Memorial Day Weekend

For Memorial Day weekend this year we headed about 4 hours south and hit the beach! This was our third trip together with our good friends, the Byers and Enia families, and my favorite location thus far! The beach is my favorite place in the world and it provided plenty of free entertainment for the kids without any hassle or planning.  We stayed in condos within walking distance to the beach which was perfect.  We were at the beach by 10 a.m. every morning, would stay until nap and then head back over until dinnertime.  Joseph, Will and Elsie just had a blast and Ella is definitely a beach lover, too, as she just chilled in the shade.  

Port Aransas is actually an island off of the Texas coast so we had to take a short ferry ride to get there. Our car had front row seats so it was a pretty neat view watching the ferries go back and forth.  

We picked Rich up from work around noon on Friday and made the trip down.  Joseph and Ella did great and we only had to stop twice.  We arrived a little before 5:00 and after unpacking quickly headed straight for the beach.  I had to laugh though because Rich's co-worker raved about the crystal blue water in Port Aransas...the water was far from crystal blue as it was very seaweedy.  I think I just need to get over the fact that we don't live in Hawaii anymore and the beaches that we go to these days will never compare.  That's alright though-still had a great time and by the end of the weekend I almost didn't mind the seaweed!
Will and Joseph dove right into building a sandcastle as soon as we arrived.

King of the mountain!

Not so much anymore...

Now it's Will's turn!

Good buddies heading back to the condos for dinner.

Each family took a night to prepare dinner which worked out great.  We definitely eat well on these trips!  Our condos had a great outdoor area for the kids to run around and picnic tables for us to eat.  Ella just chilled out and enjoyed the company!

These three didn't stop often but with a little bribing of dessert we were able to get them to stop playing for a bit and eat.  

Saturday was a bit cloudy but nobody seemed to mind and almost made it a bit nicer since it wasn't too hot.

Good buddies!

After all morning at the beach we headed back to the condos for naps.  I went for a run on the beach and when I came back this is what I found!  So sweet!  I guess Ella wasn't loving napping in her pack and play but this seemed to work!

After naps we headed back to the beach for some afternoon fun. 

Here's the crew making our way back. 

He looks so big here

Helping to take down the tent

We decided not to put on their bathing suits for the afternoon but we probably should have considering how sandy they got!  

Making sandballs-we made a lot of these over the weekend!

The seaweed didn't bother the kids at all!

Getting all of the sand off

Enjoying the appetizers!  Sweet friends!

I love that I caught this moment of Rich and Ella!

Enjoying their dinner

On Sunday morning we were down at the beach bright and early again and ready for another great day!  The sun was brighter today so it made for another beautiful beach day.

This was our walk to the beach from the condos.

Nothing like starting the day with some seaweed in your hair!

Helping Mr. Tim fly the kite!

Working hard on building the sandcastles.

Ella and I hanging out under the tent!

We have been waiting to get to the beach so that we could reenact these pictures of Rich and Joseph!  I can't wait to get them in frames and put up in our home!

And we had to get some pictures of Ella's first time in the ocean!  Thankfully she is a fan-fits right into our little beach loving family!

And we love those thighs!!!

She is so funny-we just crack up at her all of the time!

The crew calling it a day and heading back to the condo

The kids loved the outdoor shower!

On Sunday night we moved our dinner spot up to the top of the hill which kept the kids (and the adults) very busy and having lots of fun!

Ella just taking it all in and watching all of the craziness around her! By next year she'll be running around with them all!

The kids were up way past their bedtimes all three nights but they were just having so much fun that we didn't mind.  Plus, it helped that Joseph slept until almost 8:00 every morning! Ella did great, too.  She woke up just once each night to eat and then went slept until everyone else woke up.  Joseph and Rich shared the king sized bed in the bedroom and I was on the pull out couch with Ella in the pack and play.  Getting the kids to sleep well on vacation is key so we were willing to sleep wherever worked best!
These pictures are just so cute!  I wonder what they were talking about?!

On Monday morning we made one last walk over to the beach to enjoy it one more time before the car ride home.  Ella was happy to be there!

One last picture with the seaweed!

We ended the weekend with a stop for burgers at Port Aransas Brewing Co with everyone, which was great, and then began the ride home.  The car ride home after vacation always seems to take so much longer!!  The kids, overall, were really good again, although I do think there was a thirty or so minute window where both were crying but we made it through and are definitely looking forward to our Labor Day get away with our friends!