Surfside, TX

Last week we were able to go and spend the week with Gabby and Pud at the beach.  Cody was out of town, so the boys and I loaded up nearly everything we owned (I did of course a few things, like beach chairs, but hey we made it) and headed to Surfside, TX.  It is about an hour and a half from Houston, and forty-five minutes from Galveston.  Not a bad drive, and the beach was the best Texas beach I have ever seen.  Little to no seaweed, no tar, mostly blue clear water (I am talking chest deep and I could still see my feet,) and the few jelly fish we did see were navy blue, so easy to spot.  We had a blast.

First day on the beach.  Discovering that the water doesn't taste very good.

Tripp's favorite part of the beach, its just one big sandbox.

The house.

View from the walkway. 

While we were there, we got to see a lot of really neat things.  Garrett was the best a finding beach treasures; he found Kate a pair of sunglasses after she lost hers the first day, and found some kind of fishing thing that Pud said was really cool.  Tripp found an auger shell that still had the animal living in it.  Later I found another one.  Garrett wanted to keep them and bring them home as pets, but we didn't keep the water fresh enough, so they came home with us, but will have to be thoroughly cleaned out before anyone gets to claim them.  Marcus found a hermit crab and the boys loved watching it come in and out of its shell.  We also saw tons of dolphins.  They were most always off the beach from our house, but the one day we went to Galveston and rode the ferry, they were surrounding the ferry.  We probably saw twenty all together around the ferry.  A few of the nights we went down to the water with flashlights and chased crabs.  The first night Pud caught one, and let it pinch him.  After that Tripp was very wary of the crabs.  He told us we needed to go "spank that really rude crab."

My camera fogged up everyday like this, but it did make for an interesting effect on the photo.

Cool dude!

Hermit crab

Poor hermit crab, I bet he was so glad to get back to the ocean.

Look what I found.

See the animal coming out of the shell.

Trying to find his own.

Gabby and Tripp on the ferry.

KateKate and Garrett on the ferry.

The boys buried Pud in the sand, and afterwards had to join in the fun for themselves.

Digging his own grave.

Everyone had fun burying him in the sand.

Many different methods were used.  Here you see the between the legs throwing style.

Next they added water, just to make it really hard for Pud to get up.

Packing it in.

Up from the ground...

Garrett helping him up.

Garrett's turn.

I think Tripp really enjoyed stomping on his brother and not getting into trouble.

"I need help!"

Tripp wanted to be buried, but not by himself.  He opted to be buried with his brother.

Whats a trip to the beach without boogie boards and floats, so one afternoon Tripp and I went and got us some to play on.  Luckily for mom, the alligators came already inflated!  Tripp brought a dump truck, and Garrett just enjoyed digging and building with all his "materials."

Going out to catch some waves.

Kate riding in in style.

One day we were able so see something magical...rain.  It was so pretty, and nice!  We headed over to Lake Jackson to the Sea Center.  It is the largest salt water hatchery in the world.  We got to see lots of cool fish, touch fish, anemones, and crabs, and went on a tour of the hatcheries with a very fact knowing guide. 

Garrett is Mr. Science.  One day we were talking about the hurricane and about the things that can happen after it hits land, and Garrett decided that he wanted to see a real live tornado.  We talked a little about how scary that would be, and that maybe we shouldn't want to see one so bad.  The very next day we actually saw a water spout/tornado from a distance.  He was beyond excited to see one and not have to experience it first hand.

The water spout/tornado is in the circle.

This is as close as I could get and it not get too fuzzy.

Cody was able to fly into Houston on Friday, so we even got to spend the last day on the beach with him.

Going to catch fish, to go fishing.

Pulling in his catch.

As a side note:  Notice the hat Garrett had on, its soaked.  He decided to start wearing it, not for protection from the sun, but because he hates to wash his hair.  He told me that if he wore the hat then his hair would never touch the water therefore he wouldn't have to wash his hair everyday.  Good idea, but no.

FISH!!!

This poor fish was out of the water a little too long, but that didn't matter to Tripp.  He hugged it, loved on it, carried it around everywhere, and was very upset when mom said he couldn't bring it home.  Even more upset when Garrett stole it threw it into the water where it couldn't be found.

Building sand castles.  (See the fish still.)

And again the fish.

Dad "surfing."

Garrett trying to teach dad the right way.

Cody pushing Garrett in.

It was a great trip, and now that we have gotten back home, the boys are already talking about going back again, next week.  Ha ha, I just keep saying we'll see.