Corpus Christi

Brian had his first residency interview, and it was down in Corpus Christi. They gave him a hotel for Thursday night, and he planned to leave Thursday night after school. During playgroup that morning, I had a friend (thanks, Cassidy) mention that I should go down with him. What--leave my house? :) Yeah, so we did a quick packing job & got ready to go with Daddy!! The hotel was so awesome--they had steps out the door that went right down to the beach. Even though it was pretty cold & cloudy, my girls wanted to go to the beach. You'd think they had never seen a beach before...:)

After freezing on the beach (at least we had the whole beach to ourselves:), then the girls decided they wanted to go swimming in the hotel pool-with some persuassive talk from Mommy:

While we were showering and getting ready to check-out of the hotel, B called and said that some of the doctors & faculty at Driscoll Children's Hospital wanted to meet us. So, all us girls, in our grungy beach & play clothes went up to the very nice hospital, found B in his spiffy suit, and met some of the faculty. They really liked Brian, and I think Corpus is definitely a step or two (or fifty) up from Galveston. We'll see what happens in the end...

After the greetings, Brian continued his interview, and we Payne girls took a picnic went to an awesome park we saw along the way to the hospital. Liz fell asleep for the first little while:

Doesn't it look like a fun park?...

It's actually very similar the the castle park here in Galveston:

There was also a pier at the park, where we could go out and look at the water. The water's not clear, but it's not brown, either. Faye took this picture:

And this is my favorite picture from our trip:

Home Life

It's amazing how exciting it can be at home, when there's really not much that happens. So, here are a few more happenings we've been having at home...

This is the Payne Train:


Daisy got her first haircut--thanks to Faye:

These are the ends of Daisy's 2 braids (like I said, thanks to Faye:):

This is my first Philipine dish. It is called Pavlova, and it was a very yummy dessert. Faye & Daisy helped me put the fruit on the top (only about half of the fruit actually made it to the pan):

Beach & Ferry

The Payne clan came to visit during Labor Day weekend. On one of the days they took Faye & Daisy to the beach:

Riding the ferry has been a great Payne hobby. I wish I would have kept track of how many times I've taken my girls on the ferry. At one point (when I was pregnant with Liz), I remember it being a weekly occasion:

This is perhaps the best picture I have taken of a dolphin. I know it looks a little small, but it's actually pretty good, considering they are difficult creatures to catch on camera. And technically, it is a porpous, as my husband just pointed out while looking over my shoulder:)

FHE

A couple weeks ago, we went to a park in Texas City for Family Home Evening. B had seen trains at the park and couldn't help but think of his girls, especially a certain train-loving girl by the name of "Dais-a-rooza."

Here's Daddy and his little girlies:

Faye, Liz, & Daisy on the back of the caboose:

This kid was in heaven. The whole time we were there she was humming to herself, wandering off to keep looking (there were only 2 cars), and she even had an extra "bounce" to her step (if you know Daisy, you know the "Daisy Bounce").

My train-lover: