Matagorda 2011

Day 1: Taking it all in.

That crab!

The waves, the wind.  Can't. Stay. Awake.

Gigi and me

Let the bed jumping begin!

From our deck you can see and hear the ocean!

Relaxing after a long day at the beach

Here I come, Uncle John!

Napping again.

Of course, Ariel was at the beach, because, "You know Mermaids live in the ocean."

Sand chair.   That's not my beer.

Mom and Aunt Rachel in the 80s

This year we celebrated Memorial Day in a very special way: we took our first trip to Matagorda.  Now this is the beach where not only Mom grew up visiting, but so did Popo.  Our family has been going here since the 1960s.  When Mom was little, her Mimi and Popo Vogt had a beach house here and they would go every summer and she says some of her best childhood memories were in Matagorda, so we decided it was time we take her back there.  Friday Mom, Dad, Luke and I drove to Yoakum to pick up Gigi and Popo and head down to Matagorda where Uncle John was going to meet us.  As soon as we got there, we went straight to the beach.  It was Luke's first trip to the beach so it was fun to see his face when he saw the ocean and all of the sand.  Apparently the beach was the most relaxing place he had ever been, because he could not stay awake when we were there.  I, on the other hand, was so excited I could barely see straight. First of all, the beach house had a room with 6 beds lined up and they were just asking for me to jump from bed to bed to bed, so I spent quite a bit of time doing that.  Then when we made it to the beach I just wanted to jump into the waves and Uncle John played some pretty fun jump into the waves games with me.  Then, Dad halted all of our merriment by catching a crab from the ocean and showing it to me.  Yeah, it was cool, but I was not interested in going back in the water that day, so I honed my sandcastle-making skills. (Don't worry-by the next day, I was back in the water running and splashing and saying, "I'm screaming because I am so excited to be at the beach!")  So for three days, we splashed in the water, built sandcastles, took outside showers (very cool) and had a fun time playing on the beach where my Mom, Uncle John, Aunt Rachel and their cousins and Popo played when they were little.  What a perfect weekend at the beach.

Six months old

Look at that tooth!

Of course, Kate had to tickle me right in the middle of my photo shoot.

6 month old birthday dinner: Bananas!

Today marks my 6 month birthday.  I have been here for half of my first year and I can't even believe it.  I guess it is true what they say: time does fly when you are having fun!!  This month I met several milestones.  The biggest news is that I am getting my very first tooth!  You can see it in my bottom gum in the picture and I love to bite on Mom and Dad's fingers whenever I can.  I am also learning how to eat by eating twice a day: about four jars in all!  I have quite an appetite, but mostly for the sweet things.  I do not like peas.  I will spit those back at Mom every single time she tries them out on me.  But I love all fruits and carrots and sweet potatoes.  She keeps telling me she is afraid I might turn orange if I don't expand my palate.   I also took my first dip in the pool this month and I loved it.  And I assure you that when I check back in with my 7 month milestones, crawling will be on the list.  Right now I can get up on my hands and knees and rock, rock, rock back and forth and I can scoot around to get whatever I want.  Cell phones and remote controls really get me moving.

Camp Gigi

Alligator river

Vegetable stamping with Gigi.  She's artsy.

Luke napped a lot.

Bath time with my favorite alligator

New bikini from the dollar store in Yoakum

Homemade chocolate ice cream

I splash Max.  Max loses his mind.

I wore out poor Maxi Boy.

Luke absolutely cannot wait to play the "splash Max'" game.    For now, he just sits on Mom's lap and watches all the tomfoolery.

Snakes and alligators. The fake kind.

Magic capsules.  They turn into little sponge animals!

Watercolor masterpiece

This weekend Mom took Luke and me to Yoakum to visit Gigi.  We had so much fun.  We did lots of playing in the yard, painting, and playing with "Maxi Boy".  Luke did a whole lot of napping.  Here are some photos of our weekend that tell the story of the amazing time we had.

Family visits

Avery and I cooked up some breakfast for everyone

We had a huge storm and lost power so we watched "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" on Mom's laptop

We love Mama T!

Luke and Bob Bob

Even a princess has chores to do.

Last week we had visits from the Waldens and the Townsends.  Aunt Rachel, Avery and Dax came to see us during the week and then Mama T and Bob Bob came for the weekend.  Here are a few pictures from our fun family time.

Two Firsts for Luke

This week I had two big firsts.  The big one is that I am getting my first tooth!  Apparently Kate didn't get her first tooth until she was about 7 months so Mom and Dad were shocked to feel my first one poking through my bottom gum.  They are still working on getting a picture of it.......  Also I had my first dip in the big pool on Friday.  Mom, Kate and I had little Friday afternoon pool party.  It was a little chilly but I loved it!

Celebration weekend at Blackjack

First bath time togetherness

Post bath time sweet talk

Mothers Day Lunch: Homemade fried chicken (my favorite!)

Classic Chi Omega pose. (So I am told).

So Mom says she lived in this house with 30 of her girlfriends.  WHAT?  That sounds amazing!

We had so much to celebrate this weekend.  Friday was Mom and Dad's 5 year wedding anniversary.  Mom tried like the dickens to get a picture of all four of us under the trees at Blackjack where she and Dad got married but we couldn't seem to all be awake and clothed (see pictures) at the same time.  On Sunday we celebrated Mom's first Mother's Day with both of us.  I woke up Sunday morning and said, "Happy Mother's Day Mom.  I love you so much."  She almost started to cry.  Mother, don't embarrass us!  Gigi and Mom made a yummy lunch for us (Mimi was there too!) to celebrate all of our mommies.  It was a beautiful day.  Then we woke up this morning and all roadtripped to College Station because Dad had a couple of work meetings there, so we dropped him off and had lunch at Layne's and then we just went sightseeing around campus.  Every time I would see the "ATM" I would say,  "Ooooooh that's Gig em Aggies!"   I also got a great reaction when, on Saturday, Dad and I were sitting at the bar at Blackjack and out of the blue I said, "I'm so happy at Blackjack".  So are we, Sweet Pea, so are we.