What do you do when you purchase a brand new car (I think it had 9 miles on the odometer when we bought it)? You immediately drive it four hours to the coast for a beach trip! We had about a week to kill between the last day of school and our first day at the beach, and then it was off for vacation. I won’t lie – the new car was much easier to pack than the old car.

Our home for eight days

After our bubble family’s success at this exact same beach and rental house last fall, we decided to all spend a week in June with Chris, Holly, Ruby, and Herbie at Surfside beach on the Texas coast. The house we stayed in is built up on stilts, and its front half is actually in the water. You could feel the house sway slightly as the waves beat against the front pilings. A good scattering of boulders seemed to help mitigate some of the abuse, but there’s no doubt, maintenance on that guy must be a constant concern.

Pocket beach next to the house

The house was just about perfect for us. There were two bedrooms for the two sets of grownups, and there was a third bedroom full of bunk beds for the kids. There was a little pocket beach basically right at the base of our stairs that we could just walk out and play in. It was a little treacherous because of the currents and the rocks, but it scratched the itch when the adults were too worn out to walk to the big beach.

The big beach was maybe a five minute walk from the house. There we could set up our beach tents and spread out a little. The kids could take their boogie boards in the water. Maya spent a lot of time hunting for crabs and catching them in a net. As with all animals, she likes to name them. She had lots of really great names, but the only one I can remember is Clinky Claws. Ian spent a lot of time hunting for seashells along the shoreline because obviously the ocean was lousy with crabs.

Crabs!

Speaking of crabs – Chris brought along a crab trap! And it worked! He managed to capture several blue crabs and even the odd stone crab (which Ian hilariously referred to as a “stoned crab”) in just a couple days. Maya in particular was fascinated by the whole business. I didn’t realize it till after the fact, but she apparently talked Chris into releasing his largest crab because it was so beautiful and blue, and blue is her favorite color. I’m not sure I could have been as nice as he was.

Ice cream truck at the beach!

Holly had guessed that there might be an ice cream truck visiting the beach at some point during our week in Surfside, and so on the day it actually did, she was prepared. She and four eager kids walked up and placed their orders for frozen treats. Then, coated in half-dried seawater and barefoot in the sand, they quickly consumed their ice creams and popsicles. Our kids are still talking about the ice cream truck on the beach – it may be one of their best things from that vacation.

A deck on the ocean side of the house was the perfect place to sit in the morning while the rest of the house woke up or in the evening after feeling worn out from being on the beach. I could sip coffee, watch the sun rise, see pelicans and other water birds going about their feeding. And best of all, sometimes we would see dolphins. One afternoon, a fair ways from the house, we saw a congregation of birds in one particular spot and surrounding them, periodically appearing dorsal fins, sometimes in pairs, regularly surfacing. The consensus view was that there was likely a school of fish out in the ocean and the birds and dolphins were feasting.

Ian on the bunk beds

Because of all the rain that had originally been forecast for our beach week, I had been neurotically checking the forecast a couple times a day. We had arrived on Friday and had been enjoying increasingly calmer waves when the kids played in the ocean. Just like every other day, I had checked the forecast Tuesday and (as I recall), there was no rain of any kind predicted. Well, mother nature didn’t care.

Maya approves of the shower curtain

Chris and Sean had gone into town to pick up takeout dinner. I just checked back through my texts. Sean had told me they’d be home in about 20 minutes. I told him that it looked like it would like to storm. By the time they arrived, it was hard to stand upright. We hustled to pull all the stuff in from the deck. We were about 95% successful at getting things pulled in. Sean and Chris were down below the house trying to put all the beach stuff in the cars and make sure the kayaks were secured. In trying to help me locate one of my shoes that had blown off the deck, Sean literally had the glasses blown from his face. It was bonkers.

For as much as the house seemed to sway during normal day to day operations, I was surprised to find that even in that heavy storm, the house movement didn’t increase substantially. Once the majority of our stuff was secured, I think everyone felt reasonably safe staying in the house.

The ocean got a lot rougher toward the end of our trip

For the rest of the trip, it felt like the ocean activity was ratcheting steadily upward. I’m not sure it had so much to do with the rain we had just had as with the tropical storm that was developing in the gulf. On Thursday, our last full day, we decided to have one final big beach outing. The waves were rough. It felt like a workout just standing out in waist-deep water, watching the kids. Ian got over his crab aversion in time to go play in those big waves, often diving into them instead of jumping over them. He was so proud of himself. For my part, I was beat. I think we spent three hours on the beach that day, and maybe only half that time battling the waves, but I was worn out.

The seashells in Surfside were pretty great. The kids came home with bags and buckets full of a beautiful assortment of shells. I had my eye out for some little conch shells that hadn’t been half obliterated by waves, rocks, or birds. Both times I found one intact, it turned out that a hermit crab had gotten there first. We took the crabs to the house and let the kids examine them and let them crawl around on their hands a bit before finally releasing them back on the seashore.

The sand dollar

Maya’s seashell quest was different. She had the goal before we even left Austin of finding a sand dollar while she was in Surfside. She didn’t search rigorously, but every day she was at the beach, she would keep her eye out for them. By the last day, she had not yet succeeded, and Herbie told her that if he found one, she could have it. Then, as we were walking home from our last beach visit of the trip, he found one! It was only about 3/4 of a sand dollar, but if anything that was even more interesting because you could get a good look at its internal structure. True to his word, he gave it to Maya.

