WAC Adventures in Galveston

It wouldn't be summer for our kids without our annual WAC trip to Galveston, always the highlight of the summer break for all kids involved! Unfortunately this summer, our WAC adventures took a different turn when the A group (Aasmyr family) was out of town and couldn't join us. And then somewhere along the way, I realized that the trip wouldn't be the same for Kaitlynn because she wouldn't have a girlfriend joining us. I began to worry whether she would have as much fun being the only girl in a group of boys. So, long story short, we decided to invite Kaitlynn's very best friend, Anais, to come with us on our Galveston WAC trip. Kaitlynn was beyond thrilled when Anais was able to join us, and then we realized our WAC was restored (A for Anais)!

I have written on this blog so many times about the precious and endearing friendship between Kaitlynn and Anais. They connected instantly as toddlers and remain best friends to this day. They don't get to see each other much now that we've moved to Katy, so this trip was such a special treat for them to have extended time together, especially now that they'll both be starting kindergarten this fall.

The excitement for our beach trip was hardly contained on the drive down to Galveston. We stayed at our favorite beach resort, Diamond Beach, and we loved the condo we rented this time. It was first class all the way. Upon arrival, the girls were so excited to see that they had their own room!

Anais and Kaitlynn loved their room.

Shortly after we arrived, the W group (Watkins family) joined us and the group was complete. Michelle and I shared the master bedroom and the boys shared the 3rd bedroom. A perfect setup! It didn't take us long to decide to head downstairs and enjoy the resort pool area.

Overlooking the lazy river and resort hotel.

BFFs Anais and Kaitlynn at the pool area.

And now for the boys. Connor is going through a "too cool" phase.

The main reason we head to Galveston for our summer WAC trip is to enjoy the beach, of course. Unfortunately, this summer Galveston experienced some sort of epic seaweed event causing the beaches to look and smell terrible. We ventured outside to the resort beach area on our first night there and quickly decided we were NOT going back. It was so dirty and gross that the girls started calling it the dirty beach.

Evening stroll on the dirty beach.

Back in the condo, the kids were excited about their sleepover in their own rooms. "Mean Mommy" only had to make a single appearance to demand that the kids stop talking/playing and go to sleep! Ha!

Girls ready for bed.

Boys ready for bed.

The next morning, the kids were sleepyheads from a late night and watched a little TV before breakfast. Then of course it was time for swim suits and more swim time at the resort.

Relaxing morning in the condo.

Sweet girls ready to swim!

They insisted on matching pigtails and I couldn't resist a photo of the back view.

At the pool, it didn't take Connor long to acquire the first injury: an accidental knee to the goggle.

Throughout the days while we were at Diamond Beach, I was texting various photos to Anais's mom to keep her posted on how much fun the kids were having. At one point she made a comment that she was having trouble keeping up with all the swim suit and outfit changes by the girls. I didn't realize it until she said that, but it's so true. These girls changed their clothes every single time we made a trip back to the room, no matter how brief. Such girly girls!

One of the many swimsuit changes.

Snack time at the pool.

Another change, this time with cover-ups as we headed to the indoor pool.

Another thing that Anais's mom, Keri, pointed out were the elaborate poses that the girls managed to make for all the photos. They continued getting more and more creative throughout our stay, ha!

More swimsuits and poses.

All 5 WAC kiddos at the indoor pool. The poses, hilarious!

And just to prove the Moms were there, too...

A quick selfie in the hall before heading out to dinner.

At dinner one night -- look at those eyes! They were EXHAUSTED!!!

Our favorite Blue Bell ice cream after dinner.

Love the ice cream smiles.

After seeing the "dirty beach" at our resort, we decided we would drive around to try to find a groomed beach so the kids could actually enjoy the sand and ocean one morning. After all, that's why we visit Galveston! It didn't take too long to find what the kids referred to as the "clean beach." We stayed for a few hours and the kids had a great time.

Sweet girls ready for some beach time.

The clean beach had some seaweed but it wasn't bad at all. The boys were ready to dig!

Playing in the sand.

Before dinner later that night -- sassy girls in sweet dresses!

Rainforest Café, always a favorite.

Anais loved the Rainforest frog, Cha-Cha.

And then we went back to our favorite ice cream spot!

When it was time to return home, Anais was really excited to see her parents even though the girls were sad the trip was over. They made sure to get big hugs before saying goodbye.

