Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Bianca's Birthday Trip, Part 1


This past weekend, we took a special birthday trip. I am celebrating an extra-special birthday this month, and so we took an extended birthday trip; for an entire weekend!

As usual, it was a secret to us kids. But we suspected that water and potentially the beach would be involved as we were told to pack towels, swim suits, etc. So we packed up, and Friday afternoon, we headed out and turned the car southwards. . .

Driving through downtown Houston. I had a pretty good idea where we were headed at this point. J
We stopped for dinner at Chick-fil-A.
Photo Credit: Roma.
After dinner was when it came out where we were going. We saw lots of signs pointing towards Galveston, Texas. We started driving over a bridge. I had no idea Galveston was actually an island! I could tell that beautiful beaches would be part of our weekend!

We arrived at our hotel, which was literally across the street from Stewart Beach. We unloaded our things, and then Dad took us kids on a beach walk.

It was beautiful! Of course we kids couldn’t resist wading. J The Gulf of Mexico feels like bath water this time of year.
Daddy and I enjoying the beach.
Photo Credit: Roma.
Several of us hinted that ice cream would be a nice treat. J We walked across the street to Walgreens and picked out some frozen treats. Then it was back to the hotel and off to bed before a day at the beach on Saturday!
Photo Credit: Mark.
We slept in a bit, but still made it down to breakfast by about 9:00 a.m.
Photo Credit: Betsy.
Then we suited up and walked over to the beach! The weather turned out perfect; temperatures in the 90’s and not a cloud in the sky. We rented a few chairs with umbrellas to house all our things and then headed out to the water!
Photo Credit: Betsy.
 
As I said, the water was very warm and the sand went out really far. We older ones had fun swimming out as far as we could.

Josiah and Mom had fun making some sand sculptures.
Mom’s crocodile and turtle.
We had only intended to stay at the beach a few hours, but we had so much fun that we ended up staying until late in the afternoon. We bought lunch at the Subway across the street and the snack shop on the beach, and enjoyed an afternoon reading, sleeping, swimming, and playing.

Once we were all thoroughly sunburned, we headed back to the hotel. Along the way, we stopped at a playground so Josiah could burn off his remaining steam. The rest of us watched the beach volleyball tournaments going on.

We got back to the hotel and took quick showers and freshened up for dinner. As the birthday girl, I got to pick where we went. After much research and deliberation, I chose . . . you’ll just have to come back tomorrow to find out! J



4 comments:

Debbie said...

Fun in the sun! Happy Birthday Bianca! Morgan wants to go to the beach for her birthday this year too. So, how did you like the Gulf of Mexico? We like the Gulf beaches better than the Atlantic. The sand is white and soft and the water is turquoise and clear.

Oh...aloe plants should grow well in Texas. You can't beat fresh gel for sunburns :-)

Hugs to all!

Stacy said...

We were just there, on the same beach, for the 4th of July. It was packed! Not the same as Florida beaches, but its a beach. The kids had a lot of fun too. Happy Birthday!

7 Eagles said...

I hope y'all have fun celebrating Morgan's birthday at the beach, Aunt Debbie! We enjoyed the Gulf, but I think the water is clearer your way. It looked like Lake Erie, but felt like bath water. :-) The sand was really nice though!

Every time I get a bad sunburn, I swear that I'm going to buy an aloe plant! :-) Maybe I will this time . . .

~Bianca

7 Eagles said...

Wow! That's so neat, Miss Stacy! We really enjoyed the beach, especially after finding out there are not really swimming "beaches" on the lake up here.

~Bianca