Bolivar Weekend Recap

Two weekends ago we went with my parent to a beach house on Bolivar. My mom is still recovering from foot surgery, which has been pretty difficult, so it was just nice to all getaway for a weekend together. We made a last minute decision at 3pm on Thursday to go ahead leave that evening. So, for the next three hours, I raced to pack the kids and the car and we headed downtown to pick up Wes from work and off we went! Glad we decided to do this because my parents offered to keep Charlie Friday so that we could take the boys to Schlitterbahn. It is so much nicer when we don't have Charlie to keep up with and we can just go from ride to ride without stopping. The boys had a blast, as always. It finally fulfilled B's need to go back since he has been asking for the past month. It's funny because he now knows the names of the rides and will refer to them by name, saying "Me like Thunder Tub" "Pink slide to gark (dark)" or "Me no want to do Wolfpack" like he is a seasoned pro. We had to take the ferry to and from Galveston island to get to the waterpark, so the boys thought that was pretty neat.

That evening we hung out at the house since the boys were pretty pooped. They loved these chairs.

Tiny boy in a BIG chair!

We hung out on the porch quite a bit since my mom was pretty limited as to what she could do. Plus, the weather was just awesome and there was such a nice breeze.

two peas in a pod

We took a walk down to check out the beach that night. Surprisingly, the beach over on this part of the coast was so nice. The beaches were clean, white and stretched for about 20 yards to the water. The water was cool and clean, I've never been very impressed with the waters in Galveston but it was so different this time!

my loves

There was quite a bit of shallow water which was nice for the boys to play in. Charlie ate a couple handfuls of sand (which he later threw up!), but he did enjoy the water and running the sand through his hands.

You can actually see a hint of blue in the water!!

The next day, we headed down to the beach in the morning and got everything set up so the boys could play. Their favorite thing to do is just play in the sand and build things, so that is what they did for the better part of 4 hours. Of course no beach trip would be complete without some or all of the boys getting buried in the sand.

Our best attempt at a family pic. Every single picture, B refused to look up at the camera.

C waving at CoCo under the canopy

happy boy!

the famous point

Poppy and the boys had fun building sand castles (somehow I forgot to take a pic!) complete with moats and seashell decorations.

Everyone was pretty exhausted that afternoon (even I snuck in a nap!). So after we all rested up, we headed to a local restaurant called Steve's Landing and it was amazing. We were pretty surprised just how good it was. Unfortunately, C was not in the best of moods which made it pretty difficult for Wes, since he had to hold him for basically two hours, but the food and drinks were awesome. We finished off the evening with some sno-cones and ice cream (and wine and Mexican Train for the adults later!). The next morning we all packed up and headed up, it was a quick trip, but a lot of fun! I think we would definitely go back to this area again.

13 months - CJM

More like 13.5 months as I have fallen a little behind in updating the blog over the past few weeks, but life has been just a little busy. Charlie has really taken off over the past month or so. He is on the move and there is no stopping him. He isn't walking yet, but he loves to motor around as quick as he can. He sits on his knees, will stand by himself for 2-3 seconds, will cruise along furniture, and best of all - loves to stand on his head!

his version of downward dog

The kid is a maniac. He loves to climb and we have already found him on top of the 2-3 ft. high fire station. He hikes his leg up onto just about anything he can find and attempts to climb on top. He really has no fear and loves the rush of danger. He loves to stand at he back door and bang on the glass. He's continued to be a decent eater although he doesn't always have the biggest appetite.

One thing he loves after dinner, is to get a few graham crackers. He always anticipates me going to the pantry to get them. It's so cute - you can just see the excitement on his face!

Give them to me now, Mom!

He's also had his first sandwiches this month. He seems to like them better than just meat and cheese plain. He's also had his first stab at PBJs and is pretty into them. He does make a colossal mess with it though.

I am happy to report that we now are a bottle warming-free household after 5 straight years. We decided to just slowly churn back the warmer until we no longer warmed his milk, and his easy going nature took it like a champ. He is really into feeding himself no matter how big of a mess he makes. He wants to hold everything and literally tries to use silverware. In fact, he is obsessed with silverware and will snatch it from your hands if he sees it.

The kid doesn't want to miss out on anything when it comes to his brothers. He likes to be right in the middle of the wrestling and tickle matches every night and will scream bloody murder if he is feeling left out. He doesn't want you to hold back and wants to be treated just like his big bros.

He currently has 7-8 teeth. His top two one year molars have come through and they have given him a pretty hard time. He has been chewing on just about anything he can find including Wes' nose and his crib. I found about 3 different set of teeth marks on his crib last week.

Charlie is still a great sleeper - going to bed from 8:30-7:30 and sometimes a little bit later, and he takes two 2 hour naps a day around 10/10:30 and again around 3. He has really taken to his lovies and is obsessed with sucking on the tag, it's disgusting. I guess that's the trade off for no pacifier. He is really good at playing by himself. Now that he can wander into the playroom whenever he wants, he just goes to town with all of the toys. He loves to play with the kitchen and all of the play food. He loves this plastic taco and will toss it up in the air and go fetch it. He can do this over and over again.

Have I mentioned how completely smitten he is with Wes? I think the picture below can sum up his love in just one shot. He needs to be with Wes at all times that he is home. He doesn't want to leave his side and will scream and kick his legs until he gets what he wants. It's becoming an unhealthy obsession and makes life hard for everyone because he either has to be in Wes' arms or will cry if he is with anyone other than Wes.

 Celebrating 32 years!

check out Charlie's arm placement!

Charlie's happy place

It's been a fun month watching you turn into a little toddler Char-bear!