The kids have been asking and asking for a beach trip. I am the only non-beach person in the house, so every now and then, I just have to give in. Having not been before, we decided we’d try out Galveston. We had originally thought we’d go over Memorial Day weekend, but we actually decided to save money and fight less crowding by going the weekend after.

We left on a Thursday around 9:30 in the morning. Galveston, without kids in the car at least, is about a 3.5 hour drive from Austin. With the kids and a couple stops, I think it was closer to a 5 hour drive. No matter! We got there in time to get settled into our rental condo and after unwinding for a bit, loaded up the car and drove to Stewart Beach.

Beach day number one

Every website we looked at (which wasn’t many) listed Stewart Beach as the most family friendly. Seeing as it was basically the only one we went to, I can’t offer any comparison notes, but it certainly was easy on our family of four. The beach is wide and relatively clean. We could find plenty of seaweed-free space to spread out our blankets and toys and relax. You could walk forever out into the water and not have it come over your head.

The water is brown, and one’s initial reaction might be “yuck, what am I swimming in?” Evidently, the brown color is largely the result of suspended sediments from freshwater rivers pouring into the gulf and carried around by various currents. Our kids were completely unfazed. As usual, we had to chase Maya to keep her from drowning. Ian was a little more hesitant, but as long as he could hold onto someone’s hand, he was all-in as well. Maya’s favorite game was to walk out where the water was about belly-high and let the incoming waves crash into her and knock her over. Ian wanted to play this game too, except he wanted to jump up high enough that the waves didn’t knock him over.

The scary part for Mom and Dad was that those Galveston suspended sediments were so thick that if a kid fell over in the water, you weren’t seeing them again till they popped back up. Alas, everyone survived and when the sun was well on its way toward setting, we all walked up and showered off the sand and saltwater (and sediment) and bundled up in our towels for the drive back to the condo.

Maya had a fearsome hankering for fried shrimp, so we went to our friendly neighborhood Shrimp and Stuff and settled in for a glorious fried-seafood extravaganza. Ian, being Ian, had a glorious plate of fried chicken strips. We got home late and collapsed in beach-smelling heaps in our rental house beds.

They LOVED the bunk beds. Don’t tell our pediatrician.

The kids, by the way, LOVED their bunk beds. They negotiated over who got to sleep with which giant stuffed sea creature each night but otherwise, the beds were drama-free. Ours, while also drama-free, was one of the most uncomfortable I’ve slept on in recent memory. On one hand, it was probably the smallest queen I ever did see, but it made up for it by encouraging both of us to roll to the center of the bed where we routinely woke each other up. Whatever, we were at the beach and everyone was having fun.

The next morning, we headed out to indulge in what has become a Woods family vacation staple – doughnuts. This morning’s destination was a place called Home Cut Donuts. It was fine. Solid donuts, decent kolaches.

We went back to the condo and got everyone suited up to play in the pool for a while. We had brought a kick board. Someone else had left a couple of pool floaties and a boogie board. Ian swam and even jumped from the edge of the pool, which is something he had been hesitant to do in his swim classes. Maya had fun doing her own Maya thing, but had to learn a few tough lessons about pool courtesy and sharing with others.

We had lunch at a joint called Cajun Greek. I think we generally wound up more cajun than greek with what we ordered, but I recall it being good and that the woman waiting on us was incredibly nice.

We grabbed our jackets and went to the Moody Gardens aquarium pyramid after lunch for our scheduled date with a penguin. Moody Gardens is a sprawling affair with many different attractions to explore, but we were really trying to make this a laid-back beach vacation, so we focused in on just visiting the aquarium. Why the aquarium? Because I learned you could meet penguins there, and I was completely enchanted by the notion.

Fontina, the macaroni penguin

At our scheduled time, the four of us met our penguin expert and bundled up for the trip back into the cold. As we walked past the gate that led out to the penguin habitat, several curious penguins wandered up to check us out. We were right there next to them, listening to their loud calls, smelling their interesting smells.

We wandered back through the food prep area where they showed how they prepared the penguins’ meals. Our guide explained to us the various types of penguins they kept and the conservation efforts they undertook. And then we were ushered into our room. Fontina the macaroni penguin waddled in to make our acquaintance. She made paintings for us, stole the guide’s keys, carried some rocks around, tried to disassemble the latch on Sean’s camera bag. We got to talk to her and pet her and learn a little about her life at the aquarium. Penguins are indescribably soft! I couldn’t get over how soft Fontina’s feathers were.

