Girls Trip, Dude Weekend, BU BBALL CAMP

Once we got back from the beach we didn't have too long before we were on the road again...

This time our little family of four split up and went in all different directions for a whirlwind week of fun!

First up...

Kaki and I woke up with the sun on Saturday morning and headed south to Houston to celebrate Baby Bennett with Aunt Ree Ree and company! It was a sweet, simple shower for our newest addition! I cannot wait to meet this little nugget! Bennett you are loved already!

Kaki and I had a great time at the shower and were thankful to get to stop by and see G-Dawg for a bit before we headed back north for the rest of our road trip! Kaki was a tired girl and never went back to sleep in the car that morning before the shower and decided she needed to make up for it on the way to The Woodlands!

The Woodlands!! It had been too long! Knowing that I'd be in Houston for Cori's baby shower and then knowing that my boy would be off to Basketball Camp that same week I decided that there was no reason that Kaki and I couldn't make a fun detour and spend time with some of our favorite friends... old friends... college friends... special friends!

Thankfully, Meli P and her crew were free to take in a couple of extras and it was all set! We were soooo excited to get the fun started!

Kaki had a great few days with three kids to play with! She jumped right into their sibling dynamics and made herself right at home! I am always amazed by my little social butterfly! She is always so excited to meet new people and do new things! It probably helped her not miss that big bro!

On Saturday afternoon we spent lots of time in the backyard painting and playing... making a mess! :) And then Mr. Scott treated us to a yummy dinner out AND we got to see another sweet friend and her kiddos for dinner! It was such a treat to catch up and see all of our kids together... hard to believe how fast things change... and families grow! :)

Dylan came first, then Caden, then Carter, Logan, Kaki, Anni Kate and the latest addition Elodie and all but Caden were together! The picture below is one of my favorites... the three of us with our firstborns... all boys. And then the three of us with our most recent and for some of us last-borns... all girls! :)What sweet memories!! And comparisons!

The next day we spent the morning by the Humke Pool...if you're going to be in Houston in July it is imperative to find a pool... and stat!

Once again, Kaki was happy to become an adopted member of the fam! She even borrowed the Peterson kid's grandparents for the day... :) And convinced Mr. Humke to throw her into the pool over and over again! And Mrs. Humke to cut her some roses from her garden to take home. Kaki is a flower girl... never misses the chance to stop and STEAL the roses... :)

That evening after a good afternoon of naps... Megan and Mitch came over for dinner! I got to see all of my favorite Humke's in one day... it was a such great treat! 

Meanwhile... back at the ranch... Caden and Justin were having a fabulous dude weekend... which included a trip to Spec's, Dick's and lots of pizza... it was a weekend of dude dreams!

And then on Sunday evening as Kaki and I were hanging out in Houston... Justin drove Caden to Waco for basketball camp...

Camp starts Monday!

 He was ready!!!

His first morning went off beautifully and he was READY to improve his skills!!

Kaki and I had a sad goodbye to make by lunch on Monday... 

But first we got to spend a the morning with this sweet one and some other friends who moved away from Austin back to The Woodlands way too soon! :) It was so good to reconnect with Ashley and her fam... and I hate that I have not one pic to show for it! Caden and Izzy were baby friends and now they are both in Kindergarten Oy! 

It may have involved a few tears... not because I was sad to leave necessarily but so grateful that my friend who I do not get to talk to or see NEAR enough and her sweet husband opened up their home to me and Kaki for a weekend and shared their lives with us. Friends like these are treasures! Thank you Meli and Scotty P for your hospitality! I love watching you two raise your family... y'all are nailing it! :)

Kaki and I headed home and were excited to see Justin for a few more special days as a family of three... before we picked up our missing fourth at camp! :)

Nana, Caden's chauffeur and camp director did a great job planning lots of special places and treats for Caden after camp each day. They had FULL days! So full that the last day, when Nana had planned to go to the pool, Caden just wanted to relax and watch TV... that Nana is a busy bee! Now we know where Aunt Ree Ree and Daddy get it! :) :) :)

I think it's safe to say that he had a great time!! And after all of the basketball camp fun and the day time activities and rest time... he basically had football camp every night. Bop and Caden ran routes in the backyard until they would a puddle... I don't know where he endless energy comes from but I think it has something to do with his intense passion for sports! :) A lesson to us all... do what you love and you'll love to do it... no matter if a little hard work and sweat are involved or not!

Kaki and I enjoyed our girl time and did a few fun things around town...

We tried out our newly renovated city playscape... awesome. Shopped... always fun! Had girl lunches... yes! 

Played babies... double yes!

And before we knew it, it was Thursday and time to go pick up our boy from camp!!

We couldn't wait to have him back home!! 

After we got back home we rested in preparation for a fun family date night out... we celebrated Chade's homecoming, our anniversary... 10 years... and the start to the end of our summer... :)

August here you come!

Coxes Do the Beach

Back in the saddle...

In July, we took our annual Cox Family Beach Vaca to Port Aransas. Our first summer was the summer I was pregnant with Caden and now look at us... three kids and another in the belly... we're growing and loving every minute of it.

The beach is always an adventure. I never quite know what to expect out of the kids. Will they like the ocean still? Will they have developed a fear? Are they going to FINALLY want to build a sandcastle? What about long walks on the beach?

Here's the scoop from this year's beach trip!

Caden: Always wanted to be in the water or playing some sort of ball... football, paddle ball, soccer... you name it. He loved learning to boogie board this year, on the SAME boogie board that his Daddy used as a child... I had to throw that one in there for Nana. She is very proud of this fact! :) Justin did a great job showing him the tricks of the trade and he enjoyed it so much. What cracks me up about Caden is that he is so afraid of a swimming without his floaties on, but the BIG huge ocean no big deal... no floaties needed. I guess it's the scale of it all and the fact that you can stand up. He loves the ocean and the waves. He loves to jump and crash and belly crawl through the surf. He loves the beach.

Kaki: She wanted to be in the water lots too. She particularly liked going WAY out with Bop and her Daddy. She loved jumping the waves and was one that we had to watch carefully. She would jump head first and take a mouthful of saltwater over and over again. She loved it. But her newest love this year was for the seashells. She had a great time hunting for them and would get SO excited when the surfing would go back out and hundreds of tiny little seashells would be left in the sand. She'd work so hard to pick them up before they were covered once again by the tide. One day, we had the great luck of walking behind a lady who was depositing beautiful seashells all along the beach. So we followed this Beach Santa Claus type pretty far down the beach and found nearly every shell  she left behind. Once we got home we cleaned them and now display them proudly in our home. Kaki was so proud of her collection. Since collecting is one of her favorite hobbies... seashells are the beach's rocks and she thought they were fabulous!

And this guy! All he needed was a dump truck and a pile of sand to be happy and luckily the beach has lots of sand! :) He was a busy busy boy and never quite worried about getting to the water with all of the fun the sand provided, but when we did go out there he thought it was pretty great too!

And of course he loved playing with his cousins!

DIVA!!

Trying to find the right light for family pics proved to be a bit of a challenge this year, but Caden and Ree Ree snagged a great spot! :) And I need to add our big family picture but I haven't pulled it off of the Walgreens site Cori put it on... I will come back and update it!

Paddle ball was our new game this year... it was SO fun! Caden got to be pretty good by the end of the week! :)

G-Dawg is a cutie!! And also such a happy camper! He loves life!

Nana and Kaki looking for shells...

This year the beach was more crowded than ever... with both people and seaweed! It is amazing how much the place has changed in the 6 years we've been coming here. It's becoming quite the destination for Texans to cool off in the summer heat! You never know who you might bump into or what you might see... and that makes it half the fun. Beach-gating... similar to tailgating is a very serious business! :)

We enjoyed a few meals at Snoopy's, a night at putt-putt where we witnessed G have an epic meltdown... the first I have ever seen. I didn't even know he cried... :) He was so sad that the last hole took his ball... it was the saddest thing you've ever seen. As if someone stole his very best friend. Bless his little heart! He got his own golf clubs and balls for his birthday, thank goodness! :) 

We played games each night... Apples to Apples again this year... it proved just as fun! The boys fished, the girls went to the Aquarium with the kids... (I need to add those pics too). Eek... this post needs lots more work.

But, if I don't get it up I won't...

So...

Here's to another Cox Family Trip to the Beach! Next year Baby B will be joining the crew! I cannot wait to have him here! I know by next July we won't remember what it was like before he wasn't part of the fun! 

Thank you Nana and Bop for treating us to a fun week! We love you and always... can't wait to do it again next year!!

UPDATE: New Pics Added!

FIRST STOP...

Fried Fish Sandwich!! YUM!!

Cox Family Game Night... Caden and Kaki's first...

Shark Tooth necklace... Hey-Ho!!

Crabbin'

Beach baby...

Aquarium Fun!

Mommy's brilliant idea to go crabbin' earlier in the evening proved victorious... even if the males of the family were scoffing at the idea! Hmph! Showed them who knows crabs!