These Happy Golden Years

This is truly a great time in our lives.  Our kids are a joy to be around (most of the time) and easy to take just about anywhere (most of the time)! 

John was able to take a few unexpected days off work, so we took the kids down to South Padre Island for a short vacation.  It's supposed to be the best beach in Texas, and we loved it.  The water was warm, the sand was fine, the beach was long, and the surf was shallow and safe.  Perfect for a family vacation.

We did a few "touristy" things too.  First, we picked up smashed pennies at every machine we could find!  If you haven't done this with your kids, I highly recommend it.  We found penny wallets at the Oregon Zoo last year and collected smashed pennies all the way to Texas.  Now I just look at the website, www.pennycollector.com

every time we are traveling somewhere different.  They like getting a penny from all the places we visit.

Next, we stopped at the Port Isabel lighthouse, which I believe is the only remaining lighthouse in Texas.  I expected a tour and stuff like you get at the Oregon Coast lighthouses--NOPE!  Just pay your nine bucks and go up for the view.  Oh well, the view of the bay and South Padre was nice.

Port Isabel Lighthouse, Texas

Seth at the top of the lighthouse

All of us, in the heat, at the top of the lighthouse.

We decided the take the kids on a Dolphin Watch tour. The bay around the backside of South Padre Island has about 300 year round dolphin residents. We didn't see as many as we had hoped, but except for Sea World, I've never been that close to a dolphin!

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Cute Family on the Dolphin Boat

Beautiful Hannah with South Padre Island in the background

On the way down from Austin we stopped at Cabela's (who can resist?) and bought John a set of binocs for his upcoming birthday.  We all used them and loved them! 

On the boat, the guys put a net out the back for awhile and trolled along the bottom of the bay so they could bring up some sea life for the kids to look at.  The depth of the bay averages about 3 1/2 feet!  I couldn't believe it.  I think it's 3 feet from the guy's depth finder, but his boat is probably about 3 feet in the water, so we figure it's maybe more like 6 feet, but STILL!  That is one shallow bay!

Some kind of spiney fish.  The pelicans eat them, but they have to be careful to eat them head first, or the spines get caught in their throats.  The pelicans catch them and then let them swim around in their pouches until they face the right way to be swallowed.

A lizard fish.  Bottom-feeders, black meat, not good to eat because they eat garbage.

Striped puffer fish.  This guy was MAD when they pulled him up, and he was puffed up all big and round.

And finally, the DOLPHINS! We really didn't get any great pictures of these guys--these are the best of the bunch. Dolphins feed in pods. Here is a group of five, I think.

The South Padre skyline and beach from the Gulf of Mexico.

Seth in heaven in the sand.

Me pointing out what I thought might be a jellyfish.  I've heard stories about the Gulf of Mexico.  Turned out to be trash, but you can't be too careful when swimming with your babies.

I like to call this, "Man, I got saltwater up my nose, and it hurts!"

"Now I got saltwater in my eyes!"

Opie the Kite, which we bought in Newport, made a reappearance in Texas!

View down the beach--see the ROWS of beach umbrellas?  The Texas sun is BRUTAL.

"Hey, people, let me tell you 'bout my best friend...."

A real sandcastle--not built by us, but admired by all.

Attempting to build a sandcastle.

This bird seriously got close enough to get some good pictures.

View from the lighthouse. 
 The bridge over to South Padre is the longest bridge in Texas at 2.9 miles, and is called the Queen Isabella bridge.

We truly had a lovely weekend with our kids.  I wish I had pictures of them helping to haul everything in and out of the hotel, sitting quietly at meals, watching "Phineas and Ferb" in the evenings on Disney Channel, and calmly sharing a bed.  Someday I will look back on these pictures and be grateful for this little window of our lives, and they will bring me joy.  It's all about the memories, isn't it?