We arrived and went to the Museum, which I had read or was told somewhere was good for kids and it was. It was a normal museum but in addition to a kids area they had children's activities and things for the kids throughout the Museum, so it was nice to be able to read something while the kids were engrossed.
After this we headed straight for the beach. It was kind of nice that you could drive down onto the beach, park your car just like some beaches at home. They were busy beaches though. The sand was white but at the water level it was grey. There was a breeze but it was hot and the water was warm. No waves or blue water, just choppy greyish water.... Not quite the picture I had conjured up in my head but it was nice to watch the kids build castles and run/jump in the water and paddle around myself. Those who know how much Sharni used to hate the sand at the beach, to the point it was amusing for others almost worrying for me.... will be happy to know she has obviously lost that little paranoia and was happy to dig around in the sand. (I can't remember why she had her goggles on!). I will write about her new found love, boogy boarding in the next post.
So after a while we thought we would head off to a nearby fishing village to have a look, have some dinner and possibly find somewhere to stay the night. Not actually stay in Corpus Christi the city itself. The village was jam packed. No accommodation anywhere. Cute though, reminded me a little of Bremer Bay or what Middleton Beach used to look like when we were little. We had dinner in a dome shaped place called Seafood & Spaghetti Works. I had some gigantic grilled prawns, yummo! We then figured with the kids fed we would drive back towards the city and find some accommodation and if the kids fell asleep it didn't matter. hhhhmmmmmm that was a good plan. However there was no accommodation..... I swear there are hotels every few miles in America and always have availability. Well not this Saturday night. Dene even started chatting with a couple of other people who were having the same problem and who go there all the time and always pick something up at the last minute.
Anyway we drove through and out the city and I swear I was this close to just start heading back to Houston. The kids weren't asleep and we were all very, very tired. We finally found a place at 10.15pm!!! Well one lesson learnt, we definitely wont leave it till late in the day to find a place to stay next time. Bearing in mind that most hotels you can't check in till 4pm and check out is at 12. So we couldn't have started looking much earlier....
The next morning we went to have a look at the USS Lexington. A huge Aircraft Carrier from WWII parked in the middle town in the ocean, now permanently there as a Museum. A really interesting thing to see and visit. A little warm and claustrophobic for me. But still the bits that I saw were great. All about the boat & the history. Again Dad you would have been in your element. Some of if was used in filming the movie Pearl Harbour. Up on deck it is pretty spinny to see the short distance that the planes have to take off and land. You would swear more should go over and crash but apparently they don't. Obviously the war significance was lost on the kids but they had a ball climbing the ladders and getting through all the small spaces.
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We are now on the countdown till the grandies touchdown! Both my mum and Dene's mum are coming on the 4th August. I can't wait as I am getting to the point where I am pretty tired and not getting a lot of sleep at night.
