We are over the moon that school is out for the summer, and what better way to kick off the fun then to travel with friends!! The initial proposal from the Reidheads was an RV roadtrip , but then it quickly turned into a beach house in Galveston. We were so excited and ready to play!
The kids did great on the flight, but we were all really anxious to get to the beach!
Four adults, seven kids, a whole lot of luggage, and a huge grocery pick up order all in one big van. Success! And yes, Karly was there too, you just can't see her in the shot.
Here's our cute house right on the beach.
Our house was so cute, and the view out to the water was so pretty!
The kids thought the bunk room was the best. They loved hanging out in there, watching movies, and telling stories.
Here's the gorgeous view from our deck. We hardly had time to put groceries away and check out the house before the kids were all begging to get out to the water. Let the fun begin!
The water was so warm and the sunshine felt amazing. It really did feel like the perfect setup.
We basically had the whole beach to ourselves. It was incredible!
Karly loved skipping up and down the beach, and then laying in the water and letting it run over her. She was so happy being there.
The house had lots of beach and water toys, and the Reidheads also brought some really fun boogy boards. Our kids had never tried this before, but it became a quick hit to ride the waves. The water was pretty shallow for a long way out, so the kids could go out pretty far and then ride the waves in. It was so fun to watch them. Rett spent a long time out in the waves with Olive helping her get the hang of jumping onto the wave. She loved it.
Olive insisted on a boogy board photo shoot. She is full of some of the best poses.
I loved that the kids would just hang out in the water and chat. I can't emphasize enough that the water temperature was perfect!
There's just something so grounding about being outdoors and having nothing to do and nowhere to be. It's definitely refreshing for the soul.
Brightin and Bentley became great buddies out there.
We decided this was the best kind of family trip to do. The kids were all having so much fun and completely entertaining each other, so the adults had lots of time together to hang out too so sometimes it felt like we were enjoying a nice couples' trip. It was the best.
When we could finally convince them to leave the water and go back home for a meal, we would stick around for a bit and play games and eat lots of treats.
Bright and early the next morning, they were already out exploring at the beach - still in their PJs and all.
The porch overlooking the water was a beautiful place to be as the day began.
Olive was so excited that the nighttime waves had washed in some great seashells.
The plan for the day was to leave the beach behind and spend the day at Schlitterbahn water park. Eden and Bentley were big enough to go on some pretty big water slides. The little ones went on some of the bigger tube rides with us, but we mostly spent our time in the lazy river, and in the super fun kiddie zone. Everyone had a blast.
During our nice lunch picnic we discovered that the birds there were intense! Seriously, they had no fear of humans and they were aggressive.
See that bird on the table behind Bentley's head? While we were taking this picture, he knew we were distracted and he came up with the perfect plan to attack the smallest human creature. As soon as Karly set down her hamburger that bird flew into the center of us all and took that burger right off her plate. We were all very surprised and startled for sure.
Karly got to practice her swimming and she was so proud. She looked like a little sucker fish the way she would shimmy on the bottom of the pool. I was so proud of her for holding her breath so good!
By evening time we were worn out. The day at Schlitterbahn was a complete success!
We knew these kids were playing hard because when it was bedtime, that room got quiet really quick. They were all sleeping very soundly, and woke up refreshed for another day of play. As soon as breakfast was done, we were heading back out to the beach.
It was another beautiful day on our perfectly empty beach.
On this particular day, the water had washed up a bunch of these strange slimy things which none of us had ever seen before. After a little research we learned they are called Blue Buttons and they are similar to jellyfish. Fortunately, they don't have a sting like jellyfish but we were all still nervous to touch it much. It felt way too slimy for me.
Brad started dripping the sand and making strange looking towers. The kids all joined and the city of "Pooptopia" was created. They had buildings, roads, and tunnels all over their little city. It turned out to be a very entertaining activity (obviously kids will love it when it has a name like "pooptopia". Thanks Brad)
These kids ages are all over the board, but it didn't matter one bit. They all had so much fun together. It was dreamy.
At one point, somehow the topic of handstands came up and then the beach became handstand land. Everyone was involved.
Karly started her handstand a little close to the edge and ended up getting washed out! Fortunately she thought it was really funny.
Rachel was genius and brought a bunch of perler beads along. This was the perfect way to relax our tired, sunburned bodies.
The kids are getting old enough now to get involved in some group games that are also fun for the adults. It was good. Salem became the favorite and the kids would beg us for "just one more round!"
In the evenings before bed, we also had some pretty epic singing and dancing shows. Olive or Karly usually kicked things off, but after a few songs, all the kids were involved. We had some great laughs.
