"Disturbing" is not a strong enough word.

Ok, I had every intention of limiting this blog to information about me & my fellow Lawsons.  I couldn't resist this though, as I just ran across an incredibly disturbing video on YouTube.com that ... well ... just watch it for yourself.

Now, if you could stomach sitting through the tortuous 4 minutes, I hope you are as disturbed and nauseated as I am.  I'm all for people breast-feeding their little ones, but honestly.  This woman has set these two girls up for a lifetime of "issues", none of which will be resolved by anything short of shock therapy.

Still ... stunned.  Wow.

Catching up ...

Wow, it's been a loooong time.  I know this.  I'm sorry.  After the July 4th holiday, we became plagued with illness ... first Zach, then me, then Aaron.  BUT, you can't keep us Lawsons down!  Even though we were feeling like shit-on-a-stick most of the time, we stuck to the plans we made before sickness became us, and squeezed in a few great road trips!

The first one was Sunday, July 13th.  Aaron decided it would be a fun, spontaneous thing to go grab lunch at one of our favorite restaurants ... in Port Aransas!  What a fabulous idea!  So, we piled into the car at 9:00am, got on the road, and managed to arrive at The Big Fisherman just in time for lunch.  Ok, so I'm sure plenty of you are thinking it's insane to drive 3 hours, not to mention all the gas that would be used, just to have a bite to eat.  But, I must say, I think it was one of the best ideas ever.  (Not to mention, my little car gets great gas mileage, and it only took a little over a half of a tank to get there.  Hooray for tiny cars!)  To see Zach's face light up at the notion of being on the coast, even if just for a few hours, was worth it.  

Since we knew we'd be done with lunch pretty quickly, we planned to spend the afternoon at the beach, then drive back around dinner time.  As most of you know, we have an elderly dog that needs to be let out to the bathroom more often than not, so our dear friend (and my boss) Ken had volunteered to go let our dog out so we could take our excursion.  The nice surprise was, when I called him to check on the mutt, he told me to go ahead and take Monday off and spend the night on the coast.  More spontaneity!  I LOVE IT!  Lord knows I've never been one to say "no" to a day off, especially if my boss was offering, so we went to the beach for the day, then headed into Rockport to find a hotel for the night.  Granted, I was the "sick" one during this trip and was feeling a bit worn out by the end of the day, I still wouldn't have gone back early for anything.  We found a motel that had a pool, so Zach could do one of his favorite things ... nightswimming.  All in all, it was an amazing, relaxing, anything-goes type of trip that was good for our souls.  No schedules, no crowds, no real plan of any kind ... just being together, laughing, and making memories that will last us a lifetime. 

Here are some pics from our two days on the coast:

After stuffing ourselves @ The Big Fisherman.

You know you've made it to Port A when you see these guys.

Wading.

Building sandcastles.

He gets really into it.

Mommy was "off" sandcastle duty since she didn't feel well.  I baked instead.

Probably just wishing I'd leave him to his sandcastle-building.

The seaweed was ridiculous.  We've never seen so much there!

Ma & Dawd, this shot is for you!  *sniffle sniffle*

Um, when did he get so grown-up??

Rockport's beaches were much better.

My favorite tree in Rockport.

Rockport's beach has a playground ... this thrilled him.

Him too.  I love how he makes me laugh.

A sick, but very happy Phyllis.

The last sunset shot of the night.

Nightswimming.

I love them.

It's hard to describe how much fun this trip was for us.  Aaron outdid himself with this idea - it was unexpected and awesome.  Since it was so fun for everyone, we've vowed to make every Sunday a day for something out of the ordinary.  Maybe a road trip, maybe hiking - just whatever sounds appealing that morning.  I hope Zach remembers these trips when he gets older, and looks back on them with warm fuzzies.  

We did take a camping trip this past weekend, but I will save that for another blog.  Plus, I need some time to upload the pictures to Photobucket before I can post them.  Check back in a day or two, and I'll tell you about our camping trip to Lake Somerville, as well as our Casita's maiden voyage.  Until next time ...

July 4th

The long, 3-day weekend has sadly come to a close, but I'm happy to say we had a fabulous time!  It didn't rain this year, so we actually got to see some fireworks out at Old Settlers Park, and our dear friend Ken joined us.  The fireworks are so much more fun now, since Zach is older & not scared of them anymore.  He didn't want it to end!  Here are some shots from that evening:

Let me just pause here to say that, in case you aren't from Austin, the "Yellow Rose" is a strip club.  Yes, they had a plane flying overhead before dark, advertising their establishment.  Nothing says good, clean, family fun like a banner flying overhead for titties & beer.  Moving on ...

As you can see, there was quite a crowd to battle after the festivities ended.  We decided to wait it out, and to kill time, Zach & Aaron ran around like crazies, then Zach asked if he could take some pictures with my camera.  Here are the results of his impromptu photo session, as well as some of them playing:

"Daddy, make a silly face."

Mommy's turn.

Now Ken's turn.

And his own turn.

Of course, he had to photograph the only sign he could find.

As fun as this night was, it was only the beginning!  We left the next day mid-afternoon to join our friends Michelle & Katy at their lake house on Lake LBJ.  Their niece and daughter were there, as well as their adorable, hilarious, and ever-entertaining yellow lab named Ben.  We spent Saturday and Sunday with them, and here are some pics of the trip:

He told me he was meditating.

A worn-out Ben.  He swam A LOT.

An all-of-a-sudden alert Ben, seeing the meat being carried to the grill.

There was lots of swimming, eating, and Wii playing.  It was such an awesome, relaxing end to a holiday weekend.  Michelle & Katy almost convinced us to stay one more night, but my parents were babysitting our old-man dog, so we felt we should get back.  They've invited us to come spend more weekends with them, and I have a feeling we'll be taking them up on that very soon.

Clearly, it was a busy, but really fun weekend.  The weather was sunny & hot, but the wind down by the lake made it bearable.  I think we finally epitomized what July 4th weekend is all about -- relaxing, good laughs, and good company.  We had it all.  

I will wrap this up now, since the new season of "No Reservations" is about to start, and I can't be late.  Don't want to miss one minute of my Anthony!  I know the pictures did most of the talking in this post, but hey - that's not so bad, is it?