We got home from Costa Rica around 1:00am on the 28th, and then turned around and left for Bolivar around 9:00am on the 29th. Lol. I was worried I’d be all vacationed out before we got to Bolivar, but that wasn’t the case at all. We got a lot of rest on the 28th and were all ready to go the next morning.

When we got there, Jen had prepped a little birthday party for me and Jenny. :) I managed to not get a single photo of the adorable beach-themed b-day cake she made with my fancy camera…. but she made it a tropical birthday, and we got quite a few different uses out of the leis.

We spent a lot of time around the table making jewelry and paracord bracelets. :)

We also went crabbing again! Meredith caught the first keeper this year!

And everyone had fun! This year it was Ruthie’s turn to come and hang out with us. :) She was so super helpful, it was awesome. I hope she enjoyed her time with us as much as we enjoyed having her!

Since Jen and her family have returned to Texas, they were back with us as well!

Crabbing day is hot, but it’s also fun and productive. We caught around 11 again, and that seems to be a good amount for Granny’s stuffed crab. I think she sorely missed having Maddison there this year to help with picking them, but Jenny stepped in… — Crabbing day is hot, but it’s also fun and productive. We caught around 11 again, and that seems to be a good amount for Granny’s stuffed crab. I think she sorely missed having Maddison there this year to help with picking them, but Jenny stepped in and assisted. Jen and I had to boil them since Dallas wasn’t there. I’d rather not have to do that ever again. There was a lot of screaming and jumping around the kitchen.

Look at those double piercings! Such a grown up 9 year old! Oh, and poor Anna…every air mattress we put her on deflated overnight until I finally went and just bought her a new one. lol.

It seems similar to fishing where we’ll catch like 3 crabs all at once, and then proceed to sit there and catch nothing for 30 minutes. Glad I brought along my crossword puzzle book! (Ruthie played photographer for a while. Man I’m getting lazy!) Oh… — It seems similar to fishing where we’ll catch like 3 crabs all at once, and then proceed to sit there and catch nothing for 30 minutes. Glad I brought along my crossword puzzle book! (Ruthie played photographer for a while. Man I’m getting lazy!) Oh, and this photo had me convinced my sensor was dusty, but I think those are just birds flying around!

I’m happy to report that Jen’s boys LOVED it this time around. They actually outlasted my kids.

We tried like 4 times to get this picture!

Bird feeding on the ferry ride to Galveston. We saw porpoises on every single ferry ride this year!

I spent waaaaay too much on a few nice boogie boards. I probably could have gotten away with just buying 1 or 2. Oh well. They were big enough that even I could ride waves in!

I told Jen that she has great photographer form. :) Looks so professional!

And then there was the golf cart parade again! We figured out that it’s just this one weekend! Thank goodness we didn’t miss it! We all would have been so bummed!

Oh my gosh! I LOVE Thomas’ face in this picture!

They ended up with a TON of beads, but at first there were some color preference wars. lol

The rest of the big girls showed up! Jen made them some amazing virgin pina coladas. I think I’m going to have to alter my recipe and just use frozen pineapples rather than ice from now on. They were soooo yummy!

Haha! They look like a bunch of old ladies with all those beads on!

She worked for a while to get this balloon to pop! lol.

What an awesome, relaxing week. Thank you for putting it together again, Mom. I love you, and I love our Bolivar trip!