South Padre

We went to South Padre with the Coxs from July 6-July 11. I look back at these pictures with joy and sadness that it is over. All of our kids did so well and it was neat to see all of them experience the beach for the first time. Yes, we had sand everywhere and on everything, but it was worth it. We had done a lot of research to find the beach house that we stayed at. It was a two story house that was five minutes from the beach and it had it's own pool and hot tub. Absolutely perfect! 

On our way there! Isn't this picture hilarious? Carly is definitely zoning out. We had the girls wear their headphones for the DVD player. 

Kate loved them!

We broke up the trip by stopping at Corpus Christi and staying one night there. Once we checked into our hotel we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. Looks like Carly was having fun with her menu!

Sweet picture

Kate and me

Claire was enjoying a lemon to suck on, or was she?

Zack and I shared a steak. YUM!

After dinner we stopped at the beach. Kate and Carly's first experience at the beach. I love their faces! Priceless!

One of our favorite pictures. Carly's face says it all.

Carly kept saying that she could not wait to go to the beach so that she could build sand castles. She was so excited to get her hands on that sand.

They were also excited to be staying in a hotel. Zack was reading them a book before bedtime.

The next day we swam in our hotel pool before heading out. This was Claire's first time to sit in this baby seat/floatie for swimming. She loved it!

We had a lot of fun because we had the whole pool to ourselves. Carly and Kate loved sitting in the baby floatie, too.

Loading up the van once again.

Every single spot was full! 

Do you see how packed it is by Kate?  She does not have much space. Poor Kate!

I almost always sat in the middle seat between Carly and Claire. It made it easier to hand them things, give Claire a bottle and just keep the peace.

Beautiful rain clouds

Our exit, yippee!

We stopped by Wal-Mart before getting to our beach house. Now even the passenger seat has no room. 

Here is our street! So exciting!

When we were unloading our cars Aubrey and Kate were out front playing. Little did we know that they were using markers that were permanent. They can't say they didn't do it, right? You have to give them credit for writing their names nicely. So, they then had the fun job of scrubbing it all off.

Kamara brought some fun writing boards for the girls to play with.

Hannah and Claire are having playing together, too.

Zack bought these hilarious goggles for the girls to wear. They were a better fit for Carly.

Here is the pool that we had in the backyard of our beach house. It was a really nice pool and one of our favorite parts of the house. It was really humid in Padre so some of our pictures look a little foggy.

Beach time! 

Notice our set up behind Zack. Every day Zack and Rod would drive all of the beach umbrellas, chairs, ice chests, etc.. out to the beach and then we walk the kids over. It was just a five minute walk to the beach which made it really nice.

Claire was trying to catch the birds. It was really funny to watch. Zack was throwing food up in the air for the birds to catch, so we had quite the gathering around us.

Sweet picture with all of their sunglasses on.

All of the kids loved collecting shells at the beach in their pails. Here Carly is looking at all of them out front.

I love this picture of Rod and Hannah.

Here is a look at our kitchen. Carly was helping Zack prepare the chicken. 

Claire was just hanging out.

Claire loves babies just Kate and Carly.

Carly wore this crown a lot while we in Padre. Here she is playing with the tea party set that Kamara brought.

Hannah

Aubrey and Ryleigh on the staircase. There was a lot of going up and down the stairs while we were there. The main floor was upstairs.

Kate and Ryleigh were playing Peek-a-boo with the babies.

Zack and Rod working on the meat.

Zack and Rod took the big girls on a walk.

Kamara and I stayed at the house with the babies. 

Bath time

Aubrey, Kate and Carly having some down time watching a show on our computer. I love how they all three have their pails.

Zack took this cool picture of Carly.

Aubrey, Kate and Carly playing in the ocean.

Notice the crown?

Hannah and Claire in their matching bathing suits.

Aubrey and Ryleigh trying to play frisbee.

The owners of the house left boogie boards at the house for us. We all had a lot of fun using them. Kate really impressed us with how well she was using it in the water. She absolutely loved it! In fact one day we took all the kids back to the house except Kate who stayed with Rod and Zack to boogie board.

Carly is doing what she had been talking about for months! She is building sandcastles.

Me and Claire

Then one early evening we all went to the beach to take some family photos and some pictures of the girls.

Kamara, Hannah, Rod, Ryleigh and Aubrey

Ryleigh, Hannah and Aubrey

Our family

Our three girls

Carly

Love this picture of Aubrey, Kate and Carly holding hands!

Kamara and me with the babies.

Kate

Kate and Carly

A look at all the girl's feet with their freshly painted nails.

Trying to capture a girl picture. Sweet girls!

Little girls are so precious!

Yum! The boys grilling some yummy meat for all of us!

More yum!

Carly and Ryleigh playing in the sand.

Zack teaching Carly how to get on the boogie board. Such a good Daddy!

Go Carly!

Claire enjoying our pool in the backyard.

Carly helping make guacamole with Zack. I think she loves her Daddy, don't you?

A look at our living room.

Ryleigh and Aubrey's room.

The Cox bathroom

Kamara and Rod's room

Their bathroom.

Our kitchen

Our staircase

Our bedroom

Kate and Carly's room.

Laundry room

Our bathroom.

Our pool and hot tub.

The front of our house.

Our street

Kate relaxing

Play doh time!

Pedicure time

Claire turned 10 months old while we were there

Kamara and Hannah

Kate having a good time.

Me and Kamara

Claire having fun in the sand.

I love this picture of the four girls playing.

Aubrey and Kate

Ryleigh and Carly

Kate and Aubrey enjoying a yummy breakfast.

Kate and Aubrey again

Snack time

Zack was throwing food up to the birds.

Aubrey and Ryleigh in the wagon going to the beach.

Fun picture

This picture cracks me up! Claire and Hannah playing with the sand toys. The yellow star looks so big in Claire's hands.

Swimming in the pool at our beach house.

Swim time

One of our favorite times of the day was after the kids were in bed and the four of us sat in the hot tub and talked.

Our final picture of the four of us before leaving our house. 

Going home we decided to drive the whole way back. We left around 11:30 am and got home around 8:00 pm with just a couple of stops. Carly fell asleep with her head phones on for a very short time before waking up. I thought all three girls would crash and sleep for a long time, but the only real nap was Claire's nap which was for a short time in the van. We had a wonderful trip, but were glad to finally be home in our own beds. Especially after having such a long drive. Another great trip with the Cox family.