One night after the kids were in bed, we were sitting out on the deck chatting when we saw some guys down on the beach hunting crabs. It looked way too fun so the guys headed down, and Rachel and I decided we should be responsible parents and stay at the house. However, we could hear them laughing and we could see their little flashlights running around like crazy, so we couldn't resist either. We grabbed some buckets and wet hand towels and headed down too. This turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the trip. I have no idea why, but we had so much fun catching those crazy fast crabs.
By the end of our hunt, we had caught A TON of crabs. We put them in a huge red bucket and kept them so we could show the kids in the morning when they woke up. Unfortunately, we forgot about what crabs do to each other when they are trapped in a bucket, so by morning there were only a few very big and strong crabs left. Whoops! The kids still thought it was pretty awesome to see them and were begging to have their chance to crab hunt sometime on the trip.
We released what was left of the crabs and it make the kids squeal - some in fear, and some in excitement as they tried to catch them again.
Of course our little creature loving Eden had no fear and was like an expert crab catcher.
Karly acted like she was sad that she couldn't catch one, but as soon as Eden tried to hand her one, she didn't want anything to do with it.
We talked about castles and motes and the kids came up with a pretty impressive creation.
We found out that Berlynn is quite the storyteller. She entertained these guys endlessly with her creative stories. It was so cute.
Seriously, is there any better way to wake up each morning?! Look at this view!
We pulled everyone from the beach for a day to go explore more of Galveston. We started at Pleasure Pier which is an amusement park on the pier. It was HOT out there for the first couple hours so we were grateful to get on the rides that involved a lot of splashing water. It ended up cooling down a bit so we had a ton of fun overall.
Olive was very brave to try the Frogger ride. She didn't really want to, but everyone else was going so she went too. I love the look on her face. She wasn't a big fan of those drops.
Our social butterfly Olive went on the kiddie bumper cars and made a new friend. These two girls went on this together over and over again and giggled the day away. They were very cute.
On this log ride, they made the biggest person sit in the front and the smallest in the back. It was a crazy splash zone for sure. I was soaked by the time that ride was through. Everyone loved this one. It had a few fun drops.
The little ones enjoyed the carousel, while everyone else either went on the log ride, or stood to the side where they could get soaked from the splash. They were all laughing and loving every minute of it. Everyone was sufficiently cooled down after that.
They had a huge farris wheel right on the edge of the pier that went out over the water. From the top you could see way down the beach and out into the open water. It was a great view.
This huge swing ride was another hit. Everyone but Karly could do on this one and everyone loved it, even Olive. We went on this one several times before the day was over.
Brad won the prize for best parent after doing that carousel multiple times with Karly.
Eden was very brave and went on some of the big people, intense rides. She was nervous, but had a blast doing big kid stuff.
Our day at the amusement park was a huge hit. Everyone had so much fun and we were worn out and ready to relax by the end of the day.
The next morning we headed out to the "down-town" area of Galveston to explore a bit.
We started the day at a pirate museum which was full of lots of interesting facts and artifacts from pirates. The kids found it to be pretty interesting and actually ended up listening to most of the audio tour which I was surprised about.
Olive was so excited to find her name on a pirate card in the gift shop. Karly was excited that she thought she found her name too - now we sometimes call her "Chad".
After the museum we walked through some fun shops, including a candy shop where we watched them pull taffy.
The shopping was fun, but the kids were just antsy to get back to the beach. Let's be honest, I think all the adults were too.
I don't know if it was a shift in the tide or what, but this day as we went out to the water, we started discovering little hermit crabs and they were everywhere! This became the best new adventure. The kids collected crabs, built them houses and tunnels, and played with them all day long. We had fun comparing all the cool and different shells they had.
Everyone wanted their photo shoot with a crab or two!
Brad made the kids day by flagging down the ice cream truck and letting everyone choose a treat. Then he realized he didn't have his wallet and Rachel had to pick up the tab. ha ha Well played Brad.
Our final day on the beach was an absolute blast with all those hermit crabs. We were sad when the day had to end. After treats and bedtime for Karly, we surprised the kids by letting them stay up late for a nighttime crab hunt. They were so excited.
This was one of the most fun activities of the trip by far. We all had so much fun out there, laughing the night away as we tried to catch the crazy crabs. All the kids did really good and were quite successful with their buckets full by the end of the night.
With no more beach and it's creatures, Karly had to entertain herself with Bentley's face while we waited for our flight. He was a good sport. The trip came to an end and we were all bummed to be heading home. We had an amazing trip and can't wait for the next one!
Galveston was a huge hit for sure. We would love to go back. This was the perfect start to our summer! Thanks for the great memories Reidheads!
