Finally! I'm not exaggerating when I say that this post has been five days in the making. We've been adding pictures to it slowly. Sorry it's taken so long! Our family had a blast at the beach in Galveston. It was just the girls from Wednesday through Friday and then the boys joined us for the rest of the weekend. It was everything we hoped it would be. We relaxed, swam, built sand castles, played with hermit crabs, walked along the beach, shopped, laughed, ate Dad's famous gumbo, watched fireworks from the top deck of the beach house, played games, and enjoyed each others' company very much. It was a
very happy 4th of July!
Our quiet time spot.

Our view from the beach house.


Girls lunch at Willie G's.

My boys in the waves. We meant to take a lot more beach pictures but it never happened!

Annabeth's new jammies. They say "Berry Berry Sleepy."


Baby Girl was very taken with her Auntie.


Mom, Lis and I played a gamed called
Whoonu while we were waiting for the boys to arrive. When Melissa excused herself to answer a phone call, Mom and I rigged it so that she would get these cards. We picked 4 things we thought she hated and she had to rate them in order of how much she liked them. We thought we were hilarious. Turns out the joke was on us because apparently my sister loves her some four square. Whoonu? But, having been the second born daughter, she does despise hand-me-downs.

Mom and Dad at the pool.

Jackson has been learning how to swim this summer.

We've finally found something that tires him out!

Apparently it tires Annabeth out, too.






Aunt Melissa got Jackson a treat from the ice cream truck and simultaneously became his best friend.

A visit to Galveston is not complete without a meal at Gaido's. Mom and Dad have been going there since before they got married. We took the opportunity to celebrate Dad's birthday, which is actually today! Happy birthday, Daddy!




Some fun in our backyard after we got home.



We all missed Colin so much! His presence was the only thing missing from a perfect weekend. But as you can see, he was having no shortage of fun on his getaway with some college buddies. You can probably tell by his fleece jacket that he was nowhere near Texas!




