Beach House Birthday Bash 2012

What do you do when two birthday’s occur in one week? Lump ’em together and have one big party! This year we rented a beach house on Bolivar Peninsula (Crystal Beach, actually, east of Galveston) and invited some friends and family to come join us. Holly’s mom and sisters (Jane, Jill, & April) came down for the festivities, as well as my friend Ray and his buddy Braden, and Amie and her son Zach, and Rhonda and her son Colton.

We’ve talked about this idea of renting a beach house for a couple of years now after having been inspired by the ladies at Bungalow Fitness. They said they have a family get-together every year in Galveston and everyone stays in a beach house for about 1 week. She said it is always a blast and a great way to spend time with family. So with July 23rd being Ivy’s birthday and July 27th being mine, plus April and Jill coming into town, we thought it would be a good time to give this Beach-House rental idea a try.

We arrived Friday night and set up camp. We were both impressed with the house and appreciated it being clean and comfortable. Later that night we drove into Galveston where Holly went shopping at Walmart, while I met up with Ray and enjoyed a massive margarita at Tortuga Restaurant.

Then we made our way back to the house, but not before Ivy disintegrating into a total meltdown. She was over-tired and in an unfamiliar place, so she didn’t do so well the first night. By morning, though, she was fine and ready for the beach. So she and I hoofed it down to the water and spent about 2 hours splashing in the waves and building sand castles. About 1:00 pm, Ray showed up with his buddy 10 year old Braden. We continued with part 2 of sitting on the beach and chit-chatting, more swimming, and building stuff out of sand.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, Jill, April, and Jane showed up with a cake! They spent several hours the day before working on it at our house in Houston. The cake was an island scene with a guy on a hammock and exotic fish swimming in the sea below. It was a bit of a coincidence that the guy on the hammock was wearing almost the same clothes as I chose to wear that day (red shorts, blue t-shirt). So I guess that’s me on top of that cake. 🙂

Party time at 5:00 pm! Ray cooked up the meat while the ladies buzzed about with other food items. The kids were being kids and running up and down and all around the house.

Assaulting Nemo! The kids took turns battering the bewildered-looking fish until he burst open and spewed candy all over the patio.

Then came time for opening presents. Ivy is definitely not a greedy! She was handing out presents to the other kids to help open them up. I’m proud of how she shares her stuff with other kids. I think they enjoyed ripping and tearing open the gifts than the actual gifts themselves, but in the end she brought home some nifty loot including a night-light, blanket, clothes, kite, crafts, and a bag full of toys. Afterward, we carved up the cake and ate it too! We gathered around the table and sang the traditional “Happy Birthday” song, and then pigged out on cake and cake-pops.

After the party the kids wanted to go swimming. So the momma ducks (and an Aunt and Grandma duck) and all the little ducklings waddled down to the beach for some splashing around.

We capped off the night by gathering around the kitchen table and sipping on some home-made sangria produced by April. Nice and fruity! Then some of the guests said their goodbyes, while the rest of us mellowed out and began to make our way to bed. I took a late stroll around the neighborhood and enjoyed the sounds of people on vacation (which sounds a lot like country music coming from every other house). Finally, about 11 pm I crawled into bed too and enjoyed a good night’s sleep.

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On Sunday, we cleaned up the house and then headed into Galveston for fun and thrills at Schlitterbahn. We weren’t sure if Ivy would like it the water slides and wave pools, or if she’d be terrified of it. Verdict: Loved it! The wave river as big hit, as was the rapids. We also tried out the Guada-Loopy water slides, the Wolf Pack, and Torrent River. She seemed to have no fear of any of it. Good deal. I expect more trips to Schlitterbahn in the summer’s ahead.

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So that was the big birthday weekend. It was fun! Renting a beach turned out to be a good idea, and hopefully we’ll do it again soon. To everyone who came to the party, thanks for showing up and spending the day with us, and thanks for all the gifts! I hope you had a good time! 🙂