Freeport {1}

Michael's family came down to Texas for a visit during their spring break a couple weeks ago. We met up on Surfside Beach in Freeport, TX for the week. We had a lovely little beach house near the ocean. Day one was spent getting settled. Its a good thing we had the shortest drive because about every 15 minutes Rylee was asking if we were at the beach yet. It didn't take long for Kelsey to start chiming in with "Beach!!?? Where are you??"

We 'finally' made it :)

 Kelsey warmed up a little faster than I thought she might.

 Sunday morning we drove into town to attend a local church service.  It was nice, the people were very excited to have all the visitors.

 I get really excited about matching dresses.  Especially when they are acquired separately. One of the dresses was a hand-me-down from a cousin {our favorite way to receive clothing} and the other I found at a local resale shop and couldn't resist! haha.

 These three: too cute. They did an excellent job sharing the ipad during church.

we're just short one cousin here. 

We spent part of the afternoon just hanging out on the beach.

 The wind was blowing pretty hard, and just beating the sand up against our legs.  Rylee immediately wanted to go back to the house for leggings. too bad. We took our kite down but didn't last too long, as the wind was just too strong.

 We perched ourselves up against a dune and it was better. The kids played in the sand,  and the boys did some fishing.

 Then Miss Rylee and Daddy went on a shell and collecting excursion. that and sea glass.  I showed Rylee a shell I liked and she spent the rest of the trip bringing me broken pieces of white shells with purple undersides :) what a sweet heart. The camera on my phone didn't really capture the beauty of the dark clouds against the ocean and sand. It was really really beautiful.

 Oh man, something about a little backside on the sand. . . .and pig tails.. . . .  too cute.

 The wind (and therefor seagulls) got into the fishing bait.  The older nephews had a grand time attempting to scare the birds away.

After our hair had been tousled around enough and ingested plenty of minerals we headed back inside.  There's just something relaxing about listening to the waves.

Rylee turns 4!

We were so happy Grandma and Grandpa stayed long enough to celebrate Rylee's birthday!

 

Here's the traditional door décor.  Rylee woke up in the middle of the night to use the restroom and through sleepy eyes immediately noticed the heart balloon.

 We invited a few friends over for a little carnival. The invitations were the best part. . . . maybe I'll see if I can upload a picture of them. They looked like a ticket.  They were really fun to make.

The girls tested a few games before our guests arrived. Apparently not all ducks are created equal.  I was really annoyed these didn't float upright, maybe next time I'll read the description better. I was a nice enough day, a little humid but we were able to play outside for most of the time.

 Rylee's castle cake! It was very simple but really fun to make!

 Its can be very hard to watch someone else celebrate a birthday.  Here's miss cranky-pants playing on my phone.

 Rylee got her own doll nap-mat! She was thrilled.

 watching the cake bake.

 Rylee was a little under the weather but we pushed through it and partied anyway.

 The kids played games to earn tickets to buy prizes.

 the spinning wheel was a big hit.

 as were the crayon rolls

 We ate lunch, opened a few presents and just played together.

Later that evening she got to open the rest of her presents and eat cake (we just did mini cupcakes with her friends)

 who needs a spoon anyway?

I also made her a doll carrier.

 

Happy Birthday sweet girl! You are so special to us and a joy to be around. We love you immensely!

New Braunfels/Gruene

So, maybe My Mom and Dad didn't have the most exciting visit but we sure did! We took advantage of having built in baby-sitters staying in our house and left the girls alone with them for 24hours.

 

let me repeat:

We were kid free for 24 hours!!

It was the first night we've been away from BOTH of them. together.

It was glorious.

 

We knew we didn't want to go far as we wanted to spend time with them as well so we headed up to New Braunfels (about an hour away).

 I'm not sure why I thought the cookie and beverage snack Michael was given at check-in because he has "gold status" was so hilarious, but it was- and one of the few things I felt needed photo documentation the entire week my parents were here.

 We then headed up to Gruene (pronounced like the color - its a German town like so many others around here) to eat dinner at the Grist Mill and hang out at one of the oldest dance halls.  It was fun to just look at all the old photos seeing some of the famous people who played there.  Of course George Straight, and then part of the Jon Travolta movie "Michael" was filmed there as well.

We were happy a few of the shops were open late and we meandered through them because we didn't have children we were afraid would break everything in the antique shop with us.

 The Gruene Hall has live music every night. These guys were ok. I was disappointed they weren't more 'country'.  It was a Thursday evening afterall. so there weren't very many people dancing.

It was still a fun night spent in a small town. Prime for a little people watching.

Sleeping in was glorious.

We took our time heading home by seeing a movie (at a fancy Alamo drafthouse mind you) and headed to the outlets for a little shopping.  I did however comment that I missed being able to hang my shopping bags on the stroller. You win some, you lose some ;)

Thanks again Mom and Dad.  Rumor has it the kids didn't even realize we were gone. ;)