April 2019

Monday, April 1, 2019 - Mission, TX

For Christmas Tony and Miranda got us a gift card to Bass Pro Shop, so one day last we headed over to Brownsville to the Bass Pro Shop.  We purchased several things and a nice game camera.  We placed it outside on a tree near the rig and it took some really nice pictures.  We really thought we would see some wildlife, but this is what most of the pictures look like.  :)

It took pictures of people walking their dogs, cars driving by, the trash truck, the landscape trucks and even the guys mowing the lawn.  It also took nice night time pictures.  Here is a picture of Mike and Gracie going in after her night time walk.  :)

It was another wonderful day!


Wednesday, April 3, 2019 - Mission, TX

Early this morning, Jess, Alex, Avander, Ami, and I headed for the airport to fly down to Houston.  When I flew north on March 24th I flew out of Houston and left the Suburban at a stay, park and fly.  :)  So when we arrived we caught the shuttle back to the hotel just to find I have a very low tire.  And we bought new tires just before I left.  :(  When I rolled it back we saw the screw that was causing the problem.

About a month ago someone broke into the Suburban while it was parked in the parking garage at the Casa De Palmas in McAllen.  Mike would keep it there during the week and just drive the company car back and forth.  (Not any more!)  So consequently the little air compressor was no longer in the Suburban.

Since the tire was not completely flat we drove slowly to the gas station to put air in the tire.  Then I found a Firestone store that was not far away to have the tire fixed.  They were not able to get it in right away, so we walked over to Denny's for breakfast.  After breakfast we walked back to Firestone to find out the tire is not repairable and of course we did not purchase the road hazard insurance...  So now we had to wait for them to get the tire from another store, then put it on.  After about 3.5 hours of messing around we were finally on our way to meet Mike in Robstown, TX.

The original plan was to meet Mike at a restaurant in Robstown for lunch, then on to Corpus Christi for some sight seeing.  Well with a 3.5 hour delay we just meet Mike at Taqueria Los Altos.  It was a restaurant I found with 4.4 stars.  It was very good.  And the kids were glad to finally see Papa.  :)  And afterwards we just headed for Mission.

Since today was Alex's birthday he got to ride to Mission with Papa.

It was another wonderful day!

Thursday, April 4, 2019 - Mission, TX

Since today is supposed to be the warmest day of Jess's visit we decided it would be the best day to go to the beach.  So we loaded up the Suburban and headed for South Padre Island.


As soon as we arrived the kids started digging in the sand.  :)

Now it was time to break out the grill and cook up some hot dogs and bratwurst for lunch.

After lunch it was time for some relaxing and more playing in the sand.

Papa took Alex and Avander out into the water, but left Ami behind.

Soon Ami came running up to us and told us "Papa can only handle 2 humans!"  :)  So Jess and I got busy burying her in the sand.  (Someone needs to fire the picture taker.  LOL)

When Alex and Avander got back, Avander wanted to be buried too.  (The picture taker figured out how to use the camera again.)

Then they all decided to bury Gracie, which I was surprised she allowed them to do it.

Of course we could not go without burying Alex too.

Ami did end up getting a turn to out in the surf with Papa.  She came back a little scared as the waves were really pounding on them, but Papa took good care of her.  :)

After a long, fun day at the beach we headed back home.

It was another wonderful day!

Friday, April 5, 2019 - Mission, TX

Avander and Ami wanted to test fit my motorcycle.  :)

Then we took Gracie for a walk on the dirt road next to the canal.  But I can say it might have been a mistake telling the kids all about the holes with fire ants.  It kinda freaked them out.  Avander accidentally stepped on the outer edge of one of the holes and screamed!  They were all ready to be off that road!

