Beach Trip to SPI!

This summer we took a trip to South Padre Island with friends and family.  We stayed at the Marisol Condominiums on the beach, each family rented their own condo.  Our room was really nice and the place even had a pool.  My brother and SIL flew in Tuesday to join us.  We left early Wednesday morning as it was a 6.5 hour drive and we wanted as much beach time as possible.  We arrived around 1:30pm and couldn't wait to hit the beach, my parents/brother/SIL arrived around 4pm-ish.  Vacation had official started once my toes were in the sand!  Most of the time was spent on the beach or at the pool, with only one activity a day.  Thursday we explored Gladys Porter Zoo for a good 2 hours, followed up with lunch at Senor Donkey and the beach in the afternoon.  I loved this zoo, there were tons of babies, cool exhibits and I thought it was nicely laid out with plenty of landscaping and trees.  We had a long day at the beach Friday morning and afternoon.  Then Friday evening the majority of us ate dinner at Padre Island Brewing and then boarded a boat for a Fireworks Cruise tour, which also included dolphin sightings and the opportunity to hold sea stars, sea slugs and a butterfly ray!  Ry and Emma had a blast holding sea creatures.  This was the one time I remembered to bring my camera, all the other pictures were taken with my camera phone.  We did see several dolphins but my camera wasn't fast enough to catch them, all I captured were a couple fins.  The fireworks display was actually really good.  Ry was a little freaked out at first with the loud noises and he ran to daddy for protection.  However he watched the whole thing and by the end he started oohing and awing.  Saturday morning we visited the Sea Turtle Rescue Center, Ry was fascinated by the turtles so I bought him his own plush turtle from the gift shop.  Afterwards we had lunch at the Pirates Landing and then began our trek back home.  The next day was Father's Day and the entire family went to Walburg for an early dinner.  We had a great vacation, nice and relaxing and we spent it with extended family and friends!  Can't wait to do it again.  :)

Ry managed quite well on this trip.  The car ride down was great, he watched Cars, Shrek and Ice Age the entire ride.  The first 2 days he only took a 30 min nap and by Friday the lack of sleep caught up to him, I think he took a 3 hr nap that day.  ;)  The ride home he was a little more restless.  I was hoping he'd nap longer in the car but I don't think he was very comfortable.  As long as Shrek or Cars was in the DVD player he was fine.  Evan signed up for some summer ACC classes and was unable to join us on the trip.

Don't forget me! 6/11/2013

Leaving early in the morning means early nap time in the car 6/12/2013

We have arrived!  Hello SPI!  6/12/2013

Where did sissy go?

Ry finally found a floatie he liked.  He absolutely hated his life vest.

Gladys Porter Zoo - Gorillas! 6/13/2013

Ry loved the Galápagos tortoises

more happiness

Ry monkey

Emma monkey

Giraffes!  I so wanted to feed them, but they only allowed it on the weekends!   We went on Thursday.

Feeding the birds - Australia exhibit

I used to own a cockatiel!

back to the beach 6/13/2013

Steve, Lil C and Dad 6/13/2013

mom and dad braving the ocean

fun in the sand

sweetness, baby bro and big sissy 6/13/2013

comparing bumps 6/14/2013

Lil C is 18 weeks, I'm 20 weeks.  :)  6/14/2013

Aunt Christina and Unkie Steve - the Godparents (my SIL and bro)

Checking out the sharks before the Fireworks Cruise 6/14/2013

I couldn't watch it when they started cutting them open, the smell got to me.

JuJu and Opa 6/14

Amanda and kids 6/14/2013

More Mills, what what!

The Cox clan 6/14/2013

Sea Stars!  Ry loved holding this little guy 6/14/2013

It felt so weird when it moved!

Exhausted after the fireworks cruise...I think it was 11pm when I took this picture.

Rescued Sea Turtles! 6/15/2013

Well hello!

watching turtles with mommy 6/15/2013

Heading home, exhausted from our trip and loving his turtle 6/15/2013

New cousin/niece in the family

Congrats to my SIL & BIL Sara and Dana on their brand new baby girl!  They are proud to announce the newest member of their family - Decker Michelle Barney.  Blake is now a big sister.  :)  We visited them at the hospital later that day and she's adorable!  

Decker was born on Monday, June 10th at 8:25 am and weighs 6 pounds 9 ounces. Mom and baby are doing great!

Please excuse the quality of my camera phone, it was dark in the room.

kisses for cousin Decker 6/10/2013

Memorial Day

We invited a few friends and family over on Memorial Day to celebrate.  The kids loved our new inflatable pool, slip and slid and fire hydrant sprinkler.  The hubby grilled burgers, brats and dogs and everyone chipped in by bringing a side or dessert.  The weather was perfect.  Happy Memorial Day!

pool fun 5/27/2013

friends

family

food!

boys will be boys

Deutschen Pfest 5k Pfun Run & Festival

The Deutschen Pfest 5K is our family race.  It's close to home, a good course and they serve pizza and beer afterwards.  Plus with your race shirt you get into the festival for free!  It was 75 degrees at race time and windy.  Our nice cool weather had disappeared and the past few mornings had been fairly muggy, so I was a bit worried about the temp.  I knew I wouldn't PR as I've been decreasing my runs since I'm 16 weeks pregnant, this would be my last race of the year.  I think they changed up the course a bit this year, there seemed to be a lot more hills.  Nothing too bad, but it was noticeable, mile 2 was the toughest.  Overall I'm really happy with my time, I ran the entire time and ran it in under a 9:30 pace (which was my goal).  Hopefully by this time next year I'll be back in fighting form to regain my time from last year (PR 25:26).  Evan came in at a speedy 25:57, the hubby and Emma ran together while pushing Ry and came in at 33:29.  My Garmin said I finished 3.06 miles in 29:20 and my official race time was 29:19.  A total of 455 people ran the race this year.

	Overall	DIVP	GunTime	Time	Pace
Bro-Bro	85	13	26:02	25:57	8:19
Mommy	156	17	29:23	29:19	9:24
Daddy	231	17	34:30	33:29	10:44
Sissy	233	10	34:29	33:29	10:44

5K finishers 5/19/2013

Ry just had to be with mommy.  Jenn, me, Amanda 5/19/2013

Blasts from the past

Deutschen Pfest 5k Pfun Run 5/20/2012

Deutschen Pfest 5k Pfun Run 5/16/2010 

After the race we headed to the festival to listen to the Detentions and partake in carny food.  :)  Ry had a blast on the playscapes and even danced to the music.

Eating bratwurst!

daddy and son hanging

off to get some treats

Ry's first cotton candy!  I think he liked the shaved ice better.