Can you tell they had fun?
The kids immediately made friends with a Latino family that was stationed right next to our little spot. The man's name was Simon (said like see-moan) and he was wonderful with all the kids. He built his daughter and niece a "swimming pool" and we all helped keep it shored up when the tide started to come in.
Korben helped by finding rocks and shells to decorate the pool wall with.
The beach was insanely crowded today. We had to park about 3 blocks away (1 traffic light, but it was a long walk) along the seawall next to a place that had no sandy beach, just breaker rocks. In addition to that, it took us nearly 2 hours to get from our house to the beach, which normally only takes about 45 minutes. I had no idea that Good Friday was such a big holiday for people.
There were all kinds of people there, too... the old...
And the young... (these girls are FAR too young to be in such revealing bathing suits, imho, also)
I took pictures of birds...
and Korben...
And cute dacshund puppies!
There were dozens of dogs at the beach today, too. I've always wanted to bring my pups to the beach, but I just don't think I can manage my two little monkeys and my three mutts, so that'll have to wait for a day when the kids are at grandma's or something.
This poor little puppy was swamped by even the tiniest waves.
Simon's niece didn't speak much English, but that didn't stop her and Sophie from becoming fast friends.
Sophie never ventured far into the water, becoming terrified anytime it came higher than her knees (I'll post a video later of her shrieking as a wave chases her back to shore...haha)
It amused me that all afternoon, we played in the water right next to this big sign:
The water was considerably warmer in this little pool than it was in the actual ocean, and after an hour or so, the kids started laying down in the pool to try and warm up.
I'd heard rumors that some crazy people like to try and surf in Galveston's puny waves, but I'd never actually seen it before today. Later, when we were leaving the seawall, we saw this same guy riding a bike that had been cusomized so he could carry his board on the bike. Pretty cool.
This pup was so sweet... I can't remember her name, but her owner told me a sad story about how he'd named her after his dead mother. Anyway, they moved up away from the water and made camp on the higher dunes, and the pup just was SO sad to be away from all the people, and especially the other dogs. She was doing a little dance and whining, much like Roxy does, because another dog was down in the waves, and she wanted to go play, too. :) I just like how it looks like she's smiling.
After leaving the beach, I took the kids to go for a ride on the ferry to Bolivar Peninsula, not knowing how long the wait would be...
It took an hour and a half to get on the ferry.
So I took pictures of Grackles.
and hotels.
And children with Ice Cream Sandwich on their faces.
The kids enjoyed the ferry, long though the wait was, and short the ride.
The birds always follow the boats, probably because people like these always feed them, despite signs warning them not to.
We actually rode home on the green ferry in this picture.
A big cargo ship was anchored in the bay. Watch for this same ship on the return trip.
Apparently, I like to take pictures of birds. I never knew that.
The Bolivar Lighthouse.
The sun began to set as we waited for the return ferry, so I snapped some pictures of this old truck that was sitting outside one of the bait shops/restraunts on Bolivar.
A few minutes later, there were 3 very young children playing out there by themselves.
A mobile ICU Ambulance came screaming down the road and boarded the ferry just before us, obviously carrying some precious cargo.
I liked the paint job on this car, and the light was very nice for photos....
Eventually, someone came to collect the toddlers from the old truck.
I only ever see these big white pelicans sitting on the docks, never flying. The black or brown pelicans are always flying in formation and catching food, but these big fat birds just sit around all the time.
Sophie enjoys the sunset from the upper deck of the ferry.
The Tokyo Marine with a stunning sunset behind.
A beautiful end to a lovely day.
