Vacation or bust!

Today is the first official day of our family's summer vacation, 2008. We drove 4 hours from our hometown (where we'd been for 2 days with family welcoming our new niece into this big world) to the central coast of Texas. The Things had never been to the beach and were desperate to see it. Desperate to collect sea shells. Desperate for some summer fun in the surf.

Our hotel is less than 5 minutes from the beach. As soon as we'd checked in and I had sufficiently wiped the room down with Lysol wipes, we headed to the beach. Thing1 said she didn't expect it to be that big. You know, its all relative when you're a kid. Thing 2 didn't even realize until we left that she'd been swimming in the ocean. She said, "I thought you said this was the bay?" Man, she really did pay attention in the car! We explained that we had been driving on a bridge over the bay, so she was in the ocean. (Please, don't tell my kids th difference between the Gulf of Mexico and the actual ocean...they're one in the same as far as we're concerned!) We had a great time running and splashing in the waves, digging for sand crabs, sifting the sand to find live clams and then watching them burrow back down, body surfing the waves and collecting sea shells. We decided a few things...we want a beach umbrella, a kite and a boogie board.

We headed back to the hotel for a quick shower/bath and a change of clothes. During that time we used the hotel's free internet to find a place to eat. We decided on a restaurant called Pelican's Landing. It was about 15 minutes from the hotel and provided us a nice sunset drive thru the wetlands. DH and I thought it would be fun to introduce the girls to one of our favorite appetizers so we ordered a plate of calamari. YUM! Then each of us ordered shrimp of some form and traded bites around the table. Oh, and a couple of crab cakes, too! The girls had Shirley Temples to drink, complete with an umbrella and pineapple slice. So cute!!

Now, back to the hotel, Thing1 was in bed before I could turn around twice. I think she's already asleep! Thing2 always has a hard time in hotels...I blame it on her age. It'll take her a bit to wind down. Tomorrow we're off to some "touristy" places and then back to the beach for a picnic dinner.

Stay tuned!!!

PS...can't believe I forgot my camera today! Its in my purse and I didn't want to take that along to the beach. Even DH said, "Man, you take that thing everywhere and then forgot to bring it today???!!!" haha (insert sarcasm here!!!!) I will NOT forget it tomorrow!!!

Comments