I absolutely love going to the beach in the fall, and it just felt like time to be near the water. It’s so rejuvenating to me to be in the ocean, listening to the waves and watching the water…I always feel more alive when I’m there and the most grounded. 🙂

We stopped off at the Houston zoo on the way down, it’s been SO long since we have been here!

My little turtles!

This new section was so nice! We really enjoyed all of the new aquatics section!

We love a good elephant!

There were so many out today!

The elephant enclosure is so nice here too!

Tiger was out and on the prowl!

Quick family selfie at lunch! 🙂

We LOVE red pandas! I could not believe this little guy was so close and just running around!

Giraffes were out too!

The King and Queen themselves!

We have been smushing pennies since I was a little girl, got to carry on the tradition!

Jenson wanted a pic next to the gator hah!

The eagles were so beautiful!

We hit the gift shop and then took a little ride on the train around Herman park!

We made our way down to Galveston through some rain, and after, saw a beautiful rainbow!

We made it to our air bnb! There are so many old renovated homes in Galveston, we really enjoyed staying in this one!

We spent every evening in the hot tub watching movies!

Jude always brings the best stuffies!

Headed to the beach!

Maybe not the most beautiful beaches, but still rejuvenating!

The beach is my happy place 🙂

Found a huge jellyfish!

Love watching them play together 🙂

We always come down to the East beach, it wasn’t crowded at all!

Love this boy!

And this one too!

They always bring a football!

Jenson has gotten pretty good at throwing and catching!

Got a little rainstorm while we were here! Love this sweet front porch!

Lunchtime!

Sand, sky and sea. I’ll take it. 🙂

When your husband thinks of taking a picture haha… 🙂 I actually really appreciated this one.

Gotta represent Phoenix while we’re here!

All of my boys 🙂 We spent another day at the beach and it was just what we needed!

Jude sat and read with me some!

Grabbed lunch at the Spot after doing church!

Loved sitting by the window!

We headed to Moody Gardens for Holiday in the Park!

First up was walking through the ice sculptures! It was a world travel theme, we loved it!

It was SO cold! Hence the big parkas!

Santa is ready to travel the world! 🙂

Little break in an igloo hah!

My FAVORITE!

It really was incredible everything that they were able to design and create!

Stopped to stay hi to Santa!

The ice slides were SO fun!

Dinosaurs at the end!

The most fun sleds! I definitely wiped out at the end!

Jacob of course was a pro!

We stopped inside the aquarium next! Hi penguins!

Big fish tank 🙂

My quiet observer.

Sting rays!

I love these long tunnel tanks!

Checked out the gift shop, and no, this did not come home with us haha!

After eating dinner, we walked through the lights!

Snowman spiral light battle!

Love these boys!

Such a fun night!

A lot of the lights had an ocean theme, it was cute!

Just trying to soak up this family so much…

I keep thinking that this moment, with them at these ages, will be gone soon enough and it will all be different next year.

More lights!

Such a privilege to be their mama.

I made them go back through the ice sculptures again haha…

Big Bend!

We headed home the next morning! We were going to eat at the Sunflower Bakery, but Jenson wasn’t feeling well, so we just grabbed breakfast and drove back! Enjoyed a nice weekend away, ready to go back and see our pups!