Galveston Trip - 2012

I am at least a week behind on blogging our fantastic family vacation! My parents rented an amazing house on the Galveston Bay a couple weeks ago and my entire family got to come and just relax together for a week. I am still so impressed with how perfectly the house fit our family's needs and all of the relaxing and togetherness time that we had. I was sad at the end of the week leaving everyone after so much great quality time together. But, I am so thankful for the sweet time we had! I could not get enough of these views.

We actually started the week off with long drive to pick up the jet skis and then a night in Houston at Joe and Emily and Isaacs house that was a total blast. It was so fun seeing their house and their life in Houston. We are sad that they are not living close to us anymore but, so happy for them in their new life. For some reason, I have no pictures of that. Bummer! One of my favorite things, oddly enough, was the way I packed Kinley's suitcase. A little note about Kinley lately. She ONLY wears dresses. Not skirts, not pants, not shorts, not pajamas, only nightgowns. ONLY dresses. And, she has a tendency to either 1) wear current favorite dress 10 days in a row or 2) change her dress 10 times in one day. So, thanks to Pinterest, I decided to pack an outfit a day in gallon ziplock bags. Each bag had a dress or outfit, a bow, swimsuit and shoes. She was so excited each morning to pick a new bag. It made getting dressed and staying dressed in the same outfit a lot easier. This is something I will definitely do again.

The first night we were all there together we celebrated my birthday since it was the first time we were all together since the big 3-0. My mom got me thirty presents to open and Kinley and Ty were such great helpers piling them all up in my lap. The house had a pool with a slide that kept the kids entertained for the majority of the day and Ben and I pulled the jet skis down from the lakehouse and got to ride those around on the bay a lot. With all of that built in entertainment, my mom, the kids, Olivia and I barely even left the house! It was so relaxing and so much fun!

The jet skiis were a total hit and were so much fun in the bay! The boys actually got to golf a couple days and go bay fishing one day. They caught so many fish that they fed us all of us for two nights. Between the outdoor grill and tiki bar and the boys fishing trip we ate every single meal at home on the vacation. We never left the house even to eat dinner. Lots of meals and games played at this table. We actually did go to the beach two days of our vacation. Each for about an hour. The first trip was just me, mom, and the kids and Ty actually slept in Ben's car the entire time we were there. So, the amount of beach pictures here are definitely deceptive about the amount of time we spent there. The three Ansons Kinley was totally attached to Olivia every single second of every day she was able. Olivia was amazing and such a trooper to play with Kinley so much. She would play princess, swim, watch movies, play games, and color with Kinley every day. Kinley was in a little depression when we left that she didn't get to see Olivia for a while anymore.

Of course, I had to make family vacation shirts! Everyone decided they wanted a tank for the beach. I ordered these fantastic tri-blend American Apparel ones and they were SO comfortable. Lots of family mathing tank pics. The whole week was such a blessing and I could not have asked for a better time. I can't wait for Howe Family Vacation 2013!