Beach!

 We were blessed to be able to use a friend's condo over the weekend that was right on the beach in Galveston. We headed out Friday evening after work and arrived around 7pm.  We unloaded all our luggage and then the girls headed to the playground to burn off some energy. They apparently didn't burn off enough energy though....they could not go to sleep that night due to all the excitement!

 

 The girls got to ride on the luggage carrier down the 25 floors on the elevator!! (We had already unloaded and were about to return it)

Oh...did I mention when we unloaded everything some things were missing...my things! We accidentally left them at home! Everything! Make up, clothes, swim suit, toiletries!!!! Tony was super sweet and ran to Wal-mart for me that night and bought me some essentials! :)

The next day we woke up, had breakfast and got ready for the beach!

 

 I love this picture of Jillian....too sweet! (Standing on the balcony overlooking the beach)

 Cool Kennedy! This girl was ready to go!!!

 Kaitlyn was super excited!

 All my girls!! I love all the fun colors of their swim suits! :)

 The first thing Jillian wanted to do when she got to the beach was drink her juice!  Silly girl! I don't buy much juice so this was exciting for her!

Sand time for my twinkies!

 Quick picture with daddy!

 Love the smiles and love my girls!

 First step into the water! Their crocs didn't stay on long.

 Kaitlyn was so happy she broke out into dance!!

 She was very excited to make mud pies.

Beautiful

 Sweetness....Kennedy and Jillian played together for a long time!

 Happy Kaitlyn

 Mud is fun!

 This was where I spent a lot of time..(no swim suit) I didn't mind though....it was super relaxing and I ended up having to take the girls to the bathroom a lot, so I was ready to go!

 Looking at the dolphins that were jumping way out in the water! It was so beautiful!

 Love her smile

 I love this picture! Kennedy loves her daddy.

 Juice break!  (Part of the condo is in the background)

Sweet Kaitlyn

 Loving the sand

 The start of a sand castle they built together

 Frisbee time

 The dirtier the better

Around lunch time we went inside and had lunch and gave the girls a break from the sun. That didn't last too long though. They were dying to go to the pool! So, we changed into different swim suits and put sunscreen on again. (Their least favorite part)

Kennedy, Jilly and Daddy

Kennedy and Kaitlyn were happy to be in the pool again to practice their swimming skills. Jillian apparently thinks that she took lessons too! That girl is fearless in the water! (Made Mama a little nervous!)

 Kaitlyn

 Weeeeeeee

 Kaitlyn and Daddy

After a couple of hours in the pool, we went back inside and had a snack and got changed. The girls had been swimming all day and they had all skipped their naps so we knew they were soooo tired.  We also knew that with tiredness, comes crankiness.....so we decided to keep the fun going! We hopped in the van and drove down the sea wall and stopped at a gift shop and looked around. (Just the few minutes that we were in the car, the twins fell asleep.....Jillian...not at all!)

After the gift shop we went to IHOP for dinner.  We ate all our other meals at the condo, but I think the girls were ready for something besides sandwiches. :)

 I snapped this picture with my phone, but I LOVE it. I love Tony's face and the way Jilly is looking at him.

Waiting for their food!

Needless to say....after dinner we headed back to the condo and the girls went to sleep very early. They were exhausted!

The next morning we hit the beach one more time and then packed up to go home! I wish we had more days there. We were so relaxed and we were so blessed to have our friends do this for us!

Jillian asks every day if we can go back.  :)

Spring break and more

I'm a little behind. :)
For most of spring break, we stayed around the house and just enjoyed taking a break from school and activities.  We did take a couple of day trips, but we mostly stayed home.
We needed some down time and it was wonderful!!

 We had a play date one day...and they brought their cute puppy, Lucky!! (Kaitlyn)

Both of the big girls got to have a sleepover by themselves at Grandma and Pa's house! What a treat!!!  The other 2 (who stayed home) had a special time too! The first night, Kaitlyn spent the night out and Kennedy and Jillian stayed home with me and we let them sleep in the same room! 

That was interesting! :) Jillian, we learned, is quite and talker and got super silly! Kennedy was a trooper though.

 The next night Kennedy slept over and Kaitlyn and Jillian got to stay home. The picture above is of Kaitlyn watching a movie, eating a brownie and playing with some nesting dolls. She was super happy! (She got to sleep in another room, but NOT with Jillian.....Jilly needed more rest and we didn't think she could handle 2 sleepovers in a row! LOL.

One day, we took a quick road trip with my family to my dad's brother's house. 

All my cousins were there and all of their kids were there too! Here are all the girls (minus one....the baby was napping)

The boys!

 Eating hot dogs!

 

Back to school..it was hat day!! (Kennedy, Kaitlyn)

 The ice cream man drove by one day and the girls were so very excited! :)

 Yea! Ice cream!

 Happy girl!

 Kaitlyn and Kennedy chose the same thing....naturally!

 Yum!

And.....My nephew, Cooper, got glasses!!!!!   Isn't he handsome??  Love it!

Coming up! Our beach trip!

Country girls

 We took a little road trip to Magnolia yesterday! Our dear friend, Leigh Fox was up there visiting her mom while her hubby (Matt) was out of town in Costa Rica with his baseball team.   Leigh had her 3rd baby about 6 weeks ago and decided to stay with her mom while Matt was gone. She invited us up there so we could visit and the kids could play! :) It turned out to be such a fun day.

The girls were so excited to see baby Colin! That was the first thing they wanted to do.  Hold the baby!!  (All these pics were taken with my phone, so the quality isn't so great.)

 Kennedy anxious to see the baby!

Jillian loving on Colin

Kaitlyn got a smile!!

The next big "attraction" was the very loud bird that they had.  Tony fell in love with the bird.....me.....not so much. Jillian was very brave and wanted to hold the bird.

 My brave girl

 Hard to see....but it's sitting on her shoulder. 

 Not liking that the bird is nibbling her ear!

Tony and the bird hung out like this for a while!

 It was also fond of his ears too!

Ryan and Kaitlyn

 Jilly and Kennedy

 More love for baby Colin! (Kennedy and Jilly)

 There were lots of animals! Here is one of the dogs! Bigger than the kids! :)  (Jillian and Kade)

Leigh helping Kaitlyn feed the horses!

 Jillian's turn

 Kennedy was a little nervous, but she ended up doing it! :)

 Next up! The tire swing! They had sooo much fun on this!!!

 We came back in for a short break and snack and tried to talk Kaitlyn into holding the bird. She was just too nervous.....but she wanted to.

 Tony looks so sweet holding Colin! (Don't you want another one, honey??)  

 On our way to visit the barn and hay loft, we spotted a tree house. Of course we had to go up!

 Best buds

This picture is dark, but the kids had a blast in the hay loft! Hay everywhere!! This was a completely new experience for my girls. We played up there for a while then made our way back to the house for dinner and baths.

Jillian had to see baby Colin one more time before her bath! The girls all got the hay out of their hair and mud off their legs. They had a good dinner and then it was time to go. It was still light outside, but it was already their bedtime.

And this is what happened the instant we got in the car.

We had so much fun!  A big thanks to Leigh and her mom for letting us come! :)