Beach Bound

Claire has been asking me forever to go to the beach! She hasn't been since she was about 16 months old and after seeing things on TV about the beach, it's been on her mind. Neil's never been a beach guy so I figured, why not go with friends (plus that helps us both with the expense!)? Kate and I mentioned it casually last summer so we decided to go together this year. Abbey and Claire had the time of their lives! It was a WONDERFUL trip full of great memories and I love that Claire is at that age that she will be able to start remembering things =) So last Thursday we were off to Corpus - look who wanted to come with us... It was SO hard to leave her but she was all smiles waving good-bye when we left! She had a great time with Daddy =)

Our first stop after a quick lunch was the Aquarium. (SA Zoo pass holders - you get a great discount. Thanks Kate for letting us piggy back on your season pass!) I LOVED it! It really was a great set up and we all enjoyed it so much.

Best Friends
My favorite fish - Sargassum Fish - isn't he cool?
We waited in the HOT sun for the dolphin show but only stayed for a little bit to watch. This is one of my favorite pics of Claire from the whole trip! She loves her Spurs hat.
Me and my girl
Sea Turtles
This was Kate and my favorite area - so calming with great music and nice and cool! The girls ran around and danced while we sat and watched the beautiful dolphins swim gracefully.

After the aquarium it was back to the hotel to get ready for the beach! Our hotel was right on the beach so it was a great place to be with excited kiddos on your hands!

Abbey girl
They loved mixing the sand and water. Both girls didn't mind getting in the water at all but the waves we big so we held them.
This is how close we were to the Lexington Ship

Feeding the seagulls

Making memories
After beach time we went to dinner at the hotel restaurant for ease and we let the girl's wear their PJs for fun! The service was pretty bad so they brought us dessert - can you tell my child loves her desserts? Another one of my favorites from the trip.
Claire got a dolphin key chain at the aquarium and carried it with her everywhere - that's what is in her hand =)
The next morning we went back out to the water and look what we found... jellyfish! The water was so calm but we couldn't get in. We saw probably 20 of them floating right on the edge so we did our seashell hunting and collecting that morning. Claire is still talking about the jellyfish. She told me the other day "I didn't know Jellyfish were real" even though she's seen them in aquariums. Funny girl liked seeing them in their natural habitat!
Collecting shells
You had to look closely to really find them since they were all kind of in pieces together. We found some amazing shells...
Angel Wings

Bathing Beauties
More jellyfish on the shore
Back to the hotel to check out - the other coolest thing in Claire's eyes was sleeping in the same room with her friend. They each slept with us but still the same. Oh I see a lot of sleepovers in the future!
Walking to lunch we found a giant shark!
Couldn't resist taking this picture! She looks about 13 with her purse, flip flops and phone in hand. She carries that phone all over and pretends to talk to everyone. My friend Lauren gave it to her forever ago and it's still one of her favorites!
We went to a beach bum/patio place for lunch for our seafood indulgence =) The girls loved playing on here while waiting.
The food was yummy - I love fried shrimp at the coast! This is the only picture we have of all four of us.
It was a fabulous trip and one I'd love to do as the girls get older. The trip home was interesting... my child resisting to take a nap and crying for an hour straight while her friend slept. I was trying so hard to keep her quiet so she wouldn't wake Abbey. Not fun but still worth it! Thanks Kate for letting us tag along this year =) Can't wait to do it again!