A Breather at the Beach

Steven and I both started feeling like we needed a vacation around late April!  We keep trying to plan a few days away, but it just hasn't seemed to fall into place.  Our half-week vacation for a Catholic conference at a resort hotel won't be taking place until late August, so we've got a little while to wait.  It's more of a mental break that we all need.  I think we're emotionally exhausted from the events of this year with the baby's arrival and the temporary move for that, and then some new job duties and more travel for Steven, plus trying to plan our upcoming move.  Not to mention he moved his entire office and warehouse to a new location this spring too.

Normally we visit the beach a few times a month during the summer, but this year we've been busy with swim team, lots of traveling for Steven, and the beach has been covered in seaweed too.  But we finally just decided to make a day trip to Padre Island National Seashore on Friday, for a quiet family day.  It was definitely what we needed; a little "breather at the beach!"

The weather was great, overcast with the usual breeze, and the water was cool but warm enough for the kids to enjoy swimming.  After swim practice and a work meeting Friday morning, I was off to HEB for special beach food, and then we were on the road by about 10am.  We were at the beach from about 11am-6pm!  A full day!  They fished, swam, Mary Clare and I read books, played on boogie boards, and searched for shells.  Here are some photos of the day in all its gloriousness...

Mary Clare was tired of swimming after a morning of swim practice, and wasn't happy about going to a beach without showers, so she enjoyed a good book instead.  

Caught this just as the seagull was flying over

Trying to keep Katie happy and out of the sun was a hard job!  I forgot her sun hat, so we ended up putting up the shade tent later on when the sun started peeking through.

Happy with his seaweed catch! 

Katie in the Bumbo seat on the beach.  A new experience!

Tommy wanted to fish all day and would whine whenever Daddy would declare a break.

First dip of her toes in the water that day.

Reeling in a big one!  

They each caught some catfish.

We took off baby's sandy swimsuit and she had a little accident on Daddy!

Little stinker!  (It was just a wet accident though, this girl only does the other business once a week!)

Got the camera settings wrong here, but I liked this of Steven talking to Daddy after he'd just dipped the baby in the water to clean her off.

 We decided to take a drive to some different areas of the park.  Here we spotted a coyote up on the dune!

And this was over near the bay side of the island.

We drove down past mile 15 (almost an hour driving down the beach, this is the only place in America with this much "wild" beach!)

We got close to the "little shell" area, and stopped to search for shells and let Daddy fish some more.

Tommy was asleep in the car.

Always following after his daddy! 

Here's what the sand (and seaweed) is like in this area.

And we finish off with Ellie, my always-willing model :)