Every year, when the summer starts winding down, and Donnie is finally back in town for a few days, we take a quick trip to Galveston.
This is not an epic vacation--we'll wait until we have one or both of the babies out of diapers before we try that. But Galveston is relatively close (a 5-hr drive from Dallas), it has a beach, and we're familiar with it. It's far enough from home that we can actually unwind a little, and over the years we've figured out how to get the most fun for the least money.
This year was our shortest trip yet--just three days and two nights, so we didn't waste any time getting right to the fun stuff.
Our first stop was IHOP, because nothing says "vacation" like eating at a place we have 2 minutes from our house. For some reason though, as soon as we see the rolling waves of the Gulf of Mexico, we all get hungry for pancakes.
When it comes to hotels, we have learned that this is the place to splurge. We have stayed in the economy places, and cramped quarters make for long nights, grumpy kids, and tired parents. With a suite, Mom and Dad take one bed, Emma and Ethan share another, Elijah sleeps in his car seat, and Esther gets the pull-out couch to herself. Which is a necessity, because she sleeps like this:
Even if it means a shorter vacation, get the better room! This is a fact I have been denying for years, but I finally came around this year, much to Donnie's relief. He was right. We also appreciate a pool. I took the kids down the first night because we hadn't made it to the beach yet, and they were begging for water. Ethan forgot how to swim and tried to drown before he had been in the water two minutes. I had to wade in, fully dressed and save his life--after I determined that he wasn't messing with me and was actually finding it impossible to create any forward motion and get out of the deep end. I saved him, gave them 10 more minutes to "swim", and we went back up to watch TV.
Much of our vacation time as a young family is spent in the hotel room. And this is why we love to go to Galveston during Discovery Channel's shark week. (It's still shark week--only two more days!!) Watch a few hours of horrific shark encounters, then go to the beach and play in the waves in conditions that are eerily similar to the preferred hunting waters of the tiger shark... We have a slightly dark sense of humor as parents. It's rubbing off on our kids, and we're proud of that.
Before hitting the beach, we like to take the ferry to the mainland and buy a kite. There's a little kite shop over there with awesome prices, and lots of advice on which ones are best for families.
We took their advice and tried out a new pizza place while we were over there--Guideaux's Bayside Grille.
Very family friendly, with a laid-back atmosphere. The fried pickles are YUM!
(My husband is a hottie...)
We filled up on pizza and pickles. Everybody was on their best behavior as you can see. And Eli slept through the whole thing.
We took the ferry back, and we let the kids get out and walk around. This might as well be one of the attractions of the vacation, for all the fun the kids have. It's the best place to see dolphins, since they swim in pods of 3-4 all around the boat.
And when mom's not looking, it's the best place to get rid of your annoying little sister...
"Oh hi, mom...I was just...oh wow, did you notice this dangerous ledge here?...where did that come from!...I'm adorable."
Ethan, doing his best Kevin McCallister.
We stopped to get some bread for the gulls that chase touristy ferry riders. We like to see who can hold the bread up the longest without screaming in terror as twenty birds dive bomb our tender fingers. Emma is great at this game.
So is Donnie.
I am not. I freak out at the first moment I sense their furious flapping around my head and drop the bread with an embarrassing shriek. What is it about birds? Yeesh. I'll just hold the camera.
By the way, Eli slept through this, too.
We finally make it to the beach around 2 or 3pm. This gives us the entire early evening to play in the water, without constantly having to reapply sunscreen. Half of my kids have olive-toned skin that darkens to a smooth golden brown within minutes of hitting the beach. The other two are so light that they can only hope to go from a translucent white, to a more opaque (or dark) white after an entire summer of careful, lotion-slathered sun exposure. I can't take the chance of blistering my fair-skinned boys, so a late afternoon swim schedule is perfect.
We always go to a little beach on the eastern tip of the island. It is practically deserted, and we can park right out next to the water. This way we don't have to take 20 trips hauling all of our gear down the sea wall, like at the main beaches. Just leave it in the car until you need it. Heck, we left Eli in the car for the first hour, since he was sleeping through the whole thing.
We try to make friends with the locals if possible.
We thought he needed a fancy beach condo, so we hooked him up.
This is Elijah, sleeping through the whole thing.
I didn't know Donnie had taken this picture, but he happened to capture me and Emma right after one of the funniest moments I've experienced as a mother.
Emma and I have a girls-only tradition where we swim way out into the waves at the end of the day and swish our bathing suits around in the water to get out all the sand. It's a bonding thing, and it feels a little dangerous too. We love it. This time, as we were about to go back, a fish slithered against Emma's side, swam under her arm, and jumped into the air in front of her face. It was at least a foot long. She started screaming like she was sure she was going to be featured on next year's Shark Week. I thought she was going to bolt back to shore with me still holding on to her suit! I have never laughed so hard.
Later that night we learned on Discovery that jumping fish are a sign that there is a larger predator nearby.
On our way out of town the last day we stopped at my favorite spot on the island. Murdoch's. All it is, is a gift shop--I mean the sign says it all. But the air conditioning is BLASTING. Even though all the doors are open. And between the two halves of the shop is an open-air balcony, filled with rocking chairs. We buy ourselves some treats, claim a couple chairs on the balcony, and enjoy the ocean breeze. Ahh.
This is also where we try to get a couple family pics before we leave.
Eli actually woke up for this one.
And...he's asleep again.
Ah, there we all are, thanks to the photography skills of a kind stranger.
This is how we do Galveston on the cheap. I'm sure we could go to the theme parks, the museums, and the pleasure pier, drop a ton of cash, and not have as much fun as we do this way. It's all about enjoying our time together and getting some rest.
Now that we have been home a few days, and the heat wave has officially struck North Texas, we are all dreaming of when we'll be able to visit our favorite quick vacation spot again.
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Here are some links to Galveston pics from other years:
