We went to Port Aransas for a little family vacation a few weeks back. My parents, sister and brother in law, Brother and my Aunt Carol all came. We rented this great three story house that was two blocks from the boardwalk and we all stayed together. I drove down Thursday morning with Rachel and the boys and Blaine stayed home until Friday morning to get some work done at home while we were away. There is still so much to be done at home and since his "helpers" always insist on helping, it makes things go a little slower than we would like, so a little time with us gone was very helpful.
We arrived at the house first, quickly picked our room, dug out our suits and headed down to the beach right away.
Eli had been to the beach once about 6 weeks before Owen was born, so he did not remember it much so it was like it was all three boys first time.
Cash did not skip a beat. We walked through the sand, right over a heap of seaweed and into the water.
All that kid needed the entire trip was a bucket and shovel and he was as happy as a clam! He loved the sand, loved the water, and loved being outside for hours at a time.
Eli on the other hand, could NOT stand the smell of the seaweed the first day. He eventually got over it after sitting in the car for about a half an hour. And once we got him out of the car and into the water, it took a couple hours to get over the idea of seaweed in the water and on the shore and another full day to get him to get in the water past his knees. As always, nothing bothered Owen one bit and he loved every single thing about the beach.
My good friend Becca and her family were there the same time so we met up with them before the rest of our crew made it down.
We headed back to the house to welcome the rest of the family and get settled in, but the best part of the first day was hanging out with Ethan on the porch and making water balloons.
We hung out at the house, cooked dinner, put Cash to bed and all the girls headed down to the beach for an evening stroll with the Eli and Owen, wheel barrows in tow.
Cash slept awful the entire trip. If he wasn't up early, he was up every few hours during the night or both. So I was pretty tired the whole time, but was having so much fun that it did not really matter. The first morning there we were all up early so I took the boys down to the beach around 7:30 am to run around and to keep the house quiet so everyone else could sleep.
This was not in fact Eli putting Cash in a head-lock but him attempting to hug him.
All the men left early Friday for a fishing trip and the girls stayed back, made some breakfast, sat around the table and talked ( I love that!!!) and then got ready to head down to the beach for the rest of the day while the men were gone fishing.
My Aunt Carol was so fun to have there with us! She was so patient and sweet with the boys, as she always is. She spent hours building dribble castles and intergalactic highways and crazy castles with the sand and water.
Blaine made it down Friday afternoon and the boys were so excited to play with him at the beach.
We celebrated Cash's first birthday a little early so we could all be together while we were there. Becca, her husband Ross, and two boys Jonah and Wes came over to help us celebrate that night. My dad made some killer ceviche, steak, corn, potatoes and the boys finished dinner off with a little dance party before cake.
Ethan's birthday is in July too and we are never with him on his actual birthday so Cash shared a birthday cake with him this year.
Saturday morning we took the boys to some souvenir shops to look around and pick out a few things. I have such fond memories of going souvenir shopping as a kid when we would go places, that it was more nostalgic for me than exciting for the boys.
They picked out a little shark and turtle for Cash and each got a water toy that looks like a sword (was not my first choice!) and Eli got a Barrel of Monkeys (random, I know). We headed back to the house and down to the beach with everyone.
Ethan snagged a rake from the people next to us and cleaned off our area from seaweed to please Eli.
We spent the evening together in the house, cooked dinner, drank margaritas and beer and just enjoyed each others company. Did I mention there was an elevator in the house? The boys thought it was the coolest thing ever and suckered my mom and Ethan to ride it with them over and over every single day.
Sunday was our last full day there (tear). We spent the morning with Becca and eventually the rest of our crew made it down to play.
We had a picnic lunch down there before they headed back.
And they terrorized my dad for a bit.
But he loved it!
Our last night there we made some tacos, had popcorn, played some games, and made s'mores for the boys before they went to bed.
It really was so much for us to all be together at the beach that we already booked our trip for next year!
