South Padre 2009

Our trip down to South Padre ended up being better than we expected. Our morning flight was cancelled which pushed back our arrival the first day to early afternoon instead of late morning. It was not much of a disappointment once we felt the weather when we arrived. It was cold, cloudy and rainy. We spent the rest of the afternoon stocking up on food at the grocery store and then heading to Daddy's grandparents' condo on the island to unpack. We were itching to go down to the water after we unpacked so we headed down to the beach to stick our feet in. With our shoes in our hands we slowly waded in. Then suddenly a huge wave came crashing to the shore much closer than I had anticipated which forced me to back up quickly as to not get too wet. Junior saw me doing this and also tried to back up quickly but failed and fell into the water and came out soaking wet. He was NOT thrilled with his beach experience and that was the end of our beach time that day.

The next day was still more of the same weather and we knew the beach was out of the question. We decided to make it down to the Brownsville Zoo after hearing good things about it. Even though the rain at the zoo caused us to run for cover every now and then we still had a great time. It sure beat sitting in the condo all day. That night, like every night we were there, we headed out to dinner to all of our favorite spots. Blackbeard's, Parrot Eye's, Pirate's Landing, and Louie's Backyard Grill were the ones on our list. Our after dinner treat each night was a yummy blizzard from Dairy Queen. We tried a different flavor each time and Chocolate Extreme proved to be the winner!

The next day was exactly what we had prayed for! The sun made its appearance and so did we down on the beach. Junior was leery of the water as I am sure the first day had plenty to do with that but had plenty of fun playing in the sand and building sand castles. The only times he decided to enter the water was to clean off his shovel or to get more water for his moat. And only then did he barely get his feet wet.

Gaga was the complete opposite. She went head first and never looked back. Her options for entertainment were limitless. She loved the sand! She felt it, rolled in it, ate it, and anything else she could do with it she did. She also loved the water! A wave would come up on shore and she would crawl after it as it went back out. We had to stop her from getting too far in everytime she headed out. And when we would pick her up to bring her back to shore she kicked her legs furiously to get back down in the water.

The next day was much of the same. It was another nice day on the beach and we took full advantage of it. The next day after that we headed home. I realized the first two days for us were better off being non-beach days because after the two that we did have, I was done! After donning swimsuits, applying sunblock, lugging all supplies (beach toys, camera, umbrella, bag, and towels) down to the beach, loading everything back up, hosing the kids off, taking them upstairs, giving them baths, dressing them to go out to eat for dinner and multiply times two, that was enough for me!

Of course now being at home, we desperately want to go back!

South Padre 2009