Galveston

Warning-Picture overload! Between Morgan and I, we took way too many pictures so save yourself the trouble and hit the red "x" if you're not up for a photo packed blog post cause this one definitely is.

Our annual Galveston trip took place two weeks ago and included a few new faces this year. We've begged Morgan and Presley to join us for the past couple years and they finally took us up on the offer. Even better than that is the kids were able to convince Grammar to come along w/us. I'm sure I don't need to tell you how fired up they were about having Grammar all to themselves for 4 days...massive amounts of excitement. We left Sunday afternoon, made a pit stop at Bucee's so the kids could load up on junk, and then spent the night in Houston.

Kendra lives nearby in Spring so she came to the hotel early Monday morning and picked us up. I was so excited about meeting Kendra's son Jax that I could hardly contain myself. He was just as precious as I imagined and his spicy personality was the perfect match for Keller.

So stinkin' cute!

We loaded our bags and with mom, Morgan and Presley following behind, we were beach bound for a couple of days. Kendra and I have made this trip for the past 4 years so the boys are becoming pretty familiar w/Galveston and have things lined out before we even get there. First day activities typically look about the same.

Beach...

It was my year to get covered up in sand...a good ol' body exfoliation for free.

dip in the pool...

dinner {and pictures} on the Sea Wall...

Taking pictures sure is tiring.

shopping for a treat at Murdoch's...

getting inked at Wings...

and dessert at Rainforest Cafe.

We usually go back to the beach for part of day 2 but it rained this year so we had to revise our plans. Similar to what we had to do last year when Keller took a chunk out of his chin and we ended up in the ER. Thank goodness we didn't go to that extreme this year but we did have to make some adjustments. Instead of swimming, we shopped and took a tour of Galveston on the "Duck".

Kase wanted to do it when we were in San Diego but we ran out of time so I promised him we'd do it in Galveston. The kids thought it was pretty neat for about 7 seconds and then they were ready to get off...and so were the rest of us. Pretty darn boring! We took an afternoon swim and then went to dinner at the Fisherman's Wharf.

It was a yummy little spot overlooking the water so in b/w bites, the kids enjoyed watching the boats come and go. After dinner, we went for our usual night swim. It's such a simple thing but the kids always look forward to swimming in the dark and staying up way past their normal bedtimes.

We woke up early Wednesday morning and headed straight to the beach for one last hoorah w/our sweet friends.

It seems the time always passes by way too fast and before we know it, our trip has come to an end. Time to pack up, head home and reaquaint ourselves w/reality. Plain and simple, saying good bye to special friends is no fun at all...especially when they live so far away.

Thank you Kendra, Abi and Jax for another year of fun summer memories at the beach! We love you guys! And to my mom...thank you so much for making it a trip your grandkids will never forget.

They had such a great time making memories w/you at the beach and are already busy talking about and planning our next trip together. You are such a blessing and way too good to all of us. We love you!