The smiles say it all.

We stayed 4 days and 3 nights in Galveston, and it was SO MUCH FUN! Even though we really missed the Aasmyrs, we still enjoyed the trip and the different dynamic of the group. I was so impressed with how great the 3 boys got along; they entertained themselves so well the entire trip. And the girls had such great bonding time together after missing each other all summer. And of course, Michelle and I loved every second of our girl time. We are so thankful to have such a fun summer experience to look forward to year after year.

Summer So Far

I am having a hard time understanding how this summer is flying by so fast! We've been having a fast and furious time! On the one hand, I'll be happy to have the kids back in school and be on a regular routine again when school starts. But on the other hand, I'm trying to soak in every last bit of the summer sun and laid-back schedule. Here are some miscellanous pics from our summer so far.

First WAC of the summer.

The annual pool jump photo, this time at the new Courtright pool!

Date night selfie!

Our date nights are FAR too few these days but we sure love 'em!

This pic isn't really from summer, but I wanted to make sure I shared Kaitlynn's official soccer photo. She had such a fun spring season of soccer!

And here's the team photo. We ended up winning the spring championship, woohoo!

Kaitlynn's outfit of the summer. If you run into us out and about, chances are she is wearing this!

We were all very sad when Connor's friends Brady and Tanner lost their grandpa suddenly this summer. This card he made for them touched me so much.

The Aasmyrs hosted another WAC day for the 4th of July.

Happy 4th!

Our little firecracker!

Jeff is no stranger to pooltime relaxation.

Tent-building is an art form in our house.

How fun is that for a kid?

The most successful tent ever -- she crawled in there and napped all by herself!

These 3 love riding their bikes -- all the way up to McDonalds!

Summertime tea parties with Sweet Daddy.

Love the outfits!

Cool pic of a typical summer night at the Courtright house. Love those poolside sunsets!

On one random summer day, I saw an easy recipe for making your own ice cream using ziploc bags. I thought to myself, "Yes! I will be an awesome summertime Mom and do this fun crafty thing with my kids!" I gathered the kids and the easy ingredients and we all worked our way through the recipe and instructions. I was so proud when we actually ended up with REAL ice cream at the end.

Ziploc bags, milk, and ice ready for our ice cream.

Shaking our bags to freeze the ice cream mixture.

Here's Kaitlynn's ice cream.

And now Connor's.

The kids took one bite -- ONE --  and decided to throw theirs away, leaving me with countertops full of melted ice and salt granules to clean up. I ended up finding salt all over my kitchen for days to come. I think the preparation and cleanup lasted about 2 hours while their enjoyment of the homemade ziploc ice cream lasted all of 30 seconds. People, THIS is why I don't do projects with my kids!!

Pine Cove

With our busy summer schedule, we really didn't have many full weeks available for the kids to attend summer camps this year. But there was no way we were going to miss Connor's favorite camp -- Pine Cove! He had such an amazing time there last year and begged to go again. Pine Cove's Camp in the City is a 1-week summer camp with amazing games and activities backed by a strong Christian message. The camp counselors are awesome college students that spend their summer traveling from city to city spreading their love of Christ to all of these kids. It continues to be Connor's absolute favorite week of the entire summer.

Connor's group at Pine Cove with his awesome counselor, M.I.B.

Silly pic!

This year, Connor was able to attend camp with his great friends Brady and Tanner Watkins (of WAC fame, ha). Brady and Connor loved being in the same group and really enjoyed their camp counselor, M.I.B. a.k.a. Most International Businessman in the World. Gotta love those camp names!

In addition to camp songs, skits, games, and worship, the kids have a blast with amazing outdoor activities like bungee jumping and waterslides. They come home sweaty and exhausted every single day!

Connor with Brady and Tanner in one of the outdoor inflatables.

Love those smiles!

At the end of the week, the entire camp participates in a ceremony for the parents with songs and a message from what they learned during the week's activities. Then, the camp counselors present each camper with what they refer to as CQs: their character quality certificate. After observing the campers all week, M.I.B. took the time to write out character qualities for his campers as a way to encourage them and reflect on their positive character qualities. Such an encouraging message for these kids and one of the neatest things about Pine Cove.

Connor and Brady at the closing ceremony.

Connor's group circles up for the CQs.

 

M.I.B. presents Connor with his CQs.

