summer vacation

We headed down to Corpus Christi to be apart of the public release of the Kemper's ridley sea turtles. We had to be on standby because they had just hatched.
We left here Monday with a stop in El Campo to Buckee's. The children did not remember stopping at one before so it was a treat. Albert got a pecan log, I got a peanut patty, Christian got a blueberry muffin, Ethan got an Icee, and Kara a chocolate brownie. Funny, that's what they chose at Target when we stop for a treat. We got Christian a leather wallet for his birthday there as well. Once arriving in Corpus we headed to the county park at Packery Channel. We got hermit crabs by the bunches and enjoyed the evening. We were so glad to get there safely and see water. Tuesday, the turtles weren't ready so we headed to the marsh areas for some crabbin'. It was hot and the mosquitoes were pretty vicious to the guys since they were in the grasses. Thankfully, we had some Off to ward them off. We got 6 crabs so we headed to the beach at Mustang Island State Park. It was upsetting to see the day use area in disrepair. It had been seven years since we lived there for 3 months and we remembered the park being really nice. Albert got an Aussie portable grill forhis advanced Father's Day gift so he grilled us some sausage, hot dogs and crabs. We boiled the crabs with some Tony Chachere's. I missed my chest area and got quite a burn but thankfully I brought some lavender for the mosquito bites and remembered it worked well for burns too. It really healed it up fast! Thanks Jennifer for teaching me that. Highly recommend it for sunburns.
Wednesday was the big day. Turtles! They were so little. Padre Island National Park was a neat place and very well taken care of. Unlike, the state park, it was free of debris and the buildings were in great shape. If you were going to the beach, they gave you a big black bag to fill with trash. The rangers were nice and friendly. At 6:40 or so we got to head down to the beach for the big release. Thankfully, we got a close up view as they were put on the beach to scuttle to the sea. There were over 200 people there to celebrate the turtles. We all cheered as the first one made it out. The local news was there to film the event and Christian was asked to give his assessment of the event. He declined respectfully. We stayed until Ethan had to go to the bathroom then we scrambled to find the toilets. The visitor's center was closed because all the rangers were helping with the event so we had to find another restroom. We found the area were kayaking was popular and thought it would be great to take a small inflatable boat out there. People were wade fishing so it was quite shallow. We then toured the rest of the park and then headed for some breakfast since we had been up since 5am. Cracker Barrel was the choice Albert made since he had heard good things about there breakfasts. Great recommendation! Their bacon is delicious. After breakfast, we headed back to the hotel for some rest, a siesta. That was very refreshing. Then we went crabbin to another marsh area near Laguna Madre. We got 12 crabs that time. Note crabbing is not as good in Corpus as in Galveston. We were all hot and ready for some beach time so we headed back to Mustang Island with the idea of parking on the beach for our dinner and swim time. As soon as we started taking everything out for dinner, we saw dark clouds coming in from the west. We decided to wait and go swimming instead. It was so overcast and then is started to rain. It was so fun swimming in the rain. Then the wind got bad so we headed to the truck. Albert was watching the weather patterns online so we just waited until it past by. It was still sprinkling but the wind died down. We had our picnic and it really cooled off because of the rain. It was perfect. It was already late in the evening and so once the sun was gone, the mosquitoes rallied. Note, swimwear may be UV protective but is not mosquito proof. We got EATEN ALIVE in all the places the Off didn't cover us. By then it was 9:40 pm and the park closes at 10pm. I don't know whether we were more hurried to get out before being locked in or to get away from the blood suckers.
Thursday was time to prepare to head home. Of course, we had to stop by the beach on our way out and we had lunch and swam one last time. It was so nice. I couldn't help myself so I filled up a bucket with litter. Next time were are going to bring more gloves so each of us can help clean up. We parked next to the fresh water rinse and were able to get cleaned up before heading the 5 hrs. home. On the way home we stopped at Prasek's Smokehouse in Hillje which is near El Campo. The have the BEST BBQ. We ate chopped beef sandwiches that were the best I've had. We already get the sausage from HEB since they carry the brand but got some to take home. We tried their seasoned pork steak, buffalo sausage, jalepeno and smoked sausage (awesome stuff). Highly recommend it! Next time I want to get one of there smoked hams to try.