My idea of roughing it is a hotel room without a coffee maker.

So this past weekend, Jason and I went to Matagorda. This is a place about two hours outside of Houston. Kind of between Port O'Conner and Port Aransas. They have a HUGE fishing tournament every year, called the Poco Bueno. It's really a drinking town with a fishing problem.

anyway... Jason owns about 1/7th of a house on 1/2000th of an island. :::scratching head:::: I know. I don't get it either. But apparently, this is an old military base that now is owned and sold in parts. When you buy onto the island, you can just about build anywhere. It's very strange.

Anyway, so Jason wanted me to see where he spends about one weekend a month at. You can only get there by plane or by boat and seeing as we don't HAVE a plane... boat is it. We met up with my inlaws on Friday and dropped Joe off and continued on to Houston. We had a great dinner with my parents and nice enjoyable night.

Saturday morning, we woke up at 5:00 am to get an early start. And as you can see... it shows. I was SOOOO tired.


We arrived in Matagorda and went to his boat shed. I had forgotten the viciousness of the mosquito's until we opened the door and a gazillian vipers (mosquitos) attacked us. We got the boat out and ran to get ice and other provisions (OFF) and headed back to the ramp. The boat got splashed and while Jason was parking I thought you might like to see the sad state of my feet. ... why get a pedicure when you're only roughing it anyways? :)

Oh and we were loaded down like Sanford and Sons. We had a coffee maker, paper towels, food, drinks, our stuff (towels, clothes, sleeping bags, etc), fuel for the generator and three wheeler, and more.

I sat where I always sit on my way over and boy was that a mistake. Not only were we be buffeted by a North wind but it was overcast and the bay was rough. I am quite sure he jarred my lady parts out on a few of those waves. But we arrived, I rung my sweatshirt out, wiped down my salty legs and stepped ashore.

When Jason told me the rules of the island. "if it's brown or green, look to see that it's not moving".

I think I spent the next five minutes gingerly walking around staring at the ground.

There was a truck waiting at the boat area for us to take our stuff to the house. It's basically an old truck with no bed. But they've nailed down an old highway sign that serves to hold "crap". Yeah... well the crap that it held was ME on top of a cooler because the cab of the truck was infested with ants. YAY! great start. :-D

When we pulled up we visited with Josh and Adam for a little bit. Josh is another owner and Adam sleeps with his girlfriend. not really. Whitney is a young girl that lives with Josh and his wife Dawn. She's in school and she rooms with them. :) And Adam is her boyfriend who goes to U of H for business and now runs a website for super cool t-shirts. They really are too cute and just have their whole lives in front of them. :) Now Whitney and Dawn were sleeping off a half bottle of Sky that they had drunk the night before. and it wasn't the small bottle either. :)

So, Jason and I took a ride in the three wheeler. We went past the ship channel and the beach.

and some dunes.

Did I mention that the mosquitos' were still bad? cause yeah... they were

The island is hard to explain. It's just so random. People bring their cars over there and then desert them when they die. They rot out from the salt water and salty air... and then sunflowers start growing out of them.

or if you have a car that's about to die, why not bring it over and just leave it. Then, the guys that come down there pillage parts off of them to make their own bucket of bolts cars run. Or the fact that there is in fact a runway for you to land your very own plane there. Or there's an old oven just in the middle of nowhere. Not just any oven. Like a HUGE old oven, brick, graying from age that they used to burn trash in when it was an army base. Or how about the house that is called the SOB house. Not because a son of a bitch lives there. Rather because he has built it completely from Stuff on Beach. :) Random.

We decided to check out the other house. The "brokeback house" as they call it. Another group of their friends own that one. And Jason and I rode on the three wheeler... and the others rode in the samurai. The samurai that has a backseat that is about two feet taller than the front seat. You have to climb over because the doors don't work and you slide to the center because it's folding in the middle. Oh yeah and the front seat is held together with duct tape.

It was so bouncy. I may have left my kidneys on the beach somewhere. And when we got to Brokeback... I felt something on me. Thinking it was just the mosquitos' I started swatting them away. Then I realized that it was the horseflys. And not only were they gnawing on me like a fresh piece of meat... they were feasting. All 100 of them. I couldn't get them off of me. And I freaked out. Like not a gentle squeal freak out. I'm talking dancing around swatting at them in a mental hospital GET ME OUT OF HERE way. I was close to tears, overreacting and ready to GO the F home! Jason got me upstairs where there was a breeze and they left me alone but the lingering feeling of a pig going to roast lingered.

We got back to the house and had some lunch... hung out, took naps and then Dawn and the guys went fishing. Whitney continued to sleep off her drunk and I read my book. :) When they got back we started drinkin.

