Beach Camping: Mustang Island State Park

We went to the beach exactly one month ago.  It was a trip that we planned on a whim, knowing we wanted to see some saltwater and some sand, and also knowing we couldn’t have another costly vacation this year after DisneyWorld!  So was born the idea of camping at the beach!
We had checked out some of the beachy state parks in years past but I seem to remember that they were closed/in repair from a hurricane or something.  Whatever it was, they campsites were there and ready for us!
 
There is a large area of dunes between the RV campsites and the water (as seen in the right picture below…the water is past the grass!)  But, this didn’t really matter because you could smell the sea and feel the breeze…and most of the time we were on the beach in the sand anyway! 
   
These sites aren’t “hang out at your campsite by the fire” sites.  In fact, fires aren’t even allowed.  They are “where you go to sleep for $16/night” sites. :)
 

 
We got there Friday evening after a very long and whiny drive. 
On the way, we stopped and ate at Black’s BBQ in Lockhart, TX by recommendation from our neighbor.  It was GOOD stuff.  And it was packed at lunchtime.
Our kids rarely watch movies in the car, but on long trips, they are NECESSARY.  Since we were pulling the camper, we were in Jeff’s truck (with no dvd player) and we had to go slower than you normally would.  On top of that, the kids can REACH EACH OTHER in the truck, so that was fun.  :)  So we got there and got set up, and then were able to quickly forget the lovely drive as we headed down to see some sand.
Sissy couldn’t wait to get her hands in it!
 
The bath house on the sand (for the day-use area) was clearly in the demolition process.

We were starving so we headed to “the strip” in Port Aransas to find some dinner.  Whew, that little city was PACKED!  Two hour waits at many restaurants at 8:00 at night!  We settled on the shortest wait, at Castaways…only 45 minutes! :)

These kids were happy to be out of the car and have the prospect of good food. :)

Look at her sweet little angel-kissed face!

And this one with some sand-dusties left on it. :)
 

The next morning, bright and early, we were out in the water.  I could not believe how CLEAN and clear the water was!  The sand was clean, the water was 5000% better than the nasty water we experienced in Destin last year. 
For example (completely untouched images):
DESTIN, FL:                                                               PORT A/MUSTANG ISLAND, TX:
   
This year I actually got in and enjoyed the water!  Another cool thing about this beach is that it is shallow FOR E VER. 
Here, Poppy is way out there and the water is not even to his waist!  However, I personally think this can be a bit deceiving when you have kids because the undertow is STRONG…so you still have to be careful with little ones.  Our kids were allowed to go up to their knees (which was plenty far!) without an adult right next to them.

As you can see from the next pictures, Shelby and Coleman are definitely little beach babies and thoroughly enjoyed every second of the day!

 
They stopped to pose for me:
 
They chased sea gulls and sand pipers.




We watched Pelicans dip and dive to find their dinner.



They built sand castles.
 

 
Coleman was really not happy to have to stop for lunch.

Shelby and Daddy made this octopus.


 
Tyler and Laura played too :)

Just look at the joy!



When Coleman finally stopped to rest, he pulled his chair out by Lorla. :)

We headed to Nonnie & Poppy’s condo that evening for dinner and showers :)
The next morning we headed back to the condo so the kiddos could fish.  I think this is the first fish caught by Peck children, ever:


Laura was catching the “big” ones ;)


We stopped by one of the tourist stores for some pictures with the shark, and a kite…Oh, and some shark tooth necklaces!

Then it was out to the ocean again for more fun in the sand, water, & sunshine!

Daddy buried Coleman and he was VERY excited about it.
  



Silly daddy gave Coleman some inappropriate additions…

Next it was Shelby’s turn, of course.


On this afternoon, we did some relaxing and a lot more of the same: enjoying the water, sand, breeze, ocean air, and the views!

 









(What are these tracks from?)

We climbed out on the jetty.  Ty and Laura fished.

