A trip to Galveston

The Attack Of The Jellyfish

It was a sunny summer day down at Galveston on the beach; it was so hot outside the sun was almost burning anyone who even just stepped outside. The wooden boardwalks that lead down to the beach were so hot you would have to sprint down it to not get burnt; it was so hot you could even feel the heat through your shoes. Even despite the heat Macy, Noah, My sister, and I still believed that we would have an amazing day just hanging out at the beach, or so we thought. 

Macy, Noah, my sister, and I all walked down to the beach although it looked like we were on the moon because we were all so excited we were bouncing around so ready to splash into the nice ocean water. We could hear the big waves crashing down and washing  jellyfish up onto the shore.

    The moment we got in the sand our parents smuggled on our sunscreen and the moment it was all soaked in we flew into the water even though the water was muddy looking and the sand was a little chunky.

 We had only been in the water for a few seconds when we heard the first yelp of pain it came from our friend Noah. He was the first victim of the jellyfish. Soon enough we were all bolting out of that water with stings of our own that were so bad they sometimes left scars. Macy, my sister, and I kept believing that we were brave enough and that we could get over the pain so we would jump back into the water, but we could not get any farther than a few inches deep before we got stung again. We kept going out into the water because we knew that if we went deep enough we would have escaped the jellyfish. We knew that because the current was pulling in, which caused all of the jellyfish to come with the current, so once someone got out deep enough they would then help the others to get to them but also not letting themselves get too shallow so then they would get stung.

Then later all four of us (Macy, Noah, my sister, and I) decided to come together and try to save the beach from the jellyfish by picking up all of the jellyfish that lined the shore and dropping them into a deep deep hole that we dug in the sand marked by a BIG stick,so we could easily find it. Of course that idea only worked a little bit, for there were way too many jellyfish for any of us to get totally rid of, but we did our best. Finally the day was almost over and we had to go home.

 In the car I found out that I had a total of more than 40 stings!

“That water will always haunt me, but at least we got to spend time together, and that is the reason I truly loved this trip” I said to Macy, Noah, And Sophia. they all nodded in agreement, and we went home with many unforgettable memories.

-Brianna Gayser

COVID-19

our last day of school was march 6th  TOTALLY  Normal right?Well...anyways does this sound like it is such an amazing time; well, there is no more school until next year (6th Grade),but EVERYTHING

is closed (oof) we can't get a hair cut, we can't go to the nail salon, no restaurants (well unless you want to eat all of that fancy food in this amazing room called your dining room!)It feels like the end of the world. SERIOUSLY the whole world is experiencing this and in some places like India, the U.K.,and Italy are in terrible lock down meaning nobody can leave their own houses (what is going on!!).I know this may be a hard time for ALOT of people, but just so you know we are trying to make the best of this situation.We have been now having a lot of family time and keeping our distance from others while in public areas.Although it is REALLY weird having everyone at home working literally everyone (Mommy has been working from home like always in her office, and Daddy started working from home after spring break and we set him up an "office" in our craft room).  Sophia and I are doing all of our new online school work (I don't know how some people can call this normal but i sure can't).  Also some good news is that the entire family has somehow found 3 new best friends (hand sanatizer,disinfectant spray, and Clorox wipes) P.S. they are all very generous and for some reason always care about our hygiene (I think they are Germaphobes)

                                                            - Brianna Gayser

Louisiana Flood

This past week was the last week of summer. The Gaysers had great plans of going to Baton Rouge to visit family Friday through Sunday then heading to San Antonio to have a little vacation a the JW and float on the lazy river and relax for the last week of summer. These plans changed on Friday.


  Friday we got news that there was going to be crazy rain in Louisiana and choose to not drive to Louisiana and stay off the roads for safety.  Saturday we started seeing news coverage of the flooding.  We got in touch with my sister and brother but was not able to get in touch with my grandma.  She is not in a flood zone and in 30 years of living in Park Forest has never even got close to flooded so we just thought she was with out power.  Sunday after we had not gotten any word from Grandma, Joe took it upon him self to drive over to her house just to make sure she was ok.  On the way over he was stopped before he could get into her neighborhood by the national guard.  They told him that he could not get into the neighborhood.  he parked his car and started the mile + walk to Grandmas.  He got on a boat for a while to try to get there but then went on foot .  Water at some points were chest deep but he needed to get to Grandma.   By the time he got to her house there was already two feet of water in her house.  She is 90 years old and lives on her own. Her house is her pride and joy. She loves that it is hers and that she can live there. She has all of her treasures that she collected over her 90 years of life in this house.  After many hours at the house my brother was able to flag down a sheriffs boat and get grandma to safety.  She was basically only able to leave with the wet clothes on her back.


Monday morning I packed up supplies from Home depot and grocery to drive over to baton rouge.  After many re-routs i was able to get to baton rouge.  Then Joe and I went to grandmas house to get important documents and lock up the house as much as possible.  At this point we only had to walk through knee deep water and came with tall rain boots.  The rain water had all come out of grandma's house but everything was still wet with the flood water.


