we went to texas

Some of my favorite memories growing up are from summer days spent in Texas.  My aunt and uncle live there, and they very graciously opened up their home to us every summer.  Sometimes it was just my brother and I, sometimes my parents were there too, and sometimes our California cousins would visit at the same time.  Whoever was there, it was always fun, and I've been looking forward to going back with my kiddos.  We decided this was the year, so my mom and I (Bobby had to stay home for work) made the very long drive so we could show these two what Texas is all about!  They were just sure that we had driven so far that we must be in another country!

We spent the first half of the trip on the farm, and while they had a lot of fun, I do believe it was confirmed that we have raised a couple of city kids!  We spent the second half of the trip in Houston, and that was most definitely more up their alley!  We really had such a great time, and I just loved getting to share some of my memories and experiences with my kiddos.

and away we went

a few weeks ago, we went on a family vacation. this was our first big vacation since little man was born, and we had been planning it for quite a while. we came very close to canceling after all of the flood mess, but we have great friends who encouraged us to go. and in the end, we figured if we ever needed to just get away, this was it.

so away we went!

we went with two other families who are very good friends of ours. we all stayed in one big house right by the beach on Tybee Island, which is just outside of Savannah.

first of all, let me say that whoever invented portable dvd players for the car is a genius.....


we had as smooth a car-ride as one could expect with a two-year-old on board.

as soon as we got into town, we drove down the cutest streets with all of these little shops. they were lined with these trees.....


.....which i think are just gorgeous. when i think of an old southern plantation, these trees are on it. of course, usually in the movies the plantation ends up being haunted, but they're still beautiful to me.

miss Paula Deen's restaurant is down there, so we all ventured there to have lunch. it was very busy there, and even though we had reservations, we still had to wait for a table for quite a while. we opted to wait outside with little man, since it was too crowded inside.

the look on his face pretty much tells you what he thought about the wait, and the heat.....


we all had the same look on our faces after the meal. Paula's great and all, but it was a typical southern buffet lunch, and that's all i'm saying!

a few more pics around town.....



this was Caleb's first time to the beach. we were a little worried about how he would do with the sand and the water. he doesn't really like to walk in the grass, so we weren't sure how he would feel about that much sand; and he really didn't even like bathtime, so we definitely did not think he would like the water at all. but he really surprised us! he was walking around on the sand like it was nothing, and he was jumping the little baby waves in daddy's arms and loving it!




showing off his muscles and throwing back a cold one.....


and this pretty much sums up how he felt at the end of the day.....


we literally took over a thousand pictures while we were there. here are 999 just a few of them.....















we had a great time, and we are so glad that we went!