We are really looking forward to seeing Grandmama and Grandpapa.  They have a condominium in Galveston, which is where they live.  (We live about an hour away, in Houston.)  We go every year for a week, meaning Maman, Daddy, my big brother Carston, my little brother Stone, and my big sister Emily (as well as me; I'm Kate, and I'm 11).

We all love Galveston: we love romping around on the beach, and Maman and Daddy love walking along the shoreline, acting all lovey-dovey and holding hands like they were teenagers.  We also love hanging out with Grandmama and Grandpapa, who are Daddy's parents.  They moved to Galveston last year and they love it; before that they lived in New Orleans, Louisiana, but they moved away from New Orleans to get away from the crime.

Galveston, Texas, does have its problems, but it's a heck of a lot safer than New Orleans, Lousiana, I can tell you that much!

Grandpapa and Grandmama's condo is really big: it can fit all six of us (plus them), and our pet cat Scrungie; Scrungie is a Ragdoll mix.  It has lots of windows, and we can look at toward the Gulf of Mexico and the beach.  It also has a big swimming pool and a game area where we can play indoors if it rains (or play tennis or badminton when it's nice out if we don't go to the beach).

Besides Grandpapa and Grandmama, we like Galveston 'cause there's always so much to do and see.  Galveston is the perfect place for families with kids or for people who are young (or young at heart).  My favorite place there is Moddy Gardens: I love looking at all the flowers and the butterflies.  My big sister loves it too.  My brothers like the Rain Forest Cafe' and The Giant Storm, which is a movie about the Great Galveston, Texas, Hurricane of 1900 that killed over 5,000 people.  It was a really bad one.

Galveston has hurricanes (well, so does Houston; I've been in a few myself in my lifetime, including Ike, which left us without power for a week and we had some damage but it's since been repaired), but other than that, it's a little cooler than Houston in the summertime and we can always go to the beach if we want to cool off or just get away from Houston.  Or we go and see Grandmama and Grandpapa.

Well, I'd best go; I gotta finish packing, so we can get on the road and head south to Galveston .... and our grandparents! This is gonna be soooo much fun!!!!