The First Day...S. Padre 2011

There were shells to be collected in an empty pretzel goldfish bag, waves to jump over, sand to play with and the time to soak in the last of the sun before it set that night...the great thing about the beach is the sun feels like it's looking for some overtime! The days feel longer than regular days. Even though we had flown in that afternoon, we rushed throwing things out of suitcases and finding temporary homes for suits, hats and flip flops just so we could run down to this...









We had the best week at the beach...it was a week that we all needed and we were so excited to take. We realize that when most of your vacations are to head back home it doesn't leave a ton of time for just the five of us to get away and to spend time together without distractions from home...AND where better to spend it than at the beach?? We headed to South Padre and got to wake up to the ocean sights and sounds every morning. Tim turned to me our first morning home as we were trudging about half asleep trying to get the coffee started and open our eyes above a squint and says, I sure wish I was looking out back into the ocean instead of a pool that just screams for attention and some cleaning right now!





I learned my kids are BEACH kids for sure! I learned that Carter doesn't so much like the ocean, scared to death unless he is in my arms swatting the waves, but loves the sand. Brooklyn's skin is so mine, lighter and doesn't tan so easy and she gets pink cheeks no matter how much sunscreen we put on and Miss K is the complete opposite. She tans like her daddy that golden brown color that is made for the beach. Kennedy loves to boogie board and heading out in the waves with her brought back so many memories of growing up on the beach with family and boogie boards and big waves. Brooklyn loved this no seaweed beach and the way her face lit up when she caught a first glimpse of the "beach with not much seaweed" told me this was going to be a good week...I think 4 is a magical age for the beach for sure...something happens to all my kids from 3 to 4 and they go from hating the beach to loving it. I learned how much stuff it takes to head to the beach with a family of five and how long it takes to get that stuff together. In my head I thanked my parents for the countless summers and our own trips back and forth from the beach and all the crap that it took to spend the day there...I even took a picture of Tim hauling it all just for my dad!

There are so many more pictures, fun pictures, memories, stories and these were only a few from the first afternoon. A all to familiar comment around this household this week is WE WANT TO GO BACK TO PADRE!