When Evan's parents came to visit last month, we decided to finally commit and make a trip to the beach like we've been talking about for months (years). We booked a room for one night at Corpus Christi, packed up a million things to dig and make sand castles and headed out.
Turns out, the beach is just 2.5 hours away. Yeah...we totally were under the impression it was 4-5 hours away. Hopefully, we'll take advantage of it being so close and maybe take a day trip again soon!
I went ahead and purchased this lovely umbrella for the trip:
I knew we'd need something for the kiddos to hide under when the sun was too much and to keep our things shaded. Turns out, this umbrella was absolutely perfect! Don't you love a great internet, site-unseen, cross your fingers you'll actually love it purchase?!
We actually were early to check in to our hotel, so we drove along to Padre Island and hung out at their beach for the afternoon. It was not crowded at all. And I just have to tell you that the weather couldn't have been nicer!
I'm sure you're shocked that Vivian's Tonka truck was a part of the trip, right?
We haven't been to a beach since our Disney Trip in January 2008 and it was waaay too cold to get in the water, so I can't actually remember the last time that I swam in the ocean. We're always so landlocked. First thing that I quickly remembered that I'd forgotten--salt water does NOT taste good nor does it feel good when you accidentally sniff it up your nose.
Vivian was a bit wary of going into the water. She preferred to dig and command her Papa to bring her pails of water like the tiny dictator that she is.
Look at those clouds!!!!
Proof I actually was there!
Our hotel was on the beach and we were lucky enough to get rooms with a view. I've never had a room with a view before, so I may or may not have been a *tiny bit* excited.
Evan was excited because from our room he could see the USS Lexington. Of course, we had pre-purchased tickets to go and tour the WWII air craft carrier for the next day. (If you all are very good blog readers and are on your best behavior, I will post a blog post just about the USS Lexington.)
After a quick shower, and a bit of some iPadding...
we headed out to dinner.
Quick Story: So, we all needed to take showers to get all the sand off before dinner. Evan showered first and was all, "Man, there's so much sand!" I peek in and it's like he dumped a small pail of sand into the tub. If you know me at all, you know that I hate sand. Hate. I was all, "Dude, I'm showering next because if I have that much sand in my hair and stuff I'm going to pitch a fit!". So, I jump in the shower next. Now, I need to tell you that, when I take my glasses off, I am blind as a bat. Seriously. Like ridiculously, probably technically legally blind, blind without my glasses.
I notice that I, too, have left sand in the tub and as I'm getting dressed, I holler to Evan that I'm going to try to make the sand go down the drain before we throw the baby in for her bath. I put on my glasses, go to turn on the water, and notice that the sand is looking at me. With an eye.
Weird. How can the sand look at me? And why does it look shiny and fish shaped...
You guys, it was a fish. Like a minnow sized fish. In the tub. Dead. Dead dead dead.
Of course, I freak out because I very quickly realize that if the fish was not there when Evan showered (Evan with his recently eye-surgeried 20/12 vision, who would have definitely noticed a freaking fish in the tub), that means the fish CAME FROM ME! A FREAKING FRACKING FISH WAS TRAPPED UNDER MY HAT, IN MY HAIR, THAT I BROUGHT FROM THE OCEAN INTO MY HOTEL SHOWER.
I don't need to tell you that Evan found this whole thing hilarious. As did his parents. And my children. Elisabeth very kindly flushed the fish that I accidentally murdered by taking it from the ocean.
The end.
The clouds at dinner time...
After dinner, we got back in our swimsuits for a bit of nighttime beaching and then some very intense hotel pool swimming where Julia showed us her superbly perfect "canyon ball!" dives.
Another quick story: When we went to the beach after dinner, Ebeth found this super duper awesome shell that was totally not broken. It was one of those spirally shells that you want to hold to your ear and listen to the ocean. It was about the size of the palm of my hand and I congratulated her on her awesome find. I threw it in our pool bag and we headed to the pool. When we were getting ready for bed, I put the shell on the counter above the mini-fridge.
I was busy plugging in phones and iPads and whatnot when I hear a "thunk". I look over and the ding dong shell had rolled off the counter. I picked it up and brought it the less slippery desk I was sitting at and continued picking up. I handed Evan pajamas to put on Vivian, turned around and saw the shell slowly creeping across the table. This time when I went to pick it up, it's legs scurried back but not fast enough because I totally saw them shrink into the shell.
Yep. Hermit crab. That I toted around in my pool bag for a couple of hours.
Evan very chivalrously took the poor hermit crab and his shell back to the beach (after we took lots of pictures and showed all the girls, of course).
The end.
We woke up bright and early, ate a delicious ("delicious") McDonald's breakfast, and headed back out to the beach. We spent the rest of the day at the Corpus Christi beach.
Elisabeth was in the water the whole time. She just loved it. All the grown ups took turns going out with her. She must be part mermaid. (This picture taken right before poor Ebeth got stung by a jellyfish. She handled it super well and we convinced her it would make a great story to tell everyone. She then walked around like a badass for the rest of the day.)
Vivian decided to actually let her feet get wet without being held on the second day.
And that she was fully capable of filling up her own buckets with water.
We just had so much fun! It was the younger two's first time seeing the ocean and I'm so glad we live close enough to take them when they're still young enough to see it as a huge adventure.
We spent some time digging around for shells, too. We found mainly really pretty pieces of oyster shells, but there were a few other non-oyster shells, too.
The next time we go to the gulf, I think we're going to head over to Mustang Island in Port Aransas. We hear that that's an even better place to hang out. But, can it beat standing in the entrance to a very tacky gift shop that's also a giant shark mouth?!
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