Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving this year found us again down at the beach for a long weekend of food, fun and family -- just Katie, the boys and I. We got there on Wednesday morning around 10 and Katie unloaded, as usual, while I kept the boys busy around the house and on the beach. We headed out to look for some nice finds along the beach and in the dunes to make a centerpiece for Thursday's table, but didn't find much other than a nice load of shells.

With the coming of fall and cooler weather, the beach has been less trafficked lately, so it was nice and clean, with lots of shells that hadn't been crushed by cars or scooped up by the crowds. We walked down the beach about a half mile to where a favorite downed tree lay partially buried in the sand, and the boys climbed / balanced on it just like they were there only the day before. We call it the Baseball Tree, since when we first found it, there was a baseball with the cover ripped off of it, unraveling and tangled in one of the stumps. The baseball is long gone, but you can still clearly see the twine wrapped around the stump.

I told the boys we needed to take a good nap, or at least have a good rest in the afternoon so that we could have a fire that evening -- but they didn't rest. I'm glad they forgot about the fire, too -- by early evening, they were toast.

Thursday, Katie made the turkey and dressing, plus mashed potatoes for Jackson, but Porter ended up eating them all. Jackson didn't like them, because they were yellow (Katie mixed in melted butter, half-n-half, a really good recipe) -- Jackson said mashed potatoes were supposed to be white.

I made broccoli / rice casserole and the cranberry-orange salsa, plus pulled together a gravy from the wonderful turkey drippings. Dinner was great, and we all made sure to remember what we are thankful for.

In the afternoon before dinner we went down to the fishing pier / bridge area and scouted sand dollars -- I found 2 whole ones that I proudly gave to Katie. That's a first for me -- I've never found one that wasn't broken.

Friday we went into Galveston and played around -- we visited the Railroad Museum down on the Strand, which was really cool. They have about 30 full size railroad cars, many of which you can go in and explore. They have everything from historic locomotives, to Pullman cars, to boxcars and the electric/diesel engines that are common now. The boys loved it! Later that afternoon we hit the beach and did a little fishing in the bay -- but didn't catch anything, of course.

Saturday we hung out on the beach most of the morning -- flew the kite in the strong wind, walked a lot up and down the beach, and played with sticks. By mid-day we were packed and ready to head back home to the cats.

I headed back to Dallas on Monday morning, but my mind is still at the beach with my wife and kids. I'm thankful for that --