beach birthday

It's been almost 10 days since the 4th of July. And Jonah's birthday. That's right. I have an independence day baby! 

He turned three this year. We headed to the beach because Jonah loved it last time, and we were expecting the worst because it was a holiday. But once again, Galveston, you exceeded my expectations! All smiles on our car ride!

We quickly set up a small canopy to cover us from the on and off blazin' sun. Thank you Pinterest for giving me the idea for our cute little cherry sheet canopy. Totally handmade. Totally Lynet. Totally me. Even balloons were necessary. It was a birthday, after all. 

So after a good sunscreen lather, the boys didn't waste time running to those waves. 

Every time I wanted a shot of Jonah, I would yell, "Say it's your birthday!" and he did. Like a good sport. 

This little dude is not afraid of getting dirty, while I'm the complete opposite. Sand, get away from me. Ugh.

I just want to eat that little hiney up! Seashells, crabs, jumping fishes and some dolphins were seen that day.

All four boys, some of our family came along too, were having a blast! 

They love to pick on their uncle. And get beaten up by him too. He's a fun guy.

A normal beach day would end with the sighting of the falling sun. We pack up and head home, avoiding all hideous traffic. But being the fourth, we had to stick around for the parade and fireworks--duh. So we headed up top. 

We sat patiently, and waited to see the first float come by. 

I'm not sure why madri-gras style bead necklaces were thrown out, but I thought it was kinda cool! The boys loved waving them down and collecting all the beads. 

This was the end result of a pretty fun parade! 

Mr. Independence Day monster! 

As soon as the parade was over, we headed back to the beach to our little cherry tent to celebrate with cupcakes. I had made the cupcakes per Jonah's request. Froze them. And by the time we ate them, they were perfect. And oh, that icing--so good! Thanks Ma, for the recipe!

It was quite funny trying to light that little candle in the wind and capture it perfectly, I was thankful my sis-in-law was there! I think we tried it about five times and finally managed a decent shot.

Then we gathered all our stuff and our chairs, and watched some fireworks. 

By this time, it was late. Mind you, I was done with the beach about 2 hours prior, so I was grateful the show was short. Ugh and then all the sand! Out of hineys! Out of hair! Out of toes! it was impossible, I'm sure I took a bucket of sand home with us. I really hate sand, guys. 

Anyway, the beach was better than I expected because it was less crowded than I thought it would be, the weather was beautiful and everything went according to plan. We were with family, and everybody had a great time. Sand and all. Traffic coming back though? whoa. That's a scary story.