TX Trip: Part 2

When we returned from our Cozumel cruise, Kim and all 4 boys picked us up at our dock in Galveston. (Dear Kim had driven the entire one-and-a-half hour trip with the whole crew of kiddos all on her own while Matt was working. What a sister!!) Since we were in Galveston anyway and it was still morning, we made the most of our day and enjoyed this touristy town.

First, we rode a car ferry, simply for the experience. We got to see a few dolphins jumping up out of the water along our ride.

Then, we spent a few hours at the beach. Ian was quite excited to feed the seagulls. As you can tell, the gulls were pretty excited about Ian's feeding idea, too!

Here is our crew, minus Matt since he had to work, staking out our site.

The water at this beach was VERY full of seaweed, but it still felt nice to be in the water.

Ian loved jumping in the waves with his Uncle Jason. The two would try to time it just right and jump right when the wave crashed.

Jaden, our little particular fellow, wasn't sure what to think about walking on sand. He refused to put on his sandals, but yet seemed to dislike the sandy surface as well. The silly boy figured out a system and just walked on his heels everywhere. :)

Ryan, on the other hand, was in heaven on the sand! He wasn't interested at all in getting in the water but spent the entire time playing with his sand toys in this ideal over-sized sandbox!

Kim came prepared for everyone-- chairs and sack lunches all around!

Now, Jaden was finally starting to appreciate life at the beach!

Ahhh... relaxation!

After a few more wave-jumps...

...and a few unsuccessful attempts at kite-flying, we called it a day and went home.

Kim had made cupcakes to celebrate Jaden and Cody's birthday. 

The boys absolutely LOVED blowing out their candles. I'm pretty sure we re-lit the candles at least 4 or 5 times for them to blow out again and again. :)

Then, it was present-time! Everyone got to help a bit with the wrapping paper. :) Matt and Kim had gotten some GREAT deals for our boys. A few of their gifts included a mini-trampoline,

a bounce ball (that everyone had to try out right away, of course!),

a set of plastic food,

and a tee-pee to play in. Right away, Cody and Jaden stashed all their food in the tent. Thanks, Matt and Kim, for all the thoughtful gifts!

The next day, we got to tag along to Ian's swimming lessons.

He is quite the talented little swimmer!

Ian was the only little boy who could swim independently out to his teacher. We loved watching his confidence grow. Way to go, Ian!

Later that afternoon, Matt and Kim left for their anniversary trip, a road trip to New Orelans. This time, Jason and I took on the kid-watching duties. We spent quite a bit of time playing outside. Ian and Jaden played a game of hopscotch.

Aunt Amy drew the boxes, but Ian did the numbers all on his own. He carefully recited his number chants, "Straight line down, one is fun" and "Round the tree, round the tree, that's the way to make a three" while drawing his numbers. He didn't need help with a single one!

Then, Ian taught us how to play "Are You Sleeping, Mr. Bear?"

Cody and Jaden really seemed to enjoy this one, too. 

Finally, we played a sort of color game that involved one player calling out a color and the next player trying to touch that color without getting tagged.

Uncle Jason did a great job of storytime for his two nephews before bed.

In the morning, Ian and Ryan opened little gifts from their mom and dad.

And then, we were off to another day of swimming lessons. Here, Ian was told to "monkey walk" all the way around the pool.

Meanwhile, the littlest ones were busy eating their snacks. We were so thankful that this pool was surrounded by a gate. As you can imagine, the boys didn't stay at this table for long, so the gate made the 2-year-old watching MUCH easier!

After Ian's lessons, we spent the rest of the morning at a nearby park.

Even though it was already a warm Texas morning, thankfully, the slides weren't too hot yet.

Later that day, Ian received his High Five Highlights magazine in the mail and wanted to read it right away. An activity in the back of the magazine piqued his interest-- "Charming Snake Pals." We gave it a whirl! The activity involved cutting "snake" strips from tissue paper. Ian decorated the snakes' faces.

Then, we used static electricity from a balloon to "charm" the snakes up off the table.

What a fun idea! Ian basically did the entire project on his own from start to finish, too.

The next day, we took a day trip to the zoo. 

This was quite an adventure with 3 little guys in a stroller who didn't always want to stay in the stroller. :)

Ian playing the copy-cat game. :)

A few times, we did let the little guys out to walk on their own. This wasn't easy, though, since Jason and I both still had strollers to push. Thankfully, Ian was a big help by holding on to his little brother's hand.

The boys all seemed to especially love the monkey exhibit. Maybe that's because they were able to run along the wooden bridges. :)

Everyone was starting to look a bit tired (this TX humidity takes a lot out of you!), so we figured this would be a good spot for lunch.

We could tell that everyone was hungry because the boys all stayed seated for quite a while!

At the end of our zoo visit, we got to see a zookeeper giving a little presentation about an armadillo. It loved running circles in this little pool. Here, the lady was showing us the armadillo's underside.

Once we returned home, we decided to cool off with some water activities. We helped Ian set up his new Slip n' Slide.

Of course, the water table was a big hit again, too.

Finally, Ryan decided to join us! :)

Jaden helped out during snacktime by feeding Ryan some goldfish. Thankfully, Ryan was a good sport!

On our last day watching all four boys, Ian received a small Lego set as his morning gift from his parents. He wanted to assemble the small vehicle right away. 

It helped that all the 2-year-olds were busy eating their snack so they didn't interfere with Ian's Legos. 

Ian was very good at following all the directions and finding the right pieces. Here is his finished product!

On our last afternoon together, we decided to just hang out at home. We watched a bit of TV...

...read some stories and magazines,

played the great game of Hullabaloo, 

made some welcome home signs for Matt and Kim (forgot to take pictures of that event), and finally, set up Jaden and Cody's new trampoline! This was quite the popular activity, so we had to practice taking turns (not particularly easy for the three 2-year-olds!).

The wait was worth it, though. Everyone loved his turn to jump!

Overall, to be honest, this time watching all four boys WAS a bit challenging. We could tell that the boys were getting a bit tired of sharing space and sharing toys. They had been together for two full weeks, after all! Plus, Cody was fairly fussy since (we found out later) he had developed an ear infection. 

Still, despite these challenges, the kid-swap/anniversary trip was definitely worthwhile! Jason and I loved the chance to spend more focused time with Ian and Ryan. They adjusted very well to our care and were overall good listeners. We loved seeing Ian's bright, creative mind and his helpful attitude. He's at a great age for playing games, doing little projects, and talking about stories. We enjoyed having the chance to cuddle with little Ryan (he rarely does that when Mommy's around!) and to hear his quickly-growing vocabulary. It certainly felt like we got to know our little nephews better.  All of the TX summer outings (the beach, the zoo, the park) were fun bonuses for our boys, too.

So, while we may not repeat the kid-swap/vacation idea right away, we all agreed that we'd love to do it again eventually. And hey, by our 20th anniversary, all the kiddos will practically be able to entertain themselves! :)