These boys had an awesome week of Pine Cove camp. So thankful for M.I.B.!

 

Connor's character qualities -- love!

After 2 summers of awesome fun at Pine Cove's day camp, Connor is now begging to go to the Pine Cove overnight camp next year. Oh my, am I ready for that??

Tonsillectomy

After years of fighting recurring strep throat infections, Jeff and I finally decided it was time for Connor to get his tonsils out. With the extended recovery time, it's always best to wait until summer or winter break to have it done. What a bummer of a way to spend his summer, though!

 

With our busy summer schedule, it was hard to carve out 1-2 weeks of downtime for the surgery. But we finally booked the date and then began preparing Connor for the surgery and the tough recovery. I warned him that his throat would HURT! I also told him that he could have whatever soft foods (ice cream!) or drinks he would like because it was important for him to drink/eat even though he probably wouldn't want to. He didn't seem worried at all about the surgery; all he cared about was that he'd be able to drink as much Sprite and orange soda as he wanted!

 

When we arrived at the Children's Hospital for the surgery, the nurses gave Connor these super soft green pajamas. He loved them and wanted to make sure we could take them home!

 

Connor's cool pajamas.

And I wonder where Connor gets the bunny-ear thing from??

When it was time for Connor to go to the operating room, he was all smiles and didn't seem nervous at all. We had been joking about the anesthesia and how he might be asked to count backwards from 100 but that he'd barely make it past 99. One of the cool things at the Children's Hospital was that Connor was able to pick a flavor of anesthesia, and he chose banana. I also warned Connor that he might not remember much before or after the surgery because the anesthesia might make him forget. He asked a lot of questions, but he walked back to the OR with the nurses and never looked back.

After the quick operation, Connor was wheeled into the recovery room and we were brought back in there to see him. Of course I had to take his picture -- it's kind of sad seeing these little kids out of it like that!

Still out from the anesthesia.

Waking up, he offered a sweet smile.

When Connor began to wake up, he immediately started chatting up a storm. It cracked me up! His poor little voice was strained from his sore throat, but he didn't seem to mind at all. The first thing he told us was that he remembered everything from before the surgery. He wanted to make sure I knew that the anesthesia didn't make him forget like I had said it would. Ha!

The nurses offered Connor whatever he wanted, even a popsicle. He slowly began to wake up and downed his entire can of Sprite in minutes. I was really surprised because I had been warned that he wouldn't want to drink at all and that it would be a big battle. Jeff and I were so impressed; he was being such a tough kid.

Soon after, Jeff took off to relieve the babysitter at home with Kaitlynn. When it was time to take Connor home, the nurses wheeled him out and handed him a sweet get-well card.

It took a while to be discharged and to get our car, and during that time Connor seemed to start going downhill. I just assumed he was tired and would sleep off his anesthesia on the drive home.

When we finally started the drive home, we were in the thick of rush-hour traffic and it was taking forever to get through the gridlock. I was backed up in stoplight after stoplight, when suddenly I heard a terrible noise in the backseat. It was Connor, throwing up profusely all over himself and the car!

I pulled over as quickly as I could and tried to stay calm. He had thrown up all of the Sprite and popsicle from the hospital, but there was a lot of blood from his raw throat as well. Connor started to cry and apologize over and over. I felt so bad for him and assured him it was not a big deal! Luckily I had a big package of baby wipes with me (not sure I'll ever stop carrying those things!) and I was able to get him cleaned up and moved over to another dry car seat. I also gave him a bag in case he got sick again. Which he did -- he ended up vomitting all the way home!

I was so stressed driving in that traffic and not being able to help Connor when he was sick over and over, but we were on the freeway for most of the drive and there was just nothing I could do. I ended up talking to the doctor on the phone who assured me that Connor was probably fine and that it was just his tummy reacting to the anesthesia and other medicine they gave him. I was so worried and wondering if this was the start of a bad recovery for him.

But two days later...

Yep, two days after his surgery, Connor was begging to go outside and swim and play. We had to force him to rest and make sure he wasn't overdoing it on the activities. Jeff and I couldn't believe how easy the recovery was for him. Of course, we stayed on top of his medications which certainly helped. But there was only 1 day or so (around day 4 post-op) where Connor seemed even remotely in pain. Amazing! We were so proud of him and SO thankful to get the surgery behind us. Now here's hoping for no more strep!