firecracker, firecracker sis boom bah

WOW!  With July 4th falling on a Wednesday, we pretty much celebrated America's birthday all week long!  We spent lots of time with both of our families - visiting, eating, drinking, relaxing.

Preston and Lyla stayed with my parents for a couple of nights.  They swam, played at the park, rode scooters, played tennis, ate lots of junk food and stayed up way past their bedtime.  Thanks mom and dad for keeping them - they loved it!

Which meant that Grant and I had two calm, quiet nights at home.  Usually when we leave the kids, we go somewhere. So it was a little strange to be home by ourselves.  We had a wonderful uninterrupted dinner out one evening.  And after we got home from dinner, we sat on the back patio and had this beautiful full moon as our view.

Wednesday, we drove to Shiner to pick up P & L and stayed the day to celebrate the fourth and to celebrate my two sisters' birthdays.  We ate yummy fourth of July foods, visited with family and watched the kids swim.  Thanks Aunt Patty and Uncle Billy for having us!

We watched LOTS of fireworks this week.  Starting Saturday June 30th and pretty much every night until Saturday July 7th there were fireworks to be seen.  And I enjoyed each and every one!

We wrapped up our fourth festivities this weekend at the coast.  We packed the car and headed out on Friday afternoon and had a great weekend with my brother and sister in law and their boys.

Thankful for a fun filled week!

pieces of our weekend

At the last minute we packed up the car and headed to the coast this past weekend.


We took the boat to this one particular spot that is full of hermit crabs.  The kids love collecting and playing with them and it doesn't take long before we have a bucket full.

There are also LOTS of shells, which keeps this little one entertained

Here's what we came home with to add to our collection.  We always set the hermit crabs free before we go, but after we got these home and cleaned them, we noticed one of the shells started walking :)  Sneaky little guy was hiding well.

We also did some fishing, but the what we caught was nothing to brag about :)  But for the kids, they are happy to catch anything.  Frequent little fish are better than waiting on one big fish for them :)

A pole for mama bear, papa bear & the two wee little baby bears :)
Can you guess which belongs to who??

We strolled on the beach enjoying the waves, the sun, the boats passing by, the birds, the crabs, and all the other beachy sites and sounds!

Only 3 more days until we see you again weekend - YAY!

Friday's Happiness Is...

The Beach!  I grew up in Southeast Texas and because the Texas gulf coast was only a short drive away, we went to one of the Texas beaches with my family every summer and I have wonderful memories!  Our current home is in the Houston area, so a 45 min drive will land us on the beach.   My husband and I take our kids every summer too and they just love it!  So here are a couple of pics from our last two trips to Galveston, TX.  We stayed at Point West in a condo with another family and had a great time! 

 drip castle

 flying a kite

 looking for shells

 family pic

 only a short walk from the pool to the beach

 pool & waterfall (they also have a lazy river)

 pool with great view of the ocean

 clean, flat, private beach (with no vehicles)

my boys boogie boarding

We have also stayed at the Galvestonian, and San Luis which are also both great.  We would also like to try staying at the Palisade Palms on one of our future trips as well.

Galveston also has many great restaurants and shopping.  Downtown Galveston is The Strand with historical buildings, shops, restaurants, and ship viewings.   Moody Gardens has a huge aquarium, rain forest, beach area, and theater.  The new Pleasure pier will also be open this summer, which my kids will be excited to check out.   Schlitterbahn Waterpark is also a blast for the kids.  If you're in the area, go check it out!

Hope your Memorial Day Weekend is filled with happiness!