July 4 - Family, Fun and Fireworks

Rockport Harbor

“The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.” —William James

We had a wonderful 4th of July weekend. Our oldest son and our grandson came for a visit. Bryt was on call all weekend and was unable to make it...we truly missed her company. The 4th of July is one of Rockport's busiest weekends. During the winter the town is full of winter Texans who are trying to escape the cold weather in the north, but summer is actually the busiest time...with every rental, B&B and hotel room full of tourists looking for a little fun on the water. Fishing, swimming and water sports are big draws to the area. We didn't want to get caught up in the traffic, so we watched all the action from the boat. We had a front row seat to everything.

Besides all the normal things Rockport has to offer, this weekend was the 46th Annual Rockport Art Festival sponsored by the Rockport Center for the Arts, located in the event field beside the harbor. It's a juried show with wonderful arts & crafts from around the country. Stan and I spent the morning wandering through the booths while we waited for Kyle and Graham to arrive. We found quite a few things we could have added to Texas Pearl, but resisted all but one temptation.

We spent the afternoon playing with Graham and catching up with Kyle. We took a walk on the beach, showed Graham the fish at the aquarium and watched the crowd grow in the area as we all waited for the fireworks. Some boats went out into Little Bay to have a better view, but we enjoyed the show from our top deck...no traffic jams, no worrying about our anchor dragging, no crazy boater and best of all we could enjoy our AC anytime we felt hot.

Rockport Art Festival

All the booths where under tents so everyone could stay in the shade

The entertainment and food was in an air conditioned tent, so everyone could cool off for awhile.

Graham having fun at the Rockport Aquarium 

Enjoying a walk

The crowd beginning to grow for the fireworks

Our little harbor just before dark...it looked like it might rain, but we were lucky and the cloud passed by

Fireworks over Little Bay

Sunday we spent a lazy day on the boat being entertained by Graham. I did take him back to the beach for awhile, he enjoyed watching the people, but liked the dogs the best. We then took another walk through the aquarium but it didn't take long before we were both hot and ready for the comforts of the boat. Sunday night's big event was our granddaughter's third birthday party. She was so excited to have everyone there just for her. To see the joy on her face as she greeted her guests, opened gifts and listened to everyone sing happy birthday to her was priceless. Spending time with our little grandwonders is the highlight of our lives at the moment and although we'd enjoy being somewhere cooler for the summer...we wouldn’t trade this for anything. Our big event for this week is the arrival of our second little princess on Thursday. Our family is growing and we couldn't be happier.

Graham really liked playing on the boat

Bath time on Texas Pearl