Port Aransas Revisited

Sorry to leave you hanging so long in between posts, but we've been at the beach! This past Labor Day weekend was our annual college reunion trip down to Port Aransas with our friends and their kiddos. I must say that this year was a lot more enjoyable for Matthew. He really loved getting to play with his friends and run free on the beach. I think it blew his mind that every morning when he woke up he had 7 other kids to play with. Not to mention the 16 other adults to pester. Our trip down was great...a little long, but it was made much more pleasant by the awesome tunes that Zach compiled for us all. I'm sure we looked awesome with our luggage rack atop the station wagon housing two big, blue coolers with the word "Jones" emblazoned on each. Matt enjoyed washing those off the day before outside with his daddy as you can see. Once in Port Aransas, we got settled in and celebrated our first night together at the beach with some delicious casseroles. Friday morning we headed straight to the beach, and it was most interesting to see each child's first impression of the ocean, sand and gently crashing waves. Let's just say some were bigger fans of it all than others, but eventually they all warmed up to it. Matt did very well...he loved playing in the sand and walking out into the waves and then being carried out by Steven or I (or another willing adult) deeper into the water. His favorite game as it turned out was burying Ava's little bathtub fish in the sand and then digging them up. Joy came up with this brilliant game on the first day, and then every time he saw her he would ask about the fish. Pretty cute.

So, for 4 days we played in the ocean and the pool and in all three of the condos we rented to house us all. There were baby races on the beach (a funny video of Matt from that that I've got to figure out how to post on here...), chicken fights in the pool, Xbox gaming, dominoes, a memorable game of Scattegories, the longest fantasy football draft known to man, Longhorn football watching at a local bar, fishing & sting-ray sightings, seashell gathering, tasty meals, and a really good time had by all. Matt really enjoyed talking about Isa while we were there, and Steven & I were quite impressed with his ability to say his friends' names with nearly accurate pronunciation. Another one of my favorite moments was watching Matthew push around Isa's baby doll stroller down by the grills the night we had fajitas. Tim volunteered to keep track of him, and Matt took him all over the parking lot (where they evidently saw a cat under a car that Matt told me about), back by the picnic tables and then onto the boardwalk out to the beach. All while pushing that stroller ever so seriously. It was a riot. Poor Tim got a good workout. And I got to eat!

We had yet another fabulous time with all our friends down at the beach. Thanks to everyone for making it such a fun, memorable trip, and one that we look forward to each and every year.