Tag: beach

Looking Back | Fourth Annual Beach Vacation

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Port Aransas trip number 4! This time with two babies and two toddlers and seven adults. The kids may out number us one of these years!

We didn’t stay as long this year and I was a little glad of that. I can’t say I was feeling all that great or getting enough sleep. Some of it was pregnancy related and the rest was just sleeping in a new place. I was also on “mom alert” through the night listening for William who slept across the landing from us in his own room. I shouldn’t have worried, he slept great and in a twin bed! 

We took a different route this time that was through smaller towns. It was a nice change of scenery. This was William’s reaction to riding the ferry.

We were there Sunday through Wednesday (the rest of the crew stayed a day longer) so that gave us two full days of beach time. Monday we went out in the morning until nap time and then on Tuesday we went out after nap time for an evening on the beach. I have to say evenings on the beach are by far my favorite thing.

This was Monday right before nap time….can you tell?

William was still in love with the beach. Being dirty, wet and free. He would just run into the water, no fear at all.

Love this shot of the two kids sitting next to each other.

Nathan and Jessica made some amazing tacos for dinner on Monday night. I wish I could have eaten more….

Girl’s trip to the candy store!

Video games, family and bags of candy.

William found a microphone that went to the Rock Band set so he would come down to the landing and put on shows or we’d hear him upstairs singing his heart out. Best thing ever.

Trying out the community pool and practicing some of what he learned at swim school.

On Tuesday the three of us walked down to the beach a little earlier than the others and had some family time that was nice. It was a little too windy for our umbrella but a little too hot still not to use it so James and I took turns holding it up. Have to keep the boy(s) from burning!

Ahh, beautiful evening on the beach.

Adriana and I bought William and Maria a new shovel and bucket the night before. Big hits! Maria barely put hers down.

Hot dogs for dinner on the beach can’t be beat.

James and William had so much fun playing in the waves. No wonder William slept so well at night.

Jessica took a few photos for us….next year we’ll be a family of 4!!

There was a lot of napping on the beach too.

And some crying. Love this shot.

And a group photo before we headed home on Wednesday.

Ah! Doll baby in the outfit I got for her.

We stayed in a different house this year than the previous two years. It was only one street over and a great rental. I would say it worked pretty well for us but we may need to come up with a different plan for future years until the kids are older and can actually sleep altogether in a room with bunkbeds. With a new baby I am not sure how we’ll all fit next year. It’ll be interesting!

Cousins!!

What a fun trip! It’s great our kids can grow up with these memories. I hope we can continue the tradition for years to come.

Check out my Instagram feed or #chapsbeach2014 for some iPhone highlights as well.

You can take a trip back to the third annual trip here.

Third Annual Family Beach Vacation | Port Aransas

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I had to really think about what number trip to Port A this was. Only three? Feels like we’ve been doing it a lot longer than that but in a good way. I went back to look at the last two year photos and have to post a couple of those first…so much has happened! Adriana and I were pregnant the first year, the second year we had two babies and this year Adriana is pregnant again. Good times. Next year will be a whole different form of chaos.

Our first year in Port A – two preggos! 

Photo on the left is also the first year – 2011. On the right is 2012 with William!

I tried to get him to sit in the same spot for the second photo but he never sits still (unless there is food involved).

Family shot this year.

And now some more beach photos. There’s just a few…

William is a great roadtripper. He slept a good chunk of the way there and back and entertained himself really well the rest of the time. 

We usually eat out the first night we get into town since we haven’t made a grocery store trip yet. The last two years we ate at Shells which is really good. This year we decided on something different – Beaches Cafe. Their brisket is amazing! Like melt in your mouth amazing. It was also a bit more kid friendly than Shells. 

I had no idea how William would react to the water. He loves digging so I knew the sand would be a big hit but I wasn’t sure if the waves would scare him. Our first day out, he gets out of the wagon and books it to the water. He loves it all. We were both so happy and just loved watching him play. Nathan, of course, was great with the kiddos and would entertain them with digging holes, trying to build castles and just being silly.

One of our tasty dinners…slow cooked, pulled pork tacos with Nathan’s salsa.

Our trip coincided with Jessica’s birthday. After a failed attempt to buy cupcakes from a local place, mom whipped some up for a little after dinner celebration.

Collecting shells and sand.

 
I still am not sure how much sand this boy ate. He constantly had a ring of sand around his mouth.

Cider and sausage wraps.

More play time with Uncle Nathan. William is showing off his piece of chalk and bed head.

Maria ooohing over the candy. Maybe I’ll be brave and take William next year.

First candy necklace. I think she approved.

We saved our beach trip until dinner time and instead set up William’s pool on one of the decks before nap time. It was our ‘rest’ day. I think evenings on the beach are one of my favorite things. The light is just perfect. 

I think I’ll be making a print of this photo for one of our walls.

Evening walk back to the house for bedtime. During our morning excursions to the beach, I’d take William back to the house around 2pm for his nap. Well, there were a couple times where he started to fall asleep in the wagon on the way home. He’d start to sway and bob. It was too funny.

Our beach house!

Back on the beach to build a fire.

Fire and wind. Not a good combo but they were persistent.

Our last day on the beach.

All the family at the house. Such good memories!

What a great week. They always go by too quickly. I love that we are able to do this and I hope it makes for some amazing memories for our kids. 

Galveston Weekend

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This past weekend was my friend and fellow work out buddy’s bachelorette party. Well it was a whole weekend actually in Galveston. It was my first over night trip away from William since he was born so it was kind of a big deal. I was a little nervous about going but had a great time and really didn’t worry that much at all. James did a wonderful job (no surprise) being home alone with the boy. It was good for all of us and reminded me of what doing absolutely nothing felt like….bliss.

There were five of us in all and we stayed in a cute little house on a canal. The upper deck was gorgeous in the evening. 

Part of our job for the weekend was to help Alisa decide on a signature cocktail for the wedding. Hard work, guys. One of them she mixed together earlier in the day for us to try that night…

The morning was spent on the beach and then after lunch we retired to the pool. I was ready for some shade. The first two are from my phone…the only photos I took on the beach.

That night we dined on some amazing lasagna that Alisa’s mom made. I had two servings of everything…preparing for all the drink tasting I had to do later.

I completely forgot to get a photo of our neighbors set up. On the bottom level of their house they had a tiki bar set up. It was pretty serious stuff. And they were British so eavesdropping on their conversations was fun.

The first of the drinks…cucumber jalapeno margarita. Oh my goodness, I couldn’t get enough of this one, definitely my favorite. I think it was everyone’s favorite actually.

Peach Ginger Fizz…not so much. We weren’t fans but Alisa thought maybe substituting the ginger beer out and adding club soda may have improved it.

Just a few views from our upper deck…

And the coconut martini. Really tasty but a bit sweet and heavy.

Cheers…do I look burnt? Because I was….just a bit. Love the sun!

I am so glad I made this trip. It was a lot of fun and really good times with some lovely ladies. I can’t wait for Alisa’s wedding! It will be the first one I’ve attended as a guest in a long while.