A Few Things I Have Learned About The Beach

We've been on vacation.

At the beach.

We went down to Port Aransas, Texas and stayed in a condo within walking distance from the beach with a beach view. I say condo. That sounds awfully fancy for where we stayed.

I think I got the best deal on the island. It was called "Armadilla Villa" and it had a living room, full kitchen, full bathroom, one bedroom and places for 6 to sleep. And a washer and dryer. And we ended up paying about $65 a night.

It was nice for that amount. Our only problem was that the queen bed had broken box springs and was terribly uncomfortable. And most of the things in the condo were old enough that we were afraid we would break them. But other than that we were completely pleased.

The first thing I learned when going for a relaxing beach vacation is that it is important to have a good nights sleep in order to feel relaxed. If we visit "Armadilla Villa" again, we will be bringing our own memory foam pillow topper mattress.

The second thing I learned was that it was very nice to have our own washer and dryer. We washed clothes pretty much every night. Sandy beach water is a little harder to sink wash out than just pool water. And we seemed to go through several outfits a day because it was so windy and wet everywhere we went.

The third thing I learned is that it is very windy on the Gulf Coast at this time of year. I don't think I got a single picture of the kids in which my daughter's hair wasn't blowing across her face. More wind also means turbulent waves. Which leads to my fourth thing.

(I just want to add at this point that I have no idea why my kids pose in just this order. I noticed that they are in the same order in the picture on the side and I think it's kind of funny. I promise I don't do it on purpose, I just told them to turn around so I could take a pic before they got wet)


I learned that it isn't very relaxing to take 3 kids ages seven and under to the beach when it is windy and the waves are turbulent. I had visions of us sitting in our folding chairs, sipping diet cokes while the kids frolicked in the ocean. It ended up that the waves came in and rose so quickly, and that the undertows were so strong that we felt we needed to stay fairly close to the kids at all times.

The fifth thing I learned is that my kids absolutely loved the beach!






The sixth thing is that she loved to sing and dance in the waves! It was amusing. She has a "brilliant personality".

The seventh was that at this time of year, the tide was up so far that there really wasn't room for making sand castles. In fact there really wasn't a dry spot on the whole beach to lay down a blanket, towel or even set up a chair. Just when you thought you had found someplace safe, the waves would roll in and completely cover the only dry spot left. So instead of building sand castles, we bought little fish nets and bucket and the kids caught all sorts of things in them from little bitty crabs, fish, shrimp, and even blue button jelly fish (which are the only ones that don't sting). We also borrowed the boogie board from the condo and the kids had the best time on it.

The eighth thing we discovered is that not every beach has shells. A park ranger informed us that there are only certain areas where the channels are dredged. The shells will wash up on the beaches near these channels. Fortunately the Port Aranasas beach is one of them. We went on several beach combing adventures and found tons of whole shells of every kind and even several halves of sand dollars.

I believe the oldest loved beach combing the best. He loved finding all sorts of cool shells. But he pretty much enjoyed fishing and the boogie board too.

The middle loved the boogie board the best. And standing out in the surf going one on one against the waves. Instead of using his net for a net to catch fish, he turned it the other way and used it as a sword to fight the waves. It was kinda like Don Quixote fighting the windmills.

Her favorite part was just sitting in the ocean and letting the waves crash over her. That and catching fish and other assorted animals. Which I'm sure comes as a big shock. :)

The last thing I learned was the value of having accommodations within walking distance from the beach. We were so sandy and grimy by the time we made it off the beach that I honestly can't imagine the state our car would be in had we rode home in it every day. It was so very nice to walk back to the condo and rinse off outside with a hose.

All in all, we had a great time at the Port Aransas beach. Since we went off season, it wasn't very crowded and the kids had an absolute blast. There were plenty of shells, Marie life and waves to keep them occupied. So it was great for our family.

But if I ever go to a beach with just me and the husband,.... it's Bora Bora baby!

This was our first big trip as a family to the beach and we decided to just go to the closest one, so I'm just curious if you've been to a beach, which one would you recommend?