We always try to find excuses to hang out with the family in Houston. Everyone is always so busy working long and hard hours, so it gets more difficult to see the whole family but we do what we can and what better reason to drop into Houston than to celebrate Lexi's first birthday?! Alex was kind enough to host us all. It's always nice to see what projects he's accomplished and improvements that he's made to his beautiful home. I was ogling over the crown molding along the ceiling in the bedrooms as that is a project I hope to check off the list at our home also. But I digress... So it was a lovely but much too brief weekend spent with the Houston Owuor's. We had meals together, hung out watching movies, sang birthday wishes to the little one, and I even managed to have a girls night with my sisters Kiki & Kina on Saturday eve. (We saw the latest Twilight movie. Ah, good times!) Thanks to everyone for making Lexi's birthday fun and for letting us bring the party to Houston.
We had a great time celebrating Lexi's birthday today as a family. I do believe that she felt loved and we sure enjoyed all of the extra smiles from her. She especially loved it when big sister, Savannah would sing the birthday song to her. It was a great day and fun for us to remember back a year ago when we welcomed this sweet girl into our hearts and arms. What a blessing it is to be parents to the sweetest girls on the planet! I don't know where the time is going but it sure does go fast. So we are doing our best to drink it all in and savor every moment together.
After several days of 2-4 steps on her own and then sitting down quickly, Lexi has started taking on longer distances. So we are considering her to be a walker now. And what a fun walk it is. It's so cute to see the "Franken-walk" of new toddlers. :-)
Heehee. We were all so tired out from our weekend excursion to Corpus Christi. Lexi is in a rear-facing car-seat with a shade on it so I wasn't able to capture her on film but check out this sleeping beauty! The animals on either side of Savannah's face create a neck pillow and then she is light sensitive so frequently wears her sunglasses in the car. The blanket was probably unnecessarily warm but she's a snuggler and sleeps like an angel, even in the car.
We arrived back home safe and sound and maybe a little sunburnt too.
I was so excited to have the girls wear their little beach outfits that I'd bought on clearance last year. And Michael was just laughing at me because I was obsessing over taking pictures yet the girls were just ready to play. So we changed them into their swim attire and let them play in the sand and water. No surprise that Savannah was cautious and a bit unnerved by the ocean tide & the seaweed that would wrap around her ankle as we walked into the surf. And also no surprise that Lexi was full steam ahead and didn't want to walk away from the water. We laugh at how different their little personalities are but we enjoy all aspects of them. Sadly our camera battery died about 20 minutes into our adventure so we didn't get any snapshots of Daddy playing with the girls but he was having a ball with us also. And I'm sure glad that he did get the fun shots that he did so that we all can remember the fun that we had at Mustang Beach.
The concept of a professional fireworks display is a funny thing. There's so much build up. We scouted out the beach to secure a good spot for parking and viewing of the fireworks nearly two hours before the show. We walked along the beach for a bit and gazed out at the ocean. When the sun started to go down and the girls began getting tired, we put them in the double stroller and strolled around for a time before tail-gating. While sitting in the back of our Vue, we read books, played with toys, and sang songs until finally the sky started to light up with explosions of color. Fireworks were being launched from the deck of the USS Lexington and a local radio station played patriotic songs. Savannah was impressed and seemed to enjoy the display. Lexi was ready for bed and didn't appreciate that we weren't anywhere near her bed. So after enjoying the fifteen minute presentation, we loaded up in the car and headed back to the hotel. A process that took another hour plus because of all of the traffic. What can I say, there's something special about being there to witness it in person.
Imagine the girls excitement to see so much sand (they love the sandbox at the park) and water rolling in and out in waves. We had some time to kill before the fireworks show and so we were able to introduce the ocean to our girls. They were mesmerized by it and really could've watched the water, the fishermen, and the many other beach-goers playing in the waves for hours if we would've let them.
What better way to celebrate the birthday of our country than to recognize some great veterans and tour a decommissioned naval ship?! We felt so patriotic and thoroughly enjoyed learning about, climbing on, touring, etc. the USS Lexington. Below are some fun photo collages from our visit as well as a description from wikipedia regarding the ship.
Michael and I have lived in this great state for more than a decade and haven't really explored as much as we would like. So for the Independence weekend we decided to make a family trip to Corpus Christi. We really enjoyed our little vacation and it was so fun to see some of the sights and to introduce the ocean to our girls. We will definitely be going back sometime.
We always try to find excuses to hang out with the family in Houston. Everyone is always so busy working long and hard hours, so it gets more difficult to see the whole family but we do what we can and what better reason to drop into Houston than to celebrate Lexi's first birthday?! Alex was kind enough to host us all. It's always nice to see what projects he's accomplished and improvements that he's made to his beautiful home. I was ogling over the crown molding along the ceiling in the bedrooms as that is a project I hope to check off the list at our home also. But I digress... So it was a lovely but much too brief weekend spent with the Houston Owuor's. We had meals together, hung out watching movies, sang birthday wishes to the little one, and I even managed to have a girls night with my sisters Kiki & Kina on Saturday eve. (We saw the latest Twilight movie. Ah, good times!) Thanks to everyone for making Lexi's birthday fun and for letting us bring the party to Houston.
