Historic Galveston and Matthew at the Beach

On Sunday through Tuesday of this past week, we took a short vacation to Galveston (only 1 1/2 hours away from home). We decided to experience Galveston differently by staying in a harbor side hotel instead of on the seawall. We had a great view of the harbor and the cruise ships coming in. Fortunately, Matthew's midday nap came at the same time that the sun and temperature were unbearable. We saved our outdoor activities for mornings and evenings. Monday morning we took Matthew to the beach. He had a lot of fun playing with a new toy dump truck his Deda bought for him. We also dipped his toes in the water and he didn't cry this time the way he did in December.

Besides the beach we visited the Great Storm /Pirate Jean Lafitte Museum. We learned more about the history of Galveston and the effects the disastrous hurricane of 1900 had on the island. We also learned more about Jean Lafitte, Galveston's Pirate from the 1800's, who had a camp near the hotel that we stayed. I am sure you realize that Matthew was too young to take this in, but he actually seemed to enjoy his new surroundings and he sat in a movie theater for 45 minutes. He didn't fuss much because we bought him a "pirate rubber ducky" that he munched on the whole time. He even posed for this photo in the gift shop, although you can see that he is tired.

We also spent a lot of time at the Galvez pool (the sister hotel of Harbor House where we stayed). On the last morning we went to the beach but our stay was cut short by some squalls from the approaching Hurricane Dolly which actually hit near Brownsville on Wednesday morning. Fortunately the storm died down and the clouds made the temperature bearable so we took a 45 minute dolphin cruise with Matthew. He seemed to enjoy the cruise but I did spend most of my time entertaining him with the stuffed dolphin we bought before the cruise. I named the dolphin Fonzie.

Tony was particularly proud that he captured a photo of a couple of dolphins.

Later that day after Matthew's nap we went to the Titanic exhibit at Moody Gardens. This fascinating exhibit had many artifacts from the actual Titanic and replicas of a stateroom and steerage cabin. The exhibits involved a lot of reading which for some reason didn't please Matthew. I had to bounce him in his "Jeep Carrier" to keep him from fussing while I read. As we were leaving we decided to visit the rain forest. We were glad we did. Matthew seemed very interested in the plants, birds, reptiles, and ocelot. Even though Ozzie the Ocelot had marked his territory and his den smelled like a litter box that hadn't been changed in weeks. Our last stop before leaving Galveston was a trip to Hooters on the Seawall as you can see from the previous post.

Tough Decision for a Breastfed Baby

Hmm, what should I order??? This is a a tough decision. Okay, I made up my mind. I would like to have the...

Buffet!

Photo One Liners

Matthew's First Crepe



Happy on Grandma's Lap



Spikey Hair at PF Chang's



He definitely has his Daddy's "innocent smile".



Would someone please turn on this TV?


Good! Animal Planet.. just what I wanted to watch.

Like Mother Like Son

In June Matthew got this great gift from his Aunt Andrea: a float for the pool. It is being used for it's intended purpose below.

However, when Matthew first got his float I thought that it would make a great sombrero.

It has been about a month since the above photo was taken. However, this morning Matthew decided that he agreed with his Mommy. That float does make a great sombrero. He discovered this on his own. Notice that he is playing Pee ka boo.

The Drop Zone

Matthew and his daddy play a game every night these past couple of weeks. We put Matthew in his "play yard" (not to be confused with a play pen which looks and functions exactly the same). In his play yard Matthew has several toys. He doesn't play with the toys he picks each one up and one by one he drops them out of his play pen/play yard/drop zone. When he drops his last toy he fusses, then his daddy puts the toys back in and they start the game all over again.

Zoo II and First Pickle

What a fun 4th of July weekend we had. We didn't see any fireworks but Matthew swam a lot (don't worry I won't include more photos here), and we enjoyed some morning and air conditioned activities. Saturday morning we took Matthew to the zoo at 8AM. We stayed for almost 3 hours and we left before it got too hot. We immediately headed over to the lion exhibit and watched some patrons feed the lions some meat and milk squirted from a squirt gun. We also saw a speckled bear licking a huge ice cube with meat in the middle of it. I think Matthew's favorite part though was the petting zoo and the carousel. Matthew pet a goat and pulled his ear and then he road the carousel twice (once with Tony and once with me).














After our morning at the zoo we went to Katz Deli and Matthew had his first pickle. He LOVED it! No sour face at all. Of course I watched him very closely to make sure it didn't break off into chokable pieces.