Wow, I'm behind...Easter

I never blogged about this, but I most definitely want it in the next blog book, so we're going to go with the "better late than never" excuse for this one.

On Good Friday, we went to the park for an egg hunt with some of my mom friends and their kiddos. I had pulled our eggs out of the closet a few days earlier so that I could fill them for the hunt, so Ethan was already excited about finding eggs.

waiting to start the hunt

all the goodies


and then he was off

He did a great job hunting and filling his bucket. We had to remind him to keep going though, because he wanted to sit down and open up all the eggs right then and there.

ooh, another one!

It was a lot of fun, and E found lots of stickers and snacks in his eggs.

On Easter Sunday, we hid his basket (something my mom used to do), and we helped him find it. He plopped right down and started opening everything. He was a very lucky boy, he got nummy-nums (M&Ms) in a few of his eggs this year.


We headed out to spend the rest of the day in Bastrop where we had a a nice lunch and E learned all about confetti eggs. He wouldn't smash them directly on our heads, he just crushed them a little and sprinkled the contents over our head.

His favorite target was Daddy.

So that was Easter. I'll have to check the camera and see what other pictures I need to post.

Beach Trip

After all the birthday hoopla, we were so glad to get in a little vacation. My family decided that we should head down to the beach in honor of Papa, who passed away last year on April 16th. We arrived there on Wednesday, and shortly after my grandma and Paula joined us. The rest of the clan filtered in on Thursday and Friday.

My mom, Cory, Ethan, and I all stayed in our new super awesome tent, but we had Gramma and Paula's Airstream close by so we could have all the modern conveniences. They also have wi-fi and a lovely bath house at the park, so it really isn't "camping" at all.

Our luxurious tent.

Super comfy bed as far as camping goes.

After getting all the setting up done, we headed down to the water, which is right over the dunes from the campsite. Ethan really liked the beach last year, so I knew he'd dig it this year especially since he couldn't even walk last year. I was most definitely right.

Checking out the water for the first time.

When we went down to the water the first day, he got out of the car and said, "Wow!" He really liked playing in the waves that first day, but after that, he wasn't really into it. I blame the temperature of the water, but who knows.

Walking in the water with Daddy.

Watching him play that first day.

His favorite beach activities were digging in the sand and chasing the birds. He pretty much just loved to run around in all that open space, and he had a really goofy chasing-birds-dance where he'd flap his arms around and run. I wish I would have gotten that on video.

Heading to do some digging.

Checking out a hole with Paula.

Building a castle with Mama.

The weekend we were there also happened to be Sand Fest, and if you're like we were and had no idea what that meant, it means ~100,000 extra people on the island and a huge sand castle building contest. It also means fair food, artsy vendors, and drunk people. We stayed quite a ways down the beach from everything, but we decided to check it out. The first time we walked down the beach, pushing my grandma in this super cool beach wheelchair borrowed from the park office. Oh, and it was waaaaayyyy longer than a mile away (as we were first told).

Ethan fell asleep about half-way there.

E, Me, Gramma, Mark, and Cory made it before everyone else.

I wish we had gotten a better pic of the wheelchair, my gramma was the hit of the festival in that thing. People were stopping to take pictures of her, it was hilarious.


Ethan and I stayed Wednesday to Wednesday, while Cory left on Sunday (with a bunch of other family members who couldn't get time off), and my mom, Gramma, and aunts Karen & Paula stayed too. We enjoyed meals out, lots of hammock time, evenings by the fire, and lots of lounging on the beach. It was perfection.

Checking out the rooftop view from the park office.

Feeding the birds, one of my favorite childhood past times. E seemed to like it too.

We also went back to the Sand Fest on the last day to check out some of the finished castles. It was quite impressive.

Here's a couple from the amatuer category:



And some of the pros.:

This one won overall.

Super talented, all done by one person.

So that's it, our trip. I'm already trying to plan another trip soon.

Bounce House Party

Thought it was about time I share a few pictures from Ethan's party with his friends. Unfortunately, it being at a bounce house and all, a lot of my pictures came out like this:

It was a fun party though, even if I don't have much proof. Ethan would have been hard to catch anyway, he was running around everywhere. He tried out all the bounce houses, including the ones for big kids that had mommy-heart-attack-high slides. It was a good day, and we enjoyed celebrating with E's friends and their families.

Setting up

The birthday boy

singing "Happy Birthday"

with Nana

Blurry pic of the three of us