Monday, September 2, 2013

Galveston Trip

Last week we went to Galveston for a little fun in the sun (and rain) with our family.  My mom has a timeshare and she so graciously invited us to spend a week with her there.

 view from the room

I loved that the rooms are literally right on the beach.  We only had to walk down this deck to get from the hotel to the beach.


Rhett and Rhys were so happy to finally get there!  


I think we overpacked.  :)



While we unloaded, Sugar took R&R on a ride.


We were anxious to get to the beach, but it started raining.  So we watched the rain from the balcony.
 notice Rhys has her sunglasses on....she was ready!

rain rain, go away!

The hotel told us that they would have 2 cribs waiting for us for the kids to use.  They were just a little bit smaller than we imagined.


It's a good thing I had bought these blow-up toddler beds just in case!  Tim and Uncle Sean got right to work on setting them up.


I was a little bit nervous as to how the kids would sleep since they are used to cribs at home, but as you can see, Rhys thought the bed was great.


Rhett took advantage of being away from home and enjoyed sleeping in the king size bed!  With all of his animals and babies to keep him company, of course.


We woke up the next morning to MORE rain!



It looked like it was clearing off, so we got ready and went downstairs.  But the rain continued.  So we visited the "Activity Center" and painted some wooden snakes.


Then we danced with Aunt Caydee.

We jumped on the bed.


And waited for the rain to stop.  Finally, Monday afternoon we were able to go out.  This was R&R's first time to visit the beach.






 first mini sand castle with Uncle Sean

 exploring with Aunt Caydee and Uncle Sean


We were only out for a short time, and the rain clouds were rolling back in.  We headed back in to our rooms just before the rain hit again.

We woke up the next morning to a beautiful day.  We decided to visit the pool first.  To my surprise, R&R loved it!  After just a few minutes, they became really comfortable and didn't even really want us to hold them.  After a couple days of swimming, both were kicking, blowing bubbles, and Rhett would even jump in off the side.




Daddy grilled some hot dogs for lunch.


After naps, we headed out to the beach.  I was really surprised how much Rhys liked playing in the sand, and how much Rhett did not like it.  Rhett didn't like his hands to be "dirty" and kept crying when his feet would get sandy.  Rhys sat right down and got busy playing.  She liked walking around collecting shells and pretended to "cook" them in her bucket by stirring.



We had 3 full days of fun with lots of good memories...

Rhys enjoying her snack

 feeding the seagulls

Rhett with a mouth full of bread and Rhys caught sneaking a bite of the bread!

 enjoying a smoothie (or "moovie") for breakfast
 R&R both loved running up and down this hill


dinner and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with Sugar

 yummy popsicle treats

 snuggle time with Sugar (and Pig) after a full day of swimming

 Rhys walked up and down this deck like she owned the place.  Ha!

 playing in the sand with mommy.  Rhett was so not into it.

 night time cuddles with Sugar

what a comfy bed!

Aunt Caydee made a sheet fort for the kids to play in

The most exciting part of our trip was when we had just come in from a day on the beach.  The kids were watching a video while we were getting dinner ready.  All of a sudden, the fire alarm started going off.  First, we thought it was just in our room, but after looking down the hallway, we realized it was an alarm for the whole building.  We quickly got on our shoes and headed down the stairs.

As everyone gathered down by the pool, a hotel employee came and told us that we needed to move to the front of the building.  We did, and that is when we saw 2 firetrucks pull into the parking lot.


We did not have time to get shoes for R&R before we left the room, and they were getting heavy to hold, so we went and got this luggage rack for them to sit on. They were very quiet and unsure of what was going on (and were tired and hungry) but did so great while we waited.


We finally learned that a small pipe had busted which had set off the entire alarm system.  We were not able to go back into our rooms until the service repairman arrived and fixed the problem.  While we waited outside, we met some new friends from Fort Worth and got eaten up by mosquitos in the process.  When the chaos died down, and we were allowed to go back to our rooms, R&R kept pointing to the fire alarms through the building saying "youd mommy, youd." (LOUD, mommy, LOUD).  For the rest of our time there, every time we were in the halls they would say this.  It was loud!

We had such a great week and loved spending so much time with family.  We were even able to get a few family pictures on the beach.  I hope to post those soon.  We made some wonderful memories...can't wait to go back next year!

Sunday, September 1, 2013

My Shadow

My Shadow (poem by CJ Heck)

I have a shadow hooked to me.
Sometimes he's big.
Sometimes he's small.
Sometimes he isn't there at all.


He doesn't seem to like the rain.
Maybe thunder scares him, too.
He's gone from me on days like that
'cause there isn't much to do.



But if it's really sunny out,
he doesn't like to hide.
He's hooked right there beside me
and we play all day outside.




TWO at the ZOO!

I know this post is almost 6 months late...but I now have two TWO YEAR OLDS running around!  On March 17, Rhett and Rhys celebrated their 2nd birthday.  Instead of a party, we celebrated by spending a day at the zoo with some of our family.


We were thrilled that Bdad and Gram, Sugar, and Aunt Caydee and Uncle Sean were able to spend the weekend with us!


R&R had fun looking at all of the animals, but I think their favorite part of the day was running up and down the path around the zoo.




The aquarium was also a popular spot that day.



 It is still hard for me to believe that they are TWO!


You know R&R just love snack time!


Rhys was especially loving at the zoo giving out hugs,


holding hands,

and being super sweet to her bubba.


The bird aviary was really neat!  Rhys was scared to go in so Sugar sat out with her.  Rhett was unsure at first, but felt better with Aunt Caydee holding him.  Uncle Sean seemed to attract all the birds!



We stopped mid-morning for a lunch break.


Rhys was thrilled to try a granola bar for the first time.


Love this pic of my favorite people looking at the flowers.


R&R had so much fun with Bdad and Gram!


And with their Sugar.


We had such a fun day celebrating our special two year olds.


That evening, we opened gifts.  They got baskets full of summer goodies from Caydee and Sean...beach towels, swim suits, water guns, pool toys, sidewalk chalk, bubbles, and more!


Sugar gave Rhett a new Radio Flyer tricycle.  As you can see, he loved the box.



Sugar gave Rhys a charm bracelet with a cupcake charm.  She was in love.


 Bdad and Gram spoiled R&R with some super comfy bean bag chairs!  The twins were definite fans.


The next day was Sunday, the twins' actual birthday.  We all worshipped together at church, and then headed to MoMak's for lunch.  We loved having our family and some close friends join us.

 Peyton, Rhett, Rhys, and Ry enjoyed a cupcake





 Aunt Caydee is so fun she even went on the slide with Rhys!


 Nathan and Ry

buddies Rhett and Ryland

Happy Birthday Rhett and Rhys!