What a wonderful, relaxing, snuggle-filled, teething, hilarious, loving, first-steps, fun-filled weekend its been!

Do you ever look back after a long vacation and think, MAN I really, really needed that?  I needed to be the first person my baby sees when he wakes up and the last person he kisses before bed.  I needed to sit outside in the salty sea air with a dear friend and not say a word as we both read our magazines in silence – and we were totally ok with it!  That is a true friend, huh? Rob and I needed to be there together to watch Tommy as he took his first steps (not walking but so close). I needed to be there to hold my sweet boy after an agonizing day of teething (hence the finger Tommy’s mouth in almost every photo).

We needed to be a family, away from every care in the world, and it was magical!

There were so many special memories made this weekend.  On Saturday morning we woke up and headed to the Texas State Aquarium. Tommy was in baby bliss!  Anyone who has been around Tommy for more than five seconds knows that his two FIRST and FAVORITE words are fish (pronounced eeesh – emphasis on the E) and dog (pronounced dog, and exceptionally well I might add)! Luckily this weekend we were able to spend time with both.  We were enjoying breakfast Saturday morning on the porch and Tommy yelled DOG!  Our sweet neighbor in the condo next door popped his head out to say hello!  What a beautiful pup.

The novice photographer in me really showed as I was going through the dark walls of the aquarium.  These fish were kind enough to stop and let me photograph them.

The outdoor portion of the aquarium was great, although it was getting really hot at that point so our patience was limited.  Beautiful sea turtles, crocodiles, amazing birds, and a beautiful view of the U.S.S. Lexington.

After our outdoor animal tour we headed into our favorite exhibit – the INDOOR, AIR CONDITIONED underwater dolphin tank viewing exhibit. A BIG thank you to our friends at H-E-B for this fabulous, INDOOR, AIR CONDITIONED exhibit.  We sat there forever.

Disclaimer: the entire room was blue from the light shining through the water so my son looks like a precious little smurf! There were three beautiful dolphins, all of whom appeared to have been rescued because they were marked up quite a bit.  It took our dolphin friends a few seconds to swim by the large viewing window, circle around to the back side of their tank, and then make it back to the window. So every time they swam by was like Christmas morning all over again.  It was great!

I took a million pictures of the dolphins but this one was my favorite.  Most of my pictures showed the dolphins together with their eyes open, but I loved that this shot captured his eyes closed.

The next morning, Tommy was up bright and early so we headed off to the beach just after the sun came up.  We met a couple with their dog, Anchor, who loved Tommy.  Tommy’s feelings toward Anchor…not so much.  Exhibit A:

After a small meltdown, we were back on track 🙂  This was Tommy’s 3rd trip to the beach and for the record, he doesn’t like sand right now.  This was our only trip to the beach in Rockport but I’m not complaining a bit.  After traveling to Destin, FL earlier this summer and hauling 8 tons of gear to the beach every day, I’m sort of over the beach with a baby – at least for now.  I know Tommy will be obsessed with the beach next year, but this year we were pretty low key.

Always on the hunt for more eeesh, we traveled to the fabuous and FREE Aquarium at Rockport Harbor.  It was simple and perfect for the little ones.  No bells and whistles, just eeesh, and we LOVED it.  I would highly recommend it to anyone with small children in Rockport!  Click here for their website.

Eeesh heaven!

When we arrived home yesterday we were pretty tired.  Why is it that after a totally relaxing weekend you get home and your beat?  As I sit here this afternoon, the dirty dishes are still in the sink. Our unpacked bags are right were we left them in the doorway; and I have no food in my fridge, but we could care less.  We soaked up the last few hours of our holiday at home. We played, snuggled, laughed, attempted to take one last swim but the water was freezing (Its been so long, I almost forgot how to spell that word). We ate a yummy dinner, kissed our little eeesh goodnight and pretty much passed out.

It was magical.