Father's Day Weekend

My dad comes from a very large family. He has 1 brother and 4 sisters. Even though most of them and their families live in the surrounding Houston area, we usually only see one another a couple of times year. Thank goodness, for facebook. :) I feel like I see and talk to all of them everyday! Anyway, this past Saturday (yes, the day after we returned from vacation), we loaded up the car early in the morning and made our way to Surfside Beach, for our annual summertime get-together. It was a first for all of us to gather at the beach. I think 34 of us family members were able to make it. And..that isn't even everyone in the family!

My Aunt Nancy (dad's sister), who is above and beyond creative, has a beach house in Surfside. For this particular event, she rented out the local pavilion for the entire day. We all had such a great time. The weather was perfect! We loved getting to spend time with family. And...the kids LOVED being with their cousins and my very own cousins (who now babysit my own kids when they are home from college). :)

There were sand buckets for each of the kiddos. Each one was filled with various beach toys and sun visors. They loved them!

The pavilion was decorated SO cute. A flag banner hung around the whole pavilion. Each flag was made out of scraps from my aunts sewing room. I told her that I would be borrowing it for future b-day parties! :)

YES, she made koozie covers for everyone! Oh, my goodness! How cute are these?!

Group shot.
Some were missing that were there (like my dad), because they were actually taking the pic.

Sibling shot.
The empty space, is for my dad's oldest sister. She and her family live in Missouri and weren't able to make it this year.

There was a lot of catching up with everyone, eating, and just having a great time with family.

After lunch, we finally hit up the beach. The kids had a ball!

Conn, had to leave earlier in the day, to make it back in time for Saturday night church services. Pappy, helped me out and took over Cash "duty" for a while. Whew! That boy will wear a person out in a hurry. He is as sweet as can be, but he is literally NON-STOP!

After about 4 hrs. on the beach, we headed back to the pavilion to clean up. My aunt, had another surprise for all of the kids. She had bought a t-shirt for each family to decorate for their dad's for Father's Day. It was such a fun idea. The girls LOVED it and could not wait to give it to Conn. Of course, as you'll see in some pics coming up, he wore very it proudly on Father's Day! :)

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When Conn got home from church on Sunday, the kids presented him with his special shirt. He loved it! :)

We then served him a yummy lunch of chicken nuggets and mac-n-cheese. Yeah, we're classy like that.

Conn, then played and sang this song for us. He is currently working on it during his weekly piano lessons. He has gotten really good. I am so proud of him!

After our Sunday naps, we treated Conn to a real Father's Day meal. His all time favorite...Mexican food! YUM! Oh, and I told ya that he wore that shirt proudly! :)

Even though our local Mexican restaurant serves FREE ice cream, the girls begged their daddy for REAL ice cream at the ice cream shop a couple of stores down. HA! Of course, their daddy would not say, "No!" HA!

We LOVE him!

McWhorter Family Vacation

We're back! Back from our amazing, annual McWhorter family vacation! This was our 4th year to all go on vacation together. I married into such an amazing family! Blessed beyond belief! We always have such a fun time with everyone. God is so good!

We take a family picture every year while we are on our trips. I love looking back at these and seeing how our family has changed through the years.

Gulf Shores '07

Gulf Shores '08
(Wendy and I, were both pregnant with the boys!)

South Padre '09

Wimberley, TX - Blanco River '10

As you can see from the last family picture, we changed things up a bit this year and opted out of the beach. We all LOVE the beach. Just wanted something different (and, closer) this year. The place we stayed was so great for our big family. The house was just the right size and was directly on the river. The weather could not have been more perfect.

Now, on to the pictures... :)

Gotta love the car rides. Ha!

We made it.

The Blanco River.
Oh, how we loved us some river time!

Wimberley, TX.
We ventured into the town of Wimberley, for lunch and walking around. They have the cutest town square, shops, and restaurants.

Down Time.
The few hours that we were not in the river, we were inside eating, sleeping, playing, talking, doing crafts brought by Nanny, and painting the girls nails. When the kids would go to bed, we would stay up so LATE every night with Conn's brother, Kap, and his wife, Wendy. Oh, my goodness! I don't think we have ever laughed so much in my life! We always have the greatest time with those two. I love to watch Conn and Kap interacting. They are SO stinking hilarious! One night, Smokey and Connie joined us, and we all had a great time playing Chicken Foot.

Cheerleading.
Wendy, was a cheerleader in high school and college. She can still do almost all of the jumps, cheers, and stunts that she did back in the day. So...she has begun passing this love down to her own daughter and to mine. It is so fun to watch. Wendy brought the girls her old cheer uniforms from h.s. It was so great! They were in heaven!!!

To prove that she still has what it takes, Wendy and Kap, put on a whole cheer routine for us. It was fantastic! Ummmmm...and, yes!!! She STILL fits in her uniform from high school! You rock, Wendy!!! :)

Family Pictures.
Like I said early, we have a set night every vacation, where we plan for family pictures. We try to make it as quick and as painless as possible. The kids have learned the routine over the years, and it has gotten so much easier. I love how many of this years pictures turned out. You could not have asked for a prettier back drop!

Gruene, TX.
Right after we finished with pictures, we drove about 30min to Gruene, TX. If you have never visited, you should make a point. We ate dinner at the Gristmill, walked around and looked at the shops and the local bed and breakfast's, showed the kids the famous Gruene Hall, and ended the night with Blue Bell ice cream from the country store. It was a perfect way to end a perfect vacation!

Home.

Thank you, Nanny and PawPaw, for such an amazing week! We are truly blessed! Can't wait until next year! :)