Jason had to work the week before, and I had to find a swimsuit and shop for much needed beach goodies. Reid got to play at Holli's (or "Hoyee's", as he still says) with some friends he hadn't seen in awhile so that I could wrap up end of school stuff and get this family all packed up. We rolled out of the driveway early (yes, I'm talking 7:05am here!) Friday morning so we could beat traffic and make decent time. It wasn't a bad drive and we stopped at Madisonville to gas up. As soon as we got out of the car for a potty break, Reid said, "Beach! Where's the beach?? I need beach!" Must be toddler talk for, "Are we there yet??" To my delight, we made it to south Houston early enough to have a nice lunch at Lupe Tortilla, our favorite Mexican food that we miss terribly. North Dallas just doesn't have any good Mexican food that we've found yet. We couldn't check in to the condo until 4, so we'd planned to come later, but Jason had a friend who was staying at Moody Gardens for the weekend and they sweetly invited us to come hang out in their cabana for the day. This place was pretty amazing...lazy river, great kids' play areas (we didn't even see two others until we left, so someday we'll have to go back), cabana service, etc. They have three kids, but two were at camp that week. The son that was there with them, Nolan, had picked out a Cars ball just for Reid--so thoughtful! We had a blast catching up with them, lounging around, and playing in the water features. Reid even enjoyed his very first Icee, watching Nolan the whole time to see what to do.
Nolan is going into first grade, but he was so sweet to play with Reid the majority of the time. Reid absolutely ate it up and followed him everywhere. They swam, they chased, they dug in the sand...you name it.
Four o'clock snuck up on us only too soon, so we said goodbye (Reid did NOT want to leave his new best friend!) and we loaded back up into the car to journey down to West Beach and see the family. Grammy and Grumpy had visited Silverleaf Resort last year on their vacation and decided it'd be a perfect place for the grandsons, so they generously invited both sets of kids/grandkids to come share the neat little condo for a whole week. We'd been looking forward to it for months, and Reid kept talking about the beach. We unloaded and ate a quick bite before heading to the beach for the first time.
The condo was across a slightly busy street from the beach, but we had our own little parking lot. Reid ran the entire way from the parking lot to the beach with noodles...which I finally took away after he tripped for the bazillionth time (he was not happy with me, but he could run a lot faster!), over the bridge, down the ramps, and all the way to the water. I was kind of surprised he wanted to get right in.
I wasn't sure if he'd even have any interest in the water, so I hadn't changed him. After a quick wardrobe change, he was ready to jump waves with Daddy, clinging tightly to his leg, of course!
Two of my favorite pictures of his first time at the beach:
The next few days were a blur of sunscreen, sand, and waves. Everyone had fun at the beach in the mornings, Reid would come home to nap, then it was various afternoon activities, such as feeding the seagulls...
...watching movies and playing on various devices...
...or having Grammy read a book.
We had a nice, laid back Father's Day, then on Monday Grammy and Grumpy went home for a couple of days to take care of their fast-growing yard and the cats. Everyone was pretty tuckered out from non-stop action, so we took a day off from the beach. Jason and I had a few random sunburned areas, so that seemed like a great idea as we didn't want to be too burnt and not enjoy the rest of the week. (note to self...when staying in the sun half the day, do a base coat of sunscreen THEN touch up with the spray!) The resort had a little media room and they were playing Ice Age, a movie I love and Reid has never seen. The boys and I enjoyed that while Laura, Matt, and Jason had a little ping pong tournament just outside. Laura ran to the condo and brought back refreshments, so everyone was quite content.
Reid continued his "anyone but Mommy is my favorite person" routine...Aunt Lala even rated higher than Daddy this week. He looooves his Aunt Lala! He also followed Alex around all week and copied anything he or Ben did, usually yelling, "Hey guys! Hey guys!"
Laura snapped this adorable one of Reid and Alex on the beach one day.
The first day there, the boys discovered "hot dogs" on each of the beds. Who knew decorative pillows could also double as jousting sticks, light sabers, and various other creations the rest of the week?? They were as big as Reid, but he sure didn't mind!
We discovered an infestation of jellyfish early in the week and were afraid that no one would be able to play in the water. Thankfully, it was really just that one day where they were very bad, then the rest of the week we just had to watch out for them. Laura and I discovered that keeping our kids safe was also a little bit thrilling. We caught jellyfish using sand castle strainers, then a little net I found while beach combing. Little did we know that by the end of the day, we'd have about 40 jellies that we'd been collecting in this bucket to throw away. The real fun came when we got ready to throw them away so no one else would get hurt, but then discovered the side was busted and jellies were leaking out of it!
No comments:
Post a Comment