Things That Go Boom in the Night

Last night at about 10pm one of Transocean's rigs in the Gulf of Mexico had an explosion. Right now, 24 1/2 hours later, the rig is still burning and eleven are missing.


When I first found out about this at 6am this morning I immediately felt the same way I did when the Cougar helicopter went down in Canada a little over a year ago. Jeramy is home today, not out on the rig like he was when the helicopter went down. But the feeling in your stomach is the same. It's horrible, just really horrible. We are hoping and praying that the eleven missing are found alive afloat in an evacuation capsule. Yet as each minute goes by, our hope and optimism can't help but begin to slip.


It's days like this that make me take a moment...or many moments...and think about our home, our family..our life. My husband has a dangerous job. He spends three out of every six weeks in a very dangerous environment. He does it for us, me and the girls, so that we can have a home and a life filled with all that we desire and so very much more. When Jeramy is home we strive to make each moment count. We love each other and the girls fiercely and are so very proud of our daddy when he leaves to go back to work every six weeks.


My heart aches for the families of those still missing and those that were injured. Jeramy's boss while we were in Canada is one of the injured. He has a family. They all have families and I/we/all Transocean employees are with them in thought and prayer hoping for the very best.

Thank you so very much to our daddy and to all the oilfield men out there, including my dad, grandfathers, uncles and many other relatives, that do a job that is highly unappreciated, highly needed and filled with danger.

I love you Jeramy and are happy every day to be walking this road with you, hand in hand.

Spring Break 2010

Okay, Spring Break. So what if it was a month ago, here is how it went down for us. We decided to head on over to San Antonio to hang out by the hotel pool, ride some roller coasters and see beautiful sea creatures being held captive in clean tanks free of any predators. It was a really great time!

Lots of work went into preparing for our trip. Getting four people ready for a three night trip takes some thought. Good thing I only had to worry about three people. What I packed:

What Daddy packed:

Don't feel sorry for me, he's not allowed to pack anything other than his own bag. His job is to drive and my job is to pack and read a book all the way there.

We stayed at the Hilton Hill Country Resort, which I love and will now take a moment to plug. It's right across the street from Sea World and has a free shuttle to the park. Hotel activities for the kids include nail painting, face painting, hair braiding, jewelry making, coloring, a nightly movie outside and smores cooked over the open fire pits by the pool. And there are three pools one of which is a kiddie pool only a foot deep....and a jungle gym...and a basketball goal and half court. It's a great place for families with small children and I highly recommend!

An hour after we arrived we were all in the pool. Ryleigh in her floaties and Avery with her circle tube. Both were all over the pool except for when Avery decided to get out and jump back into the pool with the tube around her waist....with "No Mama Help"...get back you crazy woman, I am 2 1/2 and am fully capable of jumping into a 4 ft. pool by myself. Of course you are baby, jump away. ...only it didn't go like that because I didn't want her to smack her head or slip through the tube and sink to the bottom of the pool. Silly Baby.

The first full day we were there the weather was pretty yucky. We spent the morning just hanging around the hotel letting the rain pass. By the afternoon the sky had cleared so we ventured on over to Sea World. With the bad weather, not too many people were there which was great for us! We caught a few shows and Ryleigh and Daddy rode the Shamu roller coaster.

The next day the weather was really great and half of Texas decided to go to Sea World! Here are the girls and I at the Shamu show. The trainers weren't allowed to get in the water but it was still a great show and the girls really enjoyed it.

And here are the giant scary penguins that Avery wouldn't have anything to do with.

I think family vacations are sooo important. And they don't have to cost a lot of money, it's just all about spending time together away from the stresses of everyday life. Our family trips center us and I treasure each and every one.