In 1836, a battle between the Texan Revolutionaries and the Mexican Army took a drastic and unexpected turn. The battle was won in 18 minutes and drastically changed the course of Texas and America.
This has been on our bucket list for a while, but it's even more impressive to finally see it in person. The monument stands taller than the Washington monument in D.C. There are also several nice walking trails to take in the area. Mark was intrigued with the massive sun dial, and God Blessed us with a beautiful sunset on the way home.
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After our Michigan Christmas, we headed back to Texas via the western route so we could go through Branson, MO. We rented an AirBnB condo resort, and it was beautiful!
The first day we traveled to Dogwood Canyon and took a 5-mile hike in 34 degree weather! It was beautiful!! We saw a pair of Eagles, they eaglet, and their nest! It made the walk in the cold SOOO worth it! The condo gave us free tickets to some of the local sites. We saw "Legends in Concert", visited a fun local restaurant, and Mark got to ride several laps on the go-cart. Even though it was the wrong time of year for many shows, and it was cold, it was still a nice little vacation before heading back to our daily lives. After decorating for Christmas, we left 'home' for a few weeks to travel back to our Michigan home for Christmas with our family. The picture of Pica is right after we told her we'd be DRIVING all the way to MI. Ha!! It's almost like she knew what I was saying!
Once in MI, we stayed with dad for a bit. Joe & his family came to join us for dinner. Pica found her favorite spot in the living room, which used to be next to mom's bed when she was sick. We believe that Pica senses mom has died, because she was very depressed the entire time we were at the house. We receive a free week-long cabin stay with our resort membership, so we used it for Christmas this year. Joe, Ashley & their son stayed with us, and we had a super great time! We were just a few paces from the pool and clubhouse, and we also played games and cooked together. The weather was pretty awesome too, so we also took walks around the park! We also took a trip to visit Ashley's fathers' grave, mom's grave, and Ashley's brothers' family. A jam-packed week with LOTS of love and fun. We've been celebrating Hanukkah for quite a few years now, ever since we had a Jewish foster child. We learned that it was one of the holiday feasts that Jesus/Yeshua celebrated, and We've been enjoying this celebration since. You can see in the picture, our small Hanukkah candles which are on display by the window. People have commented to us that they like seeing the candles in our window. :-)
This time we were Blessed to be able to celebrate it with the Messianic congregation we just joined. They had a massive menorah out front, and each of the Hanukkah nights, they would light the torches. They also pass out paper glasses which show lights as the Jewish stars. That was really cool! Our first time in Brownsville, and we really enjoyed our time. We used one of our free resorts, and it was beautiful! The city of Brownsville has a beautiful remodeled lighthouse with a new Fresnel lens. It was gorgeous!! Of course, the pelicans are always fun to see during our walks on the shoreline, and they always hang around the fishermen.
During our walk on the gulf shore, we saw a professional sandcastle sculptor, and it was great seeing how he put everything together. We took a trip to the Zoo while there, but the biggest reason we visited Brownsville was to see Starbase, which is where SpaceX launches some of its heavy rockets. It's built in a remote area of Las Palomas Wildlife Management area, and visitors can get real close to the Starbase itself. We missed the launch by 3 days, but it was still interesting to see the area. You can see the rockets being built inside the large buildings. We also toured Starbases' little town, which is where most of the scientists live. Especially the Airstream park was really cool how they arranged everything in such a nice order. For Thanksgiving, we went out to eat, then relaxed by the pool at the resort. It's been a while since I've updated because we haven't been doing anything real interesting. Just work, seeing the local sites & trails, and planning for Christmas. So, just thought I'd add a few of our highlights from the past few months.
We have had a Muscovy duck that appeared from nobody knows where, and she's allowed me to be friends with her. I feed her, she sleeps outside our RV, and she lets me pick her up. She ended up flying away with a visiting flock of ducks, and I really hope she comes back some day. I really liked her. We attended a local school production that our park managers' daughter was in. All our friends from the park went, and it was a real awesome play. Sure fun to have an outing with friends! :-) Lastly, Naomi showing that she loves boxes, and a beautiful sunset from the park. Maria and the kids swung by TX for a week-long visit before heading to AZ. It was wonderful to show them around and spend time with them!
