A Night In The Jungle

August 15th

Kelley, Stacy, Fonda and myself headed to Houston Toyota Center

for 

THE MOONSHINE JUNGLE TOUR

 featuring non-other than

BRUNO MARS

 I was just in love with his music and so curious to see him perform when we found out last year that he was one of the acts on the 2013 Houston Rodeo.

His show was awesome and because all performances are not that long at the rodeo and your view is from afar I knew I needed to see all full blown out show.

 Right after his rodeo performance it was announced he was coming back to Houston and playing at the Toyota center....I knew I had to be there at any cost.

 So, when tickets went on sale I had my oldest daughter Jennifer come over and we both were on our computers at 10am when tickets went on sale...first go round, no tickets available, second go round I had nose bleed section Jenn had nothing, third go round I got nothing she goes...it says section A row 3 which I screamed

GET 'EM!!!!

 We got 'em baby...3rd row from the stage, regular price, something so hard to get these days...needless to say I was a happy camper.

Also the show sold out in like 30 minutes.

 The show did not disappoint...Bruno is an excellent talent....I love going to a show not just to hear a great singer but to be entertained and he can do that...plus it doesn't hurt that he's easy on the eyes.

It was a great night spent with great friends and I'm already thinking...

when is the next concert to see

BRUNO MARS

A Day At The Circus

July 18th

The day before we left for our Florida vacation I took the grand-babies to the circus.

We had such a good time....even Noah did good...it was his first time with us to an event like this.

Some even liked it better than our Disney On Ice outings.

 Popcorn always helps you enjoy a show a little more.

 Above: On a high wire  there's a motorcycle and 3 acrobatics...a little freaky since they were right above us riding the motorcycle from one end to the other.

 Above: our seats allowed us on the circus floor for a portion of the show...pretty cool...

And in that bottom picture you can see us all as one of the clowns took my camera and took our picture and pictures of other people as well.

And below the cutest grand-babies there ever was!

Happy Grand-Babies

 A little of the show

to me the most amazing was 8 motorcycles in that round metal ball all going a round and a round and a round.

A lovely day out with my 2 daughters and all 5 of my grand-babies.

Look Who's Two

I'm a little late on this post...so much going on but just wanted to recognizethat my youngest grandson (and child) turned 2 August 5th.

 Noah with one of the toys I got him and then with his birthday cake....
I was told his big brother Liam helped decorate the cake.

 Happy Birthday Noah
Grandma Love You More!

Last Day of Our Clearwater Vacation

Today is Sunday July 28th

Tammy and family left in the middle of the night, Josh and Paul left that morning, my cousin Lonnie left with the guys and dropped them off at the airport for us.

It was just Jenn and I with Liam, Noah and Hayden.

We rested a little and started to pack a little and clean and then decided to go to Walmart to get some bins to pack the left over food in.

My cousin Lonnie came back to the house as she left all her credit cards at the house from when we had gone out....so since she came back she just stayed and went to Walmart with us and then we went out to lunch and got some last minute souvenir shopping in.

And while out I ran in to this old fart

 After back at the house my cousin left and the we changed and headed to the beach for shells

Below: Liam and Hayden walking to the beach, the house was just a 2 block walk from the beach...

and then Hayden enjoying some play time

 Jenn, Liam and Noah...looking for shells ...there were 3 different rows of shells (tons) all piled up on the beach.

 cousins at play

 Almost sunset

then it was time to head back to the house gets baths done and kids to bed and then we packed...

up until a little after midnight and up early to finish.

We left at 9am, a little later than we wanted too but it was all good.

Family BBQ Time

Saturday July 27th
We threw a backyard BBQ and had a pool party for my family that lives in Tampa.
It was a good opportunity to visit with everyone in one place, be relaxed and for the kids to have a good time swimming while adults could play if they wanted or visited if they wanted.

This post will be basically a picture post to share our day....we went from about noon until around 10 that evening...I think we all had a great time and the pool was a hit.

