Action Packed Weekend

Last Friday, we got up and drove to Kingsville, TX, where my brother, Bo and his wife, April live. It's far. Bo and April said it usually takes them about 6-6 1/2 hours. We have three kids, so we planned for 7-7 1/2 hours. It poured on us from Waco to Austin, which added an extra hour to our trip. We arrived at Bo and April's after 8 1/2 hours in the car. I must say the kids did an excellent job. They only asked "Are we there yet?" about 42 times, which is really only about 5 times an hour if you break it down. Not bad at all for their first all-day road trip.
We didn't do anything on Friday night except hang out with Aunt April, eating pizza and waiting for Uncle Bo to come home.

Saturday morning, April had to work so we decided to make the most of our time near the coast of Texas. Our kids had never been to the beach, so we drove over to Corpus Christi for the morning, rain or no rain!
Corpus isn't the nicest, cleanest beach in the world - the first thing we saw on the shore was a dead fish - but the kids don't know that, so they loved it. Avery collected shells the entire time.

I'm not sure what Reese and Rhett did, but they kept themselves occupied. (Looking at, and discussing, the dead fish took up a considerable amount of time.)

They also found crabs. I'm sorry, but I cannot say that with a straight face. I'm like Beavis. Or is it Butthead? She said crabs. Huh-huh.

In order to add some educational value to this trip, we took the kids aboard the USS Lexington, an aircraft carrier from WW2.

It was interesting for a while, but I'll be honest. Once I've seen a couple of bomber airplanes and read a few of the placards on the wall, I'm kind of done. I know, I know...between the crabs comment and my lack of interest in American History, I have no business being a mother of three kids, but that's a matter for another time.

I also didn't enjoy the cramped stairs and rooms. It made me a bit claustrophobic. Not that I ever thought about it, but I could not be in the military. The conditions are just, well, icky. And I'm very thankful that there are people who volunteer for that kind of thing.

Anyway, I was glad to get off of the ship. After a hot, sweaty, humid beachside lunch, we drove back to Kingsville. Everybody took a much needed shower and a nap. Then, it was game time!

My brother would kill me if he knew I posted this, but I'm kinda proud of him, so there!

This is the first thing you see when you pull up to the football stadium:

That's my brother on the right hand side of the billboard. He hates the picture for some reason I can't understand, but I thought it was cool.

Ok, on to the game...

Do you know what a javelina is? I didn't have the first clue when Bo first got the job in Kingsville. I soon learned that it's some sort of wild hog. Kingsville is pretty close to Mexico so instead of calling them the Mean, Wild Hogs, I guess they opted for Javelina. Some people call them the Hoggies. In fact, there was one woman in the stands wearing a t-shirt with HOGGIES in rhinestones across her chest. I can't imagine what people would think if I, with my DDs, wore a tight, white t-shirt with HOGGIES written across the chest. It makes me cringe to think about it. But I digress....the best part, in my opinion, of having a hog/pig for a mascot is the kids. Any kid whose parents want to pay (or, who are the big sister of the head coach so they can just do whatever they want, for free) can sign their kids up for Porky's Pack. Porky's Pack. How hilarious is that?

Here are my kids, looking at the javelina. According to Reese, he stinks. I can imagine.

The kids in Porky's Pack (just try to say it without smiling) get to be on the field pretty much the entire game. They get to run the football players onto the field before the game.

Note: She may look cool and calm here, but Avery couldn't sleep Friday night, after Uncle Bo told her she was going to run the players onto the field. "I can't believe I get to see REAL football players, Mom! I'm too excited!"

You can't see them, but the kids are several yards in front of this sign. Can you imagine how excited Avery was? I thought I was going to burst FOR her. Heck, I was excited to run the players onto the field in high school. She's only 6. On a college football field, for crying out loud.

They also hang out in the end zone during the game. Each time the Javelinas score, all the kids in Porky's Pack climb onto this train and ride around the track.

(See Avery? She's right above the M in Community on the blue car. Reese is on someone's lap.)
I know what you are thinking: Does the excitement ever end???? No. It doesn't.

Toward the end of the third quarter, the rain started (came back is more accurate).

Everybody went under the stadium to stay dry. Everybody, that is, except my kids. I can't even explain to you how much fun they were having.

Here are Avery and Reese when they realized the team was still playing. "MOM! Uncle Bo is still out there. And it's RAINING!"

After about 10 minutes under the stadium, Aaron decided it would be best for us to pack up and go back to Bo and April's. I felt guilty leaving - if Bo has to stand out in it, I don't want to go home and get warm and cozy - but knew the kids weren't going to sit up in the stands, soaking wet, for any real length of time. Plus, who knew when it was going to stop raining?

Ten seconds after we got everyone buckled in the car and were headed home, the rain stopped. Too late to go back to the game - the kids were already naked. (Except for diaper/underwear.)

This is the end of Saturday's excitement...if you are tired of reading and seeing pictures from that day, then you have some idea of how Aaron and I felt around 11:00 p.m. Saturday night, after bathing wet kids and trying to dry their shoes in time for Sea World Sunday morning.
Yeah, that's right...Sea World again...stay tuned to see if this trip went any better than the hellish, miserable Spring Break adventure!