Our Family Tradition

My little Becker family has a summertime tradition.  I didn't realize it was a tradition until this year, when Troy said, "We need to build our yearly sandcastle.".  Could it be?  Did we really make a sandcastle every year.  Well, let's see.  

That is the castle from 2006.  We made it to Pensacola, FL before Orry came along.  (Troy and I also made a castle in 2005, but we weren't married and I don't have a picture to show you, so does it count?)  

And that is 2007's sandcastle.  That year we went to Destin, FL.  Orry was somewhere between 10 and 11 months.  Here's what he looked like:

He didn't particularly like the ocean.  But he didn't dislike it either.  When kids go the ocean for the first time it is pretty amazing.  It is such a vast thing to behold.  I can understand the excitement that is mixed with fear as the waves break over their shoulders.  The feeling that they could just be swept away into that big sea...

Now our journey takes us to 2008 and Korea.  That sandcastle was built by Troy and his brother, Trent.  We were in Yang Yang, South Korea, looking at the Sea of Japan.

Here we are when Orry was two, Isaac was a wee little 4 month old, Troy was less bald, and I was rocking a "new mom for the second time" haircut.  This was before we learned that Koreans preferred that we called the Sea of Japan the East Sea.

A year later we were still in Korea.  This time we journeyed to Donghae to build a sandcastle.  And here you can still see the East Sea.  

In 2010 we moved to Houston, TX.  Looking back, it was a good move to make in regards to this family tradition.  Now we live about 1 hour away from Galveston.  So here we are in Galveston, making another sandcastle. 

It was a great beach trip because Orry got over his fear of being in the water.  Isaac was thrilled to jump right in and I think this encouraged his older brother a bit.  

Another reason that it was so great was because we brought our newest addition along for the ride.  (Well, we couldn't just leave her home alone...)

And that is our sandcastle from today.  It was a lovely time filled with sand, sun, and salty water.  

Annie didn't like the sand or the water.  But she did like getting her beach pose on.

Troy was the work horse.  I was the baby monitor.

Isaac kept his shirt on for "swimming".  He sure loved the water.  He loved getting it in his mouth and then spitting everywhere to try and get it out.  

And Orry.  Well, Orry was busy showing the babes where the beach was...