Thanks to all my family for driving out to the beach
I love you all!

All names in these collages will go from top left to right, then down and to the right
Above: Paul had grill duty, Alex and Vanessa (my cousin Lonnie's daughter), cousin Cheri and her grandchildren, Tammy (my daughter and her family) grandson Noah and granddaughter Hayden

Above: my cousin Kenny (and Lonnie's brother and Cheri's husband, Cheri is cousin by marriage)....Me and Noah, my brother John with the grands Tayler and Colton, Cheri and my Mom, Vanessa, my aunt Loretta and Ilene (my cousin Lonnie's mother and her daughter's)

Above: my sweet little grandson Noah, Vanessa-Noah and Ilene, Cheri and Lonnie with Ilene and Vanessa (Lonnie and Cheri are sister n laws), My son Josh and my brother John

Above: my son in law Paul and my cousin Crystal's husband Phet, Paul, Jenn and Noah,
Paul, Liam Jenn (my daughter) and Noah ,
my grandchildren and Cheri's grandchildren
my granddaughter's Tayler and Hayden
and then Hayden

 Phet (my cousin Crystal's husband)
my Mom and aunt Harriett (cousin Crystal's mom)
Cheri and her oldest son Kenny Jr and grandchildren
my uncle Loren ( Crystal's dad and Harriett's husband)

Above: The cousins, Kenny, Lonnie, Me, Crystal and John
Kenny and Lonnie are brother and sister and then Me and John are brother and sister
Hayden
Colton
cousin Crystal and aunt Harriett
and 4 of my 5 grandchildren

And Colton has it right....just chillin' on vacation.

One more day and then time to head back to Texas.

Clang Clang Clang Went The Trolley.....Clearwater Beach Vacation

It's Friday July 26th and today was a little laid back during the day.

My brother came in town around lunch time.

My cousin Cheri came in for the weekend and so did Lonnie's girls.

This evening we were set to have family pictures taken at the beach.

I wanted to get some pictures with my mom to capture the moment.

A good friend of mine named Fonda had suggested some months back that I should hire a photographer and have beach pictures taken and not worry about trying to get them taken ourselves.

So glad she suggested it.

I'm posting only the 2 pictures I posted on my Facebook page because not all my children have seen the pictures yet and I want them to see them for themselves first.

Below is me with my beautiful grandchildren.

 And here is my family...my children, grandchildren son in laws, a brother and a mother.

 Like any photo shoot with children it was interesting but not too terribly so...it was fun...they just enjoyed the beach and the sand.

After pictures I had rented a trolley for the night so we could go out and have some fun and not worry about driving and parking.

The trolley was so much fun.

Here is all who came out to have a little fun

myself (of course!) my son Josh, cousin Lonni, Alex (Vanessa's boyfriend) Vanessa (Lonnie's daughter) Cheri (my cousin) my daughter Jenn, son in law Paul, Tammy(Lonnie's daughter n law) Christina (Lonnie's daughter) Ilene and Tray (Lonnie's daughter and son in law) and on his knee my brother John

 And the gang is ready to go.....

First stop was Frenchy's Rockaway Grill on the beach...I loved the vibe of this place...it was a little crowded but we didn't have a problem finding spots at the bar and around the band.

Next stop was The Brown Boxer where we also got a little bite to eat along with drinks

 Above: Vanessa, myself, Tray and Cheri

Below: Jenn and Lonnie

 Outside ready to hop on the Trolley to our next destination

Below: Tray, Lonnie in the back ground, John and Josh

Next stop is Jimmy Crow's at Pier 60 House

It's a roof top bar and the view was wonderful....there's Captain Memo's Pirate ship at the marina

 Alex, myself and Ilene

 Just dancing the night away...someone in the group dropped their drink and soaked 2 of us but I won't call that person out...things happen but I will say...

It wasn't me!!!

