My first beach post was sadly lacking in photos because the camera and computer were giving each other the cold shoulder. Now they have kissed and made up, so we can move ahead.

Bethany loved every minute of the day.  She was equally content on somebody’s hip or on her own two feet.  She was in the water, out of the water, watching us contentedly from her shady towel-tent, and napping while the rest of us played some more.  She helped herself to an endless supply of animal crackers and sand-encrusted watermelon.

As you might have expected, The Boy was a crazy man.  He ran endlessly up and down the beach, playing in the water, chasing the birds, taking care of Bethany, and smearing wet sand onto anybody who didn’t see him coming. 

Rachael was as sweet as ever, floating and bobbing happily on the waves all day long.

The rest of the kids were a blur.  They chased wildlife and waves, built sandpeople, buried each other, wrinkled their noses at the pit toilets.

Quote of the day: “Whaddya mean the bathrooms are too far?  You can pee in this pool!”

I thought that was pretty clear, but maybe not.  The Boy still came to me when he had to go.  I told him he could go in the ocean, so he stood on the sand, dropped his pants, and went.  That boy.

I asked you to check this post again later for more photos because we couldn’t upload from the camera til we got home.  Now there are so many great photos, I can’t bring myself to bury them in an old post.  They’re in a new one! 

Today was our first-ever family trip to the gulf coast.  We did go the beach once in Oregon 7 years ago, but it was spring and COLD. I don’t think anybody actually touched the water, and we only stayed for an hour or two.  It was beautiful and frigid.

Today was different: not as beautiful, but the weather was perfect.  Lest you think I’m complaining about the beauty levels, let me just say that oceans are like pizza and a few other good things in life: even when they’re bad, they good.  And this was not a bad beach!

We aspired in a laid-back sort of way to leave the house at 6:30 this morning, but we didn’t actually pull out until a little after 8.  That’s ok.  We only had a 3 1/2 hour drive, so before lunch time we were pulling into Mustang Island State Park.

We packed a lot of food, but I think everybody forgot to eat.  We’re bringing home nearly as much as we took.  There was just too much to do!

The beach was nearly empty and we were able to drive right down to the water’s edge – as close as we dared.  There were just a few other vehicles, spaced at intervals of several hundred feet.  As soon as the engine was shut off, the kids were out the door and gone.

The water was perfect, and so was the weather.  We swam and waded, sat on the beach watching the wildlife, splashed in self-made pools.

We realized we forgot to apply sunblock.

The wildlife was amazing!  Each time a wave hit, the shore was absolutely covered with what looked like tiny polished agates of varying colors.  They were pink, orange, purple, blue, yellow, green.  But as we watched, they all disappeared beneath the surface of the sand.  They were tiny clams!

We saw chipmunks.

We caught shrimp and hermit crabs.  We spotted and avoided moonjellies in the water, and rescued them on the shore.

We realized that we had still forgotten to apply sunblock to the redhead.

We watched as graceful terns and huge, majestic brown pelicans dove for fish all around us.  We were surrounded and stalked by gulls and more terns.  We stalked a great blue heron, who casually lifted off when Megan was just 7 feet away.  We saw what we think were varieties of sandpipers and/or snipes – can’t wait to get home and check the field guide!

Near the end of the day, Megan found a small but complete sand dollar.

And then it was time to go home.