South Padre Isalnd 2017

Several months ago, my parents showed us pictures of the place they would be staying in this winter during their trip south. It was a pretty fantastic 4 bedroom house across the street from the beach in South Padre Island. Wowzas! They sure lucked out with this fabulous find. We were excited for their adventures.

Fast forward one month: they were not only inviting us down to their place for a vacation, they gave our entire family the trip for Christmas gifts! To say our family was excited doesn't even come close to how everyone felt! We narrowed down dates, and though it wasn't going to coincide with our (ridiculously late) spring break this year, we jumped on the opportunity to spend 6 days in the sun!

My mom and I started coming up with activities and adventures, Ryan mapped out a plan to golf a couple of times (nervous from his recent knee surgery) and of course, we knew we had to spend time daily at the beach!

Last time I brought the kids to SPI was in 2015 and it was C.O.L.D. Not the ideal temps. So when our forecast this time was low 80's, we packed our swim suits and shorts and set off to catch some much needed Vitamin D.

We found all sorts of creatures on the beach: from tiny crabs to small oysters that squirmed when we would open them which only caused me to scream! We collected sea shells and Lincoln tossed shell after shell back into the ocean. Watching him play on the beach was always the most entertaining. The first two times we went, he ran in and out for over an hour, never stopping. He was having the time of his life!

My mom found some touch tanks for us to visit and the girls got brave and held some hermit crabs and touched this "big huge frog" (aka: turtle). Lincoln would get close and then run away and squeal that it was chasing him. It moved faster than we thought and after the girls got a chance to feed him some lettuce, he did actually 'chase' Regan around the small room ;)

We saw beautiful sunrises come out of the ocean from my parents deck. And were lucky enough to see just as beautiful sunsets. The island is all of 3 blocks wide, and the sun rises on one side over the Gulf and sets on the other side over the bay. It's pretty darn incredible to watch.

One of our big adventures was to go horseback riding on the beach. Because the minimum age was 6, we had to leave the men behind with Lincoln. My mom and I braved any fears inside of us and saddled up beside the girls for our 2 hour ride. I'll be honest, we were pretty scared for this. I blame my fear on the fact that I've had patients with serious injuries following horse accidents. And it sure didn't help that my horse was afraid of the tide and would scamper away when water hit her hoofs; and then would head-butt the horses in front of her only to be kicked in retaliation. Let's just say it was NOT a peaceful ride for me!

On the contrary, the girls were in their glory! We lucked out in that their horses were buddies and walked easily side by side the entire time. They giggled at the end, saying how scared they initially were but how  much fun it was. Sidney announced "when we come back next time, we HAVE to do this again!".... 

...I responded that Ryan would be taking them next time :)

While us girls were riding along the beach, Lincoln was able to take a nice pony ride in the pen and play/feed some barn animals. He loved his horse and does not want you to tell him it was a pony...."no!, my big huge horse!". Ok Lincoln. He got to ride around until his horse was tired and decided it was done.

It's almost a requirement to stop at the iconic sign entering the island and take a picture. To get to the island, you cross a 3 mile bridge and this sign is the first thing you see.

While we were there, I climbed up on top with the kids to take a picture of the sun setting over the bay side. Boy are there some pretty sights!

As a tourist destination, there are stores upon stores with all sorts of beach paraphernalia including clothing, swim suits, toys and boogie boards. Most stores have normal doors to enter, but this one caught Lincoln's attention and he wouldn't quit talking about it until we stopped one evening. He insisted it was going to be a shark ride, despite our pleas to inform him otherwise. At least he wasn't disappointed when he realized it was just an entrance to another store! He loved all of the teeth and being inside the shark!

Sidney saw a sign for sushi somewhere along our adventure and just had to try sushi one night. So we picked up some California rolls and brought them home. Her and Regan sat there, with fear and excitement written all over their faces, just trying to muster up the courage to try it. Eventually they took a tiny bite and announced they were finished and never planned to eat it again. But at least they tried!

Beaches make for some fun backdrops and both my mom and I brought our cameras to the beach almost every time so we could take more pictures. Sorry for the beach overload!....

The short walk from grandma/papa's house to the beach included this trail from the sidewalk onto the sand. Most days when we got to this point, Lincoln (and the girls too!) would take off running not looking back feeling so eager to start their fun!

I honestly think that Regan could have spent all day everyday playing in the water. She learned to body surf, which prompted us to buy a boogie board and then she learned to boogie board! I'm thankful that she would take a break every once in a while to play with Lincoln in the tide.

We dug holes and built sand castles on the shore. The only thing I wouldn't do is bring snacks. Those seagulls are relentless and would practically sit on your shoulder if you were eating. Multiple times I could be found dodging birds, hiding behind whoever was closest to me; those things give me the willies!!

On our final night, we grabbed dinner outside at Louie's and as we wrapped up our meal, a staff grabbed the kiddos and led them, along with a plate of scrapes, to the railing offering them to feed the catfish in the bay. We thought maybe one or two catfish....

boy were we wrong!! There had to be hundreds of them-actually a little gross!

We caught Lincoln lounging one morning on the deck. No one is really sure what he was doing out there, a truck in each hand, talking to the sky and making sure we left him alone. I snuck this picture of him through the window as he basked in the sun.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for bringing us down to your winter getaway!! We had the best time and none of us wanted to leave!