First day of fall at the beach!
They woke up and went right outside to sit on the balcony.
It was still really overcast when we got up, but we had breakfast and headed for the beach. Nadia was beside herself with excitement to get down there. We were out there for about an hour with massive winds blowing and suddenly that wind started to blow the clouds out of the sky in super speed. It looked like a video tape set on fast forward.
I stood watching for a brief time and the sky went from gray to blue. It was very cool.
I took this photo while the sky was clearing so it created some interesting lighting.
Mike took this great panoramic shot to try and show how we had the WHOLE BEACH TO OURSELVES!!! It was awesome like this most of the week. 3 cheers for travel in the off season.
Nadia loves to get her daddy’s help to dig out the big stuff for her creations.
This was the warning sign to keep people on the bridge and moving to the beach 🙂
To the beach at Galveston
We didn’t think we were going to have a beach trip this year with all the other things we had going on. But after completing our China documents we decided to make a spur-of-the-moment trip down to Galveston. We hunted around for an off-season deal on a condo and decided to go for it. Our usual beach trips involve us being invited to the East Coast by friends and family. In fact, we have been traveling to the East Coast for a decade now. That involves 2 days of driving each way and a hotel stop each way – it’s always fun, but we are very tired by the end of that. So to pack up and basically stroll out of the house at 11:15 am was a new experience.
We stopped at the wild and crazy Buc-ee’s for a bathroom break and the girls asked for some rock candy. Amelie was so tired from all the excitement of the trip, she fell asleep before she finished, which is practically unheard of for her. Once in Galveston we stopped at Target to pick up cold/frozen food for the condo and got to the place shortly after check in.
It had been raining all day, but I still took a photo to capture the view from the condo when we arrived.
We told the girls we could head down to the beach to walk around a bit, and they were so excited. They wanted to bring the toys and everything else, but it was way too late and dreary for that.
We found the condo on VRBO and it was a very nice 2B/2B with Wifi and a washer/dryer. It was WAY down at the west end of the island, about 20 miles from the main part of town. We brought plenty of food and drinks from home and we knew we were ready to chill for a week!
China Camp 2013
Click the album above to see the entire album. Alyssa and Nadia on the first day.
After our stop over in Paul’s Valley to visit the Toy and Action Figure Museum we continued on the way up to Tulsa for our 3rd China Camp. This year was the first time Amelie was old enough to attend and she was really excited to be going with Nadia. We took the girls to their classrooms and then waited for the opening celebration. The highlight for the kids is the lion dance. When we picked the girls up they had all kinds of stories to tell us about their day, but Amelie desperately needed a nap. This was the first time she had ever been at something all day long past her normal nap time.
Cousin coloring time!
At dinner time Jade and Gwen drove down to Tulsa to spend the evening with us and have dinner. We were all so excited to see them again so soon after Jade’s wedding.
Day two of China camp was a great fun for the girls. Mike and I had a great time going to the movies and out to lunch with no interruptions 🙂 After a short nap it was time for the family swim party (which we didn’t make it to the last two years).
On day three Nadia was oh.so.excited. to find out that her favorite teen counselor was staying at our hotel also – I knew I had to make sure and get a photo of them together. The closing ceremonies were lots of fun and you can check out the videos to see how entertaining they are.
Nadia’s class on the last day.
Taggie is always on our travels.
Within minutes of being home in Texas the girls had to put on a lion dance of their own. Once again, China Camp was a great experience for the girls!