Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Galveston Island!!

It's kind of become our tradition since we've been here to go to the beach on "Royce's spring break." (He has to work the actual spring break, so he gets a random week off whenever he wants. So much better than during normal spring break week.) So this year we loaded up and went to Galveston Island. It was so much fun! We got a motel right across the street from the beach, and splurged a little bit for a nicer one, and it was great. Last time we went we went cheap, and I was almost positive we were going to bring home bed bugs, but I wasn't even worried about it this time, and it was really fun.
We hit the beach...




took multiple baths to get rid of sunblock...

went out to dinner...

entertained ourselves while Marta took naps...
and went to the Moody Gardens Aquarium.


Then on Friday we got packed up and drove around the island a little bit, then we went to the Battleship Texas, and the Texas monument.









Then we headed over to Houston to visit Rocky(Royce's brother) and Carol and their kids. We went with them to their ward Easter party Saturday morning, where they had eggs...

a baby kangaroo...(for reals!)

and baby ducks and chicks! It was pretty awesome, and we had lots of fun at Rocky and Carol's!


We went home Saturday night since both of us had things to do at Church on Sunday, and did baskets and an egg hunt Sunday morning, and a special Easter dinner Sunday night after Church.


Emmaline wanted to decorate the table.

Ahh, the beach. It was so much fun, and the girls loved it. Marta must have walked up and down the beach for an hour straight. The waves would knock her over, so when the waves came up she would squat down and brace herself, then stand up when the waves went back out. Emmaline found a little friend, and they played for a long time. It was just a really fun trip, and so good to be together as a family on our little trip. 

Monday, April 9, 2012

300th Book Party

We've been keeping a little chart on our door that keeps track of how many books Emmaline has read, and for every hundred that she reads she gets a special treat, and she decided that for her 300th book she wanted a party, so we had a party! It was pretty low-key. We had some snacks, made some little bunnies, and then the kids just played. It went pretty well, but around the last hour or so they started to get a little cooped up, but luckily Royce came home around then and entertained them with some magic tricks and balloon games. 

 Dirt Cake! 
 The kids were a little freaked out when I took a fork and ate some "dirt" out of our flower pot centerpiece. 

Magic tricks.