South Padre Island, Texas

It's been over a month since Grandma and Grandpa went to the beach with us, and they haven't nagged me too much about getting the pictures up.

When I was about 14, my grandparents bought a share in a condo down near Newport, Oregon.  My cousins and brothers and sister and I all spent lots of vacations down there--together, separately, with or without Grandma and Grandpa.  We all have very fond memories--going into Newport for chowder and candy, searching for treasures in the tidepools down on the beach, watching storms through the big picture windows, learning to swim in the pool, feeding buckwheat pancakes to the seagulls from the balcony, and wandering all over the property with Grandpa.  After I got married and had kids, I was fortunate to have a few more trips to the condo with my own family.  What I loved most was the feeling that we had all the time in the world when we were at the beach.

I want my kids to have memories of the beach like that, so we invited my parents to come to South Padre with us.  I found a condo right on the beach, and we spent three days on the beach, going into town for lunch, and swimming in the pool.  However, I did not know my dad liked playing in the water!  It was always too cold at the Oregon coast.  I was surprised to see him spend hours letting the surf crash over him, but the water in the Gulf of Mexico is like bathwater.  We always say, "Hey, it isn't Hawaii, but the beaches are sandy, and the water is warm."  Going down after Labor Day also meant we had the beach almost to ourselves.

And it felt like we had all the time in the world.

This is how John likes to vacation--holding the kite for the kids.

Ellie kept practicing her "pirate face."  ARRGGGH!

I had never seen pelicans in real life before, but they are all over the

South coast.