The kids seemed most fascinated by her painting efforts. They may have been a little jealous that they didn’t get to make a painting too. Ian in particular seemed to really enjoy petting her though.

So many jellies

Both before and after our visit with Fontina, we were able to wander through the rest of the aquarium. We saw sharks and a really neat array of jellyfish, and Maya even saw one poor huddled up giant pacific octopus. We watched seals and sea lions swimming, swimming, swimming in seemingly endless loops. The best part though was the Humboldt penguins. We had seen one early on who we were fairly certain was interacting with us. But near the exit, we saw more Humboldt penguins and they were straight up playing with the kids. Ian would run back and forth with his newly acquired plush seal toy (who he named Seal) and the penguin would just chase him and chase him. Ian would stop and the penguin would kind of wait, watching him. And then they’d start their game over again. The penguin was perfectly willing to chase Maya too, but she lost interest pretty fast.

We snuck into the Strand area of Galveston for a visit to La King’s to acquire ice cream and chocolate malt. Their candy display ran for miles. There was a fellow making taffy in the back. The other side of the store had an old-time soda fountain look and feel. It was magic for the kids. Maya, Ian, and Sean enjoyed their frozen treats and then each made several selections from the huge variety of taffy available there.

After a rest at the condo and an unremarkable takeout pizza experience (they offered toasted ravioli, but they were absolutely *not* up to this Missourian’s standards), we decided a nighttime beach walk might be fun. All we had to do was cross the street. We heard the waves crashing, saw the jellyfish glowing, and unbeknownst to Mom and Dad, someone absolutely loaded her shorts-pockets with seashells. Maya looked like she had been outfitted with saddlebags, her pockets were so distended.

The next morning, we tried out Dawn Donuts. Again, the doughnuts were fine, solid, perfectly acceptable. I did find that pastry-wrapped boudin may be a thing we have to try at home, because YUM.

We played in the pool till lunchtime, and I was noticing Ian acting a little strange. I didn’t really think much of it, having chalked it up to him having had a late night and the swimming consuming a lot of energy. We wandered over to Sunflower Cafe for lunch, and Ian was acting weirder still. After some parental troubleshooting we decided that he felt feverish. Sigh. You know it’s a Woods vacation when one of the kids gets sick. We trucked through our lunch and bought some beautiful baked goods to enjoy later. And then all of us went to the condo where Ian had some medicine and all of us had a nap.

The beach is their happy place

Ian seemed to be feeling a lot better after his rest, so we decided to hit the beach one more time. Stewart Beach had worked out so well before that we just decided to go there again. We again all played till twilight was looming. Then I got the kids bathed while Sean fetched some more Shrimp and Stuff for dinner.

The next day, we made a quick breakfast of leftovers and worked on loading up the car. This was NASA day. It just so happens that Space Center Houston was on our way back home, and it just so happens that admission was covered by our Thinkery membership. We figured we would stop in and see as much as the kids’ patience allowed. We will need to go back.

Saturn V rocket is massive

Our visit started with a tram tour to see Mission Control. The kids liked riding the tram, but they were pretty bored listening to the (very brief) lecture at Mission Control. Our next stop though was Rocket Park. We saw some other “small” rockets, but the highlight of course was the giant Saturn V rocket. The kids had been able to pick it out of a lineup of model rockets back at the mission control building, and seeing it in actual size did seem to leave an impression. That thing is truly huge.

Favorite quote from the displays around the rocket: “… it’s a hostile environment, and it’s trying to kill you. The outside temperature goes from a -450 degrees to a +300 degrees. You sit in a flying Thermos bottle.” Walter M. Schirra.

Back at the space center, we had a quick lunch and then headed outside to see the 747 with the high fidelity replica space shuttle. The kids liked this part because they got to climb around and actually see things. They got bored more quickly than we did though, so there wasn’t just a whole lot of time for reading of museum information. By this time, the kids were losing interest and Ian was starting to look puny again.

Once inside, we made sure we all got to touch the moon rock sample. Then after a quick spin by the gift shop, we loaded up and headed back to Austin. There were some truly amazing looking things at that museum that we didn’t get to see. I feel strongly that a return trip is in order.