SPI Vacation

Thanks to Grandpa Jan and Grandma Kathy, we went on vacation! We spent several days in South Padre Island at Papa and Grandma's condo. The weather might have been better (though I managed to get a sunburn) but the company was great!

The highlight of the trip was surely the Black Dragon. We took a cruise on the pirate ship and enjoyed a squirt gun fight, sword fight, tatoo, parade, treasure hunt, battle and oportunities to
swab the deck and watch dolphins. In case you didn't notice, we all got mustaches, too. The rule was, the longer you held out, the bigger yours got. Apparently the exception was soon-to-be-3-year-olds as Audrey managed to avoid a mustache--or the pirates realized that she was not to be messed with.

The grown-ups especially loved our dolphin expedition. We went out on the big ocean in a little boat and got up-close and personal with the sea life. Rozzi the dolphin dog helped us keep track of the presence of dolphins while we explored seaweed (complete with baby crabs, shrimp, fish and jellyfish), Portugese Man of War, sea turkies, pelicans, and sea beans.

We had an early birthday party for Grandpa and Audrey. We enjoyed cake, ice cream and presents. In truth, we enjoyed ice cream every night of the trip. We also celebrated again before we left for the airport--cake and ice cream for breakfast. I love vacation.

The Sea Turtle rescue center was very cool. At the tank pictured below, you could feed the turtle lettuce in exchange for photo ops. Grandpa used the same technique for Brayden and Audrey.

We checked on this sand castle a couple of times. The artists were amazing!

Proud Brayden and his sand castle.

Brayden loved playing football with Papa!

A quick pose (complete with water wings) after swimming in 60 degree temps.