We left home in College Station, at 12:15 p.m. on July 1. We drove to Port Lavaca, TX, and stopped at Walmart to get the last grocery items and to check on fishing licenses. We arrived at the Courthouse around 4:30 p.m. Tanner and Emily picked Jason up at the Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston around 6:00 p.m. and drove to meet us. Jamie had a work commitment on July 2. So, she drove down to meet us on July 2 after work.
family photo in front of Texas Courthouse (July 4, 2020)
(l to r: Tanner, `Jon, Emily, Bryce, Allyn, Tate, Jason,
Addison, Jamie, Truman, Ashton)
family photo in front of Texas Courthouse (July 4, 2020)
(l to r: Tanner, `Jon, Emily, Bryce, Allyn, Tate, Jason,
Addison, Jamie, Truman, Ashton)
For the first night, Truman, Ashton, and I fried burgers and hot dogs for dinner. We also ate watermelon and chips. We played card games after dinner. After Tanner, Emily, Jason, and Bryce arrived, Tanner introduced us to Monopoly Deal.
On July 2, Tate and Mom cooked breakfast burritos with bacon for breakfast. We then packed the van and drove to Magnolia Beach. (Bryce and Emily stayed at the house so that Bryce could nap.) The beach had a lot of crushed shells. We saw hermit crabs, jellyfish, and dolphins.
The kids started a sandcastle. They were about 75% finished when a larger tanker ship went by the beach. Several minutes after the tanker went by some 18" - 36" waves came crashing to the beach. Almost all of the sandcastle was washed away (including the hermit crabs we had collected as residents). So...they had to rebuild. It was a nice sandcastle as shown in the accompanying pictures.
working on the sandcastle
(l to r: Tate and Truman)
`Jon relaxing in the surf
July 2, 2020
working on the sandcastle
(l to r: Jason, Tate, Ashton, Addison, Tanner)
July 2, 2020
working on the sandcastle
`Jon relaxing in the surf
July 2, 2020
Allyn working on the sandcastle
`Jon relaxing in the surf
July 2, 2020
finished sandcastle
(l to r: Jason, Addison, Truman, Tate, Tanner, Allyn, Ashton)
July 2, 2020
finished sandcastle
(l to r: Truman, Jason, Addison, Allyn, Tate, Ashton, Tanner)
July 2, 2020
We had a picnic lunch at the beach. We at turkey and ham sandwiches with chips. We had bottled water and Gatorade (fruit punch flavor) to drink. After lunch, we packed the van and drove to Indianola, Texas. Indianola is featured in a Louis L'Amour book titled Matagorda Island. Both Jason and Truman used this book as part of their semester book project in English their Junior year. We thought it would be cool to see the place that is featured in the book.
Before dinner, the boys (Jason, Truman, Ashton, and Tate) took the two kayaks across the street to the pier and launched them into the bay. They had a great time until Ashton jumped off of the pier and sliced a big gash in his foot on the spiky rocks and shells underneath the water. Truman carried Ashton back to the house. Jason and Tate brought the oars and life jackets back. Allyn and I cleaned Ashton's foot injury and bandaged it.
Addison and Allyn were on to prepare dinner. They put a spice rub on some ribs and left the ribs cooking in the crockpot all day while we were at the beach. That night we ate ribs, Caesar salad, rolls, corn on the cob, and potato casserole for dinner. Jamie got to the courthouse right before dinner.
Mom made a birthday cake for Ashton. We sang happy birthday. Ashton opened his presents.
After dinner, we watched "The Circle" (starring Emma Watson and Tom Hanks) to mixed reviews. Jason and Addison both thought it was creepy.
On July 3, we had pancakes, sausage, and fried eggs for breakfast. Tanner and I cooked. I decided to "fry" the eggs in the oven on a cookie sheet. Based on the outcome, none of us would recommend that approach to cook eggs.
After breakfast, we did an egg drop activity. Tanner orchestrated bring supplies to build containers to hold our eggs. He made random team assignments (Jamie and me, Annette and Bryce, Tanner and Ashton, Allyn and Tate, Jason and Truman, and Addison and Emily). Each team had to put the egg inside of a Ziploc bag to start. Then, the team could design its container using the materials we brought.
building egg containers
(l to r: Emily, Tanner, Ashton, Truman, Jason, Allyn, Tate)
July 3, 2020
building egg containers
(l to r: Addison, Tanner, Ashton, Truman, Jason, Allyn, Tate)
July 3, 2020
building egg containers
(l to r: Annette and Bryce)
July 3, 2020
building egg containers
(l to r: Ashton, Tanner, Truman, Jason, Allyn, Tate)
July 3, 2020
building egg containers
(l to r: Addison, Emily, `Jon, Ashton, Tanner, Truman)
July 3, 2020
We dropped the eggs off of the second-floor deck to the concrete patio. Every egg survived that drop. So we took turns throwing the eggs high in the air and allowing them to drop on the concrete patio. Lastly, Tanner used the "booger ball" bat to hit each egg container.
Tate drop
Annette and Bryce drop
Jamie drop
Allyn drop
Everyone except Tanner, Emily, Bryce, and me went kayaking off the pier. The next-door neighbor loaned us two additional kayaks so we had four. It was lots of fun.
Later, we played "booger ball" in the field behind the house.
For dinner, we ate BBQ pork sandwiches, brussel sprouts, and salad. Jamie and Jason cooked. After dinner, we played games and went to bed (some went to bed earlier than others). The two most popular games were Monopoly Deal and Catan.
On July 4, we ate cold cereal and leftovers for breakfast. Everyone packed and we checked out of the courthouse by 10:00 a.m. and came home.
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