Happy Birthday to Leo! Sometimes I worry that being gone on his birthday would bother him, but then I remembered that he has celebrated his birthday in some amazing places: underground in a cave in Tennessee; the Pro Football Hall of Fame and now the Pleasure Pier in Galveston, Texas!

We all slept in a little and Leo woke up to Happy Birthday signs and banners throughout the house (we had them hidden in my bag since we left home). We had a breakfast and packed up to say goodbye to our little beach house.

Before we could start the celebration, we needed to get the fish on its way home. We already cut everything into fillets and frozen in water into ziplocs. We saved our water bottles and half gallon milk jugs to act as our ice in shipping. Mike and Leo wrapped the fish bags and bottles in towels and then packed into the cooler. At the local shipping place, Galveston Pack and Ship, the Manager, Abe, was awesome! He helped us get the best rate and type of shipping – even threw in a little discount for us.

Tracking number received, off we went to celebrate our boy.

What could be better than amusement park rides over the ocean? A little background on the Pier: The Pleasure Pier was originally built back in 1906 and was known as the “Coney Island of the South” until 1961 when Hurricane Carla destroyed the pier. A hotel was built in its place and stood until 2008 when Hurricane Ike destroyed the hotel. The pier was finally rebuilt in its present state in 2012.

So to celebrate Leo, we are spending the morning (or enough time needed) to cover the pier. They started off getting completely soaked on the log ride…

They rode this crazy roller coast that went 90° straight up and then came down at almost the same angle.

They played midway games – yea! We won some $5 crap! (Good thing Sampson loves fair toys)

They even posed in the big red chair for a photo-op without many grumbles (it’s a vacation miracle)

And no amusement park on a pier or otherwise is complete without a swinging pirate ship

Pretty great way to start a birthday!

Mom’s Cafe apparently doesn’t have a Texas franchise so we’ve been either eating a big breakfast at hotel and then having appetizer for lunch, or just grabbing a quick bite while we’re moving. The lack of Mom’s Cafe on this trip has been primarily due to lack of eating space in the big cities… hard to find a picnic table in Dallas. Today, the birthday boy chose WhatABurger since we try to never eat things we could have at home when we travel. I have to say, this was one of the best burgers we’ve ever had, and the boys said the patty melts were just as good. So ✔️ WhatABurger!

As we ate, we started making our way back through Houston on our way back to Dallas. I knew we were close to Houston when a normal exit ramp wouldn’t due, and we started seeing the HotWheels style interchanges start appearing.

We couldn’t come through south central Texas without a stop on Brenham… Home of Blue Bell Ice Cream

Blue Bell has a great visitor’s center with props and exhibits telling the story of the Brenham Creamery which became Blue Bell Ice Cream. We even got to pose with one of the original Blue Bell delivery trucks.

Afterwards we headed into the store and ice cream parlor for some $1 scoops

We left Brenham and headed to College Station, Texas – the home of Texas A&M University. It was a beautiful campus, however, we didn’t realize that today was Ring Day (awarding of class rings to students). It is a BIG deal to the Aggie’s so this 5 minute detour took about 40 minutes.

As we continued on toward Dallas, I finally got to see a real-life oil derricks! ✔️ now my Texas trip is complete!

We decided to eat before we got to Dallas so once we were in the hotel we didn’t have to leave to go anywhere else. After a little research, we found Ruston Cattle Company in Ennis, Texas. Great reviews and great selection of steak (birthday boy’s choice).

What he didn’t know was that Ruston Cattle Company sold Wagyu beef. Leo has wanted to try wagyu beef since he watched some cooking video online… (Thanks internet!) In case you’re wondering, wagyu is beef that contains a higher percentage of Omega 3 and Omega 6, as well as more monounsaturated fats than any other beef. I’m not sure that that’s completely accurate, but the steaks were great! And the birthday banana pudding was a hit!

Leo refused to let me tell the waitress that we were celebrating his birthday, so had to settle for a picture on the porch. 🥳

After dinner, we were traveled the 30 miles to Dallas… we knew we were close when we say the Hotwheels interchanges again and the skyline.

Checked in and showered, we finished the night with some blackjack and old maid.

Tomorrow we head home from a Texas-sized week of memories ♥️