Texas Vacation: Day 2

When our friends invited us to join them for a week long vacation at a beach house in South Texas, we were beyond excited! When we left our house, it was 37 degrees and snowing!!!  22 hours later, we were soaking up sunshine on the beaches of South Padre Island, Texas! It was a balmy 89 degrees with a low of 77.  Pure Paradise!

Most folks think "wild spring break" destination when they think of South Padre Island, but we practically had the beach to ourselves! The water was warm, the waves were perfect, and the beaches were clean.  It's the most laid back, family atmosphere I've experienced. 

Nothing says "relaxation" like having warm sand between your toes.

We started off our beach trip with a lesson on building sandcastles from a professional sand sculptor.  Who knew that  you could do so much with sand? After we learned the tricks of the trade, we put our new skills to good use. We had the rest of the trip to perfect our new art form.

The best thing about vacationing with our friends is that we all have kids who are the same ages.  That means that the kids always had a buddy or two to play with.  Whether they were swimming, building sand castles, riding scooters, or just hanging out, we never had to worry about them.  They got along splendidly, and they stayed out of our hair.  It was a brilliant plan! Our family had the downstairs house, and our friends had the upstairs home.  Our kids were together 24 hours a day, and had a blast!

Buddies.

Inseparable.

Waiting for a wave.

 Totally cute!

Building sand castles with intricate canal systems and moats.

Boogie boarding and body surfing.

The bay side of the island is very calm, but we stayed on the gulf side, where the waves were terrific for boogie boarding.  The ocean was so warm that it felt like bath water.  Our kids stayed in the waves for hours and hours every day.  We had to yank them out of the water against their will at dinner time. I'm convinced they would swim from dawn to dusk every day if we would have let them.

The island has gorgeous sunsets, too!