Port Aransas

We decided to leave for our trip early- so we left on Wednesday right after Jim got home from work. We drove about 3 hours and stayed at a hotel for the night in Buda Texas. We got up early the next morning and were on our way! We got to the beach around noon- we had to take a ferry across, as we were staying on an island. It was too early to check in at our hotel so we decided to do a bit of exploring. We happened upon a fishing pier that had a bunch of dolphins sw imming around and playing! That was pretty cool! We then went over by the beach- bought our parking permit that is good for the whole year (this means we should go back! haha) and the kids got their swimwear on in the van.
The sand was completely different than in Virginia (I have only ever been to the beach in VA and NJ) it was more like powder here- nice! We also saw lots of new creatures and tons of seashells! Cameron and Ethan ran to the beach and didn't think twice. They were ready to catch some waves. Sloane- not so much! She was pretty intimidated by it all. She was pretty content to just dig in the sand.
6 families from our street ended up going to Port Aransas. I can't even begin to tell you what a great time we had. The first night, we ate at a cajun place. They didn't serve people on plates- they brought the food out and dumped it in the middle of the table- right on top of the table cloth! That was kind of cool and weird.
We found a hermit crab and I decided to bring him home with us and add him to my hermit crab tank (I later found out much too late, that he is a different kind of crab and I basiclally murdered the poor guy by taking him from home)
I got burnt to a crisp the very first day at the beach! There was a cool breeze and it just wasn't that hot so I didn't think about it. It was the worst sunburn I have had in my life :( What a way to start out vacation!
Of course one of our kids went missing- It always happens at the beach and I knew with 14 kids in our group it would happen. It did. It was Reese- Sara's youngest daughter. She was gone for over an hour(!!!) She had wandered away and went looking for us but went the wrong direction. She was over a mile away. Even after she was found- I think we all still felt sick to our stomach!
On Saturday Jim and a few others went on a deep sea fishing trip. It rained that morning and I guess the water was pretty choppy- aka- lots of puking going on in that boat! Not Jim though, but apparently he did feel pretty sick for a bit. He was hoping for Tuna but it was the wrong season- he needs to come back in the fall for that. He got some snapper though!
In a way this beach trip was better than living near the beach. I didn't have to go home and tend to any chores or anything. we just went to the beach nearly all day every day. It was wonderful! We did take a few breaks to do some souvenir shopping of course, but the rest of the time was beach time!
The last night there we decided to do an evening stroll on the beach. I had decided earlier that I was going to do some family pictures of everyone before we left. 1 family left for home early and 1 was too tired to show up, so I didn't get everyone but almost. I got some pretty good pics of everyone. After that trip my camera got sand EVERYWHERE. yuck.