Beach buddies

Round of applause please...the boys and I survived our first vacation by ourselves. Daddy had to work so the boys and I loaded up the car and headed to see our special friends in Houston, Kendra and her little girl, Miss Abigayle.

I think, in fact I know, Tony was a little skeptical at first but I assured him I was up for the challenge. Funny thing is, it didn't even turn out to be a challenge and I would do it all over again in a second. I'm sure it helped that there was another adult but the boys were fantastic the entire trip. What happened when we got home is beyond me b/c they are now back to being siblings and I'm playing referee. Enough about that; now for the details of the trip along w/an insane amount of pictures thrown in here and there.

We spent Sunday night watching the kids play, cooking out, and catching up at Kendra's house in Houston and then headed to Galveston bright and early Monday morning.

It was a little earlier than we'd planned but what do you expect? The kids were making the plans that day and they were ready to go before their little feet even hit the ground. In fact, the first words out of Keller's mouth were, "I gotta hurry and get my badin suit on so we can go to the beach." We got ready, stopped for a quick breakfast and then spent the rest of the day at the beach.

Kase loves everything about the beach but I wasn't sure what to expect from Keller since he wasn't too fond of it last summer. My how quickly things change...he put on his lifejacket and walked right out to the water and kept on going. He was a man on a mission, until he ran into a big wave and got a mouthful of salt water.

After that, he was more interested in playing in the sand, making {and throwing} mud pies, and wading in the water close to mommy.

Kase, on the other hand, was confidently exploring the ocean, digging for shells, riding the waves and just being a cool 6 year old.

The boys did slow down long enough for me to get a few pictures of them together. Unfortunately, they weren't interested in smiling but that was fine w/me. I caught them being sweet and that is worth much more to me than a smile!

I also caught this little cutie pie while she was having a drink break. Isn't she precious and couldn't you just see me w/a little girl just like her?

After tiring ourselves out at the beach, we headed to the hotel to see if our room was ready. Of course, it wasn't so we took a dip in the pool, slid down the slide,

had a little snack and waited patiently. By 4:30, my patience was gone so I stormed my way to the lobby and very politely told them we had cranky kids who needed a place to nap. Luckily for her and the rest of us, the room was ready and as a courtesy, she told me that they upgraded our room to a penthouse suite on the 15th floor. Very nice gesture, thank you very much but we open the door and see one lonely king bed. The room was nice, the view was spectacular but one bed wasn't going to work for 2 adults and 4 children. So, ring a ding ding the front desk and they move us to a 4th floor conference room suite. The view wasn't as nice but we had 3 beds, a wet bar w/refrigerator, a very large conference table to clutter up w/our belongings, and a white board for the kids to write on. It was perfect and the kids made themselves right at home. I even slept on the hotel sheets and took a shower w/out my flip flops so you know it must've been a winner! The kids took a short nap and then it was off to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. There was a 50 minute wait so we took a tour of the rainforest on the river adventure ride and shopped in the gift store. Keller was not happy at any point throughout the ride.

Things started out well for Kase but quickly changed as we rounded a corner and saw a huge snake dangling in our face.

Never mind the fact that it was fake, it was still a snake and it scared him to death. They enjoyed eating in the rainforest and thought the ridiculously expensive volcano dessert was the coolest thing ever b/c it was on fire. I'll admit, it was pretty yummy but my goodness, $12...that's a little much for a piece of cake, ice cream and a 3 cent sparkler on top. They were bringing them out left and right so we weren't the only crazy people in the place that paid more for our dessert than we did our entree. It's vacation, what the heck?

With our tummies full, we headed back to the hotel so we could rest up and do it all over again the next day. We decided to do the ferry first thing in the morning and I'm glad we did b/c it turned into a 2 hour adventure.

It was a neat experience for the boys so the wait was well worth it. They fed the sea gulls and watched the dolphins swim around the boat while I made sure we didn't venture too far from the life jacket closet.

I'm not too fond of deep water so I was a little nervous about being on a boat w/heavy cars and eighteen wheelers. Thank you Kendra for waiting to tell me after our ride that one of the buses in line was full of prisoners. You saved me from having a heart attack! After our ride, we took Kase to do a little souvenir shopping and then spent the rest of the afternoon by the pool. Although our trip was short, it was full of many memories and cherished moments w/special friends. Thank you Eric, Kendra and Abigayle for having us and we can't wait to do it all over again next summer. In the mean time, we'll keep praying Eric gets a job transfer to Dallas so you can come back home...we love and miss you guys!

To my little beach boys...thank you for making this a trip Mommy will never forget. I had so much fun building sand castles, writing in the sand, digging for shells, "pretend surfing" but more than anything, I enjoyed watching you take it all in. It was nice, for a change, to have no distractions so I could just simply "be" with you. I enjoyed those moments and am so grateful that we had the opportunity to spend such precious mother/son time together. I love you both more than you'll ever know!