Family Vacation in South Padre

For our Christmas present, my parents wanted all of the kids and spouses to go to South Padre Island, on the border of Texas, this summer. We decided to go Father's Day Weekend. My little brother had arranged for us to rent a beach house from a coworker in Port Isabel, Brianna arranged for us all to fly free per Southwest, and my mom and I took care of rental cars. Because we were standby, we split up and half of us went on Wednesday afternoon and the rest on Thursday. On Wednesday night, we stopped at a gas station and I found my new favorite drink.

 After picking up the rest of the family on Thursday, we got our rental cars and headed for the beach.

   We stopped at a watermelon and pineapple stand on the side of the road.

 Once we got to the house, we just wanted to hang out.

We headed to the beach and were met with rushing waves and cool water. Something inside of us told us to find the surfer within and ride the waves. We went to the closest Wal-Mart and bought boogie boards. I wouldn't say we were the greatest surfers, but we had a blast doing it. It was definitely a workout. My abs and thighs were sore and I had bruises on my stomach and legs.

 Since we had a few watermelons, we thought corking one would be a great idea. None of us had ever corked a watermelon before, so we all watched in amazement. Mom and Joshua decided to just cut one up and eat it the old-fashioned way.

Chris got the urge to fish off the dock outside the house. He didn't catch anything as he later found out that the bay was very shallow.

 When we needed a break from "surfing" we made a sand fort. 

On our last night, we went to Mass at Our Lady Star of the Sea in Port Isabel. It was a beautiful church. I had never seen a church with a seashell and ocean mural behind the altar. I told Brianna that she should have had her beach-themed wedding at this church.

Our last meal was at a seafood restaurant called Daddy's. It was delicious and we all enjoyed our last night at South Padre Island.

I hope that we can do this again. Even though we had our squabbles (what family vacation doesn't), it was nice to get away and be together.