Not Just Another Day at the Beach!

All summer long the commercial that's says...

'Wanna get away?' rang in my head! And my resounding answer was, Hells YES!!!! So that's just what we did! We pushed pause on our crazy life, we set aside emotional happenings for a brief moment, turned a blind eye to the 'to do' list, and let the machine catch all our calls! The car was packed and we were OUTTA HERE!!!!! The boys were pumped and I was beyond giddy... If you didn't already read, I have been dreaming of the beach basically all summer and schemed and plotted to make our trip a reality and... Man, was it a good reality check!!!

Sometimes when the world around me doesn't make sense or gets up to my eyeballs in stress, I mentally allow myself to wish... not a selfish wish, just a simple 'wouldn't it be nice' wish for something or someone or someplace to take over, come in and give us the relief we are needing! This trip was my wish come true! 

3 days of just my family surrounded by sunshine, swift breezes, good friends and no where to be other than where we wanted to be!!

The 8 hour drive was totally a drop in the bucket when I saw our boy's eyes light up as we crossed the first bridge and peeked at the ocean around us. The ferry ride to the island alone was worth the 64 turn arounds I had to do in the car to hand drinks or snacks, to attempt an en route potty break, and to break up bickering fights... seriously I don't get car sick or anything! For real, when we all caught a glimpse of the water and the sun bouncing off of it... car sick or not, I was all in! We weren't even there yet and I was already mentally planning our next trip!! Once we got to the condo the kids immediately dove into the pool, the parents unloaded and fired up the grill... 

We were on vaca and there wasn't a moment to waste!!

After a fun night of condo-ish activities we hunkered down to prep for the beach day ahead... BUT the kids were so excited to see the water and feel the sand we folded and decided to take a night ride! And because I am a novice camera woman, the pics were no bueno and mucho blurry!!

Moving on...

Day 2

We hit the sand, and this time I had sunlight and cloudless skies on my side so it was all clear for mass picture taking to commence! And, boy did it!! We set up camp right by the water, turned up the tunes and basically sat with our *SSes in the sand and our toes in the water for the remainder of the day, and into the night! Vaca greatness...

Between snacks, drinks (most adult in flavor), and good songs, time just flew! Before we knew it we looked up and it was 5 o'clock! How can you not get lost in the nothingness bliss that is vacation?! For me that's what I look forward to most... not knowing what time it is, and when I do realize what time it is, saying 'daaaaannng it's that time already?!?!' Sometimes life just calls for a time-out, a moment or series there of, where you can be your own ruler of time and space! For me, I am that ruler when I am hanging at the beach with those I love the most!!

 

The boys loved it! Between digging in the sand, body surfing and sand castle creations, I did not hear one 'I'm bored' or 'what are we doing next'. I swear if we ever get the chance to live near the ocean, I will have my house packed up so fast the neighbors will never know we left!!! But for now I will just simmer in the thoughts of our next trip and how we can 'one up' what we did this year!!

Continuing on..

With our shoulders sunburnt and our bags full of sand, we were tired and lazy, but hungry! It was time to get our grub on... Another part of vaca that is almost as good as playing in the ocean!! The kids were starved and the parents were thirsty so we settled on a little seafood bar around the corner from our condo!

Perfect match for what we were craving... relaxed atmosphere, kid friendly and ice cold beverages!

 Ok, so the adults were really thirsty!!!

Day 3

Just so we wouldn't burn our beach babies out, we decided to take a sight seeing hiatius from the surf and head into Corpus to visit the USS Lexington. It was well worth the break from the beach. I felt the reoccurring urge to sing "highway to the danger zone..." in my best Kenny Loggins voice the minute we stepped on board! 

It was so Top Gun... all I needed was some aviator glasses!

 

Once all the sights had been seen and we said our last Top Gun quote, we left the floating city behind and headed for our little part of the island! It was time to shake the sand out of our bathing suits and hit the pool.. backyard BBQ time!!! There is nothing better than having like minded friends to vaca with... the kids were finally hitting their 'getting along' stride and we were in full relaxation mode! Bring on the fresh crab, cold brews, tunes and little ones laughing the night away!

Day 4
Last Day :(
For our last hooray, we of course went oceanside again! Although we were on a time crunch needing to get back, we made sure to soak up every last sun ray and salty wave we could! I'm sure many people who are ending their vacations have said that the ending is always bitter sweet, but that wasn't even close to being true for us! What lay ahead for us at home was just bitter... nothing sweet about it, so heading home was just plain bitter for us!
None the less, we made the best of the time we had left...

 
To say this trip was great doesn't do it justice. In the middle of stress and loss, this trip was our refuge. It gave us a chance to step away as a family and regroup, to only be stronger when we got back... And, did we ever need to be strong! I love time as a family when you know you are making memories that will last forever. And I love it even more when I know we are going to do it again soon...
Until next year!

Always - Abbey