Day at the Beach

I was blessed with a fun client this month- a library near the beach hired me to perform in their town. Since my travel fees are the same whether I drive alone or whether I take along the entire family, we decided to have Nathan take the day off work and join us for a family excursion. What a treat to have a free family trip!

We've lived in Texas for ten years, but have never taken our family to a Texas beach. Appalling, I know. There's no excuse, really. So away we went to create fun memories. 

After my performance, we all drove to a pleasant beach in Rockport, Texas. The beach here is raked daily, so there is no washed-up seaweed, jelly fish, or lingering trash. It's also located in a very shallow lagoon, so there are no rough waves to contend with. (Matthew had a nasty encounter with a fierce wave the last time we were playing on a beach in Delaware. He came out of the water with a scraped face and very bloody nose- no fun!) 

We loved how gentle the water was here, and the lagoon was very shallow so we could wade out into the water for a hundred yards and still have water only four feet deep. We really loved this beach and decided we simply must come back again in the future. It was SO family-friendly, dotted with playgrounds, picnic tables and shade umbrellas. 

The kids played in the water for hours, riding the waves and catching all sorts of fascinating crabs along the sandy ocean floor. They begged and begged to take home some hermit crabs they caught, but luckily for the crabs the children agreed to set them free again. 

The birds here were a riot. They had a keen eye for anything that could possibly be edible. There wouldn't be a bird in sight until we opened a container of food. Then the air would be filled with dozens of seagulls, hovering right over our heads and waiting for any chance to steal a bite of dinner.

We brought out some stale bread to feed the flock, and had great fun letting the birds eat out of our hands. I always love close encounters with wild animals (although it's debatable how 'wild' seagulls are). It was almost magical watching the birds hover right over our heads. We couldn't stop laughing....even though after a while it was slightly creepy having so many birds watching you for their dinner. 

Nathan and the Big Kids all ventured out to play in the ocean, and Joseph was terrified of the water. So I stayed on the shore to play with him. We set out to build sandcastles for a happy hour. We built entire villages of little sand houses, then Joseph would growl like a monster and stomp all the houses down. He would act like a T-Rex in a growly voice, then switch to a teeny high-pitched voice to represent the villagers and say, "Aaaah! Run away!"

Later Sarah joined the fun and helped make several sand towers for Joseph to stomp down. He thought this was the best game ever. 

Nathan fired up a grill and we feasted on a picnic dinner we had carefully packed that morning. It was a bit of a trick eating dinner without losing any food to the daring seagulls, but luckily they weren't too aggressive. They would only close in if we weren't watching them. Here Joseph is keeping a careful grip on his last bite of dinner while the birds watch and wait. He'd walk away from them, but the flock would steadily follow him anywhere he went. 

We enjoyed beach-combing together, collecting pretty shells as if it were a grand scavenger hunt. Daniel and Matthew found the most lovely shells of the day. 

I am so thankful we finally had a chance to go to the beach, and we really enjoyed every bit of our stay. We played and played for hours until sunset, then started the long 4-hour trek back home. I wish we lived a bit closer to the ocean and could do this more regularly, but I'm immensely thankful we were able to visit even once. Days like this are such a privilege. I'm very grateful we were able to share this experience together and create memories. Life is such an adventure, what a blessing we get to share it!