Sand Castles for Fun

Nathan and I left all our responsibilities behind for a few days while we ran away to South Padre Island (on the southernmost tip of Texas, right next to Mexico) to celebrate our 10-year anniversary. 

(I know- our ten year anniversary was technically last year. We couldn't run away at that time though- Diego was still too little to be left behind. So technically this would be our 10.8 year anniversary. Don't bog me down in little details like that.)

One of my focuses on this trip was to see how many items I could cross off my bucket list. 

(Just in case you're wondering, we did a dozen items on my list. Yay!) 

Hidden among my bucket list was to build my first sand castle on the beach.

(Did you know I had never built a sand castle before?).

Check out our first try effort:

We worked on this baby for a looooong time. 

Are you impressed?

Do you notice anything wrong with the picture below?

Look closely.

Did you catch the impossible problem?

There's no way he could be stepping on those two towers. 

One tower is from the back wall and one tower is located on the front wall.

Not happening.

You're right. It's a trick. 

 Here is the true perspective on our sand castle:

Beensy.

That's what we get when our only building tools are a plastic dixie cup, a spoon, and our smuggled ice container from the hotel room. (No worries, the ice box was safely returned home and was not harmed in the making of our castle.)

The trick photography was really fun to arrange though.

I really loved living near the beach for a week. The ocean has its own captivating magic that entranced my heart and made it so hard to leave. 

We missed our children dearly (we were constantly saying, "Oh, the kids would love to see this!"), but I was secure and at peace knowing they were being watched over by my angelic mom-in-law. She's a much better mother than me, so I knew the kids would scarcely notice my absence for a few days. 

(Did I mention that she is in the middle of moving across the country, but she dropped everything and came to serve my family? Words are useless to describe her. She's unbelievable. Everyone who knows her adores her. If I can just become like her I would consider my life a success.)

I have so much to share about our trip and the thoughts I had. 

 My spirit was full of joy to spend all my waking moments with my best friend.

It was wonderfully rejuvenating.