Fun with friends

Last weekend we took off 2 extra days from work and headed down to the Houston area.  We had not been out of town together since Thanksgiving, so this trip was long overdue.  We stayed with our friends Derek and Charriss that we've known since we lived in Stillwater, OK.  Charriss and Josh were grad students in the same department at OSU, Derek introduced Josh to the world of fishing (thanks a lot), and Charriss and I quickly became friends.  They moved to TX, we moved to WA, now we're back in the same state again- yippee!
Over the weekend we enjoyed fireworks, great food, shopping (IKEA, Garden Ridge, etc.), more great food, Galveston, more food, the beach, and more food.  It was wonderful.
Since their dog Sasha is a little territorial, we left Titus with his new buddy Navi (short for Navidad- he was adopted at xmas).  While we were gone Titus encountered his first rattlesnake.  Titus sniffed it while it was coiled up on the front porch, but luckily it did not strike.  Navi also checked it out without injury- although it was probably the same snake that bit his nose 2 weeks ago.  Thank goodness for the rattlesnake vaccine!
Anyway, here are a few pictures from our weekend.

Derek, Charriss and me on the beach

The beach

Windy, humid, hot day

Seagulls

Tiny shrimp