We had a great dinner of steaks, grilled potatoes, mushrooms and onions and peppers and corn on the cob. It was yummy. :)

The following are some pictures of the house. This is the kitchen/common area.

bathroom. You have to fill the tank first before doing your bidness. not bad and there was a shower.

Jay's bunk is the bottom one. :)

the ant's truck. (and my throne ie the cooler)

the other bunks.

and the house from the front. They have a trailer on the side where they store all of their "stuff"... ie three wheeler, lawn mower etc.

We all crashed about 11:00, some of us more drunk than others. There might have been an accidental bonfire in the kitchen from the citronella candle (me), some late night strolls (Josh and Dawn), and plenty of great conversation. We even kept up on the score from the U of H/tech game. :)

The next morning, I cooked breakfast and the others cleaned up. We packed up and were back on the boat by 9:30 or so... Jason, me and a million mosquito bites. . The ride back on the bay was MUCH calmer. It reminded me of our boating days of old. :)

All in all, we had a good time. I'm not in any great rush to go back. I'm okay with this being HIS hobby. But, I am glad I got to share it with him and spend that time with him.

Camping.

Anyone who knows me knows that my idea of roughing it is really a hotel without a coffee maker in the room. :-D So when my friend Meg asked me if we wanted to go camping with them I thought about it and decided to ask Jason. Confident that he would say no because we spend every weekend traveling... he surprised me and said YES.

So... ok... I'm game. :) We wrote down our lists of stuff we needed and started dividing up what we would need to bring and Friday night I packed us up, baked a rum cake, made bourbon slushes and mentally prepared. :)

Saturday morning came early with Joe (what else is new) and we loaded up and headed out. I was actually quite excited. Meg and Jeff already had their camp set up at Lake Ray Roberts (North of Denton) and we headed North. The Pecks had to leave shortly after we arrived to go to a birthday party, so we sat and enjoyed the nice weather and waited on the Kerr's to get there.

This is when Jason entered the "What not to wear" portion of this show. He unzipped his pants and left on his black boots with black socks. And the only one it bothered was me... it just goes against ALL (what little I have) fashion sense. :) It did provide a good laugh though.

We were lucky enough to get a spot right across from a playground (or "Wee" as Joe calls it) which was perfect for the kids.

Joe demonstrating "chipmunk cheeks"

Joe and Cole really enjoyed riding in the bike trailer.

We brought Joe's four wheeler with us and all of the kids got a kick out of driving it around.

Joe and Cole again... this time with Jeff driving.

Wee again.

Ryan who is a little over 1.

Coleman

Trevor taking advantage of being in the great outdoors. snicker snicker.

Our campsite which had this great sidewalk that went all the way around. This way the kids could ride their bikes and not go too far.

our dining area. :)

that's drool on Jeff's shirt, by the way.

Jason and Joe playing in the "goo". He is looking more and more like his very own "Mini me"

tickle tickle tickle

Trevor either hungover or pondering life's questions. Probably the first.

Susan, me and Meg and Shelby.

It really was a great time and a fantastic getaway with the kids. They all played so well together and we will definitely do it again. In fact, Jason has it in his head that we HAVE to get a pop up like Meg and Jeff's so that we can do it more often. Silly boys and their toys. ha ha ha.

Joe's Learning to Swim

I'll even have more video later today... but watch this and tell me this isn't amazing! :)

I left my liver in San Antonio...

Off and running in the minivan.

dinner on the riverwalk at Rio Rios

drinks at the Irish Bar.

Oh dear Lord, they're Irish car bombs... how the heck do I do this?

Just like this, apparently. :)

and NOT like this... wait too long and it curdles.

awhhhh

Sat afternoon pedicures.

a drinking lunch (d'uh) at Piatta's. wonderful and WONDERFUL service.

Dinner at Cappy's. A recommendation from Lou Diamond Phillips...er I mean
Roderigo, our waiter.

a yummilicious salad of beets, figs, mixed greens, goat cheese. YUMMY!

Just before hitting a wee bit of the town.

Zinc, a wine and champagne bar.

this is what happens when you drink too much. ;)

A great trip to San Antonio and fun to be had by all. :) Although after our weekend... "numbers" is never drinking again and the rest of us, (dee excluded) may have left our livers in San Antonio. :)

Oh and to address the beacon of light coming from the top of my head... I got my highlights done and he left me under the dryer too long. So... I had not intended to be this blond but didn't have the time to fix it. And it was done in Houston so... I am now Anna Nicole Smith blond... I know I know... anna anna anna anna you're so outrageous. :)

I'm getting used to it. Just remind me never to wear yellow again!