First Family of Four Trip to the Beach
Stewart's Beach- Galveston Island, TX
What a wonderful and beautiful day to visit the beach. It was a nice 88* and the overcast and breeze made it a very pleasant experience. My Cousin, Curtis, and his family were visiting my mom and dad in Tyler and decided since they had never been to the beach before, they would travel down to Galveston on Saturday. Since they were practically driving right by our house and we only live less than 1.5 hours from the beach, we decided to trek on down there and enjoy the day with them.
It was so good to see Curtis and his family. I don't think I have seen them since October of 2010 at my grandmother's wedding. And before then it would have been my own wedding in March of 2006. It is hard to believe how big his kids have gotten. I realized that his kids were teenagers by pure mathematics but seeing them live and in person made me realize how old I was getting. I swear Tristan was just Natalie's age and Emilee was just a baby! That is how I remember them... WOW! They are not that small anymore. Tristan, and Emilee for that matter, were both taller than me and Tristan was creeping up on Chris and Curtis' heights! They both were so smart and bright and it was good to get to know them as teenagers. Shelly, Curtis' wife, was also a pleasure to talk to and I miss being able to talk to her on a frequent basis. Curtis and I were the oldest of all the grandchild on my mom's side and we kinda always had a special bond because of this! I miss seeing and talking to him too!
Daddy and Luke at the beach
Luke... was not like that at all. When we first arrived he was enjoying the sand but as soon as we took him out to the water, he hated it! I think he was scared and not sure what was going on. He likes the water in the bath at our house but at Gigi Shirley's house and anywhere else he hates bath. Still Chris and I figured he would love the beach and I even imagined me having to chase him down the beach. Instead he was a little frightened by the water, but he did love the sand. Once we fed him and got him all sunscreen-ed up, he was ready to go. He did however like to eat the sand toys. He had one shovel in particular that he seemed to want to always have in his hands and mouth.
Luke eating the sand toys!
Luke LOVED playing the sand!
Luke trying to help Tristan build a sand castle
While we all stopped to eat lunch, Luke decided he would have a ham SANDwich! He took his ham and shoved it in his mouth like usual but when it hit the ground, that was ok to him, he just picked it up and continued to eat it! This drove me crazy but the more I tried to keep everything nice and clean, the more things went wrong and he would just continue to cry and whine. Chris said to just "let him be a boy" and as soon as I did this, all was well. He ventured over to our snack bag and got out the Oreos and starting running down the beach as if he knew he had stole them. I opened them and gave him one and that too was almost immediately covered in sand! None the less, he LOVED it!
Luke eating the Oreo he tried so hard to get
He started digging in the sand with Tristan and Poppy and loved tearing up sandcastles after Natalie put them together!
Poppy and his grandkids playing in the sand
Luke playing in the sand!
Natalie on the other hand had the TIME OF HER LIFE! She loved playing the sand more than usual and was able to fill the sand buckets and actually create a sandcastle. She also learned from Cousin Curtis that she could be buried in the sand. And of course, against all of mommy's wishes, she asked Daddy and Gigi Shirley to bury her in the sand at the end of the trip! Her and Gig had so much fun out in the ocean chasing the waves and screaming at them as they came in. I remember the one and only time I went out into the ocean with Chris. I kept hearing her scream and I wanted to go and check on her but this was a fun scream. She absolutely LOVED it! In fact, on our way out she said "Mommy, I want to come back for my birthday!" She loves the beach and will forever be my BEACH BABY!
Natalie and Gigi Shirley in the ocean
Natalie playing in the sand and building sandcastles
Daddy and Gigi Shirley burying Natalie in the sand
Mission Complete! Natalie is buried in the sand!
Chris and I too had fun but despite me being a crazy anal mom about putting sunscreen on my kids, I failed to put enough on myself. I used a small amount from the last of 1 tube of sunscreen on my left shoulder and back but failed to go and get the new tube and re-apply to my right side and even apply a 2nd coat. After about 3 hours, I could feel the heat coming from the top half of my body! At this point, it was too late! The DAMAGE was done! I am a LOBSTER on my shoulders and top of my back! Even though I stayed under the umbrella 60% of the time, I am still feeling the burn. I think it is going to be a long road to recovery! NOT FUN!
I think for future trips to the beach we will invest in a large "Tail-gating" canopy and camping chairs. This will give us plenty of sun coverage as well as seating for numerous people. We spent $60 on rentals for 4 chairs and 2 beach umbrellas but the cost of the canopy and other minor supplies would balance that out and pay for itself within 1 trip! I think with the BEACH BABY in Natalie and the SAND GNAT in Luke, we will need to make these investments!
We had a great time with Family and hope to be able to come back soon!
GOD IS GOOD... ALL THE TIME!
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