We chose Labor Day weekend as a final Hurrah! to our summer. We left our house after the kids and Ryan got home from school/work. It worked out great, except everyone else heading south on I-45 had the same idea and the freeway was a mass of congestion and traffic most of the way to Houston. We arrived in the wee hours of the night- 1:30am, unloaded the kids and the stuff, explored the house, picked out where everyone was going to sleep, put on jammies, and went to bed.
We rented a house because 8 people in a teeny, tiny hotel room is NOT a good idea. The house is right on the beach and had private beach access, so we didn't have to fight the Labor Day crowd. Despite the late night, the kids were up at dawn (see pictures below for proof of their sunrise wake up time). It was actually really nice since I was able to get some beautiful pictures of the sunrise and pictures of my kids, the sunrise and the beach.
DAY ONE- First stop...THE BEACH!!! Once breakfast was done, we donned our swimsuits and hit the beach. The kids were very excited and could hardly wait long enough to get sunblock on. Apparently, Addy was so excited that she got sunblock on everything but her back...OUCH!!!
We spent time every day, sometimes twice a day, on the beach, playing in the sand and surf, hunting down seashells, and either burying one of the older kids in the sand or helping mom build sea animals instead of castles.
When we weren't on the beach we were out exploring Galveston. We chose to forego Moody Gardens and Schlitterbahn this time around but found some really exciting things to keep us occupied.
For dinner, we went to an Italian Restaurant called Mario's. There are several Mario's restaurants in Galveston, all owned by the same franchise. We went to the original! It was really good and all the kids ate with gusto after a fun day playing in the sand and surf.
The first night we went down the Pleasure Pier and played at the amusement park they built on the pier. Kyra was our most adventurous and wanted to try every super high, super scary ride. Addy was a little less adventurous (she may be a smidgen scarred from us tricking her onto a couple of rides at Disney she didn't know she didn't want to ride), but was a super helpful buddy to her little brother and sister (and mom) on rides they could go on. She got her turn with mom on the bumper cars and was a driving maniac! As a family, we went on the Carousel.
DAY TWO- More time on the beach!!! That afternoon we went to try and do a couple of boat tours. We didn't get to go on one since they were booked full during the time we wanted to go, but we got tickets to the dolphin spotting and tour of Galveston Bay. While we waited for our boat tour, we stopped off for a cool treat at Ben and Jerry's...YUM!!! Back at the boat tour (we did not ride the beautiful sailboat pictured), we got on the boat up front. Listening to the facts and a little history of Galveston was fun for the adults, but the kids were all about seeing dolphins. I overheard the captain say that only about 1 in 10 tours see a dolphin, so I was a little nervous that the kids wouldn't see any. On the way back into the channel to dock we saw not 1, not 2, not 3, but FOUR dolphins!!! The kids were ecstatic!!!
For dinner, we braved the wait at the Rainforest Cafe. We all had fun looking at the fish in the tanks, looking to see what animals we could see in the jungle around us, and eating a good dinner, but the thing the kids liked the most was the VOLCANO!!!! They got a big kick out of the sparkler on top!
DAY THREE- One last trip to the beach!!! Then we packed up to head home. It was a fantastic vacation!!! We were all sad to see it end and the kids kept asking why we had to leave or could we move there. To me, that just says the vacation was a SUCCESS!!! Can't wait to see what we do next year!
On the way home, we stopped at Ryan's. This is a buffet-style restaurant that we stopped at 8 1/2 years ago when we did a big McPherson family reunion in Galveston. It was nice to carry on the new tradition. :)
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