The Beach

We consider our trip to the beach a success based on a few factors:
1. No one suffered sun stroke (Mommy has been guilty of this on one particular trip to the coast.)
2. No one got sun burned
3. Our car is full of sand
4. No one vomited ocean water--either at the beach, or in the car AND
5. Nothing valuable blew away...well, permanently anyway.

And to think our biggest worry about this trip was how Reese was going to handle the car ride... There's no doubt that 3 hours in the car is hard on a toddler, but in general Reese handled the situation well. I think at one point she consciously gave up on the idea of being unstrapped from her car seat, and after that, the only battle was finding her new food and entertainment. Note to other parents: there's not a lot to sight see along I-37 between San Antonio and Corpus, and the gas stations are a little creepy.

We made it to the beach around lunch time on Saturday. We had planned on driving onto North Padre Island near Malaquite Beach to set up our "camp" for the day, but when we arrived at the visitors' center they told us that unless we had a really reliable 4x4 we shouldn't attempt it. Apparently the cost to tow a car out of sand on the island is upwards of $1000. Yikes--that would ruin our vacation budget for a while to come. So, instead, we were left to haul our gear down the path from the visitors' center parking lot to the beach. Unfortunately, when I say "we," I mean Kevin. With an excited toddler and a pregnant wife on hand, there wasn't much Reese and I could do to help. So, poor Daddy braved three trips to the car to get our gear and drag it through the super soft sand. Add the sweltering heat and humidity, and you can imagine how he felt afterwards.

Once we got our shade tent set up and some food in our bellies, the beach fun began. From the second she saw sand, Reese could not be stopped. It was all I could do to coax her to the actual beach--she wanted to stop and play in every dune of sand near the path we took down to the beach. She was more than happy to dig and scoop with her sand toys while Mommy and Daddy set things up. In fact, we weren't sure we were going to get her to the water since her interest in the sand was so strong. After lunch, though, we took her down in the shallow waves and she splashed and walked and dug in the wet sand. After only a few minutes in the water, it was obvious that if we didn't hold on to her, Reese would have gladly paraded herself out into deeper waters, and no matter how far up her legs we let the waves go, she always wanted to go deeper. As the waves came in she'd giggle and shout "Here it comes," "Watch out!," or "It's a big one!" I thought the sea shells along the beach would be interesting for Reese, but strangely, she was more interested in the sea weed. She wanted to "plant" the seaweed in the sand, so we spent some time digging holes and burying it in big piles. Luckily, the seagulls weren't visiting en mass this weekend, and they didn't beg for food or bother us---it could be because Reese kept running up to them and trying to offer them sand to eat, though.

Just before we left the beach, we took a long walk down the shore and while we were gone, our shade tent blew away and landed in the dunes behind us. Luckily, the family in the tent nearest ours, rescued it for us and even set it back in place. Since it was approaching dinner time (and Reese hadn't had a nap), we took it as our cue to leave.

Our hotel was only a ten minute drive from the beach, and Reese was asleep in her car seat before we left the beach parking lot. We tried to sneak her into the hotel without waking her, but that trick hasn't worked since she was a few weeks old, so we were foolish to expect anything different. After a quick change of clothes for everyone, we began the hunt for food. Through luck and the help of Google, we found a WONDERFUL restaurant to eat at amidst the sea of fast food chains and questionable looking seafood huts near our hotel. ( If you're over the cause-way, don't eat anywhere except Dragonfly--it's really that good!)

Mommy and Daddy had high hopes about an early bedtime for Reese since our day had been so active--goodness knows WE were tired. After a bath and some bedtime stories, we put Reese in the hotel's portable crib and turned off all the lights. We then sat in the dark and listened as Reese talked to herself (and Ellie)--for over two hours. Eventually the talk turned into crying and after an attempt to have her sleep in the bed with us, we had to close our ears and endure a cry-it-out session for about 5 minutes. It was 10 o'clock by the time Reese finally fell asleep.

The trip home was a little rough due to road closures on I-35 and the fact that Reese was sleep deprived from the previous day, but we eventually made it back home.....with only two pictures to share, sorry.