I think this was the one named Chompy

On our way home Friday, we stopped by the Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge. We drove around the loop, checking out alligators and various ducks and other water birds. I wish we knew our waterfowl better and my resident bird expert (Maya) was only half interested. Had we been out walking, I think she’d have been more engaged. Later on, when we stopped at the visitor center and walked the little boardwalk trail, she was in full wildlife spotter mode. We saw a little purple gallinule family, a very fancy red-winged blackbird, and as we were leaving, Maya saw what she thought was a snake in the water. Turns out, it was actually a very small alligator. (The alligators we spotted were given names too: Little Snap, Chompy, Fireback.)

Galaxy

Two days after we got back, we celebrated Father’s Day. All of us were pretty worn out, so it was low key. We placed a delivery order with Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream. I grilled our home-grown shishito peppers and some ribeyes. The kids used their bounty of Surfside seashells and some canvas and various other materials and made Sean two really neat looking pieces of art. Ian wanted to make a galaxy; Maya wanted to make the big beach at Surfside. I think they both succeeded.

Surfside

For the week before we went on vacation, the kids had become acquainted with their new summer morning babysitter. She’s had her COVID vaccine, spends lots of time doing projects and playing games with them, and apparently is incredibly patient. When the kids got back from vacation, they planned a little back-from-the-beach party with her. They made decorations, ordered up snacks from us, planned out their activities. It kept them busy for a couple of days and softened the blow of vacation being over.

That very next weekend, my parents came to visit. We hadn’t seen Grammy and Grandpa in person since December of 2019. Just as with Lolli and Pop’s visit last month, as soon as he knew they were on the road, Ian began his “when are they going to get here” offensive. They arrived on a Friday afternoon, and it seemed like ten minutes later, Grammy and Grandpa had given them the gift of crafts and they were gathered up at the kitchen table painting sun-catchers.

Craft time with Grammy and Grandpa

They played together and visited for a while. We had Texas barbecue for dinner. Maya and Ian taught them all about their favorite ipad games. Ian showed off his origami skills. Maya told them all about the birds that visit our yard.

The next day, after more visiting and crafting, Maya made breakfast tacos for lunch. Ian, for his part, arranged a lovely fruit tray for everyone to share, complete with some mint sprigs from the back yard. They talked their way into visiting Grammy and Grandpa’s hotel so they could swim in the pool for a while. It was awesome – much warmer than even just a month ago, and we all but had the pool to ourselves. After a good long swim, the kids changed into dry clothes up in the hotel room. Maya apparently talked Grammy out of her sack of cherries. She enjoyed them so much, we had to cut her off so she wouldn’t make herself sick.

Here goat, nibble my finger

That afternoon, we all drove down to Jester King Brewery for the weekend’s special event. After our disappointing not-visit with the goats over spring break, when Jester King offered a ticketed visit with the goats, I sprung for it. For a full hour, we got to learn about and hang out with their little herd of Nigerian Dwarf goats. The kids were thrilled. I’d love to tell you it was all about them, but I was pretty thrilled too.

This is the closest we could get to a group shot

There were so many goats! We saw lots of baby goats, which Maya and Ian really loved. They’d climb around on the kids and chew on their hair and clothes and fingers. Both kids had what we were calling their “goat lock” – a little goat-spitty dreadlock, one per kid. The bigger goats would sidle up to you and kinda lean a flank into you as if to say, “scratch me now.” You’d run a hand along their backs, and their faces would go all blissed-out and mellow. Toward the end, Maya and Ian each had a chance to bottle feed one of the babies.

And then, when all that was done, we got to go have pizza and beer! Plus, for June in Texas, the weather was fantastic. I think it was in the low 90s and there was a breeze. We really couldn’t have asked for better.

The next morning, there was more random hanging out. Maya and Ian got it together to provide a little piano and guitar concert from their grandparents. Maya hastily wove a fresh potholder for Grammy and Grandpa, and after she was done, they started their long journey back to Missouri.

Ian lost his first tooth!

This week has been pretty quiet so far, with the exception of some big news: Ian has finally lost his first tooth. I’m not sure why, but our kids hang on to their teeth for a while, apparently. And unlike his sister, Ian wasn’t in a big hurry to yank is kicking and screaming out of his head. He basically nonchalantly wiggled his tooth with his tongue for a week or whatever until it was looking so dangly, I thought he would swallow it. I told him I thought he could pull it now, and with no effort it all, he plucked it out of his mouth. He is ecstatic. As I write this on June 30th, his tiny little tooth is tucked safely under his pillow, waiting for the tooth fairy.

Here are our monthly coronavirus statistics. Percentage of US population that has been fully vaccinated (41.9% as of 6/06, 47.0% as of 6/30). Travis County – 06/04 83,910 cases and 873 deaths – 06/30 84,728 cases and 881 deaths. Texas – 06/06 2,962,934 cases and 51,719 deaths – 06/30 3,000,069 cases and 52,337 deaths. United States – 06/06 33,326,471 cases and 597,627 deaths – 06/30 33,666,198 cases and 604,718 deaths. The World – 06/06 173,197,944 cases and 3,726,107 deaths – 06/30 182,303,080 cases and 3,948,970 deaths. We’re moving in the right direction, but please oh please GET VACCINATED.