Thursday, February 16, 2012

Galveston -- Another Beach Attempt

We saw another opportunity to hit the beach, and since our Padre Island beach experience wasn't quite as fabulous as we were hoping for, we decided to go for it.  Once again, we were able to use our timeshare and stay in a condo while parking the rig.  It's been nice to cut lodging & fuel costs this month as all the driving in Dallas and eating out resulted in much higher expenses than we can afford to make a habit without an income.

Even though the weather wasn't as clear and sunny as we would have wished for, it was still good for playing on the beach!  We just stayed here three nights, two full days, and we packed in as much fun on the beach as could manage. The beach here was much nicer than it was on North Padre.  Not only was it cleaner, we didn't see a single Man-O-War!!  There were also lots of shells!  These beautiful, pastel colored coquina shells were everywhere while we were here.  They look like delightful, dainty little butterflies all over the sand.  I collected them, thinking they would could make awesome crafts that we could display in the rig.  Sure enough, I ran into a former elementary art teacher that lives in a house right on the beach, and she told me the name of the shell, as well as how to glue the hinge so it doesn't get brittle and break.


In addition to the coquinas, we also saw lots of these beautiful moon snails.  Unfortunately, most of these guys were still very much alive, but Alyssa found a vacant shell!  Shanan found a very small, vacant one, as well.  And we had seen gobs of what looked liked a rubbery disk-like trash on the beach.  There was so much of it that we knew it must be something natural, but we had no idea what!  Turns out, while researching the coquinas, I found this blog that explained it---they are the egg cases of the moon snails, also known as sand collars!  The other treasure we found was an intact sundial shell!  Walking on the beach brings out the kid in me; searching for these little treasures, evidence of God's limitless creativity, never grows old!



Of course, there was more playing in the sand, too.  The weather was warm enough that Jake fearlessly ran into the surf and giggled when the waves crashed on his little thighs.  He would run and play until he wore himself completely out!  We definitely have to watch this little guy closely, but it is just so fun to watch our kids enjoy themselves so much!


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