Port Aransas

It was so fun to take the girls to Port Aransas! Especially since I have so many memories there when I was growing up! I couldn't help but think about Pop Shaw while we were there...remembering how he took us out in his bass boat, fishing on the jetty, and of course eating at Dairy Queen with him! He would love Mackenzie and Madison and have all kinds of fun tricks to play on them. Those were good times!

Despite the weather, we had a wonderful time! We slept in, ate big breakfasts, played on the beach, went shopping, went to the park, flew a kite, took naps, and just relaxed! One morning, the girls stayed with Grandma and Grandpa while Brian and I went over to St. Joe's Island to look for shells. It was a lot of fun for us to spend that time together. The highlight of the morning was chasing down and catching a crab to take back for the girls to see. It took both of us to get him...and he wasn't happy about it. Right before we got on the boat to go back, he escaped from the cup we had him in...we were SO disappointed! We also found a lot of little sand dollars over there. Finding sand dollars is one of my favorite Port Aransas memories from when I was a kid. One year we found enough of them to fill a 5 gallon bucket! Most of the shells this time were broken to pieces because of the weather being so rough, but we did find a few neat ones.

It was fun to go on vacation with Grandma and Grandpa Baldwin! Grandma was especially excited to spend time with the girls' and she even fixed them up some presents for when we got there! (The girls may be just a little bit spoiled by their grandparents, but that's okay...we wouldn't want it any other way!) Staying in the RV was a lot of fun! There wasn't a whole lot of room for the girls to run and play, but it worked out great. There was even a little shower on the outside of the trailer where we could get the girls clean after playing on the beach. It was so nice to be able to eat a lot of our meals in the trailer instead of eating out all the time....cheaper and easier! This was a very relaxing vacation...just what we needed! Here are some pictures...

One evening, we went to the Bay area by the ferry, where we watched the dolphins play...they were everywhere! Madison was much more interested in the sea gulls than the dolphins!Fun at the playground!What do you know, Mackenzie found a friend to play with! Little Miss Social!Madison LOVED swinging...and she had a complete fit when we made her stop!
We went to look at the big boats...Madison was still upset because she wanted to swing!Three Generations of Baldwins! Daddy and Mackenzie in front of the Polly Anna shrimp boat!Mackenzie liked picking up the little "coconuts" under the palm trees!

Every time a big barge came in, there were dolphins jumping right in front of it.
We made several trips to the Gift Shops, and bought lots of souveniers! One morning, Brian and Tom went into Corpus Christi to see a battleship, so we went shopping! Most of the shops had fun little places to take pictures.
Mackenzie wanted to buy one of these little chairs so bad... Our little surfer girl! She was actually pretending to be "Merliah," the Barbie Mermaid! She's got the pose down pretty good!This bathing suit was made for Mackenzie! That is one big shark! Love this! Madison is probably thinking, "They're crazy!" One evening we went to dinner at a place called "Fins" and ate outside on the water. It was a very cool atmosphere. I decided to order something different for a change and got a Shrimp Po' Boy sandwich...bad mistake! That is why I always get the same thing...learned my lesson. Despite a major drink spill, dinner was fun! The girls wore their cute little matching dresses! I love vacation with my family!We are so blessed to have such wonderful parents! Just the girls!On our last day in Port Aransas, Brian and I went to St. Joe's Island to look for shells, then we went to a few shops, thought about going on a dolphin boat and then changed our mind, went to Dairy Queen and then went to the beach!
Does it get any sweeter than this?! These girls know what's good!It was fun to drive by the house that our friends, the Stones' used to live in. This is where we stayed a few times when we went to Port Aransas growing up. It is a beautiful house! The Horace Caldwell Pier. We were camped in between the Jetty and the Pier, just behind the sand dunes.

I took this the morning we left. What a wonderful Creator we have!