Beach babies!

Last weekend, we hit the road, destined for the beach!

Friday afternoon was pretty exciting because Dad returned from a work trip to California. We were all super happy to see him and his huge sack of delicious treats from Trader Joe's and a Japanese grocery.  Hazel was especially excited to see lots of Hello Kitty snacks.

Our beach trip started out a little rocky, thanks to iffy weather. It was pretty overcast on the five hour drive to Port Aransas, but shortly after we got there, we were happy to see the sky brighten up enough to be nice out. It was great -- it wasn't super hot and we didn't have to worry about getting sunburned.

When we arrived Saturday, we started out with lunch in the hotel breakfast room and used our awesome swimming skills when we took a dip in the pool while we waited to check into our room. Unfortunately, the elevator was broken, so we also had to wait for poor Dad to haul all our stuff up to our third floor room. After that, we hit the beach, which was a short walk from our hotel.

We spent that first afternoon warming up to the whole scene. We mostly played in the sand, venturing into the surf only with Dad or Mom.  Jumping over the waves with Dad was especially fun.

We really enjoyed playing with sand toys Turner and I got for our birthdays earlier this year -- a baking set, a cupcake making set, and a cookie making set. It was really great to be able to play with wet sand. It's much better for making shapes than the pea gravel we have at most of our playgrounds.

Dad dug a huge hole he formed into an easy chair. The hole was so big, it retained its shape the whole time we were in Port Aransas! He thought it was so comfy, he made a smaller kid-size hole/chair for us!

Turner really enjoyed the seagulls and sandpipers that were all around us. He is a bird lover, and that's one of the Port A's claims to fame. Unfortunately, he also discovered that he likes eating sand.

After a quick trip back to the hotel room to get cleaned up, we topped our first day off with a ferry ride on our way out to eat dinner. We drove the car onto a big ferry boat and it took us for a short ride across to Aransas Pass. It really was a quick ride, just long enough for us to get out of the car, look over the side for a minute, then get back into our seats. Mom thought she saw a dolphin, and we definitely saw lots of pelicans diving into the water after fish. They looked like cannonballs when they landed.  We went out for a delicious pizza dinner after the ferry ride.

Sleeping in a hotel room was exciting as always.  Hazel had a little more trouble falling asleep than the rest of us.

Sunday morning we wanted to check out the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center. It is known for its boardwalk out into the cattails and its two resident alligators. When we got there, we were attacked by millions of mosquitos, so we got back in the car to pick up some bug spray. Hazel was really tired since she didn't get much sleep, so Dad took her back to the hotel for a nap.

Meanwhile, Mom, Turner and I headed back out to get mosquito spray and make a second attempt at bird watching. We first tried a fun surf shop. They didn't have what we needed but they did have a funny little shark at the entrance. We ended up learning where the island's grocery store is and enjoyed the chance to check out the town a little before finally going back to look at birds.

The birding center was okay, but it was really geared more toward serious bird watchers. They mostly scowled at us while we were there. The boardwalk was neat. We think we heard the alligator under us, which made Mom scream. We climbed up onto a big perch, where they had a telescope I liked looking through at the far away birds. It was also an opportunity to learn that where there are lots of birds, there is lots of bird poop. Aside from the mosquitos, alligator scare, and poop dodging, it was a very peaceful place.    

Still trying to let Hazel and Dad rest, we next headed to the beach for a nice snack and walk. It was fun, but Turner and I wanted lunch and to get down and dirty in the sand. So we headed back to our hotel, woke everyone up and had lunch. Then Mom tried to get Turner and Hazel to nap, while Dad and I swam in the pool. Eventually, we headed to the beach again.

Sunday was our second day at the beach, and Hazel and I really warmed up to the water. We kept running to the ocean to fill our buckets ourselves, and Hazel sat on the shore, laughing when the waves came up to her. We even walked out far enough for the waves to knock us over!

We also got more adventurous with the sand. Dad buried Hazel and me up to our bellies, which we thought was hilarious.

After returning to the hotel to clean up, we headed out into a huge rainstorm for dinner. We ended up at a really great restaurant, Beaches Cafe and Bakery. We all really liked our food. Hazel, Turner and I cleaned our plates, Dad had a nice salad, and Mom had the best BBQ she's ever eaten. After dinner we celebrated Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, by eating apples and honey.

Monday we had to leave, but we had half the day to enjoy ourselves first, so of course we hit the beach for the last time. We were at our bravest with the water. Even Turner tried to tackle it on his own, much to Mom's terror. We were all pretty sad to leave such a peaceful, fun, beautiful place. But there's no place like home and we were excited to return to Austin Monday night.

To see all our beach photos, click here.