Storm chasers..or not

We had been planning a trip to Port Aransas with some friends for almost two months and over the past week the local news stations started focusing on a tropical disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico that looked to be heading toward Texas. By Thursday, it looked like the now Tropical Storm Don was going to hit the Corpus area, which is right where we were supposed to be heading on Friday. It wasn’t supposed to be that bad and was going to clear out by Saturday afternoon so we decided to go ahead and go.

My friend’s mom recently bought a condo in Port A so we got to stay for free. It was really nice and sleeps 12. If you need a place to stay down there, let me know and I’ll give you the contact info.

We made an ice cream pit stop halfway through the drive.

Giving her ice cream, then strapping her into the car was not a great idea.

When we got to the condo, we decided to walk over to the beach to check out the storm rolling in.

We didn’t put swim suits on because we weren’t planning on getting in the water. Everyone ended up soaking wet..it was fun.




The condo was three-stories and Caroline and Anthony had fun going up and down the stairs.

The storm ended up hitting South of Corpus and we didn’t even get any rain. Saturday was beautiful and we spent all day at the beach.



Caroline even napped under the canopy for almost 2 hours>

After the beach, we headed to Moby Dicks for dinner. It was good..even though we had a 1.5 hour wait.

We rode the ferry on the way home. Caroline thought it was cool to ride on a boat in the car.

We’re working Monday through Thursday this week, then heading to the beach for 7 days. Can’t wait!

McFatty Monday..way off track!

Wow, the scale this morning said 196.2!! That's 1.8 lbs higher than last Monday and almost 5 lbs higher than last Tuesday...it's also higher than when I got back on track a few months ago. Maybe this will be the kick in the rear I need to stop watching reality TV with a bowl of ice cream every evening!? (I'm not giving up the reality TV but maybe I can do something more productive while I'm watching.

Thanks for the comments y’all! I’m reading them and pondering things. I just can’t figure out an easy way to post comments on my phone.

Jessica suggested doing a 10 pound challenge for money and I think it’s a great idea..just not right now. Haha. We’re going to the beach this weekend, then we’re going on vacation for a week at the beginning of August. If I start a weight loss challenge now, I might as well put the check in the mail. My plan is to get back on track after vacation.

I do like Jessica’s suggestion of focusing on the working out side of things for a while and cutting myself some slack on the eating. My goal is to work out Monday through Thursday this week since we’re leaving for the beach on Friday. I usually want to eat healthier when I’m exercising anyway so maybe that will be the kick-start I need.

Angela suggested doing a book club and I'm game. What book should we start with?

Current weight: 196.2
Weight GAINED this week: 1.4 pounds since last Monday..we'll see where things stand tomorrow.

Not many pictures..

We went to Sea World again yesterday and I didn’t take the camera. There are only so many pictures you can take at the same place and this was our 7th trip since April. We spent the day at the water park and Caroline even napped on a lounge chair (in the shade) for an hour, then we headed to feed the dolphins and visit the aquarium. This was Caroline’s first time seeing the dolphins and aquarium because she slept through it last time.

After Sea World, we went to Mario’s sister’s house and changed clothes to go out to eat. We went back to their house after dinner and spent some time at their neighborhood park. Caroline had a blast. Her cousin gave her two big bags full of dress up clothes, shoes, and jewelry that she saved from when she was little. Caroline loves to dress up and she loves plastic heels and jewelry!



We watched Caroline’s friend Anthony for a few hours today. They have a great time together..and they sure know how to make a mess! Look at this room.

Caroline was worn out from making that huge mess.

Here’s the room after she woke up from her nap.

This coming weekend we’re headed to Port Aransas with Anthony and his parents. It should be fun! The Friday after that we are headed to Galveston for a week. I can’t wait!

Flashback Friday..

4 years ago this week we closed on our house.

McFatty Tuesday..

The scale this morning said 191.8, which is 2.6 pounds less than yesterday and 0.4 less than last Monday. It makes me feel better but it does nothing for my motivation. How can I lose weight when I've been eating junk and not exercising?

Thanks for the comments yesterday..at least I'm not alone in my feelings about food.

Current weight: 191.8
Weight lost since last Monday: 0.4 pounds

McFatty Monday..2 pound GAIN

My name is Stephanie and I'm a food addict. I need to do more research, but I'm pretty sure I'm addicted to food. I use it as a stress reliever, as something to do when I'm bored, as a social activity, etc.

I know how to lose weight, I know most of the tips and tricks, I've done them all in the past..and I've been successful. For some reason, I have just lost my motivation lately. I seem to feel a weight lifted off my shoulders when I allow myself to eat what I want (or not exercise). I feel a sense of calm..which is replaced by dread when I'm about to step on the scale in the morning.