Once we got off the road there is a flood gate that the kids climbed up on and we just had to take a picture.  :)

After our walk we went to the Copper Moon Bar and Grill for lunch.  Mike ordered nachos for lunch and they came with jalapeno and tomatoes on the side.  Ami was looking at them and said Papa got pickles, so Avander grabbed a couple and put them on his fingers like rings.  Then all of a sudden he popped one in his mouth.  A horrified look lit up his face and he grabbed his drink.  After taking a very long drink he exclaimed "Those are fire pickles!".  Jess, Mike, and I laughed hard.  None of us expected him to pop them in his mouth.  LOL

I was not really feeling good today, so I took a nice long nap, while Jess, Mike and the kids went to the swimming pool and had a great time!  No one took any pictures.  :)

It was another wonderful day!

Saturday, April 6, 2019 - Mission, TX

Off to Brownsville to the Children's Museum.  We did not know what to expect, but I had heard it was a good place for kids the ages of Alex, Avander, and Ami.  They were right!  Our first stop was a wind station.  The kids would put fluffy balls and in at one end and they would be blown through the maze of tubes to come out somewhere else.

Check out this truck.  They were able to change the tires.  :)

How about some fishing from this boat.

Or maybe an undersea adventure!

How about testing out the rocket ship!

And since we like to play with magnets at home, why not play with them here also!

I can't believe I don't have any pictures of the spot they spent the most time at and that was the construction center.  They had all kinds of materials to build things.  2"x2" boards of different lengths with through drilled holes, peg boards and nuts and bolts to hold things together....much like an Erector set.

Soon we headed outside to check out the exhibits outside.  Our first stop was a water treatment exhibit.

Today they were having a contest for sidewalk chalk drawings.  We did not pay to be included in the contest, but Avander wanted to do a drawing any way.  I think he did a great job!

Before going back into the building, they played on the playground.

When we went back in, each of the kids went to a different center to play.  Alex went back to the wind station, Avander went to the construction center and Ami wanted to play at the restaurant.

At one point I saw her taking one of the cash registers away from another girl.  When Jess went over there to tell her to be nice, she told Jess "I am the manager and I needed to get more money for her money machine".  LOL

I was getting really hungry and it was 3:00pm, so we finally rounded everyone up and headed for 1848 BBQ for a late lunch.  I was really surprised the kids weren't complaining about not eating.  They were really having a great time at the museum.

After a good lunch we went across the street to another playground park where we played for awhile longer.

This evening after we got back from Brownsville Mike and I took Alex to Walmart for his birthday shopping adventure with Grandma and Papa.  He got more Nerf Guns and 100 darts!!

It was another wonderful day!

Sunday, April 7, 2019 - Mission, TX

Today was supposed to be a rainy day, so we thought it would be a good day to stay close to home.
We thought we would go to IHOP and get the kids faces painted, but the lady who is always there was not there today.  :(  Breakfast was good any way.  :)

Then we decided to do some playground exploring and hopping.  This is where you look at Google Maps to see what playgrounds are in the area to play at for a short while before moving on to check out another one.  We did find this unusual tree.

After about the third playground everyone was very hot and not really in the mood to play anymore, so while looking for another playground we noticed there was one with a splash pad and it was open today!

We did not bring our bathing suits and Alex did not want to get his clothes wet.  Mike had left one of his swim trunks in the back of the car, so Alex put them on.  LOL  He may not be too happy that we took this picture in another 10 years.  LOL

Alex, Avander, Ami, and I then played in the water.

Then we went over to the playground to play.  When we got there one of the older boys was bringing a bucket of water and dumping it down the slide.  It slicked the slide up and made them come down really fast!

It was really fun to watch them!  :)  They would pour the water on the slide, go down, then they would go get more water and do it all over again.  :)

Jess brought a kite and decided to pull it out.  It was a perfect day to fly a kite.

Soon we headed back to the trailer for dinner, then out to Dairy Queen to officially sing "Happy Birthday", even if it was a couple of days late.  :)  The wind was blowing a little, so it was hard to keep the candles lit.

It was another wonderful day!

