Well....... we moved........ again.......

I can't believe I am even writing that!!!!!

However, everything went off without a hitch, thank goodness!!

Oh, should I mention, I'm not talking about houses, I'm talking about marina's...hee hee.

We decided we've set sail for almost 12 years in one location so we wanted to change up it a little bit and rekindle some learning and new interest so we moved on down the lake...rather down the Houston ship channel...rather the bay...well you get what I'm saying.  We moved down to Galveston.  It's approximately 35ish minutes by car to get there from Clear Lake...but it was 5+ hours by boat.

Quite a bit of planning was involved because we had to be strategic in our arrangements, so what we did was bright and early Saturday morning, we drove 2 cars to Galveston to the new marina.  We set up bumpers and dock lines because we didn't know what the conditions would be like when we made it there (it was supposed to be wickedly windy).   We left one car there and backtracked to the current marina, packed up the rest of what we had there (hose, electric cords, etc) and then......

We waited a little while because of the FOG!!  Oh my gosh it was soooo thick!!!  Then we decided to go ahead and leave becasue we could see our immediate area, we stopped by the gas station first to top off the tank and then off we went for our big adventure. 

Mikayla was so happy to be driving - she loves it!! of course one of us is right by her at all times but she really does a great job!

Bye Marina....thank you!!! 

Bye for now, I'm 100% positive we'll be back this way even if it's only by land and not by sea.

Love that motor boat!!  I have got to get me one of those!!

Ok...... so now.... it's just us.....

a map....

and the fog......

Yes, it's still pretty thick but most of the way we could see the next marker we were heading for.

Then we had some visitors!!!  I got so excited.... little missy missed it though...she was busy at the time....

This is what she was doing.  She SACKED out!!  wow, I was getting nervous she was coming down with something because for her to nap for 3 hours these days is unheard of.  It was a combination of the fresh sea air and the motor running.

I loved the reflection of the marker in the water....we're getting closer now!!

We had some more company....

It was SO quiet out there.... it was SO awesome out there.  I'm not afraid to make a journey any more.  Meanwhile.... Mikayla was still sleeping.

We were prepared, at first I didn't really know how to read the map.....  

or the GPS

I can't say I'm an expert but I definitely am a bit more comfortable with it now.  It was pretty neat being able to get our exact latitude and longitude from the GPS and then look on the map to see exactly where we were.

We saw quite a few more dolphins, of course making it a big deal and fun for Mikayla once she was up, clearly the dolphins were welcoming us to our new boat home.

We're almost there!!

Below is the ferry we rode a couple weekends ago.  Now we're in the water with it!!

Welcome to our almost new home (we will officially be in a different slip - they are building brand new floating docs and are waiting on the permit from the city to run electric, so for now, this is where we are!!!

Right outside the marina, there was a dolphin that I kid you not was RIGHT under/by our boat, we were so excited because Mikayla was on that side of the boat at that time and she even got to look in the dolphins eye it was so close!  She is fired UP about that and is convinced they came to see her and say welcome! Our closest encounter so far!

So there we have it, we're all moved, we are happy to be there and can't wait to explore our new area and get to be as familiar with it as we were with our other area.



Then after we got more permanent dock lines all set, electric plugged in, boat rinsed off, we drove to get the other car from the other marina and made the treck home.  Thank goodness we didn't leave one set of car keys in the wrong car!! All in all our day started at about 6:30 am and we got home at 10:30 pm.... phew!  what a day!!!

Evolution of a smile.

I went back and looked through some of Mikayla's older pictures, WOW her smile is so different!!  From no teeth, to baby teeth, to growing teeth, to missing teeth, to big teeth! 

ok.... well this one isn't a smile but I loved this picture...so serious!! 

Ahhh there we go.

 

WOW!!  Where has the time gone? 

Her last flight...... :(

Well......

It happened.............

Mikayla went from this cute smile......

to this cute smile......

Do you see it??

One cough is all it took.... it came right out!  Her last (for this round) tooth fell out last night.  (I know it's the last for this round because the dentist said so LOL).

So the Fairy flew for the last time for the next 4-5 years   :(

I'm really a bit sad.... it's been so FUN!!

Naturally, we had to get all set up.  Fresh water to drink in her tea set.

  

A new note was written.... that was from Mikayla to the Tooth Fairy.

All set!! 

She fell asleep waiting.... (looks comfy, huh).  She wanted to see her so bad!

Awwwww a little fairy dust....

The set up.

Wake up MOMMY SHE CAME SHE CAME SHE CAME!!!!  (how is it possible it's still as exciting as it was the first time?)  The wake up call came at 1:28 am!!

The Tooth Fairy's note said to think of her every time she cuts one of the mineature roses and that she'd be checking in on her.

She left quite a bit of fairy dust this time..... for the last time (for this round), it's been a  lot of fun.

Ferry time!!!

Shockingly...I did indeed say Ferry and not Fairy.... hee hee!  The Tooth Fairy will visit us again soon and for the last time for a few years (boo) but this time I am talking about the Ferry!

We are relocating our boat to a different marina (about 5 hour sail ride from where we currently are but only about 15-20 min drive further) so while we are getting our ducks in a row (pun intended) for the "big move" we have been tootling around the new area.  We have had the boat in it's current area for 11-12ish years.... we're ready to explore some new areas. 

We will be very near this ferry and decided to take a ride :)   We only had to wait about 5 minutes until we could board.  We walked right on!

As we were leaving another ferry was arriving.

AMAZING day out there, it was cool temperature wise and OHHHH so windy!!  It was too windy to take the sail boat out (meaning with a 7 year old along we didn't want to scare the you know what out of her from being on a crazy ride).

I kept repeating...birdy birdy in the sky....please don't poopy in my eye....the pelicans and sea gulls were out in force.

The Coast Guard station is right near our new area too, praying we won't ever need their services.

There was a stow-away on board.

This is what we looked like if that had been us.... LOL 

They can load up to 60 cars at a time on these bad boys!

I want one of these (pic below)

I love the way those houses in the distance look.  It looks like vacation there!

Best part of the day, right here!!  We had a great, fun, busy, unscheduled, unplanned day!!  It was awesome!! 

Facing my fear....

Well, is it silly........ probably.

Is it a challenge.......FOR sure!!

Did it intimate the heck out of me....YES!!!

But......

I did it.....

My very first EVER wall gallery.

I wanted to hang some pictures in the hallway to the master bedroom.

The challenge.... 

first and foremost a gallery *shudder* 

second - use what I have - I didn't want to have to make any additional purchases because I have a ton of frames/pictures and want to use them

third - I wanted it to look good

On Pinterest, I found the sample below and used it as my inspiration.  I have pictures and shelves...yay! I can do it, yes I can!

Then I laid it out on the floor to get a feel for how it would look if this was to be the final product and to get it in the right order.

And now, with a few changes ...it's up on the wall, it's almost 6 feet long and I'm SO SO SO SO SO SO happy and elated about it.  I have been stalling this project for a LONG time!!  Now I can change the framed pics as I want to....or not!

Phew!  SO there we have it , I faced my fear of the gallery wall!

I have a few more I want to do through the house.... I wonder what I'll come up with for them... *shudder* but shudders in a good way, sort of....still intimidating, not going to lie LOL!