 
Timer family self-portrait:

We stayed til after dark and we were the last ones left on the beach.  We listened to Texas country and danced in the sand.  It was a wonderful evening!
The next morning we headed back to the condo for a little more bay fishing.  It gets hot out there fast!


It was our last day on the beach.  More of the same, plus some corn hole!  There were penalties for hitting the sand castles.
 





We missed the other sisters!

This is totally all Coleman.  Look at his sweet cutest-belly-button I’ve ever seen!

Tyler boogie boardin’

That evening we got showered and dressed and headed back to Port A to eat dinner.  As you can see from this picture, the kids were DONE.  Exhausted.

These are the best smiles I could get. :)

What a wonderful trip!  It restored my faith in Texas beaches.  We will be back!

Gearing up for FIRST grade!

A new school year is upon us.

Last week, we came home from some back-to-school shopping and Sissy put on her new shirt and get all dressed up to go to dinner with Nonnie & Poppy while Daddy and I went to Coleman’s parent night at his school.

This girl is growing up too fast- but at least she is still my baby, and does assure me of that often!  She is STILL a baby/stuffed-animal lover and now that she’s also a clothes/fashion lover, she always picks out a baby or animal that “goes with” her outfit.  She looks at herself in the mirror WITH said baby, and even asks me “Does this doggy look good with me?”  after she gets dressed.  This girl cracks me up!!

See….

 

I made her put down the baby for a couple more shots, but she made sure it did NOT go on the ground!  Then she turned it on for her mamarazzi, just a little bit!

Little Miss Priss!!

Last Friday her sweet Aunt Anna and Uncle TyTy were both off for the day so they took her to Six Flags.

She had a wonderful time, and as I said on facebook, Shelby and Coleman are so blessed to have the best aunts & uncles in the world!!!

(Still smilin’ on her way home.)

Last night was Shelby’s Meet the Teacher night.  She is continuing at the school we moved to last year via open enrollment.  It’s an amazing school, but so is the one that we live in- both of them one of only 8 elementary schools in the district achieving an Exemplary rating last year.  We might re-assess in the coming years, when Coleman enters school (NEXT YEAR!  Booohooo!)

Daddy was able to get off work early and go with us to meet her first grade teacher.  I was so excited and pleased with the class she got in.  I know nothing about these teachers from word-of-mouth (though I am sure there is not a bad teacher at this school!) but I know about them through their biographies on the website.  (Bear with me as I ramble on as an over-analyzer!!)  This one teacher REALLY stuck out to me because our little Shelby is quite the free-spirit.  Probably as close to a hippie girl a 6 year old can be without having hippy parents or growing up in the 70’s. ;)  This teacher writes that she and her family’s favorite activities are spending time outdoors, camping and fishing.  She has 3 horses, two dogs, and six cats!  Our little outdoorsy, vet-wanna-be, animal-lovin’ girl will love this teacher, I just know it!  (Funny: Both her kinder teacher and this teacher have names that begin with “Pe___” just like Peck!)

Here she is waiting to go in and meet her teacher last night:

I am very excited for Shelby to make some new friends in this class.  Though there is only one girl in this class who was in her class last year, we saw a few potential BFFs last night ;)  I know she will be taken care of because we will pray for her every night.

Finally, Nonnie and I worked last week to “decorate” her classroom door.  We came up with this sign (Thank you Pinterest) and the cool peace sign fabric (her classroom inside is red/white/blue so we just added in some green!)

 

Stay tuned for first-day-of-school snapshots next week!

Buddy’s Day

Yesterday was Coleman’s FIRST day of Stepping Stones class.  This is his Pre-K year.  He had a good day and was happy to see all his friend that he missed all summer long.

Shelby is in her last 2 weeks until school starts, and Nonnie is keeping her during the day this week.  When she called to say that Shelby wanted to stay and spend the night, I thought it would be a great night for a “Coleman night”…we could play what he wanted, and watch what he wanted, and hear all about his first day at school, just Mommy, Daddy, and Coleman! 

