The Beach - Part 3

How do you save a tropical bird with a broken wing from drowning in the pool? 

Throw him a boogie board, of course. 

I think God made it a prerequisite - if you're gonna be tropical in any way, you HAVE to at least know how to boogie board. Easy enough, said this bird. 

This poor dude was in the drain. Ck spotted him and thought he was kaput, toast, not of this world... Dead. It spooked CK because he said he felt like the bird was staring at him. And we all know dead bird stares are the worst. I pulled off the drain cover and he beaked his way out. (Beaked, past tense, is the formal word for when a bird uses his beak as a paddle and his body as a boat. Look it up.) The poor fella had a mangled wing. CK instinctively slid him his boogie board. I called the number for the sharp beaked things wranglin' folk. The lady that showed up grabbed him and left like she had just scooped up a towel off of the ground. It screamed and stuck out it long neck and had that long carnivorous beak all ready to joust. I assume it's neck is retractable because I totally would have notice that it was a giraffe bird. She was so nonchalant like she had fenced fowls before. I was kinda creeped out by it's neck. I don't know why that part stuck with me.

Anyway, so yeah, CK saved a bird. 

Then I had to wash towels and blankets at the washateria. This just happens to be next to Voodoo Tattoo. Hello!! Field trip, kids!! I asked the guy if the kids could see how the whole tattoo thing works. They're pros with the wet toilet paper kind so I figured they could both exchange some pointers. (And maybe the sight would scare them from ever wanting a real tattoo!) The guy was so super nice. He explained it to the kids and kind of told them what he was doing as he went. I told him thank you and he said "Well, hang on. I have a tattoo for the kids."  He pulled out his display book and had a bunch of sticky tattoos. Um, cutest thing ever!!! So, the girls picked out Minnie and got their white trash makeover while CK played it cool. (I know he wanted the mom tattoo, but we can keep that secret between us.) 

And then Maven hugged and kissed a statue and it was cute. 

Our other island adventures included...

The Ringling Bros Circus in Corpus
 It POURED on us outside while we waited to get in.  No awning.  Nothing.  Just rain.  For an hour and a half.  Maven SCREAMED almost the whole time we stood in line. 

Bike rides.

 Many bike rides.

 Like,  a whoooole lot of bike rides.

 Seriously.

 Almost daily.

 

 And then on a bike ride I took with CK, we ran across a skull.  I went to pick it up and noticed it was attached to a small brown vessel.  I freaked, thinking I had just detonated a bomb.  I waved down the first car that passed.  Luckily, it was an old military dude.  He assured me that it was NOT a bomb after careful inspection.  He left in his big indestructible truck and I stayed on my Schwinn, feeling very vulnerable.  CK stayed across the street. (not that he was safe from my soon-to-be-severed flying body parts) Then I remembered another time I had run up on a prescription pill bottle near our farm.  One of my cousins had told me that it was some weird nerdy game.  A really dumb game.  Sure enough, there were some weird coordinates written on a piece of paper inside the tube. 

We spent a lot of time at the park/skatepark/dog park

And even more time exploring and learning:

We watched lots of live music at good ol' Stingrays.

And caught things:

Most of which were dead:

The kids made new friends daily and learned to walk to just about anybody to befriend them.

 

We walked to the observatory and observed.

 

 Tay thinks Ryan looks cool in this pic.  I think that is exactly what he was going for, which makes him not cool.  Nice try, though, dude!

And Christian helped Maven walk back.

 
We found super cool things, like my dolphin stick.

And ate a lot of ice cream. 

 The shop is bright pink and we had to pass it on our walk/bike ride.  Temptation won almost every time, unless I had no cash.  Then, the lack of a nearby ATM won.

 

We got to watch Sandfest go up! 

And my girls totally almost ruined it!  As I took pictures of it, they managed to run up that big sand dune.  Luckily, I threated them with chicken liver and rancid coconut water just before anyone saw. 

 

 The look like such obedient kids, don't they?

 

 Then we went to Sandfest.

 
The kids learned how to build those incredible thangs.

We camped.

 And grilled.

And got season passes to the Corpus Aquarium.

We went a lot.

 I discovered my favorite fish!

 A blenny!  Isn't he the cutest?! Just look at those chubby cheeks!

 CK likes these fellas.  I think they're creepy.  But, in a cool way.  Kind of like a contortionist.  I think they're crazy gross, but I can't quit staring in awe.

 

 We sat in the splash zone at the dolphin show every time.  We got sprayed every time.  Duh.

And mostly we kept going back to the aquarium because of the splash park!  Hello babysitter!