We had our annual trip to Galveston once again. But this time, Alexandra's high school graduation was the weekend before so we ended up going straight to the beach after graduation and stayed a whole week. Normally, Wayne and I come down Wednesday through Sunday so this was a treat! Wayne and Chris couldn't take a whole week off of work so they came down Thursday morning.
We left for Houston on the last day of school for Nathan. I checked him out a little early and then Nathan, Charlotte, and I followed Mom and Dad. We made several stops along the way, but the fun stop was our lunch stop! Mom packed us a picnic and we found a rest area about halfway to Houston. Nathan and Charlotte thought our picnic was so much fun. It was good for them to get out and walk around a bit and have lots of treats. We got a kick out of seeing a wild chicken walking around with its baby! After lunch, it was on to Aunt Jen's house. Nathan and Charlotte were so excited to see Robert and Alexandra! We went to Allie's graduation that night. She looked so pretty! And we were all so proud to see her dressed in her cap and gown with all of her honors cord. Alexandra was in the top honors group of her class which is a big deal because there were over 900 kids graduating!
The next day, mom and dad took the kids swimming at the neighborhood pool while Carrie, Jen, Alexandra, and I went out to lunch and got manicures and pedicures. One of the highlights for the kids was playing with Sadie, their golden retriever. She was so sweet!
And Sunday was off to the beach! We stayed at a different house this year which we all loved. It was in a perfect location with a perfect view of the water. There was also a huge grassy area right in front of the house that was the perfect playground for the kids to play soccer, run around, and throw a football. We really lucked out on the weather too. It was sunny every single day except for the last day when it rained. But that was a great day to go souvenir shopping, and Wayne took Nathan to the movies to see Jurassic World. Nathan had been waiting for this movie to come out for months!
Each day, the kids (and Papa) got up a little earlier than the rest of us. Daddy fixed them breakfast and they played on their IPads until we rolled out of bed. We got our suits on and headed to the beach. Daddy rented a golf cart to haul all of our beach chairs and toys and kids and then he and mom usually walked down. We had a big tent that we had gotten Dad for Father's Day one year so we always had plenty of shade to relax under. Nathan, Charlotte, and Pearce had so much fun playing in the water, riding their boogie boards, flying kites, searching for seashells, and building sand castles. Jen, Robert, and Alexandra came a day later, and when Robert joined the fun, we were all off duty which made it nice! The little kids had their sand buckets and little shovels, but Robert brought a REAL shovel. He ended up digging this HUGE hole...more like a trench! They all worked and worked on it, and I think it was as deep as Pearce was tall! It was so funny! Each day, they filled it up, and then they would re-dig it the next day.
When Wayne and Chris arrived, the kids were really happy! Nathan couldn't wait to have a football game on the beach with Daddy and Uncle Chris. Mommy is fun, but Daddy is even better!
We usually played at the beach for a few hours in the morning and then went back up to the house for a later lunch and to rest a bit and then back down to the beach for a few more hours. At the end of the day, we gave the kids their shower in the outside shower which was really convenient. Carrie and I would get them all nice and clean and dressed outside and then they would play together while we got ready. Mom always made a great dinner for us to enjoy on the huge front porch. On the second night there, we had an ice cream sundae bar for dessert. That was HEAVEN! That dessert lasted us all week and put a few pounds on me. Aunt Jen had also bought each of the little kids a special toy which was so sweet. Nathan got a cool Lego set, Charlotte got Disney Dominoes, and Pearce got a Checker Board. So these things kept everyone occupied at tbe house. Thanks Aunt Jen!
Hunting for crabs was also a nightly event. I must say that we are all master crab catchers! We always had a contest to see how many we could catch and who would catch the biggest one. I think we caught 13 or 14 one night. We are all walking around with our flashlights, either Pearce or Charlotte is holding the cage, and then you would hear someone yell "CRAB!" and everyone goes running to help catch it. Nathan and Carrie got so into it that I think they smashed a few trying to get the net on top of them. And the release was even funnier. We would get into a big circle, Wayne shining a light and taking a video, and Carrie was in charge of shaking them out. She would yell, "Run for your lives!!!!" and pretty much shake them out all around and AT the rest of us. Not only were the crabs scrambling about, we were running around trying to get away from any that were running towards us, and then Charlotte is clawing at me to pick her up. It was so funny.
On one of the mornings, we went on a dolphin cruise. This was really neat because it wasn't a super long trip, but it was cool to be in a big boat on the water. Charlotte loves dolphins and was so excited to see one. We ended up seeing tons! We got a great seat right at the front and were able to see every single one swimming up and down in front of us. Some were really close up. I got a great video of a set of them, but my pictures weren't as good. I'd get so excited to see one, that I'd take my picture too late!
One night, we let Mom and Dad relax at home while the rest of us went to Pleasure Pier to ride rides. I think we were there for over 4 hours! The rides were so much fun! Carrie and Alexandra went on one ride that was just a huge circle and went back and forth further and further each time until it ended up spinning upside down over and over. I love the picture I took of them! And Nathan had lots of fun on the bumper cars and even did a scary ride with Alexandra! We split up later on in the evening so that Carrie, Robert, Alexandra, Nathan and I could do some of the bigger rides and Aunt Jen took Pearce and Charlotte on the smaller things. Robert and Alexandra talked me into doing the pirate ship with them...I have turned into a big scaredy cat and really didn't want to do it, but I couldn't let them down. Well, it was so darn scary! I felt like I was going to fall out of it and was holding onto Robert and Alexandra's arms for dear life! I might have even left bruises on Robert!
On our last night, Carrie, Chris, Wayne, and I dinner out while Mom and Dad watched Nathan, Charlotte, and Pearce. Jen, Alexandra, and Robert had to go home a day earlier so it was just the four of us. The dinner was so good! We had seafood at Landry's and completely stuffed ourselves! When we got home that night, we found all three kids asleep on the couch. They were so cute.
We had a wonderful time. It is so much fun to all be together and watch our kids have so much fun with each other. There is nothing better than relaxing at the beach, reading a good book, and having fun with your family. Thank you Daddy for a great trip! We can't wait til next year...same house, same time, same place!
