This Life is All Mine: ~Taller and Wiser and Amazing....er~

Ahhhhhhhh.....I can smell the aroma from the Scentsy making it's way up the stairs to me. It smells good. Skinny Dippin' I do believe. Now I'm going to follow up my "Ahhhhhhhh" with a really sad, Nooooooooooooo!!!! I procrastinated. I procrastinated and I am not a procrastinator!! Now my free photo book is going to cost me $25 bucks instead of just $8 (from the shipping) I'm so freaking mad at myself. I can't believe I did that. And what's worse is that I finished the book. So of course now I REALLY HAVE to have it. Damn the Man....

Whelp I wanted to tell you all about our trip to Galveston Island. I wanted to tell you how perfect it was. How perfectly imperfect it was. I wanted to tell you about how proud of myself I am for making it down there and back. In one piece I might add. And then I started putting it off (maybe I am a procrastinator) and it started to seem less exciting to share my trip with you. Anti climatic if you will. Too many baseball practices, loads of laundry, homework, dinner times and poopy diapers since I have returned. All in all, too much reality. But then I started to work on my photo book from the trip and it all came rushing back to me. The feeling of the sand under my feet. The warmth of the sun with the cool breeze to follow. The sounds of the waves crashing on the shore. The smell of the sea salt in the air. The laughter of my kids while they were running through the water. All of that came back to me in an instant. So I decided...I will tell you about my trip...because...I want to remember it all over again.

The drive down there was pretty laid back. I never got tired. I wasn't in any hurry to make it there by any certain time. I didn't have to worry about check in time (we were good there), and I didn't have to worry about getting there before dark or by dinner time or before a nap or Landon's bed time. I literally had no worries. It's so much easier to enjoy life when you aren't always in a hurry or on a schedule, isn't it? And yet, what would we do without schedules and nap times and start times and end times and dinner times and bath times? Seriously, it's complicated. I ran into a little bit of traffic through Houston but I was kinda glad I did. I got to take it all in I guess. New city, new surroundings. Jackson was sleeping and Ella was pretending to. The girl can't sleep in the car but Jackson could sleep the entire way. Actually he usually does. No matter where we are going. The kid sleeps.


Downtown Houston

Now, if I'm being honest I was a little nervous about the place we were staying. My husband is a penny pincher. So when we booked this, assuming he was going, we did this with the thought process that we wouldn't be in our room much anyways. We booked the cheapest place we could find that had the best reviews. The thing is, don't you ever wonder if those reviews are for real? I mean the good ones...the bad ones...well people just don't make stuff like that up. When we arrived I was pleasantly surprised. Actually more than that. I loved where we stayed. There were a few things I didn't like about it but easy to swallow when you are paying under $100 a night. Seriously. I would recommend it to anyone. The Inn at the Waterpark. We were 1 minute away from the beach. Seconds away from Moody Gardens and Schlitterbahn. All the restaurants were on the Sea Wall and not more than 5 minutes away. The rooms were really nice. The towels were clean and in abundance. They had a nice pool and mini golf. And nice mini golf at that. Yes, pleasantly surprised...

This trip was AMAZING. This time with my kids was AMAZING. The ocean, the beach, the sand castles and bunkers that were made, the Aquarium at Moody Gardens, the penguins, the nights of playing Go Fish, War and Old Maid, the new restaurants we tried each night, the horribly crowded water park, the funnel cakes, the ice cream, the new flip flops, the fact that hammer head sharks travel in groups (did you freaking know that? I didn't freaking know that!!), the 3d movie with the sea turtle who spoke to us in a wonderful British accent, all of it...every single last bit of it was AMAZING. Even the flat tire we had on our last day there. Yes, even that. And even though I had to buy two new tires and we missed out on going on a ferry, it was all worth it. They want to go back. And soon. And they want to bring Jacob and Landon this time. They want to make some more memories. And I'm okay with that. ; )

I did exactly what I said I was going to do. I took it all in. I could tell you where every little freckle is on Ella's nose and that they start to show more in warmer weather and that her hair looks really red when the sun starts to settle and it hits her hair just right. I could tell you the way Jackson's smile curves up to the left when he is giving his sister a "courtesy smile/laugh" after one of her random stories. But when he is genuinely smiling both corners go from ear to ear. I could tell you how different of a child they both are when they don't have anything to worry about. How it enables them to even enjoy each other more. I could tell you how many times they asked me to do something and I said, "It's too cold but if you really want to then okay. It's your vacation." And they did. And 5 minutes later they said, with shivering, purple lips, I might add, "It's too cold." It's funny how if you don't fight your child on every decision, give them a little room to grow - it gives them more confidence to try and do and live and learn. If it doesn't kill them, then why not? I learned a lot about myself too. I need to let go more. Not sweat the small stuff. Life is too short. And unfair sometimes. I'm just preparing myself for the inevitable. These kids aren't getting any younger. Only taller and wiser - and I'm learning so much from them. Every day.

I have a lot of pictures from the trip. I won't share all of them. Just some of my faves....but I have a lot of faves.