Tuesday Jeremy flew into baton rouge.  Joe, carrie, pat, jeremy and I all met at grandma's house.  after a safety meeting the men stated on pulling out flooring and Carrie and I started on saving pictures in documents.   After a long day of work the flooring was all out and many pictures were saved.  Wednesday the guys started on the walls and furniture to get everything that was wet out of the house to prevent mold from growing and let the house dry out.  Rebuilding can not start until everything is dry. 


We are now getting bid from contractors to get the work done.  Grandma came back to Texas with me and we are keeping her dry and working to buy all the things she needs to be happy.   There is a long road ahead of us but we will get it all done. 

grandma's house

Joe walking to grandma on sunday

cars in park forest on Sunday

Grandma's living room on Sunday

The streets on Monday

Safety first for demo tuesday

Walls and floor removed Wednesday

Hope to save pictures

demo pile after Wednesday. We still need to hire a construction crew to remove cabinets and bathroom along with prep for new dry wall and floors.  A long road ahead but we are making progress. 

Astros Game on the 4th of July

Yesterday the Girls had a pretty exciting Astro's Game for the 4th of July.  They usually love going to the game but this game was more special.  The game started off with Simon Biles throwing the opening pitch.  Since the girls are big into gymnastics now seeing one of the girls that is going to the Olympics was pretty amazing.

After that excitement they got a visit from Ms. Ashley who is also one of the Astro's ShootingStars.

Following the visit from Ms. Ashley our row was selected to be the whataburger winning row to receive a gift certificate to wataburger and be on the jumbotron during the 7th inning stretch.

After the excitement of being on the jumbo tron the girls went down to the dug out (our seats are a couple rows behind the dugout) as the astros were coming back in for their turn at bat. Marwin Gonzalez, the first baseman from the astros, saw the girls and pointed to them then rolled them the game baseball over the dugout.   They were so excited and want to make sure the dirt from the game stays on the ball forever.

About to turn 6

So looking at the things that the girls have accomplished over their 5th year of life.

• Learned to ride a bike without training wheels

• Joined Swim team

• Got big into gymnastics

• Learned to snow ski

• Learned to read - not just memorize books but really read
• Made best friends
• Went to Disney world

A pretty big year if I do say so myself.

Best Day Ever - 5th Birthday

These little girls turned 5 today.  Since it is the last year before they start primary school, I thought we might as well take advantage of them being able to miss school without an excuse.

The day kicked off with cinnamon rolls, per the girls request the night before followed by presents being opened from Mommy and Daddy.  The girls received two princess pajamas, dresses for them with matching dresses that fit an 18" doll (more to come later on that), and Fin Fun tails(see picture below).  The girls were very excited about all their presents.

We then headed to Memorial City Mall where we had an appointment with a personal shopper to have the girls pick out their American Girl dolls (thank you Grandma McFerrin)!  The girls went around the store to pick out their dolls.   There was a bit of a road bump with Brianna picking out her doll as the original one that she selected and we purchased, once unboxed her hair was a bit of a mess.  The style of the doll was more wavy hair and this cause it to look messy.  After a bit of a sad face and a pathetic request to exchange the doll she ended up leaving with the same doll that Sophia had chosen.

When then moved the party to the American Girl Bistro where the dolls had their own lunch and high chair with the girls.

After lunch and a little playing in the playground in the mall the festivities moved back to the house.  this is where the girls tired out their Fin Fun Mono fins for the first time.  They loved them but since they are on the smaller size the fins kept slipping  off their feet.  After a quick alteration brought to you by a needle and thread they worked great!

Once the pool time came to an end the group moved to Star Nails where everyone got full manicure and pedicures complete with cuticle trimming, nail cutting, massage and nail painting.

To close out the 'best day every' per Sophia, we headed back home, where Daddy was waiting for us, and we sang happy birthday to the girls with their trick candles in their Ooh lala cupcakes followed by bath and bed.

HAPPY Birthday Brianna and Sophia.  Now on to the Birthday Party on Saturday.

First Day of Kinder

The girls started their first day of kindergarten Aug 25th, 2014. Jeremy and I both walked them to school, in their little red wagon. I packed their lunch of some chicken strips that I made the night before, fruit, string cheese and a few gold fish with a water bottle.

The girls are each in their own class this year. This is the first time that they will be in different classes but they are in what is called 'switch class' meaning that for specials they are usually together. Like if the weather is bad and they cannot go out on the playground they will come together in have play time in one of their classes.

Sophia is in Mrs. Spaths class and has her friend Macy Stevens in her class. Brianna is in Mrs. Abrahams' class and has her friend McKenna in her class. We are luck that each girl has a friend they already know in their class to make the transition of not having each other smoother.

There were no tears as jeremy and I walked out of the classroom (from parents or children) and Jeremy and I both looked at each other amazed that no one cried. Here so the next 13 years of school before they go off to college.