I know that I am super behind on every holiday, but I am posting this in February, albeit the last day. Anyways, we decided that after last year's Valentine's Day massacre, that we would get out of town to celebrate this year. We wanted to stick close to home because it was Zoey's first time to stay in a hotel, and I just had feelings of dread. She never sleeps well when she in the same room with us. In fact, during the when the whole fam is at the grandparent's house, someone gives up a room just so Zoey can have her own. She is totally spoiled.Anyway, we headed to Galveston to give Zoey her first taste of the beach as well, and it just so ended up that it was the big weekend for Mardi Gras as well. Much to John's chagrin, I fell in love and have just found a whole other holiday to celebrate.So, back to the hotel. Funny thing about Valentine's/Mardi Gras, you happen to be surrounded by either people getting married or people who are drunk. On our floor at the Galvez, we were surrounded by a drunk wedding party. It was...interesting to say the least. Around 10ish, the whole party was deciding where to go in the hall; of course that kept Zoey up. They finally decided to hit the bar about 11, woke the girl up again. Slamming of doors and loud shouting ensued. Apparently getting married means manners be damned. Super annoying. The real treat came about 4 in the morning when a very drunk groom and another member of the wedding party had a screaming match in the hall. They had apparently just come back from a strip joint where the other man had behaved inappropriately with the groom's intended, or perhaps had some incriminating photos of the groom. I don't know. I was listening as hard as I could, but while the volume was certainly loud enough, neither man was sober enough. Hotel secruity tried to break it up, but the groom (a large Italian man) claimed the guard was "racial profiling." Yeah, that bride was getting a real winner. It took all my will power not to step in the hall and with a few choice words of my own, tell them that if they woke up my kid again, there would be no wedding because he was going to be too tired from taking care of a very disgruntled 2 year old and/or I would kill him. I guess the guy didn't think that he was loud enough to be able to be heard through the paper thin walls of the hotel rooms, because he was cussing up a storm and at one point the other guy told the groom that he needed to quiet down, but he said "No one can hear me." I think that was the point that my husband's vision went red and he went out into the hall and said "I can hear you in my room, and I am tired of your language and you waking up my daughter!" He was much more diplomatic than I would have been. My confrontation would have included shoving. Anyway, the groom mumbled an apology and that was the last we heard of that. The next morning when Zoey woke up promptly at 8, I let her sing as loud as she wanted to in retaliation. Passive aggression at its finest. Needless to say, we will not be staying at a hotel again for some time, but the next day was a blast. Zoey seemed to like the beach. She loved the seashells and the sand, but she was a little wary of the water. 
Zoey's favorite part of the day, hands down, was eating ice cream at La King's on The Strand.
I got a little obsessed with getting beads. I could not understand why not every person was personally handing my sweet little girl beads whenever she stretched out her little hands and said "Mo mo beas?"
