Port Aransas | Day Two

Day 2, we woke up way way way early and were eating breakfast by 6am.  At least we were well rested- Ev's slept her pack 'n play all night and Emma slept sandwiched between us all night, but since we had gone to bed early, we still felt pretty well rested.  

After breakfast, we puttered around the condo and while waiting for everyone else to wake up- we caught the sunrise.

Around 7 in the morning, I told the girls that we could finally go see if anyone else was awake :).

We found Nonni and realized we were all wearing shades of blue!

Emma wanted to join Nonni on her run so they decided to run a lap around the condos- this was Emma's face when she spotted that Everly had gotten into her beloved red cup full of sea shells.

The girls were itching to get back in the water, so we had told them to get into their swimsuits and we could head back out.

As you can tell, it was super overcast, but that didn't stop them from having a ball.

Wes accidentally stepped on this little fish, and Ev's was equal amounts enamored and confused.

The water was cold and it was still early in the morning so not too long after getting there the girls opted to play in the sand- Emma making a sand angel.

And they spent almost an hour running up and down this sand wall.  They just adored it.  Me on the other hand, I have never experienced so much sand in my life- it was everywhere!!

They had a ball though so the mess was completely worth it.

We headed back to the condo to dole out more kisses (or eat Nonni, depending on how you look at it ;)) and making silly faces.

Before our first fishing outing of the trip.

As you can see by these pictures, we hardly lasted 10 minutes fishing in favor of the Christmas tree and playground.

Their itty bitty town Christmas tree gets me every time- it is the perfect size for this quaint town we love and adore :).

We headed over to the playground to find they had received all new equipment since this time last year.

The girls loved the see-saw :).

After the girls got tired, I took them back to the condo for lunch and naps while the boys stayed at the marina to fish.  Much to my surprise, when we woke up from our naps I had this picture on my phone.  Brandon had caught a big black drum!  A nice fisherman there even filleted it up for him (we ate it Thanksgiving night and it was yummy yummy yummy).

In the meantime, Wes texted me that they were ready to be picked up so I sent Ally and Travis (who had just arrived) down to the marina to pick our fisherman up- Emma and Ev's were still sleeping.

After the girls woke up from their naps, we got to say visit with Ally and Travis (we were excited that they had arrived!) and Emma and Ev's helped my dad make his green smoothie.  This is where I must let you in on a little secret- my dad makes the most disgusting smoothies around.  He will literally go through the refrigerator and load up the smoothie with anything that sounds good to him, then add his greens, protein and almonds and blends it together.

Weird thing- our girl that prefers a diet of 'roni cheese, hot dogs and strawberries will actually drink this smoothie with him- who would have thought??!!??

After she got all of that energy from her 'movie (smoothie), she was ready to for a spin in the kayak.

Indulged me for a picture.

Then, it was back to the hard work of 'zoom zoom zooming' with Ally.

Before dinner, my dad asked me if I wanted to go on a scooter ride.  I have a love-hate relationship with scooters (I wrecked one when I was younger), but decided to go ahead and say yes!  We had so much fun scooting around the island (don't worry, Emma didn't actually go on the scooter ride ;)).

That night for dinner we had chili, tomato soup and grilled cheese and it was yum yum yum.  After dinner we headed back to our condo to get ready for bed and my parents headed to the airport to pick Adrienne up (we were so excited to see her Thanksgiving morning!).

Sweet, sleeping Eberleah.  This trip was eons better than last years trip for the pure simple fact that this girl is weaned and sleeping through the night in her very own crib.  I cannot emphasize enough what a difference this made for us :).

Next up, Thanksgiving day!

Port Aransas | Day One

It's not too late to recap our annual Thanksgiving tradition, is it?!? No, I didn't think so either ;). So here we go!  The Tuesday before Thanksgiving we woke up super early and headed out to a place that is near and dear to our hearts- Port Aransas.  We left about 4:30 in the morning and our only hiccup was that we got stuck in rush hour Austin traffic, but thanks to our trusty GPS we re-routed ourselves and were on our way.  Several hours into our trip, we stopped at McDonald's to grab some breakfast- the girls were happy to get out of their car seats and run some of their sillies out.

When they hold hands, everything is right in this world.

By lunch time, we had made it to Port Aransas and Emma and I got out for our first ferry ride (sweet Ev's was snoozing).

When we got to the condo's we said hi to Nonni and Papa George and headed straight to the playground while sister continued to sleep.

When Ev's woke up, she was generally grumpy and confused as to our landing spot.  I asked her if she wanted to go to Nonni's house, she shook her head yes so we headed over.  As soon as she got there, she put her hands out to her side and very seriously said, 'this not your house, Nonni'- definitely one of my favorite quotes from the trip.

Nonni and Emma shared a chat (and some Zeevia).

And after a quick lunch, we got into our swimsuits so we could head to the beach.

I may or may not have told them to stop on the stairs and give each a hug.

When I caught one of my all time favorite pictures of these two- the 'look' that only sisters can give to each other.

We walked to Nonni's condo to pick her up and the girls continued their general cuteness,

If memory serves me correct, we drove to the beach.  Once we got out, I was nervous as to how Evsie's would react to the sand.  In case you can't remember, she wasn't a fan when we were at Cocoa Beach.

This beach trip was 100 times different.

She was an entirely different girl love love loving the sand.

They buried their baby in the sand.

And I got snap happy with the camera because I just couldn't believe my girl finally loved the beach.

Wes and I are total beach people and Emma has proved to be the same- it was important that Ev's follow suit ;).

Nonni and Emma were the first to head to the water.

And Everly quickly followed suit.

I thought we had a big enough win that Ev's loved the sand, I couldn't believe my eyes that she also loved the water this time around.

She would pick up the 'bubbles' and chase after us seeing who she could surprise with an attack.

Little girl, big ocean.

Nonni and Ev's.

I just couldn't get over how much fun she was having :).

Then, I gave Nonni the camera and asked her to take a couple of pictures of me and Everly together.

When, all of the sudden, we were unassumingly attacked by Emma!

This girl ran around with her red cup collecting a myriad of seashells.

While Ev's enjoyed more time in the sand.

At one point they buried Daddy's feet.

Before Emma decided to give herself a sand cleanse as well.

Then, she was up and back off splish splashing herself all around having the best time.

She had been waiting to come to the beach for nearly four weeks and I think it lived up to what she had dreamed about :).

This girl continued to amaze us, generally loving everything the beach had to offer.

< 3 this guy!!

The amount of sand that was in every crevice of their bodies was astounding, but they were just having so much fun.

It was definitely one of those moments where you just feel so thankful that they are  yours and this is your life.

Have you ever seen a sandier tutu.

We wrapped up our afternoon at the beach watching the girls slide down their 'sand (s)lides'.

We took super cold showers (trying to get some of the sand off the girls) and then headed across the ferry to HEB. We shopped and shopped and shopped and headed back to the ferry when we realized that we had forgotten something for our dinner that night so we made our way back to the grocery store.  Wompy womp womp womp.

Ev's and I took the opportunity to take a few selfies while we waited on Daddy to run back in.

Silly faces :).

My favorite- duck faces!

We got out on the ferry on the way back and attempted to take a family picture #mamatried.

We got back to the condo and Wes headed upstairs to make dinner while I took the girls to the playground for one more round of getting all of their energy out.

We had a quiet, early night that first evening washing seashells, taking a bath, eating dinner and watching a show together before retreating to bed.

Happy to be in Port Aransas and for the first time in five years, I wasn't pregnant or nursing :).