Our First Beach Trip

Clint was working over Memorial Day weekend, so the kids and I decided to make the most of our holiday weekend and headed down to the beach to meet my parents, my Aunt Dede and Uncle Robie, and the Reed clan.  From the car trip on, the whole weekend was just wonderful.  The kids were so much fun on the car trip down.  Charlie kept telling me he was "sooo excited."  It was the first time he'd really gotten excited about a trip and it made the whole experience so much more fun.

We started off our vacation with a ferry ride to Port Aransas.  Hard to beat a giant vehicle-carrying boat for Charlie--he was thrilled!

Completely in awe.

We made it!

Ahhh..the beach!  I know it's not the prettiest beach ever, but there's something about Port A that seems so perfectly summery to me (maybe it's the fact that we went there every summer when I was growing up? :).  

We got to the beach just in time to catch the end of Jack and Julia's surfing lesson.  These two little fish were incredible on their surf boards.  They looked so little on their boards!  [Charlie was very impressed.  Since the trip, everything long and flat in our house has turned into a surf board (see below).]

Jackson:

Julia:

Charlie wanted to get down there immediately, so I could not get him dressed and sunscreened fast enough.  When he was finally ready, he was not happy that I made him stop for a few photos to memorialize the occasion...

Almost there!

I had so much fun playing with Charlie down at the beach.  He loved the sand, but the water was definitely his favorite and it was hard to keep him out.  He was pretty fearless, which was fun but also meant that I had to watch him really closely.  He went charging out in the waves several times all by himself.  He loved jumping over the waves, but also wanted to be down in them (he told me that he wanted the water "over his head" one time when I was lifting him out :).  It is always so amazing seeing him have so much fun.  While we were out playing in the waves, he looked up at me, smiled, and told me "I love it."  Makes the trip sooooo worth it. :)

Close-up of the surfers...

Look who else joined us at the beach!  Evie didn't spend too much time down there (her sensitive skin just does not do well with sand and salt), but she loved it.  She loved digging her little feet into the wet sand and splashing in the water.  Only thing she hated was her hat...

Look who's getting some chubs on her legs!  :)

Charlie also loved swimming in the pool.  Thanks to Jackson, he started putting his face under water all by himself.  He will do anything that his older cousins encourage him to do...which has its good and its bad sides (good: face under water, easier haircuts; bad: poopoo :).

While we were playing on the beach one afternoon, the ice cream truck came by.  This was Charlie's first ice cream truck experience and it sure did open his eyes to the unexpected wonders of the world. :)

We buried Jack and Julia in the sand, making a merman and a mermaid.  The little kids got SO into this!

Evie didn't get a ton of time out at the beach, but she loved her time in the condo and on the balcony.  Sweet girl was so fun all weekend and played by herself so well.  There is nothing sweeter than hearing her high-pitched squeals while she is playing on the floor.  She started saying "dada" this weekend and is pretty proud of herself!

Charlie got to stay up late and watch the Spurs with Papa and Ahh on Saturday night.  He told me, "I love basketball." :)

I bought Charlie a boogie board for the pool when we got home.  As soon as he saw it, he jumped on and said, "I surfing!  Just like Jackson, Julia, and Katie!"   [Katie was too little to surf, but that doesn't stop Charlie from giving her full credit. :)]