Don't you recognize the lyrics to the song?? "Galveston, Oh Galveston..." Yes, it really is true! There is a song about Galveston, and it is terrible. But we sing it all the time around here, because it is the theme song to our yearly Labor Day trip to Galveston. We had a great trip again this year, with the time going by way too quickly. The kids were really good on the drive there, and we made the best time yet. We got to the beach house, got settled, and hit the sack pretty quickly. The kids had been up since 6:20, so they were tired! The girls (hard to believe) woke up at 6:00 the next morning, which was a Saturday, and the boys were less than thrilled. Thankfully they all watched TV until a decent time, when we all got up and had breakfast. The kids were so incredibly excited just to be there, that they were talking quite animatedly about all the fun things they wanted to do. All of a sudden we heard a "BAM BAM BAM!" on the floor of the beach house. We were getting shushed from the downstairs neighbor!! It was almost 9:00, so hardly the middle of the night, and the kids weren't crying or jumping off furniture or anything crazy like that, but we still got the ol' broom handle on the ceiling trick. Well anyway, we hit the beach on Day 1. The weather was really hot and humid, and I always forget how sticky the air is in Galveston. It doesn't phase the kids, though, and they just had a blast. We did a lot of body surfing, wave jumping, sand dune surfing and jumping, and lots of digging. This was the first year in Galveston that we didn't have a napper, so we stayed all day! We reapplied sunscreen a couple of times, but Bryan (the sunscreen fanatic!!!) and Tyler still got a little burned. Tyler's sunburn was the funniest because exactly half of his nose was burned. I just laughed at him every time I looked at him for days! Anyway, we headed back to shower up and get ready for dinner, and while I was upstairs drying my hair the kids were down playing "shop" while Spencer lounged on the couch. All of a sudden we got a knock on the door. Weird! Who could it be! Well, for real, at 4:00 in the afternoon, we got the "your kids are being really loud" comment from the downstairs neighbor. We were not amused. This is our 4th year there, with no baby or toddler, and NOW we're getting the knock??? She must have been having a bad day. Anyway, we went out for seafood that night, then down to our favorite stop - La King's Candy Shop for homemade ice cream and taffy. It was delicious and fun, as usual! On Sunday morning we headed to church, where we popped in and out for Sacrament meeting. No way would our shy kids head into a strange Primary! So we went back to the beach house and QUIETLY ate snacks and lunch while watching Anne of Green Gables. I had finished reading the book to the kids the last week of summer vacation, so this was a long awaited activity. It was great!! We loved it. Then we headed over to the ferry, since we had had such a fun time riding it last year. This year was not rainy or windy, so the water was much calmer, but the dolphins were not nearly as active, either, and it was a million degrees out. Or so it seemed. So it wasn't quite how I remembered it... Anyway, this was all just a time filler anyway, until we could go to The Rainforest Cafe. This year was a monumental year in that Spencer can no longer eat off the kids menu. Nor do those little meals fill him up! So he had an entire pizza to himself for dinner, and he ate all NINE pieces!! We polished off the night with the Volcano cake, and then nearly choked when we saw the bill. Growing kids is somewhat painful! And expensive! On our way back, we stopped at the beach with an F-16 stunt kite, and we all took turns flying it and trying to dive-bomb the boys. It was really fun!! The next morning we rented the 6 man bicycle, as we did last year, and we rode it up and down the boardwalk. It was incredibly hot!!! We were so sad last year that the weather was rainy and cool, for our one beach weekend of the year, but I'm thinking now that it wasn't so bad! We drove home Monday afternoon, and for the first time ever we stopped at Buc-ee's Truck Stop - the largest truck stop known to man. We bought fudge (6 of their 23 flavors of fudge!) and Beaver Nuggets and drove home happy. :)
