but the sign as you can see was pretty much toast......

Gas station and supermarket there on the island.......its all fancy now on the outside, all stucco coated and decorated up......apparently they've done some work since Ike...not sure how damaged it was and all......

Turning down Bill's old street.......used to be house after house after house...now, not so much.

Out there to the right of the road where the empty lot is just in front of the palm trees in the pic where the dirt looks darker....that is where Bill's house used to be...still doesnt seem real that its not there anymore......

Here is a house that looked like it had been finished with re-building....looked pretty nice.

All in all there was quite a bit of activity on the island and lots of rebuilding going on, quite a few big name construction companies with signs that they would "build on your lot", "custom homes" etc......so I guess time will tell as to how many decide to take the chance and rebuild there again.....

And on to Phoenix

Was a whirlwind week in San Diego that went by waaaayyyyyy too fast! Spent great time with family and friends, wished I had seen others, but perhaps on my next trip out there this June?

Anyway, it was time to head east and hit the road back to Houston. On the way back I detoured slightly north and stopped in Phoenix to pick up my mom. She had flown out mid week to visit her best friend since KINDERGARTEN...Eileen, her husband Fred, sister Marsha and their kids.

Eileen's daughter Nicole, her husband and family live right behind them with a connecting fence...they have AMAZING houses I must say! Fred and Eileen live with their sister Marsha, and her sons were also there that weekend, which was great for me, as I had not seen any of them in SOOOO SOOOOO SOOOOOO long...wish I had more than just an hour to spend with them, it was truly a great visit that I wish could have lasted longer!!!!

Me and Nicole...she's as gorgeous as ever and I still want her hair dammit! LOL!!!

Fred, Me and Eileen
Eileen, my Mom and Eileen's sister Marsha

My Mom, Fred and Eileen
Marsha's youngest son Matt, my Mom, Fred, Eileen, and Marsha's oldest son Rusty

Nicole's sweet daughter Maricella, showing me how she can ride a big girl bike! she was just too cute!!!

Love you all and hope to stay for a longer visit next time!!!!!

Sea World San Diego

Spent one of the days in San Diego with my Aunt Marsha, my cousin Katie and her son Kian, and my cousin Beth (James' wife). We had such a GREAT day together! The weather was nice, was a fantastic family day!!!

Katie, Kian, Marsha and Beth in front of the sky tower ride

YIKES!!! Katie and Kian in the jaws of a shark!

The four of them again......waiting for a show to start

Kian helping me make a souvenir penny to take back to Houston for my son James

Marsha and Kian

Me

Shamu Stadium

Happy Dolphin! LOL!

Another dolphin

View of Mission Bay from our seat in the sky tower ride.........

View of sea World grounds from up high in the sky tower ride.....

Sister Day...

Bre and I wanted to be sure to spend at least one solid day together having a sister day! So we got up, had breakfast, got ready......then headed from El Cajon on in to Clairemont to have pedicures at Royal Nails......my favorite nail place I used to go to ALL THE TIME with my cousin Katie back in the day when I still lived out in San Diego. Here is a pic of our toes after our pedis.....
Then we headed on down to Mission Beach to walk on the boardwalk and enjoy the gorgeous weather (could not believe we were in jeans, t-shirts and flip flops when back in Houston it was FREEZING and threatening to snow/ice over once again.....ah San Diego in JANUARY...gotta love it!!) We also stopped for lunch there on the boardwalk..here we are at the restaurant out on the patio, enjoying the sea breezes and the sunshine.....

Bre at lunch

Me at lunch

Then we drove on thru La Jolla as I wanted to get some pics of some of my favorite places...La Jolla is on the top of my list.....damn I miss this place!

Love this shot....heck, this should be on a postcard for this hotel, dontcha think? :)

Continued on up to Mt Soledad, also in La Jolla....its a memorial for veterans and also THE BEST panoramic views of the entire city hands down....check it out......

After that we headed back to Bre's to hang out for a while, then get ready to meet our parents (her Mom, and my Dad) for dinner at Tio Leo's (Her hubby Joe was with us as well). YUM!!! I was in heaven with my shredded beef tacos....cant find those in Houston, that's for sure! :)