Monday, April 8, 2019 - Mission, TX

Today we were up very early and on the road by 9:00am.  We needed to drive up to Houston to drop off Jess and the kids.  It is supposed to be a 5.5 hour drive, but with bad traffic, it was closer to a 6.5 hour drive each way.  Once we arrived, we went out for dinner, then dropped Jess, Alex, Avander and Ami off at their hotel.  They will be flying out early in the morning. 

We arrived back home around midnight, but it was worth having them here.  We had a great time!

It was another wonderful day!

Saturday, April 13, 2019 - Mission, TX

Mike went to the EAA 595 meeting at the local airport today, so Gracie and I went out to take pictures of the flowers that are blooming in and around the RV park.  There are a lot of pictures.  :)

It was a wonderful day!

Sunday, April 14, 2019 - Mission, TX

It was a beautiful day and I was sitting outside and just had to take a picture.

It was another wonderful day!

Monday, April 15, 2019 - Mission, TX

This afternoon I was headed out to ship the Easter candy we bought yesterday to Indiana.  As I was walking out the door, a CBP helicopter was flying low over head and I was looking up to see it.  I turned to lock the door then turned back around and somehow fell down the steps.  It really hurt and I just laid there for a couple of minutes as I made sure everything was ok.  Nothing broken, except maybe a couple of the chocolate Easter bunny.

My knee and shin took the brunt of the fall.

But I did get the package of Easter candy sent off.  :)

It was another wonderful day!

Thursday, April 18, 2019 - Mission, TX

When we went out to take Gracie for her late evening walk we saw a beautiful full moon.

It was another wonderful day!

Sunday, April 21, 2019 - Mission, TX

Happy Easter!!!

When we headed for church this morning on our way out of the RV park we saw this owl on top of the pole with the moon in the background.

For the last couple of days we have been seeing several vendors in any grassy spot they could find selling plastic Easter eggs and bunny shaped pinatas.  Well on our way home from church we decided to take a couple of pictures of the store that sells them also.  :)

We had Dave McAleer over for dinner.  I did not take any pictures, but we were truly glad to have Dave over.

It was another wonderful day!

Wednesday, April 24, 2019 - Mission, TX

The helicopters have been very noisy today.  I found out later they captured about 60 illegals in the park.  In the picture below you can see the helicopter is just above the trees.

 This was another helicopter that was low.

It was another wonderful day!

Thursday, April 25, 2019 - Mission, TX

While I was out walking Gracie today I noticed a flower that had not bloomed when I was out on Saturday taking pictures.  It is very pretty.

It was another wonderful day!

Saturday, April 27, 2019 - Mission, TX

Today we decided to head south of the border to get our teeth cleaned.  Steve told us he used Bridge Point Dental in Progreso and was very satisfied with it.  So off we went.

We walked across the border.  Here is a picture of the border crossing from the parking lot in the US.

Off we go!  It costs a dollar to walk across the bridge.

Half way across the Rio Grande was the boundary sign.

After a picture of me on the Mexico side of the sign we continued on into Mexico.

Once you pass through customs we were in the shopping market in Progreso.

There were a lot of people shopping.  There were also a lot of people that wanted to hand you business cards for a dentist office or a pharmacy.  I think most of the buildings were either dentist offices, pharmacies, or spas.  With a few stores.  Most of the items for sale were in the booths on the street side of the sidewalk.

It only took about 20 minutes in the dentist office to get our teeth cleaned.  :)  They did tell me I have a broken crown, so I may be back before we leave the area to get it fixed.

We did stop by Arturo's Bar and Grill for lunch.  We were really hoping for authentic Mexican food, but we were very disappointed.  Not a restaurant we will try again.

We did buy an outfit for each of the grandkids.  Really I wanted to get Ami a dress, therefore I had to get something for the boys.  I think the kids will like the outfits we picked out.

Soon it was time to head back across the border.

It was another wonderful day!