A couple of weeks ago, Erik was able to get a few days off of work so we headed to Corpus Christi for a short vacation. We invited Erik's parents to go with us and had a great time. We were supposed to use my parent's timeshare and spend a week at Disneyland the last week in August, but since I can't fly, plans were changed. Fortunately, we were able to transfer the time share to Corpus Christi and spent our 4 days in a nice condo on the water. J and I drove down Sunday afternoon with Erik's mom and step dad and then Erik headed down after work that night. While we were at dinner Sunday night, J decided to play with her cup of milk and spilt it all over my lap. It was a great way to start the vacation :(.
Monday morning we got up and went to tour the U.S.S. Lexington, 
it a retired aircraft carrier that they've made into a museum. It also happens to be the ship that my Grandpa Wahlquist served on while he was in the Navy. That afternoon, we headed to the beach. Our condo was actually located on South Padre Island and the beaches there can be tricky to access. They have access roads every few miles, but the roads end before you get to the beach and you have to drive in the sand. We didn't know this until we got there, and needless to say, the explorer ended up getting stuck in the sand. Fortunately some nice fella's in a truck came and helped pull us out (apparently having tourists get stuck in the sand happens so frequently that high school/ college boys with trucks drive up and down the beach all day getting them unstuck for a small fee and that's their summer job). These nice fella's also told us that if we drove to a different access road the sand was much more compacted and we would be able to make it to the beach easily with the explorer. While Erik was working on getting the car unstuck, the rest of us walked down the beach to the water and set up camp. J actually got in the water and enjoyed it (when we took her to CA 2yrs ago, she HATED the ocean). Then Daddy came and joined us and we went out a bit further and jumped in the waves. J really liked jumping the waves with Daddy, unless he went too deep and the waves got to high (he was holding her while they did this). After we all got tired we headed back to shore and let J dig in the dirt and look for seashells. 
it a retired aircraft carrier that they've made into a museum. It also happens to be the ship that my Grandpa Wahlquist served on while he was in the Navy. That afternoon, we headed to the beach. Our condo was actually located on South Padre Island and the beaches there can be tricky to access. They have access roads every few miles, but the roads end before you get to the beach and you have to drive in the sand. We didn't know this until we got there, and needless to say, the explorer ended up getting stuck in the sand. Fortunately some nice fella's in a truck came and helped pull us out (apparently having tourists get stuck in the sand happens so frequently that high school/ college boys with trucks drive up and down the beach all day getting them unstuck for a small fee and that's their summer job). These nice fella's also told us that if we drove to a different access road the sand was much more compacted and we would be able to make it to the beach easily with the explorer. While Erik was working on getting the car unstuck, the rest of us walked down the beach to the water and set up camp. J actually got in the water and enjoyed it (when we took her to CA 2yrs ago, she HATED the ocean). Then Daddy came and joined us and we went out a bit further and jumped in the waves. J really liked jumping the waves with Daddy, unless he went too deep and the waves got to high (he was holding her while they did this). After we all got tired we headed back to shore and let J dig in the dirt and look for seashells. On Tuesday, we went to the Botanical Gardens, not something I'd recommend in the middle of summer. Not only was it HOT, but most of the flowers were either done blooming or wilted from the heat. They did have a butterfly garden and a park that J enjoyed, 
I on the other hand didn't last long and spent the majority of the time inside the gift shop standing under the AC vent. That afternoon, Erik, J and I headed to the beach again (and were able to actually drive up to the beach without getting stuck). Not long after we got there, we found a couple of jellyfish that had washed up on the shore, and that freaked J out and she didn't want to go in the water at all, but she still had a great time playing in the sand. Her and Daddy built a sandcastle,
and took turns digging holes to bury each other's feet.
I on the other hand didn't last long and spent the majority of the time inside the gift shop standing under the AC vent. That afternoon, Erik, J and I headed to the beach again (and were able to actually drive up to the beach without getting stuck). Not long after we got there, we found a couple of jellyfish that had washed up on the shore, and that freaked J out and she didn't want to go in the water at all, but she still had a great time playing in the sand. Her and Daddy built a sandcastle, and took turns digging holes to bury each other's feet. [Erik's camera died while at the beach and I completely forgot to bring mine so we have no pictures from the last 2 days, hopefully I'll be able to get some from Erik's mom and post them later on].
On Wednesday, we went to the Texas Stat Aquarium. I wasn't too impressed with it, but J seemed to enjoy herself. I guess I spent too many years being spoiled by the great aquarium that they have in New Orleans. Then we went on a paddle boat tour of Corpus Christi Bay. It was nice and relaxing, and probably one of my favorite parts of the trip.
On Thursday, Erik's mom and step dad got up and left early so they could take the scenic route home, the rest of us however took our time getting up and going. We had wanted to take J to the beach one more time but we woke up to rain so we just headed home.
A few other highlights from our trip would be the HUGE hermit crab that Erik found underneath the dock outside our condo. J enjoyed going out to the dock to watch the fish jump and all the boats going by. J wanted to bring the crab home with us, but we convinced her to help Erik put in back under the dock. Overall it was a nice relaxing vacation and definitely plan on using my parent's time share to go there again [if they'll let us ;) ]. I should say it was nice and relaxing until we got home and Erik started ripping out our carpet, but then again, that's a whole different story for another day!
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