October Break- Texas!

We are lucky enough to get October break here which is a whole week off school! While everyone in the whole Phoenix valley probably went to Disneyland, we made the 20+ hour drive across the great state of Texas to visit my family. 

The drive was great. No, seriously, it really was! The kids were a dream both there and back. It only took like 20 movies, 100 songs, 50 games of "I Spy" and hearing Ethan count to 100 a few times to get there :)

My grandparents had never met their newest great- grand baby and it had been almost a whole year since we had seen them. We love visiting with them and we tried to spend a lot of time with them. One of grandma's favorite things to do is to take us to Sams Club and spoil us! I hope I can be like that when I'm a grandma. 

Grandma Sims with our kiddos and Payton (my brother's little boy). 

We met up at the park with some friends who I hadn't seen in forever! Justin was great to run around and play with all of our kids while I chatted with Christina, Alicia and Kayla. It's so nice to sometimes not have to worry about the kids and chat uninterrupted! :)Alicia drove all the way from Dallas to see us (or that's what i would like to think anyways :) and Kayla was so nice to invite us over a few times to her house. We had so much fun chatting with her and Ryan and getting to know their two cute little boys better. Let's do it again next time we come down, ok?!

The kids found a baby turtle at the park. They thought it was pretty cool!

My parents have quite a bit of land compared to most people out here in the valley and our kids had so much fun just wandering around, getting dirty and just being kids. For some reason the dirtier my kids get, the more pride i feel as a mother. I know, it's silly. But for some reason I feel like they enjoyed their childhood that day if they get dirty.

Ellie loves the kitties and chased them around. 

Mason liked being outside as well...

My dad whooped Justin and I pretty good at ping pong. He gave us excuses like, "I'm old. My sight is going bad. My hand eye-coordination is gone. I haven't played in a long, long time." Blah. Blah. Blah.  He then proceeded to beat each of us pretty bad. Like as in neither Justin or I got over 7 points!

We did a lot of hanging out and talking and it's always fun to have Chad's wife, Jessica, and Payton there with us. We had to leave the day of Payton's first birthday party. Jessica threw him the cutest Dr. Seuss themed party, we were sad we had to miss it. 

On a day that both of my parents were working, we took the kids to Galveston. We went to an airplane museum, had lunch at a park, drove around old Galveston and The Strand, and played on the beach. 

Mason is just about the cutest thing ever! Love, love, love this little guy!

The beaches aren't the prettiest but I remember it being a lot worse as a kid so I was pleasantly surprised!

Playing with seaweed. Ethan did not like it but Ellie didn't mind touching it!

At one time I looked over at Ellie and saw her fully embracing the whole beach experience!

I wish I would've remembered her swimsuit!

Humidity does awesome things to our hair :)

The kids LOVED the ferry. We bought some cheap crackers to feed the seagulls with and they were fearless! One came down and snatched a cracker out of Ellie's hand!

Ethan like eating the crackers rather than sharing them with the birds :)

My mom works at an elementary school and on our last day there the school had a carnival. They played tons of games, sat in firetrucks, played in bounce houses, and Ellie even got her fingernails painted pink!

One night we roasted marshmallows and made smores or "snores" as Ethan calls them. It's too cute to correct :) I think our children liked the smores....

Mom and Payton...

One night we left our sleeping kids with my parents while we went bowling with Chad & Jessica. I don't remember who won but it sure was fun!

I always love going back home and seeing family and old friends. It's too bad that we can only make it back about once a year. I'm hoping that the kids and I can go during the summer and maybe stay for a week or two while Justin travels for work. Fingers crossed! 

I'm also hoping that I can get all caught up on my blog before Christmas happens!!