When I picked him up from school and told him about our night, he was very excited.  So excited about a “Me night” that he didn’t even cry that he wanted to go to Nonnie & Poppy’s, too!  He went to the store with me and was a perfect angel (one child is so easy!), and he got an ice cream treat.

When we got home, he watched Kenny the Shark while I finished up dinner and then Daddy got home.  We all ate dinner, and then he chose to play Connect4 with Daddy.

After that, I made him put all his clothes he wore that day back on (he had taken them off, declaring “I wanna be nekkid boy!”) so we could go outside and pretend that we had taken a first day of school picture that morning. :) (What?!  Isn’t that what everyone does?! haha!)

See?  JUST LIKE that morning if you picture white Puma tennies instead of flip flops, spikey hair, and no baseball glove:

He had picked his own clothes out the night before…proud to be a Red Raider!

After the photo op, Daddy and Coleman played some catch in the front yard.

  

I took about 3 pictures before I got too hot (106 degrees!) and went inside.

When we were all back inside, Daddy and I watched the Rangers while Coleman practiced his sliding.  He went into his room and put on his football pants, cleats, and Cowboys jersey.  Then he ran back and forth, sliding like a pro on our carpet.  His heart was beating fast so he asked us to feel it in his chest.

C: "Feel my heart."
D: "You've got a strong heart."
C: "Does it ever break?"
D: "No, it won’t break."
C: "Because I'm so hard.  I can't even rip myself."
M: “you can’t rip yourself??”
C: “Yeah, see?” (((pulling/stretching skin off his arm)))  “I get taller when I exercise.”
M: “Yep.”
C: “Is baseball exercise?”
M: “It sure is.”
C: (((Shy/proud grin))) “I just got a lot taller then.”

After a little more tv time to SLOW our heartbeats and ready ourselves for bedtime, our big buddy went straight to bed after his happy night.

This little buddy just cracks me up constantly, and I wish I could bottle up all his little sayings to hear forever!  Last week in the car, I asked him what his afternoon snack was at school.
M: “What did you have for snack?”
C: “I’m afraid to tell you but … Animal Crackers.”
 
(I have no idea why he was “afraid to tell me” about animal crackers!!)

I had been telling him for a few days that he needed a hair cut, but he kept insisting that he wanted to grow it long (like his buddy Jackson.)  I hadn’t said anything about a haircut for several days, when he said out of the blue one afternoon: “OKAY!  We can cut my hair!  But you have to do it after dinner tonight.”  I guess it is like ripping a band-aid off?? ;)

We love him so!

July Rangers Game vs. Toronto

Jess & Jason were busy on this game night that they had tickets for, so they graciously gifted them to us.  It was kids’ Josh Hamilton jersey night so we of course HAD to take the kids.  Hmmm, probably should have showed up more than 10 minutes before game time if our goal was to get them jerseys because all the jerseys were LONG GONE by that time. :(  Booooo!

Early in the day Shelby got herself all ready to go…not exactly a baseball game outfit but whatever! :)

  Our little hippie-girl, she makes me laugh!  (in her hand she has her coin purse and her hand sanitizer.)

 

Next I took Coleman’s picture (who also got himself all ready.)  I have no idea who he thought he had his arm around.

The game was fun.  It was hot but the kids were GREAT and we stayed through the whole game (which only lasted a little more than 2 hours.)

Some more game pictures:

 

She took this of herself.  Not bad!

More from the little photographer:

Anna’s Quarter Century Birthday

 

We were in Arkansas on Anna’s 25th birthday.  We all went out to a fun hibachi / sushi restaurant for dinner.  Then, the brother and sisters all went to a wine bar for a bit to just relax after a very emotional and draining week.

Some pictures:

 

Happy birthday Anna Banana!  We love you!