Our Trip to South Texas!

Earlier this summer, once we realized that we really weren't getting either of the babies we'd hoped to adopt, we decided to plan a fun vacation to the beach with Isaac.  We wanted to do something special with him and celebrate this precious little boy God has given us. 

We went back and forth about where to go, but finally decided to stay in Texas.  We'd never been to the Corpus Christi/Padre Island area. 

Early Saturday morning, we started the drive toward the coast.  Before the trip, we bought a portable DVD player for the car...Isaac LOVED it!  (Why didn't we buy one sooner?)  We arrived at our condo on Mustang Island just in time to make supper.  A family whose children I taught at Friendship Elementary stayed at this same condo earlier this summer, so it was nice to hear about it from someone who'd actually been there recently. 

 Even though we spent most of our time at the beach, the pools were fantastic!  One was a kiddie pool that was only 2 1/2 feet deep...perfect for Isaac's head to be above water.  :) 

Did I say how much Isaac loved going to the beach?  I wish this picture had turned out better, but when we woke up the first morning, Isaac found his swim diaper, swim trunks, swimming shoes, and shovel and brought them to us (no small feat when living out of suitcases)...we hadn't even eaten breakfast and he was ready to hit the beach!

A big change from the last time he was at the beach!

 Isaac loved to "dig dig dig" at the beach.  (He always says "dig" three times in a row.) 
And, if he was digging, he wanted Dave & I to be digging--or at least holding a "hovel." 
One afternoon, I started taking a walk down the beach while Isaac and Dave were digging in the sand.  After a few minutes, I turned around to find Isaac racing after me with a shovel and yelling "Mama hovel, Mama hovel."  :)

We planned our trip after schools in Texas had started, which ended up being a great idea! The resort was nearly all ours after the first night, and besides a few fishermen, we had the beach to ourselves, too.

When we weren't digging, we were in the water!  It was so warm and shallow quite far out.  After the first day, Isaac was brave enough to walk out on his own.  Dave could get him to laugh so hard when he bounced him up and over the waves!  He started saying "sand," "gull," and "beach" while we were there.

 

Our friend Corrie borrowed the book Heaven Is for Real to us for this trip.  Dave read it in one day!  He couldn't put it down or stop telling me about it.  Isaac was apparently interested, too.  ;)

On Tuesday, we packed everything up at the condo and took the ferry across the bay into Corpus Christi.  We spent the rest of our trip staying at the Omni.  I may have made a slight complaint about our room, and the manager offered us this room (for the same price!)...the views over the bay were gorgeous!

 

While we were in Corpus Christi, we spent half a day at the Texas State Aquarium!  We all loved it!  

Touching the stingrays

Watching the stingrays being fed

Watching the dolphin show



Outside the aquarium--USS Lexington is in the background. 
Dave visited the Lexington while Isaac and I spent the afternoon at the hotel!

Another fun place we visited was Snoopy's, a great restaurant right on the water.

For our last day of vacation, we drove down to Padre Island to the National Seashore.  It was gorgeous!



           We went to Landry's Seafood on our last night in Corpus.  Isaac loved the banana foster dessert!  (Okay, so did we--we ordered two!)

 



 

Wow!  I think this goes down as my longest post ever!  But, I wanted to write down all our memories while they're still fresh in my mind.  My heart is so full after such a wonderful week with my family.