The Last "Romantic" Outing

The last thing that Tim wanted to do before we left was to go overnight, just he and I, somewhere. Little did I know that he had alterior motives. He contacted a fishing guide somewhere in TX and booked a trip with him for us. We left one afternoon and got there that night. The motel that we stayed at was built for fishermen and location, not comfort and beauty. We got up at about 4:30 the next morning and were on the lake about an hour later. Anyone who knows me, knows that this was done totally out of love for my husband. I am so not a morning person. It wasn't the most exciting day that I have had with my husband but it wasn't horrible either. I had the first catch of the day AND the biggest catch of the day. Tim told me it was bigger than any bass he has ever caught. That'll teach him to take me fishing again. It was the first time I have ever been on a fishing boat with my husband and in an odd way, it helped to bring me closer to him. Below are pictures of Tim's first catch of the day, Tim wishing he were me and catching a big bass, my BIG bass catch, and the first bass of the day caught by me. :)

Playing Catch....My Summer Vacation

I hang my head in shame. I have been a bad blogger and haven't kept up so I thought that I would give you a quick update to what the Metcalf summer was like and then in the next few days fill in the blanks with pictures and more stories. We did a alot of driving(all of it done exclusively by lil' ole me.) But first, Tim came home right after school ended for his mid tour leave. It was such a wonderful time! We did some fun stuff like going to Sea World, but we also did a lot of just hanging at the house. And I have to say that I fell more in love with my husband during that time. It was just a rare time where time seemed to stop and we really got to enjoy being together again and really appreciate even the little things. When he left, the kids and I headed to Monterey, CA. We stopped off in Hesperia, CA first to say hello to my sister's family and my brother's family and I took the kids to a surprise trip to Disneyland. Boy, were they mad at me for waking them up so early UNTIL Connor read a street sign that said "Disneyland Blvd" and they figured out where we were going. Then it was a party to be sure. When we got to Monterey, we had fun with Grandmama and more family then we ever get to be around. Connor even got to build a robot with his Uncle Craig...a very cool sculpture that I need to get a picture of so that I can post it. We did the beach(A LOT), the Monterey Bay Aquarium, tide pooling, shopping, San Fransisco, and an adventure to Big Sur that ended up with us being stranded for a bit with a car that refused to start. Yikes. After our time in CA, we headed over to UT and saw more grandparents, more cousins, more aunts and uncles and did tons of fun, fun, fun things there too. My kids now think that I am made of money and I have to remind them that Summer is over and life is back to normal, budget and all. We ended our trip with more car problems, 2 new members of the family-kittens named Blossom and Roxas(yes, I lost my mind and drove from UT to TX with kittens), and we figured that we had drove through a total of 8 states this summer in all. Quite and Adventure and one my kids will not soon forget.