Last Beach day of the Summer

We did a quick beach trip this weekend with my mom and dad. They left early Friday, but we drove down late Friday evening. We didn't get on the road till 6:40pm and didn't get down to Port Aransas until almost ten. Sam fell asleep in the car, but Davis didn't. He never can. We all threw our stuff down in the condo and fell asleep.
Saturday dawned with a beautiful silver ocean and clean, seaweed-free sand. Michael went for a five mile run and I made homemade scones and did pilates and then we packed up the beach bag and the cooler and headed for the beach. We set up our EZ up and our chairs and the kids grabbed their plastic boats and went to play in the water. Mom and Dad met us down on the beach and we had a great time, soaking up the sunshine and chatting. My parents took the kids on a walk and Michael and I stood in the water, talking and spinning out future plans. We had a picnic lunch and then bought ice cream from the ice cream truck. Michael went out boogie boarding the with kids and Dad played washers with Sam. Mom and I sat under the EZ up and got a chance to talk and talk. It was wonderful.
Suddenly, mom remembered that there might be belt sander races that afternoon. I called to see if there were, and they told us they started at 4PM! We packed up all our beach stuff and headed up to the condo to change and go to town.
We got to the Gaff around 3:30 and got a wonderful picnic table right in the front of the races in the shade. They had an old man on the stage playing the fiddle and there was so much in the courtyard to explore. Michael got us both a beer and we watched and took pictures as people showed up and put their belt sanders on the race table. Soon, someone stopped by our table and asked Michael if he would like to race one. He jumped at the chance and both he and the boys joined the racing team.
The races started with a playing of the national anthem. There were several heats. Michael's sander lost, but a very kind man noticed that the kids were disappointed and he asked them to help him with his winning sander, Turtle Time. They took their job very seriously and at the end, Turtle Time was the grand winner! The very kind man, split his winnings with the children and they swaggered their way out of the bar, declaring it the most fun they ever had.
We went back to the condo and Mom and I cooked up a fabulous dinner. She and dad had stopped by the seafood store and brought back raw oysters, stone crab claws and fresh drum filets. I made a pasta with pesto and mom made a salad. It was a delicious feast!
We noticed as we cleaned up dinner that it was really hot in the condo and upon some inspection, we realized that the air co was not putting out any cool air and that it was indeed, frozen solid. We moved down to the first floor condo for the night so we didn't swelter in the heat.
This morning we had a lovely breakfast of scrambled eggs and pancakes at my parent's condo. It is so cool and peaceful in there! After breakfast, we packed up and hit the road, but once we were on our way, we decided to stop in Corpus at the USS Lexington. We had never been and we thought today would be a great day to do it.
We spent three hours on the ship, exploring all the passages. We watched a 3-D movie and went up to the flight deck to see all the planes. The kids loved everything to do with war and I enjoyed all the cabins and the mess hall and all the living arrangements. There was so much to see and do! We could easily have spent another hour there, but it was 2PM, by the time we left and we were Hangry. (hungry/angry). We drove over to the nearest Thai restaurant and had a late lunch.
We drove home listening to TED talks and were surprised to come home to a cool and wet ranch. Apparently a cold front came with some rain while we were gone.
I've tucked the beach bag away in the closet. We most likely won't pull it out again until our cruise next spring break. I'm so glad we got one more weekend on the beach in Port Aransas. I love it there so much.