{Friday Photo Bliss} Galveston Island

Is has been a really rough month. Lots of sickness in my immediate and extended family, some sad news, and dreary rainy weather. Duke brought home the virus ravaging our family. We had a trip planned for hiking/wine drinking at Fredericksburg, Texas, but we had to cancel as he was too sick to go.

He started feeling better and we had a brief window of two days were no one was really sick and we had hope no one else was going to get it. Paul had already hired someone to work for him Tuesday so we headed off to Galveston Island on Monday for one night.

So today's photos are from last week Monday/Tuesday. I have been feeling so cruddy mentally and physically, so it really cheered me up going through these snapshots of our amazing short trip!

When we arrived at the island it was too early to check in at our hotel, so we went to our favorite coffee place on the Strand, Mod Coffeehouse. The boys had decaf and Paul and I had full cafe and it was the perfect way to start our trip.

It is difficult to be sad when you are buzzing on a good coffee.

We stayed at the Holiday Club Vacations Seaside. This was our first time and we had been warned that you have to pay for the most expensive condos right off the gulf. The rest of the hotel is older and on the bay side and you have to drive across the road to get to the beach.

Since it was off-season we were able to get a beautiful two-bedroom condo for $160. The is pricey, but when you are only going for one night you can splurge. And was it ever worth it!

The kitchen was amazing. So much bigger than our kitchen at home!

This was the view from our bedroom. Swoon. The boys bedroom was huge but didn't have a beach-side window. But they didn't pay for it so I figure they couldn't complain.

Sweetie, can we just move here?

Even thought it was the end of October the weather was perfect beach weather. Warm and clear.

We could even go in the water. It took a bit of time to get used to it of course, but it felt so nice once in.

The boys really had a blast.

I have been asking Paul to take more photos of me with the kids and this is what he comes up with. If you squint you can see me out there with the boys. Don't I look skinny and gorgeous?

There is always lots of building castles in the sand.

Burying oneself in the sand.

Digging giant holes in the sand.

One of these days we are going to bring the boys to the beach and they are going to be "too old" and will not get covered in sand and it is going to break my heart. So I am enjoying every little scratchy bit of sand that gets blown my way.

After all of that sand we decided to head back to our hotel and swim in our most gorgeous pool and hot tub.

This was the view from our balcony.

Sweetie, can we please please please just live here permanently?

The next morning I woke to a stunning sunrise.

And we decided to go for a quick walk before breakfast.

Of course I forgot to bring my coffee...

Lots of interesting things float up on the beach overnight. We even saw an entire tree out there stuck on a sand bar!

I just realized that this is the first time the boys actually wanted to go walking. They usually hate to walk on the beach and beg to swim or play in the sand, but this morning they were perfectly happy to walk with their parents.

It was really nice.

After our morning walk we cleaned up and had breakfast.

Then hit the beach again. This time with suits.

Sand castle time.

Holes were dug.

Some swimming took place.

Lots of running.

Some stick throwing.

Some quiet walks of contemplation.

Then we had to head back to the hotel so we would have time to swim in the pool before checking out.

We had this giant pool all to ourselves, talk about perfect timing for our last-minute trip.

Then we checked out, went to lunch, and then visited  Murdochs to look at the Pleasure Pier.

I have the cutest kids.

And their parents aren't half bad!

And we drove home, so happy and rested.

And then everyone else got SICK!

Stay well and have a great weekend.

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