I need tips on finding my willpower. Any suggested books (though I've read a few on the topic)?

Current weight: 194.4
Weight GAINED this week: 2 pounds

Lazy Weekend..

This was our second weekend in a row without any big plans. I went to a bridal shower on Saturday, then my parents and sister watched Caroline and Mario and I had a date night. We went to Zorba..a Greek restaurant. It was pretty good..I had never eaten Greek food before. After dinner we went to the movies..we saw Horrible Bosses..it was hilarious!  We ended up heading home at 9:45 even though we had a babysitter for the rest of the night..we were just tired. Are we old or what?

Caroline had fun playing dress up yesterday and she wanted me to take pictures.

I made these cupcakes today and they were pretty good. Whenever Caroline sees cake or cupcakes she wants to sing Happy Birthday. We decided to light a candle and sing.


Instead of going to a pool today we decided to fill up the pool in the backyard. We all got in and had a great time.

McFatty Monday..2.2 lb GAIN

Yikes..where is my motivation? I do pretty well for the first couple days of the week..and I see results..then I get off track and get lazy.

I worked out twice last week..I'm supposed to be working out 5 days a week! I have been snacking way too much!

I'm going to weigh in again tomorrow to see what happens after a normal day of eating.

Current weight: 192.4
Weight GAINED this week: 2.2 pounds

Down time..

This was the first weekend in a long time that we didn’t have anything planned. It was kind of nice.

We had swim lessons on Friday evening and Caroline was not having it. She said she didn’t want to go swimming when we were on the way to the pool, but we figured she would be fine once she got into the water..nope. She didn’t want to participate and kept wanting us to get out of the pool. We finally decided to just leave early.

When we got home on Friday evening, Mario’s parents called and said they were going to come visit in the morning. We met them at Cracker Barrel Saturday morning, then took them to Costco because we needed dog food. They had never been there before so we spent a few hours going up and down every aisle. Caroline did pretty well..and loved the samples. She fell asleep as soon as we got into the car and stayed asleep for a few hours after we got home. We rented a movie after she woke up, then went grocery shopping. We were in bed by 10pm.



We decided to go to Landa Pool today since we didn’t have much time outside yesterday.

I have an addiction to buying swim suits for Caroline. This one was on sale for $10 from Osh Kosh.




We have less than a month before we head to this beach house in Galveston for a week..I can’t wait.

Caroline, everybody loves you..

Caroline is obsessed with Sean McConnell's song Caroline. She calls it "everybody" and requests it every single time we get in the car. As soon as it finishes playing, she asks for it again. It was cute at first, but it gets old pretty quickly.

Here's a video of her singing it.

Flashback Friday..

2009: Laughing in the Bumbo (15 weeks).

2010: Playing in a tent with Daddy (15 months).

4th of July Weekend..

We started out the weekend with swim lessons of Friday evening. I took the day off from work so we ended up showing up early. Caroline had fun checking every inch of the place out..and trying on my sun glasses.

Look how long her hair is! We might have to get it trimmed soon.

After swim lessons, we went to get ice cream at Dairy Queen with some friends.

On Saturday we went to the Comal River to hang out with a friend and her family. They camp on the river every July 4th weekend and we hung out with them before, but it’s been at least 5 years. I was shocked over the number of people on the river! I have never seen it that packed. We did a mini float and Caroline rode on my lap..the water was a little cold for her liking.


Caroline watched the guys play dominoes.

and napped outside.

On Sunday we went to Sea World. We went straight to the water park this time after waiting too late last weekend and not getting in. We ended up getting 5 chairs in the shade at the wave pool, which is hard to do! Some friends met us there and I realized that it’s a lot easier getting Caroline to cooperate when her friends are with us.


How cute are these two!?

This was our 6th visit to Sea World this Summer and we had no idea that there was an area where you can feed the dolphins and an indoor aquarium. The dolphins were awesome..so cute and they felt so rubbery.

This is what you can buy for $6.

This was Caroline when we got to the dolphins. There was no way we were waking her up! She’ll have to see them another time.


On Monday morning we were invited to go to the movies to see Cars 2. We decided to give it a shot because we had two Fandango credits.

She did pretty well during the movie. She got a little restless about an hour into it and Mario walked around in the hallway with her for about 5 minutes.

My parents came over yesterday afternoon and we ate pork tenderloin..yum!

Look how dark Mario is! Caroline definitely has his skin.

We went over to a friend’s house on the next street over to watch the Kyle fireworks. We were one of the only cities in the area that was actually having fireworks and we didn’t want to mess with the crowds. We had a perfect view from their backyard.


The kids watch the fireworks in their cars.