Since we just couldn't stand the thought of summer ending (hopefully the sarcasm was obvious)...
We Five headed to Port A, TX with the Other Mezgers and Nana Franny for
"Mezger Beach Vacation 2011".
Here are the highlights (in other words - most of the pictures I took since I'm not good at culling)...
MAGGIE
Maggie did pretty well this week - the traveling didn't upset her (non)schedule very much and she continued to sleep through the night - going to bed around 11. Would love it to have been earlier, but still can't really complain.
The first day was pretty windy so our tent/canopy wasn't really working for us...so Maggie chilled out in her own little bit of shade thanks to some chairs.
After one of the big kids gave her some sandy-lovin'.
Ocean bath after a diaper blow-out.
Her tongue. This won't be the last picture of it you see...
Chillin'.
Why so sad pretty lady?
Ah, much better now that I can stick my tongue out at you.
Me and my bay-bay.
How do you make cute even cuter? Add ears.
Cutest. (Notice Kyle's thermal shirt since it dipped waaaay down to the 90's!)
Enjoying the sunset from her car seat while we feed the birds - aka try not to be eaten by them.
Deer in headlights baby with dimple chin!
Love this one. It's almost a smile. And its our classic "baby in the jungle chair" shot.
DIMPLE!
Ergo time.
Girl talk.
Bumbo time.
REBECCA
This milk-addict drinking a little water on the beach.
The two BEACH BUDDIES or "beath buddieth" as Becca says. These two were pretty much inseparable. The big kids did their thing, Maggie was mostly with me, and Rebecca was almost always with Nana in the water.
Blowing bubbles? Probably not.
A little relaxing. I'm sure Nana hated this part.
Burying my toes in the sand.
This girl luvs her some Mary Poppins and luvs the kite song! It's just precious to hear her sing it in her quiet, lispy little voice! Our kite was tethered to our beach canopy and R just kept swinging it around and singing...
Let's. Go. Fly. A. Kite!
...and I love quiet walks on the beach...
...and splashing my Nana!
R got this really nice booboo on her chin at school the Wed before we left. It did surprisingly well in the sun and saltwater. Still hasn't totally healed but its mostly because she continues to pick at it!
MY booboo!
Flying like an airplane.
Whoosh.
Melissa actually wrote this in the sand, but R spent quite a bit of time tracing the letters (E! R! T! - she says for all the letters) so it looked like she was writing it!
My attempt at artsy.
Sporting one of Nana's hats.
Mel gave R the "Gettalong Gang Award" for the week. Don't disagree!
OWEN
Could only put this one photo up of him and that would pretty much sum it up. Boy, does this boy like to dig/build.
On the job for Uncle Luke - Foreman.
Goofing off at work.
Surveying the building site.
Nepotism. Lovely, muddy, nepotism.
One of our attempts at a partial group shot for Nana. The Gen 1 Cousins.
I love you Bailey.
What?
Now Mama...let me tell you something...
I am SO fast.
But mostly I just love to fill this perfect rusty ol' dump truck up with sandy mud.
And learn cool things about shells from Nana.
And be a very protective big brother to Becca.
Here is Luke taking a nap. Ha! No, seriously, Luke wins the "I can nap under any circumstances or any number of small children"- Award. (At Camp Buckner that would have been an actual award.)
Blakers giving me a Zoolander. He's so hot right now.
What are you doing???
Bailey - the other half of the Junior Mezgers Building Crew.
Mud bath.
Big Cousin. Little Cousin.
Anything is a ride-on toy if you ride on it.
Ah - all to myself.
I love you too, Owen.
Look at those BLUE eyes!
Spunky Brewster.
A round of very (NOT!) funny knock-knock jokes kept us in stitches at lunch.
Knock knock!
The Brothers Mezgerazov.
Luke's arch (part of our best sandcastle which also included a bridge supported by a flipflop).
Mel with Blakers. Want to see more prego shots??? Patience!
Probably the only time I saw Mel just sitting and relaxing the whole trip. Unless it was after 9pm when she POWERS DOWN.
Before and After.
Getting our title shot ready.
THE NEWEST MEZGER - BLAIR KATHRYN
Trying to get the hump sillouette...
But Mel doesn't have a whole lot of hump to work with...
Can you believe there's a baby in there?
Pretty cool.
Her name is Blair.
Blair likes to relax on the beach.
With Mama.
Can't wait to meet her around Thanksgiving!
THE MATRIARCH MEZGER: NANA
Playing Go-Fish with Owen.
Protecting Maggie from siblings/cousins who would love to cover her in sandy attention.
Trying to coral the hoodlums for the ever-elusive group shot.
Flying a kite with her beach buddy.
Nana with 4/5 grandkids...not bad.
This lady LOVES the beach!
She could retire right here...
"But no, silly Ali, I would miss you all and your craziness too much!!!" - ah, shucks..
But it is pretty nice here...
A FEW OF THE CREW
All 5 grandkids on the couch about to enjoy "movie night" (complete with a Thomas video and popcorn in coffee-filter bowls). Maggie is screaming her head-off. Take the picture!!!
So, not really a few of the crew. Just the one.
ARTSY WITH A FAIR AMOUNT OF FARTSY
Nuclear Winter or really awesome photo because I was messing with the aperture? You choose.
Regular. You can see how white the sand isn't and how blue the water isn't.
Our beloved airplane kite. It didn't make it back with us.
Luke and Bailey flying high.
Not our sand castle. It had an amphitheater and no toddlers vying for destroyer-rights! (Only he who builds it can destroy it - so sayeth the Lord.)
If you've ever been to the beach with me or read one of my posts about the beach...you know how much I dislike "the feeding of the birds".
Sing it with me...Feed the birds...Tuppence for birds. Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence for birds..
My foot.
Some sand.
Some water ripples.
Highlights from the week?
- Great beach house (thanks to Nana or finding it) - right next to the pool (just a few doors down from where we stayed with "the gang" last year. Rooms for everyone and everyone in their room (or closet, if you're Blake and Maggie).
- Great company - wonderful time with Nana and the Mukes.
- Time to actually PLAY with our kids (okay, so Kyle did more of this than me because of my primary role with Maggie).
- My sweet husband letting me sleep in (with Maggie) while he got up with the kids and got the crew moving to the beach, and take a couple of unnecessary naps (the best kind)!
- Watching Owen get more and more comfortable going out into the waves (taking cues from his little sister) and doing some MAJORLY awesome swimming with Nana in the pool.
- Actually playing a couple of games with Luke and Mel...dominoes just like the old days!
- Easy food...and lots of us. Total diet-buster, so maybe this should actually go on the low-points list? Nah-ice cream and DP are never low-points.
- Watching Rebecca try to fly our kite.
- Crab hunting (for Owen and Bailey and Becca...) - even though Owen was "very sad" that he only caught 1 crab and Bailey caught 3. (Then he got "really very very sad" when he realized that Becca didn't catch any and therefore she must be really very very sad.
- Some time to actually read. And most of it not standing up while holding a baby in the ergo.
- Redbox kid flicks for the drive home - genius! (Thanks Kyle!)
- Hearing Rebecca say "beach buddies".
- Watching Maggie smile (big!) and laugh.
- Owen said the road to the beach was too long and he only wants to go back next year if we can go on a shorter road...I'm tempted to agree. :)
- And we could probably skip the eating out - people left the dining room we were in...
- But WE had a great time...until next time Port A!
