the process of becoming: texas vacation

Road trip! We used to live in Corpus Christi, Texas. So when Dolly had a film festival to attend for work in Austin, TX, mom & I decided to make a road trip. We drove to Austin to pick up Dolly, and then spent a few days in Corpus Christi with our dear friend and old neighbor, Robyn.

First sign of a good road trip, the cross in Effingham, Illinois!

Austin was a mad house when we got there! Between the film festival, the music festival, and general crowds of people celebrating St. Patrick's Day, it made for some crazy driving!

We finally found a quiet area close to Lindsay's hotel and illegally parked the car while we waited for Lindsay to be done with her last film. Unfortunately, the car battery decided that it'd had enough and we had a brief delay while we waited for AAA. We did get to see the awesomely huge capital building. Everything IS bigger in Texas!

We finally arrived at Robyn's house in the wee hours of the morning. We slept in a bit, had lunch, and then it was off to the beach where we met up with Robyn's daughter, Lacey & her family.

I love sea gulls & sea shells!

Robyn & Totsie. You know that Robyn's the one that dubbed mom as "Totsie-Ta"!

Friday we made a stop at one of the local Flea Markets, where we scored Mexican dresses for Hannah & Leah. Unfortunately, we decided not to take home the big sombrero.

We made a quick stop at the beach, but boy was it windy! We made a stop in Flour Bluff, with a pantless Totsie ... HA! She actually went into a WalMart in her swim suit and cover up! .... After a quick clothes change (again) we drove around Corpus Christi and met up with Lacey at an authentic Mexican restaurant.

Saturday was more, yes more, time at the beach followed by some more personal sight-seeing.

This is our old house in Texas!

And my old elementary school. I still have a t-shirt from there!

Saturday night we dined at Water Street Oyster Bar. I'm not a big seafood fan, but I heard that the shrimp was fantastic. And many times seafood restaurants tend to overlook their steak options, but their steak was wonderful!

Sunday morning, I put my powers of persuasion to work and convinced everyone to make one last trip to the beach. Nothing like sunlight on the Gulf!