Let's Go To The Beach!!!!!

" Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it."

Proverbs 22:6

Saturday and Sunday  - November 19th and 20th

Saturday
We surprised the kids with a quick trip to Port Aransas and Corpus Christi on Saturday..  We told the kids to pack their bags for one night and a swimsuit, we were going somewhere warm and sunny. Of course we got about 100 questions before we actually got in the car to go.  My favorite question by Allison,"What college, if any, are located there?"  We had to laugh.  For the last year they have been asking to go to the beach but with Bill starting a new job, he didn't have any vacation time accumulated and we were always busy doing other things.  It was an overcast day in San Antonio and quite muggy so, I suggested we go to the beach and we did.  We found a great hotel room in Port Aransas, only one block from the beach and it was a room called a "Kid Suite", meaning it had a separate room for the kids.  Since it was the "off" season we got a great room for a great price and we had a blast!

When we got to the beach we had to hold Avery the entire time.  There were Portuguese Man O' Wars on the beach and she has a tendency to take off running when we let her walk on her own, so we felt like it wasn't a good idea to put her down.  It was hard enough making sure Allison and Alex didn't step on one, let alone a runner.  We took turns holding Avery and standing in the water, so she could see the waves come and go. She laughed the entire time and pointed to the waves as they came onto shore.   It was really windy and a little hazy but it was still a beautiful day at the beach. 

Avery's first encounter with the waves. 

Avery pointing at the waves.

Alex  laughing as the waves hit him.

Allison hunting seashells.

Our Hotel Room, Supper and Nightime......

After going to the beach we checked into the hotel and spent a little time settling in and changing for supper.  The room designated for the kids was called a "Kid Suite", it had a full sized bed with a trundle and a flat screen TV on the wall in the corner with an XBox 360. The kids were able to borrow a Sonic game from the front desk and play it when Avery wasn't watching a DVD.  They absolutely loved this room.  We were in the room right by them in a king size bed and Avery slept in her Pack N' Play. This was all in one hotel room. For supper we went to a seafood restaurant right around the corner from our hotel, called Fins.  It was a dine in or sit on the deck, not fancy, but really good.  The shrimp was fresh and very delicious.   Right now it is hard for us to sit and eat for a long period of time with a toddler, we always have to strategically figure out where to eat,  we enjoy siting down for a nice meal but when peanut gets antsy, we start to hear about it, so everything has to be relatively quick, nothing more than an hour usually.  It was still early after we finished eating, so we took a ferry to the mainland and went to Wal-Mart, can't ever remember to bring everything when you pack on a whim..... We got back to the hotel and by then, everyone was exhausted, Sunday was another big day we hadn't yet told the kids about....:)   

The "Kid Suite"

 

Allison and Alex outside "Fins". 

Avery dipping her fries in tarter sauce.

Avery and I relaxing before she went to bed.  She is the biggest snuggle bunny.  I love her hugs and kisses, they are the sweetest.  She says, "Awwww, hug" and pats you when she hugs you.  Nothing is better.

All three in the "Kid Suite".  Allison and Avery are watching Alex play on the XBox.  (We do not own one, so this was a real treat for them.)

Sunday
It was an absolutely beautiful day, a little windy on the beach but not real bad.  We headed to the beach to take a family picture.  We never get a picture with all five of us in it, so for our Christmas picture, we thought "let's take one on the beach".  We set up a tripod and tried to get one good shot of our family. The sun was real bright reflecting off the sand and as it got later and later into the morning, the wind started to blow harder.  It was a challenge but I think we took a pretty good shot on our own.  You might be seeing it in your mailbox soon.....

After the morning beach photo shoot....we took the ferry back to the mainland and headed to Corpus Christi.  The first stop was "Whataburger on the Bay".  It is a two story Whataburger and it was built as a tribute to Corpus.  They were doing a downtown revitalization and Whataburger built this resturant for them.  

The dock for each ferry.

A ferry.  We laughed when we saw the fifth wheel riding the ferry.

Allison and Alex sitting on the balcony.   We ate inside on the second floor so we could experience something different.

U.S.S Lexington
Our next stop was the USS Lexington.  We did not tell the kids where we were going and as we drove up to the massive aircraft carrier, Alex got really really excited, his eyes got real big and couldn't believe we were going on a "real" aircraft carrier.  He's been reading books on the military and I really think it's just a boy thing to be interested in military equipment.  He loved every minute of the tour.  We split up on a couple of the tours, Bill took Allison and Alex to see the Bridge and the Engine Room, while Avery and I stayed on the Hanger Deck.  We all went on the Flight Deck and the Hanger Deck together.  Bill had to carry Avery up three flights of stairs to get to the flight deck, actually they were ladders in narrow passageways, kinda cumbersome when you are full grown man carrying a 25 pound toddler.  After he carried her up to the flight deck, we decided one of us would stay behind and wait.  I stayed with Avery and enjoyed spending time looking at a couple of old planes and visiting the gift shop.

Texas State Aquarium
The last stop on our weekend trip was the Texas State Aquarium.  It is a small but really nice aquarium.  We enjoyed seeing all different types of fish from the Gulf and the Amazon.  We tried to go to the dolphin show. Right after the show started, one of the marine biologist (who was too young to know any better) motioned for the dolphins to slap the water and we got drenched.  She thought it was real funny too.  We did not.  I guess because we were with three children, it was okay....We knew there was a possibility of getting wet but we wanted Avery to see the show, so we sat closer to the glass window.  Never again.  I'm not a fan of those shows, mainly due to the amount of hot sweaty people sitting in my personal space, but we wanted the kids to see the dolphins.  We had to go back to the car and change clothes, not the highlight of our day, but everyone was a good sport about it and laughed it off.  Since we had gone to the aquarium on a Sunday and later in the afternoon, we were one of the last to leave, the last thing we did before leaving to head home was go to the underwater dolphin viewing room, we were able to have the entire room to ourselves where we watched the dolphins swim in their pool, this was the absolute best part of the aquarium.

Avery was mesmerized by the stingray.

Awesome pictures from the trip.....that didn't include any of us.

Funniest Picture from the trip

Someone doesn't want to hold hands!