Visiting the Thornocks

On Wednesday last week we loaded up and drove down to Texas to visit the Thornock family.
We saw them on the cruise in October, but we missed our friends and we needed a break from life so we drove over to see them.
It was the best break from reality. I've been desperately missing our normal summer and this little trip was so fun. 

We arrived Wednesday night and after saying our hellos, we got the kids to bed and chatted for a while before we went to bed too. Thursday morning we played for a bit before heading out to the pool. The kids loved the Thornock's pool. They had so much fun playing together. 

The slide was lots of fun!

Even little Benson gave the slide a shot. He loved it!

And the hot tub was also a huge hit. 

Tanner had a great time with his snorkel and goggles. It was so cute to watch him swimming around the pool. 

Tucker really loved the hamster wheel floatie. 

We played all day in the pool and inside. And then we grilled cheeseburgers for dinner and played in the pool again. For dessert that night we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. 

It was a great night. The kids loved it and they were so worn out that they fell asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows. 

Friday was another beautiful sunny day and we immediately went to play in the pool. 

Bailey and Aspen are such cute friends and had so much fun playing together.
I love these sweet popsicle girls. 

Benson loved to snuggle in the sun with his towel. I am going to be so said when he is too big to snuggle me.

After swimming we chalked the girls hair. They loved how they looked. It was pretty cute. 

Friday night Christie and I went out for a girls' night and the dads ordered pizza.
Since we are still living in a pandemic, we ended up getting pedicures- which entailed temperature checks and mask wearing. 

Our toes look awesome but it was definitely hard to keep our masks on. 

After getting our toes done, we ordered some "Q-Shi" to go and ate it in the car. "Q-Shi" is a sushi/burger fusion. It was so yummy. 

After finishing dinner we went and got milkshakes. It was so yummy. Of course we ate those in the car too. It wasn't the most conventional girls night, but we had fun.

After our little break, we went back to the Thornocks to hang out with our kiddos and husbands. 

The kids were in the pool when we got back and they stayed out there for hours.
Benson and Christie did a little bonding too. 

Benson was convinced he could float even though he wasn't wearing his life jacket.
I had to yank him out of the water when he learned the hard lesson. Then he sat obediently on the steps. I just love this little face.
After this he got his life jacket on. 

We had to get one group shot of all the kids together. I love these kiddos and their cute friendships. 

The little boys played a bit on the playground too. 

It was a gorgeous night and we all enjoyed sitting around talking while the kids swam and played. 

I'm so grateful for my sweet husband who goes along with my adventures and supports me all the time. He's the best. 

As it got dark, Christie made my kids' dream of night swimming come true.
She even turned on their color-changing pool lights. The kids loved it so much. 

Benson was shocked by and said "Mom the sunlight got in the pool"

Saturday morning came bright and early as we got ourselves ready and drove over to Surfside Beach. 

It was definitely a different experience, but the kids had a great time.
Tanner immediately hit the waves with his boogie board. 

We also had a great time building sandcastles and digging holes in the sand. 

This cute little guy had so much fun filling his bucket with water from the ocean. 

Then we buried Tucker and made him into a mermaid. 

Here was our beach crew. Everyone enjoyed getting to relax and play in the sand together. 

Bailey also decided she wanted to try surfing. It didn't go great but she enjoyed trying. 

Then Bailey tried boogie boarding. She caught a few good waves and I caught some cute smiles. 

The wind was blowing so strong that it was hard to hold onto the boogie boards in between runs.
Bailey loved it though. She said she felt like she was flying a kite. 

I also had some fun chasing Benson around in the sand. 

Benson also loved rolling around in the surf. He was so funny. 

Tucker wanted us to bury him again. That kid loves getting buried in the sand. 

Then I helped Tucker learn how to boogie board. He loved it. He said it was his favorite part of the day. 

We had a great day at the beach. We finished playing and then packed up and changed to drive home. 

It was such a fun day and it felt so normal. No one at the beach wears masks. You naturally socially distance at the beach and it was just so relaxing to not have to think about the pandemic for a while. 

We drove back to the Thornocks, grabbing dinner on the way and then got the kids showered and in bed. They were so tired from a long day in the sun. 

Sunday morning we got ready for the day and packed up to drive home. It was a 9 hour drive home so we had to hit the road fairly early.
We had a great time and I loved watching the kids' little friendships grow.
We really enjoyed watching Bree and Tanner play together. They had a great time carving sticks and play fighting. It was pretty adorable. 

And we had to get our traditional Christie and Benson picture.
Benson is learning to love Christie.It's pretty funny to watch. 

And then we got one of just the two of us.
I'm so grateful for this friend I made 15 years ago. I am so glad we get survive motherhood together. She's been with me through the good and the bad and I'm so glad we have remained friends for so long. 

We loaded up and hit the road around 10:30 am. We stopped a couple hours later for lunch. 

Happily, we fulfilled Chris' last Texas wish- BBQ.
He had also wanted some Tex Mex, but he got that a couple times during the week. 

So when I realized we were passing this BBQ place on our drive, I called in an order and we picked it up and ate outside on a picnic table. It was pretty yummy. 

There was also this random alpaca ranch next to the BBQ place so we obviously had to see those. 

Then it was back on the road for the rest of our drive. Benson took a short nap and he looked so cute wearing his huge headphones with his little arms behind his head. 

We had an uneventful trip home. The kids did great and I'm so glad we went to visit the Thornocks. 

The pandemic has been hard in a lot of different ways, but one of the hardest ways has been losing our summer plans. This helped a lot!