Vacation at the Beach

We took our annual trip to the beach. I grew up going to the Texas gulf coast and we have continued the family tradition. We don't do much but swim in the ocean, build a sandcastle and eat lots of good sea food but we find it really relaxing. Oh, we also watch cable TV, which we don't have at home. Usually the food channel but this weekend they had a Monk marathon, and it was shark week on the Discovery channel. Yes , there are sharks in the gulf. When I used to fish I would occasionally catch a small one but they don't seem to bother people.


On our way down we stopped in Shulenburg at one of the painted churches. It is very beautiful but currently undergoing some restoration. One of the entriguing symbols used in the church is the Pelican. the pelican was thought to feed it's young by piercing it's breast and feeding them her own blood. Thus the pelican became a symbol of Jesus feeding the church on his own blood.






St. Mary's has many beautiful stained glass windows and a carved wooden high altar. It is worth your while to stop off if you are in the neighborhood.

We stopped at the Schoenstatt Shrine in Lamar for a bit then crossed over the ferry from Aransas Pass to Port Aransas. Emma and I always get out and look for dolphin. Sometimes we see several but this time we didn't see any.

Sea food always buts a big smile on our face. We ate lunch at Moby Dick's. Lot's of fried shrimp.

We found quite of few shells out in the water (none on the shore) but they had all been found before us by hermit crabs. We practice the "catch and release" policy unless we find an empty one. We found one empty olive shell. The water was very clear and clean. No seaweed or tar and no jelly fish or man of war. Great for jumping the waves or just floating. Emma has inherited her Grandma Betty's ability to effortlessly float.

We made the short drive over to Corpus Christi to meet Lissa's brother and family for more good sea food at Snoopy's.

They have a nice deck, perfect for watching the sun set over the Corpus Christi bay.



After another day of swimming in the ocean and building a sand castle we all went to Seafood and Spaghetti Works to celebrate Lissa's birthday. Julia and JC and Julissa came to the beach with us this year. They brought their WII which I had only played a little bit before. We played all sorts of resort games and I ended up being really sore. I am out of shape and it is pretty good exercise apparently.