For the second year, we went to Port Aransas, TX with Grandma & Grandpa Baldwin at the end of the summer. We left on a Monday morning & drove all the way there (about a 10-11 hour drive). I am always amazed at how well the girls travel! They loved the little "tents" I made for them with their blankies...they rode like that for a long time, watching movies in their cozy little hide-outs! We had a good time, just relaxing, playing on the beach, going shopping, looking for shells (& not finding any), going on a Dolphin Boat Ride, visiting the Texas State Aquarium, and just being together.
We decided to try hermit crabs again, hoping we could keep them alive longer than 2 weeks this time! Mackenzie picked "Goldie Sally," a yellow hermit crab with flowers on it, and Madison picked "Puppy," a teal colored hermit crab with a puppy dog on it. It was very funny that she actually found a shell with a dog on it, because before we ever went to get the crabs, when we asked her what she was going to name her crab, she said, "Puppy!" So it was the perfect fit! However...."Puppy" only lasted about 2 weeks...I don't know what I'm doing wrong! So far, "Goldie Sally" is doing okay, but Madison keeps asking for "Puppy" and it is very sad. I think this will be our last hermit crab adventure!
Looking back, there is a huge part of me that really wishes I would have been back in Newcastle with my Dad during this week, but we had no way of knowing this would be his last week here on this earth. I am just so thankful for all of the wonderful times we got to be there with him over the summer. I kept checking in with Mom & Dad all week, and while they were giving him blood & they put him in the hospital on Wednesday, things really didn't get serious until late Friday night when they put him in ICU. We headed back very early on Saturday morning, and got to the hospital just in time. We got there around 3:30, and by 5:30 we knew this would be the end for my Dad. I am so thankful that I made it back in time to be able to tell him how much I love him, and basically to tell him goodbye. I will always remember saying to my Dad, the last time I talked to him in the hospital, "I'm so sorry I wasn't here this week, Dad" and he looked at me and said, "Don't you worry about that." I think he probably loved knowing that we were in Port Aransas, a place that he loved, making new memories with our girls. Several times during our trip, I was sad, just thinking about all of the memories I have there with my Dad and knowing that he would probably never get to come back there again with us. Just a few weeks before all of this, he asked me to print out some fishing reports for Port Aransas, because he was really wanting to plan a fishing trip there in September. That just makes me think about how quickly things went downhill for him. I am writing about all of this in this blog post, because these two things are tied together for me...our vacation to Port Aransas & losing my Dad. I will probably never think about this vacation without that coming to mind...but, that's okay. We made many happy memories that I will always cherish & God's timing is perfect, so I just have to trust that this is how it was all meant to be. Here are just some fun pictures from our week!
Riding the ferry across to Port Aransas...I remember doing this as a kid and thinking it was so exciting!
Just for fun, we made some ocean cookies for our trip...I only did this because I had some extra dough and icing left over! We had fun with it though.
Grandma & Grandpa bought the girls' new Minnie Mouse pj's!
Madison's 1st braided pigtails...it was quite a challenge, but she was so proud of them!
Still lovin' those cheeks!
Eating dinner at Castaways.
After dinner at Castaways, we went to the Bay area park, where we played on the playground & watched dolphins. Poor little Mack got a sunburn on her cheeks & her back a little bit. It didn't seem to bother her too much though. These were some of the new outfits Grandma & Grandpa got for the girls.
Could they possibly be any cuter?! This was right before we went on the dolphin boat ride.
We went into Corpus Christi to go shopping one day, and the girls were so happy to ride on this train around the mall!
Here is a video of them riding the train with Grandma Baldwin...they loved it!
We ate lunch there, in the food court & they had this cute little table for the girls to sit at. I think it is the same table we sat at last year. They loved having their own little space!
On our last night there, we fed the seagulls a fun treat...cheese balls! A LOT of cheese balls! I bought these, thinking the girls would eat them, but they didn't like them. So, we put them to good use! We laughed that it was a good thing we were leaving the next morning, in case there were a bunch of dead seagulls all over the beach. Madison didn't want anything to do with this, but Mack loved it.
I just thought these pictures were cute enough to be entitled to their own post! The girls loved the beach & as always, looked adorable in their (many) bathing suits...they had a different one to wear each day. Like I've always said, I wish I looked half as cute in a swimsuit as they do! I love it that they both love to smile for the camera now, and Madison is finally letting Mackenzie put her arm around her and lean in for a picture. They love each other very much & have a lot of fun together! It is crazy to me that Madison is wearing swimsuits that Mackenzie wore last year...she's a healthy girl!
Look how much they've grown in a year...the picture below was taken last year, in the exact same place in Port Aransas. Mackenzie hasn't grown too much, because she's still wearing the exact same bathing suit! It was pretty tight this year though...
We had a great time with Grandma & Grandpa Baldwin! Hopefully, this will be a vacation that we go on several times over the years with them. We spent a lot of time on the beach. I love the beach, but it is SO MESSY! Getting cleaned up when we were finished was a ton of work, but it was worth it. I seriously think the girls' would sit and play in the sand all day, every day, if we let them. We literally sat on the beach for 4 or 5 hours at a time, and they were perfectly content to sit there under the umbrella, playing in the sand. I actually got to sit on the beach & read a book while they played! Brian built another very impressive sand castle. He decided that it would be a good idea to build a sand castle as tall as the girls, every year. I'm wondering how many years he will actually think that was a good plan! It wouldn't be a normal trip to the beach without burying somebody in the sand...Madison was the lucky one this year, and she loved it. I didn't think I would ever get all of the sand off of her! I just love Port Aransas, and all of the memories I have there as a kid. I'm so glad it will be part of my kids' childhood memories as well!
Beach pictures are just too fun! It was a challenge to keep my camera out of the sand though.
Daddy was the "worker" and Mackenzie was the "decorator!"
Love her sweet little back!
This reminds me so much of a picture I took of Madison at the beach last year. She has grown so much in the past year!
Mack loved feeding the seagulls!
Madison liked it too, but she felt much safer standing behind her big sister!
One day in Port Aransas, we went into a Gift Shop & there was a photographer taking pictures outside with all of these birds....well, you know how I am about birds & pictures, so of course we had to do it! (Brian calls me "Bird" if you didn't know that. Why that came about, I'll not explain just now.) =0) 
