Galveston 2013

I finally got my beach pictures uploaded! We just got back from Pirate's Beach in Galveston. We had the best time, and we all took a TON of pictures!!! We had pictures on all of our IPhones plus my camera and Carrie's camera. On the last night, Carrie and I combined them all onto my computer. It was great to have so many to look at, but a bit overwhelming! So I'm sure I'm leaving out some, but I think these are the main ones. If not, I'm also making a photo book for all of us, so I'll be sure to get every picture in there. 

Daddy rented a house for all of us, and it was a great house! It was so perfect for a a family with kids! There were 5 bedrooms, one of which was a huge playroom with full sized bunk beds. When Nathan and Charlotte saw this room, they immediately fell in love with it, and that was the room we ended up staying in. There was a Dora kitchen, baby dolls, strollers, blocks, cars, flat screen TV/DVD player with lots of kids movies, and a Wii. After having a fun day at the beach, Wayne and I were able to take showers and get ready while Nathan and Charlotte played in our room. It was perfect. Plus there were two baby gates that we put up for Pearce, pack and plays, high chairs, sippy cups...pretty much anything you would need for kids. Oh, the other great thing was that there was an outdoor shower that was pretty large and had 3 shower heads and kids' body wash. So when we got back from the beach, we stripped the kids down and gave them a shower right then and there before going back in the house. It was so great to get that part over with first thing!

Nathan and Charlotte loved being at the beach. While we were there, Papa rented us a golf cart to use so we had fun taking it to and from the beach and going on nightly golf cart rides around the neighborhood. Nathan and Charlotte swam, played in the waves, explored, built sand castles, and had so much fun. Even Pearce loved it! He wanted anyone he could get to walk with him on the sand and take him into the water. I thought he would be a little apprehensive about the sand, but nope! He was as happy as could be! 

We got up each morning and relaxed a bit, drinking coffee and eating breakfast. The kids couldn't wait to get out the door every morning though. We spent the mornings at the beach and then came in for a late lunch. The kids were usually so tired that they fell asleep on their own right after lunch! Then we would either go back down to the beach in the afternoon. Mama made us a spaghetti dinner the first night, shrimp with corn on the cob the second night, and then the third night, Papa treated Carrie, Chris, Wayne and I to a night out. We had a great seafood dinner and had fun being out just the four of us. 

One of the highlights for Nathan and Charlotte, was going crab hunting each night. Dad got them each their own net, container and flashlight. It was so fun! The first night we went, I spotted crabs left and right and then Nathan and Wayne caught them. We kept making fun of Wayne because he was a little...how should I say this...uneasy maybe? About picking up the crabs (with the net wrapped around them) and dropping them into the container. Sometimes they would nip and pinch his fingers. We kept giving him a hard time saying that their little pinch wasn't going to draw blood or anything. Come on, Wayne, be brave! There was one time when Wayne was kneeling on one knee about to make his 5th attempt at grasping a crab when he let out this yell and just about fell over. He had knelt down on a piece of seaweed but thought it was a crab! So funny!

But then I had my own experience with a crab too. On the third night, Nathan caught a HUGE crab that Chris nicknamed Crabzilla. It was the biggest one we had ever caught. After bringing Crabzilla (along with 5 other crabs) back to the house to show off to Mama and Papa, we took them to the grassy area to let them go. I was video taping the release with Wayne's Iphone. As I filmed Crabzilla making his getaway, he turned and came right at me and my feet! I screamed so loud and ended up throwing Wayne's phone. Luckily it didn't break, but we got it all on tape. What goes around comes around huh? Wayne and Nathan made so much fun of me!

And on the last night, we all went down to the beach for a photo shoot. The kids were all grouchy and not happy with us, but we ended up getting some cute pictures. When it came to the four of us getting our family picture taken, I think Carrie took about 15 pictures...there was not one picture where ALL  four of us were looking at the camera at the same time and smiling! So I ended up sacrificing Charlotte...everyone knows she is cute so I chose the picture that was the best of the rest of us...bad mommy huh?

ENJOY!

Thank you Mama and Papa for a wonderful trip and great memories! We all had so much fun and are reserving our spots for next year!