Life's a Beach: Cobb Family Vacation!

I'm aware of the fact that the norm for relationships with in-law's is usually...well...cordial.  I, however, have hit the family jackpot with mine :)  I consider my mother-in-law, Judy, and sister-in-law, Nicole, not only family, but two of my dear friends.  And I absolutely ADORE the rest of the family too.  Therefore, whenever the opportunity arises for us to take a family vacation I'm ecstatic!

Love her <3

So at the end of June, I hopped a plane from Tennessee, straight to Houston to join the Cobb/Hrabovsky/Walsh family for a week in Galveston!  Our beach house was precious and perfect in every way.  It seemed like the owners had hired a large family of rowdy kids and crazy adults to stay at their vacation house and said, "Tell us everything you would want/need to have the perfect vacation."  And then they added all the things!  Everything from perfectly placed hooks to hang stuff on, to every gadget, nick-knack, and appliance you could ever ask for.  Trust me.  If you ever go to Galveston, you want to stay here!  They even turned the master bedroom into a kids' paradise full of bunk beds and video games!
(P.S. if this is a real job, I would like to apply!)

I didn't take any pics that would do the house justice, so here it the link to the photos and rental info from VRBO.  Check it OUT!

We had a wonderful, relaxing week full of lazing around at the beach, eating and drinking everything in sight, bonfires, and playing with Baby Madison.  My sweet brother-in-law Gavin and nephews Richard and Daniel kept us on our toes and we were constantly laughing.  I forgot what it was like to be in a house full of boys, so it brought back memories of living with my brothers...except I didn't fight with Richard, Daniel and Gavin and constantly try to get them in trouble.  Justin brought a sombrero (don't ask), so the boys made the choice to refer to him as "Manuel" for the entire trip.  I laughed out loud every time, because I'm obviously 10 years old.

Our house was a 2 min. walk to the water, so we literally had a mini compound set up on the beach.  Think 4 huge tents connected to each other and filled with a multitude of coolers, chairs, beach toys, streamers and towels, complete with a baby pool and Massive Sand Castle the size of a Prius.  Seriously.  I'm confident that when people walked by, they were jealous! Or thought we were homeless and lived on the beach.  

This girl holds my heart!

Bonfire, compound, and a little fishing

Fun on the beach!

The Beginnings of the compound-The Beginnings of the sandcastle-Part of the family
(Notice the streamer.  Seriously people.  We were not playing around.)

One of Judy's main goals on this vacation was to take family pictures one evening, right around sunset so the lighting would be perfect.  Unfortunately we herded the cats assembled the troops about 30 min. too early.  Luckily everyone (but me) was able to adjust their eyes accordingly to deal with the sun.  I, however, resemble a pirate in approximately 100% of the photos taken, with one eye either half-way or completely closed at all times.  Awesome.  Also, I'm not sure why, but in situations like this that involve large groups, I automatically go into frantic "Teacher on picture day" mode, shouting commands like, "Walk that way and turn around and look at the camera!" or, "Put your hand on her shoulder...no not like that, like this!"  I moved people to where I thought they should be standing and at one point I may or may not have licked my finger and removed a smudge from a grown adult's face.  (And then after all that I was the kid that ruined the picture.)  But the pictures turned out great! Mission Accomplished!

Argh!

Wild Crew

This was one of my favorites!  Madison just happened to look over just at the right time!

Thank you Judy and Andrew for a fantastic Family Vacation!  I look forward to many more in the future!  I'm ending this post with two pictures we took right before we left.  These are the most special to me because all week long, Madison wouldn't let Justin or me hold her-AT ALL.  Then, right before we walked out the door, by the grace of God, she suddenly was ok with it!  Love this girl so much!!