Beach vacation time

Pretty soon after we returned from Connecticut, it was time for our second annual beach vacation with the Browns. Not a bad gig! We all enjoyed the house from last year, but this house was even better. It was slightly farther from the beach, but the house itself had tons of space for both living/eating and sleeping. Mikey bunked with the boys, and Amy and I shared a room. It worked out great so I didn't hear every peep the boys made.  I will not caption all the pictures. Obviously I went overboard on the beach pics, but how can you not?? It's so picturesque. 

Pretty sweet setup. I love having so much shade.

A little post-nap TV time. 

Check out that view!

The boys enjoyed their first meal at Benno's.

I was so looking forward to our day at Schlitterbahn! We left the kids at the house and pretended like we were kids ourselves. The weather was really dreary that morning, which meant no lines for the first hour or two. It was great! The crowds showed up once the skies cleared, but by that point we had ridden everything we wanted to once, so we were able to pick and choose what we did. Thank you, Amy and Mikey, for such a fun day!

I just happened to take this right after Ryan got hit in the face with the football. Whoops! 

I love this picture because I took it immediately after the football hit him, and he just rolled with it. His nose is a little red, but it didn't slow him down any. 

Awwww sweet sharing. Not. William is trying to steal a ball from Ryan.

Beach evenings are by far my favorite part of the day. Amy and Mikey were kind enough to let me play football with them even though my skills are sorely lacking. I had a blast.

This is one of my favorites because of Amy's genuine smile. It really looks like she is having fun.

What a great aunt our boys have. We took a break so she could catch the ball a few times with William. 

He had a major obsession with the top bunks. We tried not to let him go up much because his mini-me wants to do everything he does.

For some reason this is one of my favorite pictures of the trip. I guess that's because I have really been enjoying watching them play together. 

Bubble fun! 

These rackets say Smash Ball, and that is what we called the game we played with them. It was a hit! Ha ha.  

Chris joined us for a day at the beach.  

Most ridiculous sighting at the beach all week! This woman had on a very skimpy bikini, and a sketchy-looking guy was taking what appeared to be horribly composed pictures of her. The sun was straight overhead, she posed with people behind her when that was clearly not the idea of the shoot, she was squinting because of the crazy sun. Oh it was just bad, and I found it to be hilarious. 

More smash ball. 

I headed back to Houston a day early because I had a MOPS steering meeting. These last three pics were taken by Mikey. I think he likes reflections! (There are about 15 more than what I'm posting.) As a side note, it was the first time I had spent a night in the house all by myself. I must admit it was pretty nice. I always enjoy the chance to miss my guys. I see them so much that it's fun for me to be separated and then reunited with them.  

I know it is ridiculous how far behind I am on the blog, but it's actually kind of fun to take a trip down memory lane. It's been so long since the trip that I get a kick out of looking at the photos again and remember what fun we had. 

On to September! I hardly took any pictures that month compared to July and August, which were full of adventures. Hopefully September will be a quick one. 

My goal is to be completely caught up by the time my niece arrives in May. Woo-hoo! I'm not sure I can express how excited I am to experience the joy that comes with being an aunt. We would have cherished a boy just the same, but I am really looking forward to adding a girl to our family. Eek so fun!