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Easter weekend was wonderful. The work week spiraled to a uneventful end as fewer and fewer "things" were happening in the office. I had plenty of work to keep myself busy, but the majority of the management and executive staff was out of town for some sort of conference, so there weren't many meetings to shuffle productivity into compartmentalized blocks that are difficult to stack. One of the biggest things that needed to get done before I threw in the towel on the week was to send out the hardware from the big network hootenanny we had a couple of weeks ago to have an engineering failure analysis performed on them. Once that was done, I was able to leave a little early to try and beat the holiday traffic southbound for the coast. EL and I made good time to my grandmothers. It's always like stepping into another world when we arrive at her reservation. You know, there is always that special feel to a grandparents home, but for me it's more than just a slurry of memories and the stereotypical atmosphere. The plush shaded yards of pecan and various citrus trees... the huge vegetable garden... the different little pools of lilies that are spattered with fish darting about... the abundance of life due to all the greenery... it's all special. One of uncles has a home toward the back of my grandmothers property. He and his wife add a little quirk to the grounds now because they have an inordinate amount of avian pets. Guineas, turkeys, chickens, etc... they roam the place freely. It's barnyard Serengeti. After a quick visit, we continued to my mother's place to meet up with her and her fiancé. The purple martins had already moved in, so the mosquito population was very low compared to normal this time of year. I've mentioned it before, but they live in a cove off the Corpus Christi bay. The house is right on the water with boat dock access off the back porch. I love sitting out there and watching the sea birds and passing ships. Bob caught a redfish for dinner that was still swimming on the stringer off the bulkhead when we arrived. Yum. Cuba Libre, ocean breeze, the sound of gulls in the distance, the smell of that familiar salt air that I grew up in, and the freshest gulf coast fish filet one can have for dinner short of catching it swimming by in their teeth made the perfect end to Thursday and kicked off a great weekend. Friday morning was sunny and calm. I took a few photographs, but nothing to get excited over. We planned a big boil and caught Bob's buddies shrimp boat coming in from it's morning run. After trading the captain a 12 pack of beer for about ten or fifteen pounds of shrimp (or however much could be fit in a small ice chest), we took the fresh veggies bought that morning at the local fruit market and got to it. Bob is the chef when were around, so he did the actual boiling. EL and I drove over to Nana's and picked a dozen lemons off one of her trees for the evening. My mom invited some of her friend over and we all had Bob's margarita recipe (with the fresh lemons) and fresh shrimp on the deck. It amazes me how much juice was in those lemons. My mother got a full cup from two lemons! While the festivities were still in full swing on the downstairs deck, EL and I went upstairs and spent some time in the hot tub before sleepy-time. Saturday morning we went over to my grandmothers for breakfast. It's always a trip highlight for me when we go visit. Usually we get taquitos from the City Tortilla Factory, but this time we made all the fixings and just used their fresh flour tortillas. After breakfast, we scooped up my grandmother and took her with us for Henry's first time at the beach. He loved it once he figured out the whole waves crashing in and going out thing... cute as a button. Port Aransas beach was in great shape this trip... clean and pleasant. The sun was strong and I think everyone got their fair share of pink. Awesome afternoon. Saturday night started out with a big party down the street from my mom's, but EL and I ducked out early to have a quiet evening at home. I wish we would have stayed for the blue crab, crawfish, and shrimp to get dumped on the table, but when we left, they were all still crawling around in the coolers. The bad weather rolled in Saturday night. Winds rose to around 50 mph over the evening and the rains came in with them. EL and I decided to head out early Easter morning to get back to Houston before the rush. Overall, it was a wonderful weekend with my family. I do have a few photos to share, but I simply have not had time to develop them. Perhaps I'll get a chance this evening and will post some tomorrow. Until then, this one will have to do... who knew Great Blue Herons were such gardeners? Heh.