South Padre 2014

We left San Antonio Saturday morning and drove down to South Padre Island. 

Isabella napped with her new friend on the way down. We stopped for lunch and pushed on. The kids did well road tripping!
After we unloaded at the beach house we headed down to the water.

She was freaked out by the water at first. She said she didn't want to go near it and was going to play in the sand all week.

After talking about it for a while she said she was afraid of stepping on a jellyfish like she did a couple years ago.  We told her she didn't have shoes on the time that happened, and that's why she had shoes on this time.

And that seemed to take care of that fear for the rest of the week.

We often ask at the end of the day what our favorite parts of the day were...and most days she said: playing with her cousins. She loved spending time with them!

Dip in the pool before bed Saturday night...

 

 Sunday lunch at  Pirates' Landing

Sunday naps. We napped pretty much every day, so nice!

Monday night my parents kept all the kids so we could have a kid free dinner out. 6 kids with 4 being under 4 this year! 

We went to a place we hadn't been to in a couple years. I loved this sushi boat to serve our sushi!

Tuesday was cloudy day.  The whole week was about 10 degrees cooler than it normally is.

And Wednesday it was cloudy again with a huge rainstorm and a tornado on the mainland. That night we ate at our favorite burger place- Will and Jacks, so good!

It was warm and sunny Thursday. We took Benjamin back to the beach after not taking him for a few days. He wasn't very keen on the water, but was happy to play in the sand and with a bucket of water to splash in.

The beach was gorgeous this day! Blue, and very clear, and finally a calmer, yellow flag day after every day having a red flag. Mom kept the kids for us to go out on a lunch date. We went back to Manuel's- and it was just as good as I remembered.

That evening dad took Isabella to the beach to fly a kite. She was excited!

Our house for the week.

The last day was a perfect beach day!
The water was clear to where I could see my feet even out with the water to my shoulders. Mom kept the kids for us so we could go out and swim for a while on our own.

At Harpoons- A new place we tried for dinner Friday. Definitely worth going back to!

Last night before heading home in the morning.

Our family has changed a lot in the 9 years we've been taking this trip together!

 Chickfila in San Antonio 

We headed out Saturday morning after one last stop for a milky way latte for me from Yummies. Driving all the way home in one day makes for a super long day. Thankfully the kids were real troopers. We had a couple rough patches before Izzy's afternoon nap, and Benjamin's bedtime, but they didn't last long and they did so well otherwise for such a long day. I look forward to more trips with them. I grew up taking lots of long road trips and it was always a time for great conversation, connection, and singing.
Some of my favorite things from the week: some quiet morning runs, naps, some reading time, playing with the kids at the beach, milky way lattes, enjoying the ocean, and just being able to be together. I wish we weren't so far from the ocean. I love it so much! Til next time...