anniversary trip

since it was our 5 year anniversary, and we haven't been on a trip without kids, cody and i felt like we were overdue for a vacation, just the two of us.  for the longest time we could not decide where we wanted to go. cody once surprised me with a trip when we were first married...and since then i told him he can't do that anymore.  let's just say it consisted of taking everything i needed in a backpack so we didn't have to pay for a carry on (yes, the airline he chose charged for a large carry on) and taking public transportation everywhere. it was an adventure.
all i really wanted was to go someplace where there was a pool or beach, where i could sit with a book and soda and read without being interrupted by my kids. we finally decided to go to galveston, and i'm so glad that we did.  it might not be the most exotic place, but we had a great time.

cody delivered this time.  he picked the hotel, we stayed at the hotel galvez.  it was really beautiful, right on the beach, and had some neat history.

i didnt get tired of this view!

 i'm a beach bum.  literally could spend all day down there, and normally do when i go.  cody on the other hand is not.  but, my sweet husband spent time each day at the beach with me so i could get my beach time in.  he's a pretty awesome guy.

 we found out there were some really cool houses to tour while we were there.  there are 7 "castles" on the main street in galveston, some of them are privately owned and a few of them you can go in.  they were once owned by families, and the historical foundation has preserved them.  it was so cool! 

 this one is called the bishop's castle.  because the family that built it sold it to the catholic church and the bishop lived there.

when we went to dinner one night, we drove down a street with the most amazing and amazingly scary houses!  this was one of the creepy ones, all of the shutters were closed, the paint was peeling...totally creepy.

then we found this one.  still so weird to see these huge brick homes by the beach!

 then we found another creepy one.  this one looked straight out of a horror movie.  we thought it was abandoned...until we saw shoes on the steps.  we hightailed it out of there,

love this guy.

then we toured the moody mansion.  the moody's owned a lot of galveston, and played a big role in rebuilding the city after the great storm of 1900.

 pleasure pier is a must while you're there.  we love amusement parks, and while this one isn't amazing, it was fun to ride some rides.  and, it's a beautiful view.

 i've never been on a ferris wheel...i know, who am i?  so i thought, what better place to ride one for the first time, than over the ocean...wrong!  it was so scary!!  the wind was blowing like crazy, you aren't strapped in, you stop all the time, and you're just hanging out over the ocean.

 so glad that we had this time together to reconnect.  it's been a really long time since we've been able to have so much time alone.  it made me remember why i fell in love with him in the first place.  it was wonderful.

 i'm not typically afraid of rides or anything.  but for some reason that stinkin' ferris wheel freaked me out.

 i have a death grip on that pole.

we made a stop at the houston temple on the way home.  it has been so long since we've been able to actually go to the temple together.  it was a wonderful way to end our trip...along with a stop at buc-ee's!