South Padre

Hola peeps! We had so much fun in South Padre! It was our first real family vacation, (well with actual sand and salt water). Want to see pictures?

We were all excited on the way down, even stopping to pick flowers.

 

Here is Emily discovering the ocean. She kept saying "I take a bath!"

  

Our first stop was here. They have the best blonde ale and fried pickles.

I love this photo of the kids flying their kite. I did wish later that we'd bought a yellow one though. You know it's all about the photo op.  :)

 

Superman

The kids were so excited because my version of "fun" cereal is usually honeynut Cheerios.

Jason took the next two. Didn't he do a good job?

 

Then we had to get the hermit crabs. I know the kids love them, but yuck.

These were all taken with the Elph, which we put into the outside pocket of the cooler backpack. It got really cold and then fogged up when we took it out in the heat. It made a neat effect with this one of Emily.

 

Then we were total tourists and went on a dolphin tour. The best part was when they were jumping in the wake of the boat, but I didn't want to miss the moment to find my camera.

 

It was fun to watch the people on the boat next to us run to the side where the dolphins were swimming.

We even got to see fireworks from our balcony.

Poor Jason had to drive back home, 5 hours on Father's Day. (I know, I'm a mean wife)

But it was the soundtrack we were listening to that was worse than the drive.

 

And it wasn't exactly flower-picking on the way back when one of the hermit crabs escaped into the back seat. He finally found them as it was burrowing into a bag of dirty clothes. Nasty!

Overall, what a great time though!

Oh, except for one tiny thing. This is the exact condo that we stayed in. Looks nice right? Right. That's because you don't have smell-o-vision. Of course because we are the closet-Griswalds, something like this happens to us. The whole condo smelled like crap. They said were having "problems" with their pipe system so they'd come and put some sort of Citris-Gag-Formula, which was like Mr. Clean on steroids. Then it would smell like crap potpourri. Totally what you'd want to deal with when you're trying to enjoy a bloody mary. But whatever. You knew I had to have some kind of story like that.

Comments

[Kal]

LOVE those pictures. If felt like we were there with you... well, except for the smell. TOO cool. Very, very too cool.

[mama]

Maile! I laughed so hard and out loud! "...the closet-Griswalds."
Your pictures are wonderful -- a vicarious vacation for me.
Welcome home. I've missed you. xoxo

[Paige]

Great vacation photos Maile! It looks like you guys had a blast.

[Melody A.]

My fav is the one of Jason searching for the escaped crab in your car. We haven't braved a road trip with the girls yet. Although our last plane trip wasn't much shorter since they made us sit on the runway for over an hour and a half. Glad you had fun.

[chasity]

the pictures are great. i'm amazed that only 2 days after returning you've already got them posted. :) and yes, i too love the one of jason searching for the hermit crab...and i love the one of the two of you...we don't get to see your beautiful face too often on here! :) thanks for the tip on the condo....we're heading down to s.padre ourselves in a few weeks and i'm researching places to stay...we're not fans of crap potpourri either so i think we might bypass this one. see ya on SATURDAY BABY!!!! RIGH ON!

[k]

I loved all your pictures!! The one where everyone was about to tip the boat over for a look at the dolphins was funny. I'm sure they had no idea how 'touristy' they looked. What a great time you must have had...besides the smell. Hopefully you didn't notice it too much after the 3rd bloody mary!
love you. :)
sis~

[Alissa]

Oh... where to begin... I am TOTALLY with you on the color of the kite thing. I mean, really... my family thinks I'm nuts but if you're going to do it, you may as well do it in a way that makes a nice photo, right?!?!

That superman shot is FANTASTIC. I love the grain. I'm going to have to play with that myself.

Jason took some super shots himself. You must be a good teacher... :)

I'm glad you had a nice vacation. But I'm also glad you're back so you can post some more inspiration!

[Jana]

What awesome vaca pics, I loved seeing them!!