Hefferly Family Beach Vacation Part II

More pics from our time at South Padre Island with the Hefferly Family...

Super cute pic of Pinkie and Pa!

Rudy found a furry friend!

Abby, Andy, John and Will enjoying the beach!

Working on the big sand castle.

Me with my little beach beauty!

Missing Daddy.

All the sun makes you super tired. K took a 4 hour nap this day!

Shark Store!

Before the dolphin cruise.

Glasses switcheroo!

Jackson and Kennedy both got to hold live starfish!

Apparently the starfish tickle your hand!

South Padre Island, Texas

Hefferly Family Beach Vacation Part I

Each year Mike's family takes a beach vacation. We were fortunate enough to go last year while Mike was deployed to South Padre. This year Mike was busy doing finals for his Masters classes and was unable to come with us, but we weren't going to pass up on an opportunity to see family and go back to Texas! The kids and I had such a blast hanging out with the family and making lots of new memories!

Heading to Texas on the big plane!

Wrestle Mania!

Cousins!

The only time Jackson got in the pool, he fell in the next day and was done with it after that!

K loved getting buried in the sand!

Digging for treasure!

Professionals hard at work.

Amazing talent!

Hefferly's Rule!

Pinkie with the grandkiddos!

Pinkie and Pa!

The whole crew minus Mike, Mark, Pat, Ana, and Dave.

Boys!

One of the few times that K and Grant were getting along!

Pa and his only granddaughter!

May Part I

Thumbs Up:

• I survived my 30th birthday! I've been dreading that day for over a year and it wasn't nearly earth shattering as I expected it to be! I started the day at the gym with my body sculpt class. My instructor Louise is 76 years old and has had 7 kids. She could kick my butt with her hands tied behind her back! She is such an inspiration to me and she gave me a good talking to about being scared to turn 30! I know that every year is a gift from God and I'm very fortunate to have had such a fulfilling 30 years thus far. I hope he blesses me with many many more! Thanks everyone for your sweet messages on Facebook!

My black balloons and black vase from Daddy. He tried to get black or dead flowers, but the florist declined his request! 

• I absolutely love my babies and had such a fabulous Mother's Day with them. The only thing that would have made it better would be to have mine and Mike's Mom here too. 

• Last Friday Jackson's school had a little celebrations for moms. We planted a flower together and enjoyed some goodies. He had so much fun and has been diligently taking care of our flower at home!

• Mother's Day was my first time to lector (that's a reader for my protestant friends) at our church here on base. I used to do it all the time until I had kids, but now that Mike's able to be with me consistently on Sunday to watch the kids and the kids behave better, I get the opportunity to read again! 
• We've finally moved back into our master bedroom after a month of sleeping in Jackson's room. It feels so good to sleep in my own bed again. 
• Our garden, especially the squash, has exploded and we have a bunch of tiny zucchini growing!
• We leave tomorrow for the annual Hefferly Beach Vacation! We've been looking forward to this for quite some time and can't wait to be with the fam and back in the great state! I'm sure we'll have plenty of pics to share next time!

I gave Kennedy a super cute pedicure to get her 'beach ready!'

Thumbs Down:

• The contractor found mold growing under our sink and the rest of the house aside from our room is still unfinished. So ready to have my house back so I can feel normal again.
• We've spent every afternoon outside recently which is fabulous, but apparently I'm a magnet for these horse flies. I'm covered in huge bites from these vicious flies and bug spray doesn't seem to do much good. 

This is the kids new favorite play place to play - under the trampoline!  Our neighbor Alex likes the shade too!

• Jackson is super over dramatic! Tonight before our bath we took a walk down to the end of the street where are neighborhood pond and walking trails are. Jackson was running around with his friends and slipped and fell. He scraped his knee, elbow and nose, but you could have sworn from his dramatics that he'd amputated his leg! I carried him home, doctored him, gave him a bath and put him to bed and he never stopped crying the whole time. Any ideas to cure the 'drama queen-ness' would be greatly appreciated!