Beach Trip (aka longest post ever!)

We just got home from an awesome week at the beach in Galveston, TX!  Y'all know how much our family LOVES vacationing at the beach, and it was even better this time because we were joined by our good friends David, Anna and Cora.  It was nice that Sophia had someone to play with, and we enjoyed having our friends there too.

We stayed in the the Pointe West area of Galveston, and it definitely did not disappoint.  The beaches were really clean (and surprisingly pretty despite my affinity toward white sand), there was a toddler playground, a lazy river pool, a zero entry pool area with splash pad for the little ones, and several other pool areas (one of which you could order food/drinks poolside).  It was very similar to staying at a resort, but better because we still had the convenience and privacy of having our own house on the beach.  

We went the week after school started so we had the entire place to ourselves.  It was SO nice!  Another perk was one of our favorite babysitters, Bekah, is in Physical Therapy school in Galveston and was able to come watch the girls a couple times.  It was so fun to have a some 'dates' on vacation and the girls really love Miss Bekah!

Here is our vacation week in pictures:

Just floatin' around the pool...

Hanging out in the lazy river.  The girls loved how fast it made them swim :-)

Splashing in the fountain/splash pad area...

Swimming around the pool...

Hanging out with Mommy :-)

Playing on the playground...

Walking on the 'balance beam'...

Picking flowers (of course!)...

Making 'soup' with Cora.  This kept the girls busy (and productive) all week :-)

S was taking a 'rest' from cooking.  (We also spent a lot of time under the blue canopy in the background. Nice and shady :-) )

Okay, back to work.  (The blue house directly above Sophia's head is where we stayed this week.  We spent a lot of time lounging on the decks :-) )

I didn't notice the cool reflections on the wet sand in all the pictures until we got home.  Definitely going to remember that next time.

My little beach bum :-)

This picture makes me laugh.  S was mad because I made her stop playing, and Dan was a bit irritated because I was 'making' them take a picture, but I'm just smiling away.  Haha! So typical :-)

Okay, let's try again... that's a little better :-)

I'm free!!!

Ummmmm... not sure???

S also loved to pretend that she was a 'shark' in the ocean and sneak up and get Daddy...

What a cute little shark!

Ready to go out for date night!

This little girl LOVES to swim!

And apparently she loves to jump in like a wild woman as well :-)

This summer she has loved the fast that she can come up and take front breaths on her own.  That enables her to swim further distances and for a longer time without having to swim to the edge or steps to take a breath.  Not to mention she loves that it gives her more independence from us.  Haha!  Such a little fish :-)

Swimming back to the steps to do it all over again.  So fun!

Me and my girl :-)

S and Daddy checking out the edge of the infinity pool...

and just being silly :-)

S loves the do the back float... even when she has to shield her eyes from the sun.  Haha!

They had a snow cone stand set-up on this particular day and S had her very first snow cone...

Of course she chose grape since purple is her favorite color...

So excited for her 'purple ice'...

One of the mornings, Anna and I attempted to get some cute pictures of S and C in their jellyfish outfits.  S was being SO silly so it was hard to keep her focused.  But she was still pretty darn cute :-)

Then she decided to do some batting practice...

Then she turned into the 'tickle monster' and came to get me :-)

She finally stopped running for a second and gave me a sweet look...

and a sweet smile.  I think I'm going to use this one for her birthday invitation...

Anna got a cute one of S laughing...

and she also got this sweet pic of the girls in their coordinating outfits :-)

In hopes of encouraging cooperation from the girls during pictures, we had promised them that they could have an ice cream sandwich (Sophia's first one ever!) if they smiled for us.  Yes, this vacation was full of a lot of 'firsts' for Sophia and most of them involved sugar :-/  That's what vacation is for, right?!

Another reason to love vacation... no make-up! :-)

A couple days later we went for a walk (aka Mommy wants more pictures).  Love those little footprints :-)

Oh, how I wish I hadn't cut off the reflection at the bottom..

Love this face! :-)

This one makes me giggle... haha!

Another perk to being great friends with an awesome photographer is that when you vacation together you get amazing family pictures!  Thank you again, Anna, for our amazing beach pics (and to David for getting S to smile)!  They are beautiful and we love them :-)

My very favorite :-)

This is one of my favorite pictures ever :-)

Word of advice... do not put lotion on before beach pics.  And baby powder keeps the sand from sticking to your skin (obviously I didn't know that at the time... haha!)

Then a few days later I took their beach pictures.  I can't say enough about how much we love this family :-)  They are beautiful people inside and out.  Can't wait until our next vacation together!

This picture just makes me laugh.  So typical of these two :-)