Day three of Escape to the Lake!
Tag: vacation
The River with friends
By the time we arrived, it was time to go straight to bed. You would obey that hand, right!?
And, here’s a view from upstairs. Our friends had a fajita y familias fiesta on Saturday with four families. We had a blast with all of the kids- all boys except for Trinity! And, the food and company was awesome!
The girls at the party!
Partying with Leeland!
And, the girls are on the floor!
Here’s a family photo of the six of us before we headed home. We had a wonderful time and so appreciate having friends that welcome all SIX OF US into their home! It was a great way to start Spring Break. Thanks, friends!
Austin Mini-Holiday with Some Forever Friends
You know the kind of friend that when you see each other after being apart for a week, or a month, or a year, or five years, it’s like you were together yesterday. You just pick up right where you left off. Life has changed you. Circumstances have changed. Children have grown. Babies have been born. But, it’s like nothing has changed. Because, this is your forever friend. Someone you can always connect with, talk to, listen to and love unconditionally. I have been blessed beyond belief to have so many special friends like this. Many from my youth, from college, from my days in LA and now from my time in Houston.
At the end of July, we headed to Austin to have a mini-vacation with some very special. Some of my best friends from college, their husbands and kiddos all met in Austin and rented a little house. We had a wonderful time. There were 4 families all together 8 adults and 7 kids. It was such a refreshing weekend (even with 7 little ones.) It is always nice to be together. Here are a few pics.
Maddux and Bakri playing on the playground at Zilker park.

Maddux in the house.


Jonah and Michael.


Yes, We’ll Gather at the River!
It’s true. We know how to live well…on a shoestring budget! 🙂 Last weekend, we went on a mini-holiday to visit our friends Julie and Will at their place in New Braunfels. We had an AMAZING time. They live right on the guadalupe river. The boys loved playing in the water and we all enjoyed our time with friends. It was great.
This is their outdoor fireplace.














Luau Night
Here we are on our way to our first luau (first for Trinity, Maddux, Bakri and Grandmother) and the second for me and Moustapha.
Here is a picture of some of us enjoying pina coladas (free of alcohol for the kiddos and the grandmother, of course!)
The boys had front row seats and were in awe of the musicians. They loved the singing and the ukelele, especially.Me and miss Trinity under a blanket…having dinner. 🙂
Moustapha, Bakri and Maddux went on stage and learned to hula. All of the boys- including Moustapha, really enjoyed the luau night!
The Wind and Waves and our last 24 hours in Maui
Our last full day in Maui was so much fun. Here is a brief recap:
We had lunch on our way to the airport in Paia- the town we stayed in. This was our first time to actually walk in the town. We stayed just north of the town in a house that was literally a 2 minute walk from the beach.
We had lunch at Flatbread. It was really good organic pizza and other good organic stuff. I loved it. Thank you, Grandmother for treating us…YUMMY!
Bakri, Maddux and Moustapha in front of the pizza oven.Walking down the main street in Paia (the Hana hwy) Just after this photo was taken, it started raining.


Our House- Hale O Ke Kai had a guestbook. This was our entry after staying the week.The day after we returned home, Trinity and I hosted a Sip N See for our friend and her new baby girl. This is T relaxing in her party dress AFTER the party. 🙂
Humpback Whales and Important things on our Trip
1. Anniversary Dinner at Nicks (check!- did that, probably would have dinner at Mama’s Fish House if we knew how things were going to turn out) Mama’s is a 2 minute walk from our house.
2. Luau- (going on Wednesday night) at the Sheraton. Will post pics soon.
3. Whale watching- (check!- we had an AMAZING whale watching trip yesterday.
We don’t have the best camera, but here are some pictures from our trip. This was the Pacific Whale Foundation’s best outing of the entire season. The whales were so incredible.


This is the tail of a whale.
Here is one close to the boat. Look at the glow under the water. That was something we did not see when we were here before. None of the whales ever got close enough to the boat to see them glow under the water. It is such an incredible sight.
Here is one heading toward us.
Here are 2 whales. Supposedly, these are males and they are after the same female. So, that was what all of the activity centered around.
Our Fifth Anniversary
Yes, our Fifth Anniversary. Only Five years and we already have 3 children all age 3 and under (currently.) We have been unbelievably blessed.
Moustapha’s parents were so generous to give us miles to take all of the kids with us. We traveled to Maui with our three beautiful children and my mom to celebrate. Thank you Grandma and Jiddy! When we were here for our honeymoon we talked about and dreamed about coming back for our fifth anniversary. I personally never dreamed that we would also have 3 kids with us at the 5 year mark. It is amazing and wonderful AND such a different experience being here with our children.
We set out on an anniversary evening adventure that was to include a special dinner at our favorite restaurant from our honeymoon trip. Unfortunately, things did not work out as we planned.
I made the reservation through opentable.com. I made the reservation for 8:30 so that we could put the kids to bed and then go out for dinner and leave the kids at the house with my mom.
We looked up directions on how to get there from our house. Google maps did not come through for us this time. We were supposed to be on the coast, but instead took a tiny road “upcountry” in the dark. It was not fun! At 8:30 I called the restaurant to tell them of our dilema. It turns out there is pretty much one way to get places around here. So, we had to turn around. We added approximately an hour to our trip, which made us an hour late. But, we let the restaurant know and we weren’t too worried since they were supposed to be open and seating tables until 10. Luckily, we arrived at 9:40 and checked in with the hostess. Moustapha, being the realist that he is, was concerned when they did not seat us right away.
I, on the other hand, thought it would be nuts if they were closing early. Especially since we made a reservation, had called and made our trip from the other side of the island to visit their restaurant.
This is a picture of me while we were waiting for the hostess. Obviously, I thought everything was going to be fine. Well, initially, it was not fine. After waiting for a couple of minutes, a manager came out and told us we could be seated, but the kitchen was closed, so we could only have salads. After a somewhat heated exchange he went back inside and returned shortly to seat us. We were also able to order entrees. I told him I could not believe he tried to turn us away after reading our reservation- which said it was our anniversary and Nick’s was our favorite restaurant from our honeymoon. And guess what???- he didn’t read our reservation. He was totally clueless about our evening. He was just turning us away thinking we had just come downstairs to eat and could come back tomorrow. I was so mad. I didn’t even cry…not in front of him anyway. 🙂 We decided to still eat there- by then, it was 10. So, we wanted to make the most of our dinner. It will probably be our last visit to Nick’s. They are no longer on a pedestal for us.
Here is a photo of Moustapha thimking about dinner. After dinner, we enjoyed hanging out in the lobby waiting for our valet. We were so exhausted. But, it was fun.
Even though things didn’t work out perfectly, we still had a wonderful anniversary. We are so grateful for each other, our children, our families and friends. We have a wonderful life together. God has truly blessed us beyond measure.