We went back to Galveston for this year’s fall break. This time we were joined by the Pipers and the Eberharts, in addition to Grandpa and Grandma. We used the same beach house as last year as our base. The first day was in the 90’s and full of sun. We spent most of the day on the beach and earned quite a few sun burns to show for it. That drove us inside for the next day, so we hit the candy store downtown and rode the ferry over to Bolivar. The kids made sure that no seagull would go hungry. I think they emptied 8 boxes of crackers during the round trip.
The next day was rainy and cool, so we decided to take the boys up to see the USS Texas. You can see from the pictures below that they enjoyed crawling over the deck guns and exploring every nook and cranny. Then it was down to San Leon for another a shrimp dinner before heading back to the house for the evening.
The weather was very nice for the next few days, so we were back on the beach for more boogie boarding, body surfing, and sand castle building. One day we were chased ashore by the site of jellyfish strewn along the beach, which allowed Aunt Alana to feed her kite-flying cravings. The only real sour note was the mosquitoes. Getting back and forth from the beach meant crossing a DMZ guarded by insects rather than land mines. Either side was reasonably safe, but each trip to the beach usually resulted in a dozen potent stings. It’s going to take some time to get that out of the boys’ memory.
Overall the trip was a lot of fun. The kids hit it off very well. We’re even hoping to establish some pen pals out of the experience. Evan summed it up driving back to the hotel the last night, when he said “I love our family.”