Yes, I'm still totally behind! But I'm starting to catch up!!! Yea ME!
So we had a nice little Happy Birthday Ainsley/Happy Father's Day BBQ the Sunday before her actual birthday, but we decided that the big, huge party with all the kids and party favors was just too much for Mommy to take on this year. Alternative? Take the kids to the coast! Ainsley has never seen the ocean and Ian hasn't seen it since he was less than 2. Needless to say, both kids were pretty excited about the trip! So we packed up the car and took off for Padre Island the morning of her birthday.
The first afternoon wasn't much to write home about. We arrived a bit early to check into the hotel, so we drove around the island a bit, trying to get the lay of the land. We chanced upon a pier and paid (yes PAID) to walk out on it. It had been storming the night before so the ocean was wild and all churned up, but the kids were enamored by the sea gulls and the fishermen and the smell of the heavy, salty air. So we took a little walk on the beach, their first time with their toes in the sand! They LOVED it! But it started to rain pretty hard and we headed to the hotel for check-in and to get some dinner. Dinner turned out to be a big disappointment, but I railed on that enough on the other blog, so I won't get into it here. Just remember to never go to Doc's. There, I said it, moving on.
The next morning, Ian and I headed to Malaquite Beach to see what it was all about. Since it is a national park, you had to pay to get in, but oh was it worth! The beach was clean, the facilities were nice, the rangers were informative and the biggest thing? There were hardly any other people!!!! I admit it, I'm not a fan of people and I do my best to avoid them when I can!
Here is what we found...
Just beautiful! And of course, the boy had to test the waters!
We fell in love with the laughing gulls,
and decided to report back to Daddy and Ainsley. I packed up a nice little picnic lunch (pesto tortellini, thank you very much) and we headed back with the entire family to Malachite Beach. We proceeded to have a WONDERFUL day!
Someone wanted to build sandcastles, so... we attempted to build sandcastles!
We got a little ways into the project when a certain birthday girl decided that sandcastles were much too labor intensive and she would rather go play in the water.
After a quick dip, she ran back to tell me how awesome the ocean was and flashed me that beautiful smile! She's so awesome and maybe a little bit cute!
All the while, Daddy had the boy in the water testing out his boogie boarding skills.
He caught a good wave,
and did a victory dance!
After that it was over. I couldn't get that kid out of the water to save my life! He did this for FOUR hours! What a happy, happy boy!
So although Daddy would not agree to be buried in the sand, he did concede to carrying the Piggy out to the deeper water where he jumped with her and held her up in the waves. She thought this was the coolest thing ever!
She sure loves her Daddy!
I tried the whole boogie boarding thing, discovered how exhausting it was and decided I was a bit to water-logged to continue, so I headed to the shore to make my own sand sculpture. Since Ian and I had talked to the rangers about the sea turtle release program (which sadly we didn't get to see), I decided to make a sea turtle! I had a blast! And it turned out pretty good! Here is a pic of the Piggy next to it, just as a size reference.
After all of the boogie boarding, wave jumping, sand sculpting and just insane amounts of super duper beach fun, we finally had our fill! As much fun as the beach is, there is only so much sun, sand and salt water a body can endure in one day! So we showered, packed up the car and headed into town to find a Sonic or something to refresh ourselves! Once refreshed, we decided to head up the island over to Port Aransas where we heard there were dolphins in the bay. And guess what? There were! Here's the Monkey patiently waiting to see one.
And he was rewarded for his patience! Dolphins!
There were several adults, but we also saw BABIES! They were so cute! Less than 3 ft. long and VERY fast! They were playing and splashing and jumping around. Sadly, they were just too stinkin' fast for my point and click camera. We really enjoyed just hanging out on the pier watching them. And as a side note, while we were still at the beach, Brady had informed me that he had seen a strange brown and white thing in the water. Not a jellyfish but something weird that kind of undulated through the water, looking rather like female genitalia! I couldn't think of anything, other than maybe some sort of sea slug, but I didn't put much thought into it. As it turns out, while we were standing on the pier looking at the dolphins, one of those things went floating by. Brady was like, "THERE'S ONE OF THOSE THINGS!" I got a pretty good look at it and decided it had to be some sort of mollusk. When we got back to the hotel, I did some research and discovered it was something called a "sea hare" which is common in the shallower waters of the gulf around seaweed. So, biology lesson of the day! Yea!
Ian and I both shared a deep love of the pelicans. They are just cool! On our way back to the car, one landed on a lamp post, so we got a good up close look. REALLY glad it didn't poop on us!
The next day had us at the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi. I always love the view of this bridge from the aquarium.
The kids loved the underwater dolphin exhibit! I think they made a new friend!
The biggest excitement of the day was watching the staff trying to corral a Harris hawk that decided she didn't want to be in her enclosure anymore!
She stayed just out of reach, taunting her handlers and the bald eagle that happens to live in the enclosure that she's perched on in this photo! All of the "Bird of Prey" shows had to be cancelled that day because of her antics. And as far as we know, she had still not been captured by the time we left. I am assuming she eventually came down when she got hungry!
We got to pet sting rays!
And as if this wasn't all cool enough, this aquarium has a great little splash pad for everyone to cool off! I don't think the kids enjoyed this particular attraction AT ALL! ;)
We had hoped to visit the U.S.S. Lexington that day as well, but 100 degree heat and low fundage prevented us from doing it. I couldn't resist snapping a quick shot on our way out of the aquarium though. We'll catch that bad boy on the next trip!
We headed back to the island for a little bit of souvenir shopping. Can't take the kids someplace without at least getting a t-shirt! For some reason, almost every shop on Padre Island has a large menacing shark at the front door. We, of course, had to take a pic!
And hey look, it's ME! Finally a pic that proves I was actually there! Later that evening we took in a Corpus Christi Hooks game. I was amazed at how many seagulls were flying around the ballpark. It made me wonder if they ever get smacked by fly balls. Eek! Luckily we witnessed no such thing! We took our sleepy bunch back to the hotel, hoping to get an early start on the beach the next morning as it would be our last day. Sadly, Mother Nature had other plans. We woke up to pouring rain. Grrrr. But hey, we can't complain too much. Corpus has been suffering from this drought as badly as the rest of us. The ranger at Malaquite Beach had stated that many of the birds had moved on because there was just so little fresh water available. We packed up the car in pouring rain and headed on back home. We did, however, have to pull off the road once because really who could resist getting a picture of this...
GHOSTBUSTERS!
We had a great time and I learned that my girl is just like her Mama! Beach bunny all the way! You never saw such a happy Piggy as a Piggy at the beach! Wish we lived a little closer to one. When we brought Ian to the coast for the first time, not to long after we moved to Texas, I was heartbroken. We went to Port Aransas and it was nothing but a huge line of rednecks in big dualie pick-ups lined up ON the beach with umbrellas and coolers full of beer. The trucks, the crowds, the trash, it sucked! Such a hard thing for a girl who had enjoyed several years of pristine Oregon and Washington beaches. So I was not the most optimistic about our little trip to the beach, but I was pleasantly surprised! Malachite Beach was beautiful, the wildlife was great and I absolutely look forward to taking the family back!
