Vacation, part 1

Galveston. It never does me wrong. This year was no different except for having a child. And having a child on vacation is stressful. I am not going to lie. My kid did great though. I worried about his sleeping because he isn't the best sleeper and is only used to his bed in his room. The first day was the hardest for him (had to take a nap with him in our bed) but after that, he was awesome.

I decided to break up Galveston in 3 days. Today and tomorrow sharing the pictures and what we did and then on Friday, I will be doing Five on Friday with 5 of my favorite pictures from my trip. I promise to not overload you. There were about 200 pictures a day so I have narrowed it down.

Today will be July 1st-4th. 

Brody did awesome on the drive down, way better than I could have imagined. The only time he got fussy was when we had to make a stop on the side of the highway because Billy's trailer got a flat tire and Bobby needed to help. After dinner that night, we decided to take the kids out to the water and let them play. I was cautious of Brody because I didn't know how he would do. He loved everything about the beach. Didn't mind the sand nor the water. He crawled right to it. We do the beach everyday. We tried to keep Brody's routine the same. He woke up and we had breakfast and then he played. About 2 hours after he woke, he went down for a morning nap. About an hour and half later, he would get up and we would get ready for the beach. We would play for about an hour or so, then head to the pool for him to be able to splash around. Followed by lunch and his afternoon nap. Then we would go to an early dinner and come back and hang out. He was in bed by 830 and the day would start all over. And keeping him on that routine worked perfectly! 

Now let's stop talking and get to the pictures. 

July 1st

Right before we left that morning, I remembered taking a picture of Kent wearing a particular outfit in Galveston when he was Brody's age. So it was only fitting that Brody wear it too. 

Oh I love him so much! 

Jace, Bobby and Brody. 

My messy, dirty kid.

 Brody loves Uncle Billy. So it was only right that they shared a water bottle together. 

 He also loves his Aunt Kristen. Or at least she tells him that he does and then smothers him with kisses. BTW: look at how toned Kristen's arms are. CrossFit people! 

July 2nd

My girl and me in our high waisted swimsuits. 

Playing in his water hole that Uncle Billy made for him

Jace took some morning naps on the beach. It took everything I had to not cuddle up with him. 

This swimsuit was Landry's so when she came down in it that afternoon, I asked her if I could get a picture. This is what I got. Sums her up in one picture. Sassy, adorable, opinionated and full of personality.  

 Colton said "Aunt Dani, take my picture in here" I cracked up when I saw this. Brody's like "Excuse me Colton, but you are in my play pool." and Colton's like "Excuse me Brody, I am trying to show you my modeling skills."

I always let Brody explore. My sister gave me some advice as to let Brody do things on his own and see how he reacts. Like when he falls, don't run to him. Let him use his instincts to react. And it was something that stuck with me. So when he was in the water, if he went under I always waited one second or so to see what he would do. He is under my supervision and needs to learn what to do. The earlier the better. Well I don't think Kent liked that. He never left Brody's side and if Brody went under, Kent would grab him. It was so sweet and I loved knowing that Kent wouldn't let anything happen to Bro. 

July 3rd

SO I hate birds. Everyone knows it. So I am not a fan of this picture. Using my sweet kiddos as bait for those nasty things. 

My loves

Kent is a fisherman. He loves animals and he loves catching fish and crabs. He would pick them up by his hand and hang on to them. He isn't scared of them at all and he knows that when you catch something, you either release it or you use it for something. You don't just catch something for it to die. That fish in the this picture is nothing to write home about but he caught it bare handed. Like put his hand in the water and caught it. That's something! 

It is so hard to get 5 kids to smile. Let alone sit there, look at your phone and smile. Angie had texted me earlier in the week saying she had matching outfits for the babies. Little did Angie and Kristen know, the older boys did too. They are cute, aren't they?

July 4th

Kristen and I decided we wanted to go for a run. We knew we would be eating and drinking a lot so we wanted to start our day out right! I'm a hot mess and Kristen just looks hot :-) 

Billie Marie loved playing on the golf cart everyday. She would pretend she was driving people places. Brody didn't mind. He just loved crawling up and down it. It was so nice that we had this this year. We were able to bring so much down at one time and it was easy entertainment. 

Angie and Colton

This girl man. I never not laugh when I am around her. My shirt/bra is from Fabletics (in case you were wondering).

Look at those fireworks! 

 Brody did NOT like the fireworks. He didn't even like the poppers. Scared him like nothing else. So he and I went back up when it was time for them to start the small fireworks. By the time I got him down, it was time to watch the big fireworks Bobby, Billy and Matt bought. They did a great job. Wish I had pictures. 

Stay tuned to tomorrow for July 5th-8th!