Port A Swope Vacay

We had a great beach vacation to Port Aransas with my family last week finishing out the end of our summer vacation. [Although we're still working through our summer bucket list - using the 'season' of summer to get that finished ha.] 

Thursday, August 10 - We could check into our house at 4pm on Thursday, so we left our house about 11:30 {it was a 4-hour trip} and made it in great time - just 1 snack/bathroom stop! Brent and I had to take separate cars because he had to go to Houston directly from Port A, so I had Paige and Trent in my car, and Brent had Drew.

We got checked in, picked rooms, unpacked, got dinner ready, all the things. My dad took the kids to the beach for a little bit but that first day we mainly stayed at the house and took advantage of the pool.

Playing YuGiOh with Trent - we played several matches and he was so happy!

Nighttime cousin swim!

Friday, August 11 - Our plan was to spend a lot of time at the beach, but we didn't rush to start the day. Each family brought a different breakfast dish, so we had lots of options.

The late sleeper, ha

We got some great news Friday morning that Drew got accepted to the school we have been on the waitlist at for 6 months! I will have to do a full post about it, but needless to say we were very excited!

Paige sharing the good news with Drew!

I spent the morning getting her registered, ordering her a laptop, and freaking out, ha. We then loaded up and hit the beach!

Seeeeesters!

These 2 are thick as thieves, I love to see it!

Sassy pants

Not a bad view for a Friday!

20 weeks - it's going so fast!

The kids had a blast finding crabs and sand dollars

Most of the boys...

The 2 littles {for now} - these 2 play SO well together!

We've been really lucky with how well everyone plays together.

And this new baby is going to have 6 kids vying for their affection!

Playing with Babs and Pops

A dad and his daughters LOVE

Said crabs

We played a lot of games while there - dominos and Skip-Bo being the 2 who got the most use! 

Saturday, August 11: We were slower to get moving Saturday after a full day of beach~pool~beach~pool! And everyone had a little bit of a sunburn even after lots of sunscreen application. So we decided to go shopping before the beach.

Morning Skip-Bo

Morning mimosas too!

Got Paige a cute t-shirt where she got to pick the t-shirt AND what was ironed onto it {Drew couldn't find anything she liked, and Trent didn't go}, and it's what she wore on her first day of school. So fun!

Brent's college roommate {and best man in our wedding} lives in the area, so he and his wife met us for lunch - we had a great time catching up! While we were lunching, the kids swam at the house.

#theSwopesix...for a little longer!

Totally random - a friend from Paige's school/grade was there!

Not a bad view!

We drove around and got ice cream that night.

Sunday, August 13: Unfortunately, we had to pack up early for checkout, but we managed to get a family picture with all 12 {and a half} of us!

And we stopped for lunch together because apparently we hadn't had enough of each other by Sunday afternoon, ha!

Brent had to drive to Houston for a work training, so I had the joy of driving the kids home by myself. And the girls dozed off...the last 5 minutes of the drive. Of course!

Thanks girls!

Trent started school on Monday {and we thought Drew would until 9:45 that night ha}, so the rest of Sunday was spent organizing for Monday. In hindsight, this maybe wasn't the best timing for a trip, but we had a blast, and I can't wait to do it again!