"Sandcastles in the Sand...

...thought I could fly when you held my hand." -Robin Sparkles

Ahhh - there is nothing I love more than the beach! The Geurin family spent many, many summer vacations at some beach in Mexico or Texas, making me long for the sound of waves and the smell of salt water - even the cackle of seagulls makes my heart jump. This year for my mom's birthday, my dad rented a beach house in Galveston for us all to have a big family vacation. My last trip to Galveston was a spring break trip my senior year in high school, which is where Neal and I first really got to know each other , so it was fun to take our little girl back there 10 years later.

Before going, we were not really sure what to expect. Meredith is proving to be quite the princess despite Neal's best efforts to convince her to use her height to pursue sport-star dreams. She cries any time she even imagines a speck of "diwt" on her - and even insists we clean her shoes if they get dirty.

This pose is affectionately known as "The Meredith" to many close to us - varying reasons can bring out our little drama queen - this of course, was all because of some "diwt"

I was determined to teach her my love for the beach, so I thought I would give it a shot! We progressed slowly - starting with her clinging to us for dear life even just as we walked along the shore but ending the trip playing in the waves with mama and daddy and even helping to make sand castles.

Showing Daddy a favorite shell.

Thanks to some encouragement from her beloved Pinkie, and some demonstration from Mom and Gigi, sandcastles were pretty fun to make.

After seeing Uncle Neil play in the water, we almost couldn't get Meredith out! Of course she had to sit on my leg so she wouldn't feel the sand - and if you look closely, Pinkie is tucked behind me because he needed to join us too - this was the best I could do to keep him with us and not soaked!

We took a break from the beach at Moody Gardens in the Rainforest Pyramid - Meredith was so excited to get to see "amals" with 3 of her favorite people - Uncle Neil, Aunt Katie, and Baby Landon. She just perfected Aunt Katie's name this weekend (sounds more like Tatie) but she loved calling it out every time she saw her - don't think Katie minded either!


Landon and Meredith as frogs - Landon is a little model - posing anytime a camera is around - and for these pictures it was even more pornounced - especially when there was an audience who all thought he was the cutest thing!

Meredith's favorite part of the trip (and a highlight for us too!) was performing for her fans on the porch each night - she loved dancing, singing, and making everyone laugh before bedtime - I think she was sad to come home to where she just has Neal and I to watch her every night - of course that doesn't keep her from dancing for us or making us laugh at all her silliness!

After bath-time fun with Daddy tonight - Daddy is sure this will be one of her favorites when she is older!