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Camp Out at Malaquite Beach (Padre Island, TX)

Paul took Friday off and we had decided ahead of time that we were going to drive down to Padre Island (about 3 hours away) and do an overnight camp out at the beach. We gathered our supplies ahead of time, purchased a few new ones (Joseph was excited about getting his own sleeping bag and sand toys; I was excited about getting a new air mattress), packed everything up Friday morning and headed out. We got there just in time to snag the last camp site that had a BBQ, so we were grateful for that! We set up camp, sunscreened up, and hit the beach. Gulf beaches are totally different than the beaches I experienced growing up. The sand is way softer, the water is way warmer, and the waves are way smaller and gentler. I loved it! We could let Joseph go and not worry about him getting knocked over every time a wave came in (even though it still happened a couple of times). The water also stays shallow for a LONG ways out. After playing at the beach for a while, we walked back to our camp site and had dinner (foil dinners). We then went back to the shore for a bit more fun. Finally, we headed back to roast marshmallows and get ready for bed. Sleeping was pretty interesting. Joseph moved around A LOT (one reason we never co-slept, lol). He was next to me, crawled over to be between us, alternated snuggling up to one or the other of us, flipped around so that his head was by our feet, ended up perpendicular with us, etc. Needless to say, with that experience (along with the crazy wind and bugs getting us), we didn’t sleep much. In the morning, we made breakfast (breakfast tacos) and let Joseph play around the camp site while we packed up. The people next to us had collected a bunch of shells and as we were leaving, had Joseph pick one out (he chose a sand dollar). They were pretty cool! We drove home and relaxed, did laundry (and Paul did homework), had dinner at Jim’s, and went to bed early. Other than being pretty tired the next day (and bit up from the mosquitos and ants who were ignoring the bug spray we put on), it was overall a pretty great trip!

This Trip in Pictures (not necessarily in chronological order):

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Making a sand castle.
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He kept flinging sand over his shoulder.
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SunRISE over the ocean (something I have never seen in person, growing up on the west coast).
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Roasting marshmallows in very serious business.
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He had a great time holding it all by himself.
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Weird creature? Nope. It was actually a pen cap that had stuff growing on it, lol.
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This seagull is pretty chill…others? Not so much. We had to chase them off a lot when they were going after our food.
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Joseph is “battling” a stick and Paul…is probably smacking a mosquito. Even with bug spray, they were ruthless!
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Foil dinner time!
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The mastermind behind the entire trip.
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The entertainer for the trip.
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Joseph got this picture. My hair is crazy (thanks to the wind), but I had to include it because I’m impressed that he didn’t cut my head off in the shot.
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It was quite bright out…
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…but so pretty and calming.
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Yes, that is a jellyfish (pretty sure it’s a Portuguese Man-of-War). I noticed one in the water not too far away from us and hauled Joseph out of the water. We found this one on the shore. I made sure Joseph knew it would give BIG ouchies.
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Another type of jellyfish (also on the shoreline).
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Playing in the water.
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This log had barnacles and seaweed growing all over it.
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Our finished product…the sand was so soft and moist (from the humidity) that it was really easy to make a sand castle.
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The building process…
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We really loved being there!
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“Jumping” over waves.
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I could not get over how soft the sand was on my feet!