Grace's 1st Beach Trip

A couple of weeks ago, Jeff and I, along with my parent's and my brother and his girlfriend, took Grace to the beach for the first time. We went to Rockport, Texas which is close to Port Aransas. We just love this little booming city. There is not much to do there, but fishing and go to the beach (By the way I think the beach in Rockport is the best beach here in Texas. It's always clean, there's not a lot of people there, they have great little cabanas on the beach, they have cute little play areas for children to play on, and the water that rolls up on the beach is really shallow for quite a ways out.) We stayed at a friend of my Dad's house and, also, at these little cottages, which I would recommend to anyone. They are super cute, clean, have a fabulous pool and a fishing pier.

(Uncle Chad, Raegan, me & Jeff) (Papa & Grace splashing in the water.)

What's Mommy doing?
















Nonie & Grace sun bathing.

Grace needed her own chair to sit in.

All tuckered out.

We took Grace to Little Bay Beach. She had so much fun playing in the water and with her sand toys that Uncle Chad and Raegan bought her. She had so much fun that she tuckered out in Nonie's lap under the cabana for a little while. After a day at the beach we went out to eat for some seafood for Chad's 24th birthday.

Mexican Martini anyone?









Me & the birthday boy.

The boys went fishing one day while the girls ventured to check out the shopping. We came across these cute little boutiques. Who would of ever imagined a high end clothing boutique in such a small little town. And of course, I couldn't resist these adorable little house shoes for Grace. After a day of shopping, the boys picked us up for a spin in the fishing boat. This was the most unenjoyable ride of my life. Grace hated the lifejacket, she was extremely hot, and very frustrated with the fact that she couldn't put her sippie cup right up to her mouth. The sippie cup had to be angled and she couldn't figure out how to do it. So heaven forbid Mommy had to help. The only highlight of the boat trip was riding right by George Strait and his wife in their little boat and he waved at us. :) I think my Mom's heart skipped a beat! ;) j/k By the way the boys didn't do so bad fishing. They caught 4 or 5 fish which isn't bad considering the outskirts of a hurricane had just come through earlier that week.

Also, we drove in to Corpus Christi to take Grace to visit the Texas State Aquarium. She had a blast. There was so much to take in. We first went to the otter show, then we viewed the exhibits inside with all the fish and other aquatic animals, next we went to the doplpin show. While waiting for the show to start they came up and asked for a volunteer so I volunteered Chad. He got to get in the dolphin pool and help with some of the dolphin tricks. That was pretty neat! Last, we went and viewed the sting ray. I was a little bummed that Grace did not get to touch them. They were all in the middle of the holding pond.

Not too sure what we are in? Looking at the hermit crabs.


Hmmm. what is this?









Uncle Chad in the dolphin pool. Nice and rubbery.


USS Lexington behind Jeff & Grace.

Can someone please make the wind stop blowing?

We went to the pool at our cottage which was the best designed pool I've seen down at the coast. It felt like you were somewhere in the tropics. We relaxed poolside, drank strawberry daquiris and soaked up the sun. Grace loved taking her pouring water from a cup into the funnel of her water/sand toy and watching the water make the windmill go around.

Jeff, Grace and I had so much fun!

Thanks Mom, Dad, Chad and Raegan for such a wonderful time.

Can't wait to do it again next summer!

Happy (late) 4th of July

On the 4th of July we went to my parent's house (Papa & Nonie"s) for BBQ, swimming and of course a fireworks show. Grace had so much fun and so did Jeff and I. Anytime spent with family is always a good time. ;) I think the most fun was to see Grace's expressions on her face when she saw her first fireworks. I wasn't sure if she would like them or not. To Jeff and my surprise she LOVED them! She sat in my Mom's lap with her pjs on and drank her milk while keeping a close watch on the dark sky with such beautiful colors lighting it up.

This family that was sitting close to us had 2 young boys and some glow bracelets and necklaces. They were so kind to share one with Grace and, of course, it was a bracelet which she loves to wear. (Sorry the picture is hard to see.)

We watched the fireworks at Lake Pflugerville for the first time and they were amazing. And can you even believe it was a little chilly that night. My Mom and I could have used a light sweater.

Summer Time Fun

Okay...So I have fallen a little bit behind on my blogging...(a month and a half behind)...not that anyone is counting. :)

As you can tell summer has been a little busy for us. Here are some pictures as to what we have done this summer so far.

The park and lunch with Nana

Grace loves going to the park to play. She, also, likes to try and eat the pea gravel. Imagine that...why not? It's the size of all my food Mommy gives. :)

Fun Play Date with Travis at Nana's House

(They are almost exactly a year apart.)

Drawing with Sidewalk Chalk

I think Grace had more fun trying to see how many pieces of chalk she could pick up at one time.

Swimming at Papa & Nonie's House with Grace's 2 Favorite Dogs

Grace loves to play in the water. It doesn't matter where it comes from...water from the hose while Mommy is watering the plants...swimming in a baby pool with Syli and Belle (her 2 favorite dogs)...swimming in the big pool...or swimming in the ocean (blog to come later about our beach trip).

I hope all of you are having a wonderful summer and enjoy the last few weeks before school starts.