Home Sweet Home

While I had a great time with my family at the beach, I am so glad to be home! All the sand, salt, and mosquitoes were starting to get to me. No matter how many times you shower, there is still that film on your skin that you can't get off due to the yellow, stinky water that comes out of the faucet...And the beach is a lot of work with a 2 and 5 year old! By the time we lugged all our junk out onto the beach, it was time for Ms. M to go potty...or it was lunch time...or, well you get the picture.

OK, enough complaining about our virtually free vacation at the beach! (thanks mom and dad!) We really did have a great time! We were blessed to spend some quality time with my whole family, even grandma! And, Kelly and I were even able to sneak off alone a couple of times for some boogie-boarding and a quiet lunch thanks to the many hands that were there willing to take care of the girls. The girls (obviously) enjoyed themselves. What kid wouldn't. They did most of their playing in the sand building castles and walking the shore looking for shells, although Ms. M had a blast in the water with my dad, pretending to save him from the waves. We ate TONS of junk food and drank lots of beer. (we are trying to get back on track now after our feeding frenzy!)I am also halfway through Eclipse (the 3rd book in the Twilight series) and Kelly finished The Shack. There is nothing better that sitting on the sun deck with a beer and book in hand with the sound of the waves crashing in your ear. It was exactly what I needed after the past few months of the emotional roller coaster we've been riding.

The weather was perfect. The first two days there were almost cool. However, cool to me is different than cool to some others. I didn't get in the water until the third day. I have to be burning hot to get in the water...I am such a wimp. Surfside itself seemed to be in OK shape considering Hurricane Ike that almost destroyed Galveston. There were a lot of repairs being done on the homes and the house we usually rent wasn't available. But the most notable change for us was the beach, or lack there of. Normally, we are able to set up "camp" close to the water and the cars on the beach drive behind us. This time, the water and the sand dunes were so close together that there was no other choice for cars but to drive right in between us and the water. This poses a slight problem when preschoolers are involved. Imagine how difficult it is for an excited child, bucket in hand running for the water, to stop and look both ways before crossing the "street." Anyway, we managed and towards the end they were really good about it.

Below are a few of my favorite pictures from the trip. First is Papa with the girls.

Then Papa and Daddy with Ms. M.

Ms. K playing in the sand.

Ms. M playing in the sand.

The girls hamming it up.

Daddy Land's "sexy" face.

A very, tired Ms. K cuddling with daddy.

Papa with my sister's "pet" wild baby dove...funny story.

My sister's pug, Chucky. She just graduated as an engineer, but she should have been a vet. He reminds me of the little old Italian ladies that would pere down from their windows when we lived there.

And that's all I've got. Great trip...