We left our New Orleans address at 3am on the 13th because the kiddos travel long distances best while still in their night sleep cycle. Usually. They didn't fall back asleep until about 5am, however, and then we stopped for breakfast when they woke at 8. We travelled to Galveston via the Bolivar ferry and arrived around 10 or so ... but couldn't get into the beach house until 4pm. We took Susan & Gerry to the Strand, had lunch on the Seawall, and then the kids finally fell asleep, so we sat in the grocery store parking lot for a while. Once they woke, we spent the rest of the afternoon waiting for the Brauds to trickle in in all of the beautiful outdoor space the house had.
First off, I have to give Galveston tons of credit. My mom and I both were completely & pleasantly surprised! We'd expected to see Seawall-esque beaches, but everything about the west end felt exactly like the other places we've stayed further down - Matagorda & Corpus Christi - and the house was *so* nice.
Now, how do I sum up a week of beach lounging, big eating, and family time without giving hour-by-hour detail? Suffice it to say that we all really had a great time reconnecting with each other, eating together, reading together, and playing with the bébés. Paul was precious with his little beach toys - particularly the rake and dump truck. And he danced - boy did he dance! - with his Uncle Pete & Tante Ginny. He got to stay up way later than his normal bedtime but sacked out every night because he was so, so busy. If he weren't in the sand or in the waves with his Papa, he had someone's attention on the deck playing with bubbles. It was also Adeline's first beach trip! I dunked her teeny toes into the water twice, and she reacted to the cold. She had all of us making fools of ourselves to keep her laughing - such a sweetie! She is making it very clear that she loves people. She loves to be engaged and have someone right there with her. Since Paul and Ada have the same birthdays, it's also very easy for me to compare their growing, but we vacationed much earlier this year than usual. We're usually on the beach the last week of July, and this year was the 3rd week in June; that's an extra 7 weeks difference in baby-growing world! Consequently, Ada was very much in our arms - not sitting up or pulling herself up yet like baby Pauly was 2 years ago. Also - the tiniest little Crocs that exist that fit Paul great? Too big for our little peanut's feet. She's so cute (if I may say so...)
In and amongst all of those regular things that we love to do together, there was some World Cup watching, as well as celebrating Father's Day, Ryan's 35th birthday, and also his parents' 40th wedding anniversary! There were a ton of people around on the Sunday for those events, so there was definitely a more party-like feel to vacay than the usual chill-out of previous years with just the 5 Brauds. We're all getting older and bringing the people we call family other than just us, and that's special, too, albeit in a different way.
Dylan and I escaped once or twice for a surf stroll, and it was nice to reconnect, given the general tone of craziness we've had in our lives lately! Road trips are normally good for that, right? But we've been traveling distances either separately (like from MN-->LA) or very early with sleeping children; both situations of which lend themselves to not talking.
And then we had to leave. I couldn't believe that I had to leave vacation early! I don't have a job! I'm used to going to TX early and staying the whole time if not a little more on the tail end. But we had to leave to get to Philadelphia. We left early, early (again) Wednesday morning and therefore missed Wednesday and Thursday (+ Friday morning before checking out). Sad ... except that we didn't have to deal with insane seaweed! Since I wasn't there, I'll include others' photos capturing it all:
Hopefully we'll see you sooner than next year, dear Gulf! I love our beach week.
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