Beach trip, part 1

I know I've been a bit slow getting these up. Finding time to talk about vacation while still on vacation is hard. I've got tons of pictures, but here are some of my favorites. (No time for touch-ups...I'll leave that to Janie.)

Nico and Dijar had fun playing in the mirror while I got Ella and Egan ready to go.

The first thing Ella did when she got to the beach was find a stick to write in the sand. She said she wants to write her name everywhere so everyone can see it. Dijar said we've got a future tagger on our hands.

The Es played a game (which Ella was sure that they created themselves) called "Chase the Waves." For a while, they were hesitant to get wet because it was a bit cold. Don't you love Ella's beach hair?

While they played, Dijar practiced his tai chi on some driftwood.

The kiddos finally got a little braver and had a great time wading without getting too wet...

until Egan decided to go swimming (at least that's what he says he was doing). He was pretty upset about his soaked self for a few minutes...

but got over it quickly once he warmed up (good thing D stuck extra towels in my car).

And it all became just a fun memory after we hit Ben & Jerry's. Eg reminded us about his swimming adventure all night and the next day.

We went to the marshes and to the Aquarium Pyramid at Moody Gardens yesterday. Maybe I'll get to those pictures tomorrow.

Just because...

So this is a little bit of a backtrack, but I thought I'd share a photo of Nico from last weekend. Dijar and I were trying out the photo gallery on the PS3 and I snapped this quick shot. I love the giant eyes (you should see them on the tv screen).

Oh, and I got lots of good beach photos today, so I'll post a few as soon as I get a chance.

Hello from the coast...

So we made it down to Galveston without incident (amazing actually, since Ella woke up yesterday throwing up). Maybe it was the excitement of going to the beach that got her all riled up. We're staying at the Hotel Galvez, a very nice historic hotel right on the seawall, and have an excellent view of the beach right out our window. The Es weren't too impressed with the room--I don't think they exactly understand the concept of a hotel. Egan keeps asking if we're going home now.

Dijar's going to be busy at the conference all morning, so the kids and I are planning to do a little exploring. I'm taking the camera and will try to get pics if they decide to cooperate.

Ah, yes, the broken elbow...

Here's a picture just for Aunt Lisa (okay, for anyone who wants to see a picture of Ella's purple cast). During a recent playtime accident, Ella broke her elbow. She had a hard splint for a week and a half and then a cast for two weeks. The cast is off now and she's on resticted activity (no wrestling or monkey bars) for two more weeks. Thankfully, it was her right elbow (she's a lefty), so she still managed to do important things like hold her baby brother. She handled it all very well and seems to have a high tolerance for pain. To prove this, she spit medicine in the face of an ER nurse and her loving mama. Guess the meds are worse than the pain, huh? She must get that from me.

My happy snugbugs

Just so I can get in the habit of posting, I thought I'd share a few of my favorite photos of late.

Dijar just got a new sleeping bag and the Es were having a great time trying it out.

Nico loves to play with his brother and is very interested in anything you put in front of him, especially cameras.

Attack of the mud monster

Last weekend, we decided to hike at a park near the house. It started out great. We found an armadillo right off the path and Dijar and the kids went around and flushed it out so I got a close-up view.

After the dillo sighting, the hike continued as normal: Dijar walked ahead with Nico in the Bjorn, Ella tried to stay right on his heels, Egan tried his hardest to keep up, and I brought up the rear, helping Eg out when he needed it. D and El always run ahead and hide so they can jump out to scare us.

After we crossed the troll bridge, we came to the pond, secret home of the mud monster. First, Egan got lured in by a tiny frog. He only got mud up to his ankles. Ella, who had left us with the frogs to follow Dijar, mistook a primordial ooze pit for terra firma and ended up in up to her knees. D and I were, as Ella so frequently puts it, laughing our heads off. Ella wasn't nearly as amused. I pulled her out, but one shoe stayed behind and had to be dredged out with a stick.

We decided to head back to the car, where D cleaned up Ella with the spray of a well-placed water hose at the park bathroom and I stripped down Egan. He thought this was great fun.

We went back to the park the next day, but decided to play soccer instead of hiking.

And so it begins...

Inspired by a blogging sister and a baby-blogging friend, I have once again entered the blogosphere. I've noticed that I've taken fewer photos and written less down since Nico was born, and my hope is that the social pressure of a blog will keep me on my toes. An added bonus is a better record of the kids' day-to-day growth than my current habit of jotting notes on a calendar to someday be transferred to baby books. We'll see how it goes.