A weekend away

A FABULOUSLY Fun in the sun weekend away!

One of the many creative artists

At the last minute we decided to head to the beach for a long weekend away. This was super exciting for many reasons:
1. Our first weekend adventure in Texas
2. Visiting the beach
3. Mini vacation
4. Lots of family time
When we first moved here last May, we had heard wonderful things
about Port Aransas and their annual Sand Castle Contest held late Spring.
This was the 15th year of the contest.

I had written it down on the calendar that it was sometime in the late Spring.
I finally got around to checking out the when it was
and it was in 10 days.
We decided if we could get reservations that were affordable
we would go. It all worked out and we are so glad we made it happen!

Waiting patiently for the ferry.
We waited 2 hours for a 10 minute ride.

Was it worth the wait??
The look on these faces says it was.
Especially since we saw dolphins swim by.

WELCOME!

Amazing what can be done with sand!

BEACH TIME
We arrived mid afternoon and the kids could not wait to go to the beach.
We quickly checked in, got changed and hit the beach.
The Gulf of Mexico beaches are quite different that CA beaches.
The water is warm, you can walk out really far into the water without it being too deep,
but having to go through lots and lots of seaweed first. sorry no pics:(
(being 9 months pregnant I could only take it so far)

Annabel trying out a Big Girl bed.
This face tells it all!
However, sitting with her for 45 minutes to fall asleep is not so fun.

William was equally excited to be sleeping in a bunk bed and sleeping across from his sister.
It was sweet to hear them chat when we said "good night" to each other.

However, we learned that Annabel is NOT ready for a Big Girl bed yet.
It is far to temping to get out.

Family
Fetching water for our own sand castle

Building our own sand castles

We need wet sand. William loved walking out into the water to fill his bucket.
Annabel loved having a bucket filled with water to dump but would not fetch it herself.
A Pirate Ship of course!

Happy beach girl

Running fast

One of the many sand castles.
The castles were AMAZING!
It was crazy to see what the different sculptors did with sand.

The sculptors started with a mound of sand, barrels of water and tools.

The "artists" had all kinds of ordinary tools, paint brushes, chop sticks,

straws, water bottles, blueprints, and such to help create their piece.

As the hours went went by you saw the sand being transformed
into incredible pieces of art.
It was really neat to see each day the progression of the castles.
Friday- the start of the contest we saw mounds of sand
Saturday- frames were up and starting to see what it was going to be

Sunday- final touches

Unfortunately, we could not stay to see which ones won.
We had to hit the road.

William's favorite- a Pirate sand castle

A break from the beach- the down town was your typical tourist attractions.
This is a store front. The kids loved the sharks mouth,

Getting swallowed by the shark,

And sliding out the stomach of the shark.

Arr

Ahoy Mattie

The kids really liked this octopus "armature" sand castle

The creativity was incredible!

Daddy and his girl!

In front of William's favorite sand castle- the pirate ship of course

Final hours at the beach before heading home!
Fun times in the ocean
Splashing!
The kids playing so well together. :)

Too bad you can't read the sign
"Flying lessons 2 am"

We needed a pit stop and Ryan claims this is the BEST BBQ in Texas.
So we stopped for a "snack" aka we all had meals.
Oh My... this was so good!
VANS BBQ- on the way to Corpis Christy- a MUST stop if you are ever passing through.
This was a total "whole in the wall" but get past that and
have the best BBQ food. They serve your food on wax paper.

YUMMY!!!!
We had a FABULOUS time and the kids keep asking to go back.

I think this maybe "an annual" trip.