One more stop

when we arrived it was around midnight...they still had a full cover charge so I asked if we could get a deal since it was late and we were a big crowd...

he said if I was willing to pay cash he would, it was less than 50% off...cash it was...

way to score....

but sad thing was, it wasn't hopin' ....it was hot no breeze coming in off the water

but we had a good time still, had a couple drinks and a few dances and then headed back to the house.

It was a great time spending the evening with family...

I miss them already.

A Pirate's Life For Me...Day 6 of Our Family Vacation

This morning we set sail towards the Clearwater Marina to catch a ride on

Captain Memo's Pirate ship

Today was an adventure for a little pirates.

 We were all greeted by the ships pirates and had pictures taken.

We were all given our own pirate hat.

 Above: Hayden, Tayler and Noah

Below: Colton

 Below: Liam

 I think the kids were in awe of the ship...it was pretty cool....the crew was very hands on with the kids with lots to do on our 2 hour sail.

Below: Tammy and Family: Kyle, Colton, Tammy and Tayler

 My cousin Lonnie joined us on our pirate adventure...this was one thing I wanted to take all the grandchildren to do..they .had lots of good reviews and they did not disappoint.

 Time for the  pirate games to begin...all children (and some adults) were given water guns that looked like a gun that was used back in the pirate days.

They went around shooting the bad pirates and had a great time.

They were all sad when their guns finally ran out of water.

 Above: Liam squirted by the pirate girl 

Below: Tayler squirting the pirate girl...maybe she was thinking, that's what you get for getting my cousin

Below: Hayden having her turn at the squirting...

I think I got squirted a few times myself

 Noah joined in on the fun but when he ran out of water he couldn't figure out where it went

 Time for a good ole' pirate story

 All the grand-kids listened to the story being very well behaved...the story teller did a good job keeping the children's attention

 and of course every good pirate story ends with finding the treasure

 Colton waited to receive his treasure without pushing through the crowd of kids and the pirate told him what a good and patient pirate he was to wait for everyone else to go...Colton so liked the praise we received.

 And Noah having his pirate snack...every good pirate needs his snack

 then it was time for the little pirates to look like pirates with some facial hair...it was face painting time...Hayden and Liam didn't want any part of having their face painted but Colton and Tayler were more than ready and Auntie Jenn joined in the fun too.

 Arrrgggg... A Pirate's life for me....

Colton and Tayler with one of our ship's pirates

 Jenn and Family with another one of our ship's pirates...

Paul, Jenn, Liam and Noah

 Josh and Hayden enjoying the nice breeze off the water during our sail

 another pirate game....musical chairs...

 and then it was time for the dance off and then a conga line

 and then we ended with a limbo...

our pirate adventure has come to an end...what a great time we had...everyone from the kids to the adults enjoyed our time out to sea...lots of great memories.

Then it was time to get back to the house, clean up a little and us girls, Jenn, Tammy, my cousin Lonnie and myself headed over to

The Sandpearl Resort

for the most wonderful massage any of us had ever had.

Seriously...it was that good.

It was funny cause before we went in Tammy had asked if we were gonna have women or men do the massage and Jenn said she didn't know and I was like I don't care as long as it's good and then the discussion was with or without panties and I'm like without cause I need my glutes  done real good cause I have a lot of issues there....so we laughed and me being who I am made lots of comments.

Can you even imagine my friends? ....lol

So we are relaxing when the a lady comes in and calls Jenn's name and a guy comes in and calls my name...we all kinda laughed...those who know me know why...lol and off we went.

When it was all over I felt so good and relaxed...we had 80 minutes and that went by way too fast...next time it has to be 2 hours.

So when it was over and time to go back in the relaxing room I opened the door and all the girls were already back in the room, once the guy left I looked at them and said

I haven't been touched liked that in 7 years...

My girls thought that was gross...

Tammy was like, did you say that to him....lol....the answer is NO, I didn't want to be that person who got thrown out for sexual harassment...but you know I had a good time with my stories.

Time to head back to the house and chill for awhile...that evening I was to watch the boys while Jenn and Paul went out to dinner at The Sandpearl.

I think it rained that evening.