Last week we took a family vacation to Crystal Beach which is near Galveston. Unfortunately Bradley's dad got sick the day before we were suppose to leave and his parents were unable to come, so it was just my crew and Rachel, Andrew, and Mckenzie. I had not been to Crystal Beach since Hurricane Ike leveled the area and I was happily surprised at how great everything looked. This lovely beach house was our home away from home!
This was Emory's first trip to the beach and she was SUPER EXCITED! She wanted to surf just as soon as we got there.
When we arrived the first day it was during high tide so there was not much of a beach, plus the tide pushed in the seaweed, needless to say the beach was not pretty. That did not stop Emory from getting her "surfboard" and hitting the waves!
This was also Cason's first trip to the beach and he loved it. I was a little worried the waves would scare him, but they did not phase him one bit. He would run full speed into the water and kept us on our toes.
He also loved filling the buckets with sand and seaweed! I do not think there was an inch of him that was not covered in sand.
After dinner on the first day we went back down to the beach to look for seashells. The tide was out then and the beach was much prettier. Bradley and Cason stayed behind because Cason was exhausted and ready for bed.
I love this picture of Emory. She was on a seashell hunt.
She decided she needed to swim a little too!
Saturday morning we were all ready to head to the beach and then it started raining. Emory got a little upset that it was raining and whined by the back door for a while. Cason and Mckenzie joined her to watch it rain.
After about a two hour rain delay the sun came out and off to the beach we went. Cason played with the buckets and shovels the majority of the time we were at the beach! Mckenzie and Emory had fun playing with the buckets too. Emory made several sand castles and seaweed casseroles! Ha!
Cason (14 months), Mckenzie (almost 2), & Emory (3)
Emory enjoyed flying her Barbie kite. She flew it "super high!"
Sunday morning we left Crystal Beach and headed to Galveston. Emory's friends Scott, Katy, and Niki went on vacation to Galveston a week or so ago and told her all about the ferry when they got back. Ever since then, Emory has been wanting to ride the ferry. When we got to the ferry it was already loading so we were able to drive on with no wait!
Cason was tired and spent most of the ferry ride on Bradley's shoulder.
Emory had a blast on the ferry.
We saw a blue ferry (ours was green) and waved to the people as they went by.
We also saw several dolphins (may need to click to enlarge).
I was hoping we would, because Scott had told Emory about the dolphins and she was really wanting to see some.
Once we got over to Galveston we headed to Pleasure Pier which just opened Memorial Day weekend. The pier is jam packed with rides, games, and restaurants. It is where the old Flagship hotel used to be. I did not realize that there use to be a Pleasure Pier in that location before it was destroyed by Hurricane Carla in 1961. It was really nice and Emory had a blast at the pier!!
This picture cracks me up because the way she is holding the steering wheel is the same way her daddy does. She also chose the black truck because her daddy's truck is black.
They had a double decker merry-go-round which really impressed Emory.
They also had teacups.
I think her favorite ride was the bumper cars. They were smaller and just for the little kids, she loved them!! She got the hang of it after a while and was able to drive her car, especially on the second go round.
Bradley does not do rides and Cason was to small for most of them. Cason loves to watch people and had a good time checking everyone and thing out!
After we left the pier we headed home. Cason fell asleep before we even got off the island and Emory was not far behind him.
I think it is safe to say that the kids had a wonderful vacation. Emory is already talking about going back to the beach and riding her ferry boat. The only downfall was that Mimi and Peepaw were not able to come....maybe next year we can all go back again!