First family road trip!

Last weekend Tony had a conference for work to attend. As it happened to be on the beach, we couldn't help but tag along! We decided to drive, attempting our first long family road trip. It was actually so much better than flying with both of them and we will jump at the chance to do it again. Armed with movies, stickers, Elmo, and snacks, we headed off first thing in the morning for a five hour car ride (that took us 6.5). We arrived at the hotel, in a room that overlooked the beach and the pool. Overwhelmed with excitement, Ellie couldn't decide what to do first, so we did both that afternoon, and topped it off with a great seafood dinner. We had had fresh Maryland Blue Crabs at Gaga and Grandpa's on one of our last trips there, and Ellie remembered and kept asking for "bang, bang, crabs!" She really wanted the hammer and the melted butter. The crab was ok too :) We were finally able to honor her request on our last night there...phew! We spent three days there, all of which consisted of beach, pool, ice cream and seafood. Galveston is still recovering from hurricane Ike and some parts of it are still a little rundown. There are some abandoned hotels still awaiting a new owner and some beach houses in need of help. Ike really seemed to have hit there hard. The beach, however, was in perfect form and there were plenty of things to see, do and eat! We will definitely return. I'm amazed that it took us this long to get down there. A beach only a five hour drive away is fantastic!