Day 1: Houston Museum of Natural Science - embarking on our 1st day out and totaling 3-1/2 miles of walking, was this beautiful museum with a butterfly exhibit. It was a fun-filled day with LOTS of learning! Day 2: Space Center Houston - Since Mark used to work here, he was thrilled to show everything to the kiddos. It was another fun-filled day with 3 miles of walking. The highlights were the Apollo 5 Rocket and seeing the astronaut training facility. Day 3: Galveston Beach - Us 3-generations of ladies went to spend the day in Galveston.. Canal tour, beaching, and swimming. It was a hot but pretty awesome day! The highlight of this trip was seeing the dolphins in the canal! Day 4: Houston Zoo - Another 3-generation lady trip, it was a very hot day, but we enjoyed seeing all the animals at this beautiful zoo! The highlights? Bree being in such a silly mood! :-) Papa Mark was excited to show the kiddos his lab, and may as well get a home-school science lesson in while he's at it! The highlights, especially for the kids was the demonstration of lightning from the Tesla coil. Day 5: Houston Downtown Aquarium - This was a very small but nice aquarium with a few rides for the young kids. Highlight of this trip with the Shark Tunnel! Day 6: Kemah Boardwalk - halfway back toward Galveston, this boardwalk is a small amusement park on the water. Three of the larger rides were down that day, and I'm sure the highlight would have been the wooden roller coaster. However, since we didn't experience that, the highlight of our trip was the spiral ride to view the area. It was air conditioned on this 106 degree day! :-) After 8 days of travel and 5 different locations for overnight stays, we arrived at our new location safe and tired. The record Texas heat (104 on arrival) was hard to take at first, and we were thrilled our new location has a pool for us to cool down in. It didn't take long to quickly set up the camper and get in that pool.
We stopped at Katie's house to visit their family and see all the kids. It was a short but wonderful visit. From there, we headed west and made a 1-night stop at Canal Campground (site 116). We were a bit worried about how Naomi would do on such a long trip south. As you can see in the pics below, we think she did really well. We tethered her to the back seat and let her have run of the back with water. Pica and Naomi often slept near each other. Willow Beach Recreation Area is right outside Little Rock. Such a beautiful and small place for an overnight stay (Site 4). It was a peaceful spot for a quick recharge before getting to our normal busy schedule. Martin Creek Lake State Park (TX) is another one of our favorite locations. It has beautiful and large sites, and again is right off the freeway (Site 39). Finally, welcoming Houston meant we had 30 minutes to 'home'. We were elated to start this new adventure this year! Arriving at Cullen RV Park was exciting and welcoming. Without giving details, I must say that we really love our new park. It didn't take us long to hit the pool and make friends with the ducks! The animals were tired too, and they quickly rested, then Naomi was loving her new "TV" of watching the birds! After 2 weeks of finding out if we absolutely loved the park, we made contact with the person who was watching our deck They offered to buy it, we so we got to work building a new upgraded deck, and had it built within a week! The park manager loves it, and I made a few hanging baskets with temporary fake fall flowers to decorate. The deck is built lighter, and will disassemble into 5 parts for easy moving. This moment is bitter-sweet, as the summer has been WAY too short, and we will definitely miss our kids & grandkids. However, we are also excited about some new adventures this year and Mark is ready to get back to the school he loves.
Traveling always posts some challenges, so we prepare the best we can. Having all the vehicles in top mechanical order is always Marks' top priority. In the meantime, we do have a TPMS system for the tires, leak detecters, temperature alerts and propane & fridge monitors. We also prepare the vehicle for comfortable travel for the pets, fill up with gas, and double-check any reservations. Pica has always done well just laying wherever she wants in the truck, and knows her water and blanket are nearby. Naomi is different. She's still new to us and travel life, so we're getting used to her needs and she's getting used to our schedule. She likes to roam around and softly talk to us, but she is always tethered (just in case of emergency). The night before our travel day, I make sure her littler box is cleaned before I go to bed. Since she likes using a clean litter box, this means she potties during the night and won't need to do anything during travel. So far that's held true. :-) Rest areas are for all of us. We run the bedroom AC on a higher temp during travel so it's kind of cool when we stop.. Napping is something everyone likes to do on long days, and we all have a place on or near the bed. Most days on our way to TX are 200-250 mile days, but there will be one long 350 mile day that's more stressful. On those days, we have a few more stops to walk & stretch. We also read a book or sing to pass the time, or play word games to keep us awake. Pictures below, Naomi has found a nice cozy little spot in Pica's bike basket. She loves the sun on her. Later, Naomi found that her crate doubles as a hammock, and Pica is just as happy to have her basket back. :-) The last week we had with our kids, we helped Joe fix his car, we dodged a REALLY bad hail storm while in Davison, and visited Port Huron for some gaming fun (mostly for the kids)..
And a few fun pics of the pets just to be cute. :-) |