From the Kadish Family: August 2009

So, as always, I am a little behind in getting these pictures posted on here, but that seems to be the story of my life right now, and probably for the next few years! At the end of July we took the kids down to the coast for a mini beach vacation. I had been dying to get the kids out on the beach at least once this summer, so after a little bit (or maybe a lot) of nagging to my "not-a-huge-beach-fan" of a husband, we headed down to the Corpus Christi area for a two days.

By some struck of luck I happened to find the one area of the Texas coast that is like an actual beach...aka. great sandy beach, nice blue water, plenty of area for the kids to play, not what you usually think of when you think of the Texas coast! I know some of you may not believe me about this magical find and I would love to prove it tou skeptical perople out there, but unfortunately I don't have a picture, but for a very good reason, which I will get to in a minute.

Anyways, on the last Sunday morning of July we packed up Victor's truck and headed down to Corpus, a driv ethat should take about three hours from where we live. Naturally, it took us closer to 5...first, we had to head back to the house because we forgot Victor's hat, we had to drop something off at my parents, then I needed a breakfast taco, next we ran into a funeral procession, and that was all before we left town. Once we were finally ont he road, it didn't get much better...Parker, who fell asleep during all of the in-town running around woke up as we were driving though San Antonio, only to need his diaper changed. Naturally we stopped to do so, and at this point we unknowingly dropped his "lovey" out of the car. And since we were stopped I decided I might as well giv ehim his milk, which he drank, only to choke on a few minutes down the road and spit up all over himself. So, one more stop, on the side of the road, to clean him up.

Then we were off, crusing down to the coast, both kids wide awake! I had planned on both kids sleeping the whole time down there but neither obliged, Parker because he had already taken that little cat nap and Tristan, who knows why! About an hour and a half into our drive they both finally fell asleep, only to awake when we stopped at WalMart in Corpus for me to go buy Parker a new "lovey" seeing as how I wasn't sure he was going to sleep at th hotel without one. Luckily, he's not too picky about his loveys, as long as the are soft and/or silky, he's a happy camper, and Carter's made the perfect thing!

So, after a little bit of confusion on where our hotel actually was, we arrived at the beach. By this time it was mid afternoon so all we had time to do was get checked in, check out the beach from a distance and get something to eat. We got into our hotel room and were trying to get settled when we heard Parker playing in the bathroom...normally not a big deal, but he happened to have my camera. It was in the potty and he was looking quite innocent when we ran into the bathroom. The camera was ruined, hence the reason for no pictures of the beach. Fortunately, he did not have my big, expensive camera, but instead my small Sony that I used to carry everywhere, so it wasn't a complete disaster. I did bring my big camera on the trip as well, which I used to take th epictures you see below but I didn't want to take it down to the beach for fear of it getting salt and sand in it and ruining it too, so no wactual pictures on the beach. I was extremely upset about the no pictures on the beach situation, but am just going to have to make up for it next year (because I am planning on making this an annual trip for us).

Even with the loss of my camera we still had a good trip and the kids had a blast on the beach the next day. Tristan searched for seasheels, chased birds, ran in and out fo the waves, sat on Mommy's lap as the waves gushed up to us, went deep out into the waves with Daddy and all in all had a great time. He literally stayed on the beach all day, fromt he minute we finished breakfast until the time we went back to the room to clean up for dinner!

And don't think Parker wasn't right in the middle of the beach fun too. He loved the huge sandbar area because he could run up on the beach and back down, fall down to his knees inthe shallow water and do it all over again. He went everywhere on the beach, laughing and playing the whole time. I REALLY wish I had pictures of their expressions, because it was priceless! Parker even got a little nap in laying on top of Daddy under our cabana area, while Mommy and Tristan played.

After all day at the beach we ate at the hotel restaurant and listened to the "live entertainment", aka. some guy playing guitar and singing who was definitely not getting a record deal any time soon, but Tristan seemed to enjoy him! Then we had to hit the hay, that beach and sun wore us out! The next day we packed up and headed to the State Aquarium on our way out of town, but the kids weren't too interested...they just wanted to get int he car, sleep and get home. So, after about an hour there, we headed out and both kids slept pretty much the whole way home!

Enjoy the non-beach pictures I happened to get of our beach vacation!

I thought we were off to a good start when we left the house and Parker fell asleep...

See how happy I was...

And Tristan too!

Being oh so silly...that's a bucket not a hat, silly!!

And then all the chaos ensued and we started the typical family drive with all the stops

But silence came

Even if was only for a short while, it was still silence!

Parker testing out his new sleeping quarters...he was put in this crib to stay confined for a few minutes, shortly after the potty incident!

Mommy and Parker at dinner

Tristan and his cheesey grin, as always

Mr. Serious

Okay, not sure what he's doing here...probably shoving food in his mouth!

What's that face for Parker?

That's better...my silly baby!

Just a shot of my beautiful little boy!

And now his "bug eyed sprite" impression

Daddy and Tristan strolling down by the water...downtown Corpus, not nothe nice beach are aI was talking about

Tristan and Daddy trying to not get blown away!

Mommy and Tristan

The boys by a pirate ship

At dinner the next, after a day at the beach

Yep, a tad bit of sunburn on those cheeks

My three boys

Okay, just had to post this...so typical, Tristan doing his own thing drinking his lemonade, Daddy smiling, and Parker with that face

My big boy, a little sunburned too

His faces crack me up

Family shot

Just Daddy and Tristan, at that beer in Victor's hand...lol!

Tristan really getting down to the guitar playing

He even added a little jumping in his dance routine

Uh oh, where's Tristan go?

Mommy and Tristan at the aquarium

Tristan watching the dolphin show from the underwater, air conditioned viewing area

Here's what he saw up close

Daddy and Tristan scoping things out

Just Parker

A giant tortoise that only I seemed to be interested in, the kids could have cared less

Daddy and Tristan checking out the dolphins

Here's what they were looking at

Right before we left...Tristan's face sums it up, it was time to go!!!

So, my babies may not look very much alike (or at all!), but they are definitely brothers, and are really starting to act like it! Over the last 2 months the interaction between my two kiddos has increased 10 fold!

They run around all over the house together, chasing, and purposely running into, each other on their ride on toys, they fight over and steal toys from each other and are always competing for attention! Tristan is definitely aware that he is the older brother and loves to "discipline" Parker. If Parker has something he shouldn't, perhaps a TV remote, he takes it away from him and tells him "no" and then brings the object to me. He's even tried to spank Parker before...jsut lovely!

But he also likes to lend a helping hand to his little brother. They both love to climb up onto the arm of the couch, using the Sit and Spin as a stepstool, and then jump onto the couch from the arm, but Parker isn't quite tall enough to pull himself up over the arm without a little push from his brother, which Tristan is happy to oblige. I have tried to captur ethis on video a couple of time sbut have not had any success thus far because whenever the video camera comes out, all these two kids want to do is get their hands all over it to see themselves!

Parker loves to copy Tristan's every move and just can't seem to get enough of him. Tristan can't even take a nap in peace anymore because Parker bolts into his room and starts rummaging through the toys and stealing stuffed animals off Tristan's bed. Parker watches Tristan with such interest...he analyzes his every move, memorizes it and then acts it out. He rides Tristan's tricycles, cruises around ont he ride-ons and lifts his legs after he gets going really fast the same way Tristan does, tries to jump when Tristan jumps, grabs his guitar and dances when Tristan does...he really doe slove his big brother and wants to be just like him!

They are so funny to watch and things are really starting to get interesting aorund here, and I am sure it will only get more so as they grow up! Enjoy the pictures.

Big brother showing little brother some love