Spring Break

We wanted to do something different for Spring Break this year instead of do our usual Disneyland trip.  Of course, Ethan wanted to go to Hawaii.  Ha ha... like we can afford Hawaii.  I insisted on someplace warm and a beach.  Jonathan wanted a place with no family.  (Sorry family!)  Blythe just wanted to be fed and entertained.  So of course this meant Texas.

Yes, Texas.

We first thought we would stay in Galveston.  There is beach there and an aquarium, and all kinds of really fun family things to do.  But then we considered a smaller beach town outside of Galveston in order to avoid all the busy-ness that can be part of a tourist town.  Luckily, a friend of mine suggested a cute little beach town called Surfside and that's where we went.

It was beautiful.  We had so much fun and it was a perfect place to spend our week.  Through a series of fortunate events, we were able to rent a beach house on the beach and more or less had the beach to ourselves for the entire week. It was pretty busy over the weekend, but that was to be expected.  The sand was far more powdery than we are used to from California beaches, and the water was much warmer.  I don't know if that is because it is the Gulf of Mexico or if it is because the time of year.  I don't have any other experience to compare it to.  

Ethan had such a great time and spent his days digging for crabs, finding seashells (sorry Texas, we have them all now) and shaking crabs and shrimp from the seaweed.  He was a genuine Robinson Carusoe.  Blythe wasn't sure of it all at first, but quickly grew to love the sand.  She would take fistfuls of it and throw it to her heart's content.  She definitely hated the water though.  Both of my boys would spend hours jumping in the waves and looking for dolphins -- which they found most days than not.

And the girls?  We laid in the sun and chit-chatted.  Blythe never strayed far from me, unusual from her usual adventurous self.  She wasn't feeling well for the week, and would literally cling to my skirts.  I had to cook with her sitting between my feet.  

We did go to the Galveston Aquarium, which both kids just absolutely loved.  Ethan could watch the sharks forever and the penguins, of course, are always a favorite.  The aquarium there is very impressive and we much enjoyed it.  We would recommend it to anyone who might be traveling through.

I was also able to meet up with a good friend of mine and spend a few hours with her while the boys went off to the Delorian Factory (you read that right).

It was, by far, one of our best vacations we have ever had.  I am so grateful we were able to go.  We came home well-rested, a little tanner, a little burnt, a little more freckled, and much more sandy than when we left.  And now we're counting down the days until school's out for summer!