Life's a beach

We celebrated this weekend with another great road trip. This time we headed down to Corpus Christi for an overnight beach stay.

Saturday morning we packed up the car and headed out bright and early. The four-hour drive took us through San Antonio, so our first stop was, of course, Krystal. We were last there only six days ago on our way back from Six Flags last weekend, so we weren't expecting anything new, but when we got there, the place was completely closed down. The drive-in section was completely ripped out, the sign was removed, and the windows and doors were boarded up. It may have been the worst day of Dad's life. He kept screaming and taught us a new word that Hazel repeated a few times but Mom won't let me write here.

After that, Dad said we weren't stopping for anything so we powered through to our hotel, the Residence Inn. It was fantastic, starting with the cookies in the lobby, a fun elevator, and better yet, our suite. Hazel and I loved running around the room and dancing and making faces in front of a huge closet-sized mirror. I liked turning on and off all the lights and messing with the alarm clock. Hazel found a funny hiding spot only she was small enough to crawl into.

We didn't want to leave the room, but with promises of cookies and elevators, Dad and Mom eventually talked me into it. We headed out to a local pizzeria and finally, the beach! It was fantastic! It was like a giant sandbox but better because of the ocean. Dad took us out into the waves, but mostly we liked playing in the shallow part, digging in the sand, running around, and chasing seagulls. Hazel also liked chasing any dogs that walked by. I think she missed Peepa.

After a while, we were tired so we went back to the hotel room to clean up, then headed out again for dinner at a really great place called Snoopy's. Dad and Mom had fish, Hazel and I had burgers and grilled cheese, and we sat out on the deck over the water, where we could see lots of big fish swimming just underneath us, and watched the sun go down.

It was late when we got back to the hotel, so Mom and Dad thought we'd go right to sleep, but we had other plans. Before we went on this trip, Mom told me I could sleep in a nest on the floor. I was really excited about it. Hazel had a portable crib to sleep in. When we were supposed to go to bed though, all bets were off. Hazel screamed a lot and I kept running out of the room. Eventually, Hazel went to sleep in the crib for a few hours, then ended up in the nest, and I slept in a giant bed with Mom. Dad ultimately ended up on the couch.

Despite our twilight adventures, Hazel and I woke up at our usual bright and early hour Sunday morning. Mom took us downstairs to breakfast so Dad could get some more sleep. It was great -- they had a huge breakfast buffet with almost anything you can think of to eat in the morning. We ate a lot to make up for our lack of sleep.

After playing in our room for a little bit and heading back for a second breakfast once Dad woke up, we went swimming again, this time in the hotel's indoor pool. The pool was cold, so I didn't spend much time swimming, but Hazel floated around in an inflatable boat and I had fun putting bubbles from the hot tub in the pool and splashing with my feet. Dad relaxed in the hot tub while Mom pushed Hazel around in her boat and drug me into the pool with them when she could catch me.

Our ride back was pretty uneventful, since Hazel and I were so beat we slept the whole way. I hope we take another beach vacation soon.

Here are pictures from our trip, as well as a link to the video above.