Snapshots: Roll on Highway---Part 3

On our second full day in Port Aransas, we decided that some of the children needed some decompression time in the morning. And to be honest, so did I. 

So while I stayed at our rental house with Calvin and Poppy, A. took Cubby and Jack to a place they could walk to from our rental house to fish.

The three of us at home took the dogs to the marsh across the street to run around and play; went to the grocery store and selected four different pints of Blue Bell ice cream to try; and even managed to work the big TV in the living room to watch "Dinosaur Train."

Cubby, meanwhile, caught a stingray.

He was using the whiting from the charter boat and hoping to catch something big. The stingray wasn't a really big one, but it was certainly bigger than a catfish, and a lot harder to reel in. So much surface area to drag in the water, I guess.

Anyway, Cubby pulled it up, and A. said all he could think was, "That's the fish that killed Steve Irwin!"

He was so unnerved by handling a stingray that it didn't occur to him to keep it, which is a shame, because rays are good to eat, and when's the next time we'll have that opportunity? He told me he felt like he had a rattlesnake on the line, and all he could think to do was get it off the line and back into the water without getting hurt.

He did, and it swam away. And now A. says he will regret not keeping it for the rest of his life. Guess he'll just have to catch another one sometime.

We do not have the traditional picture of the proud fisherman holding up his catch, for obvious reasons, but A. did get this one as the stingray was being pulled up.

Those eyes on the top of its head are glaring at A., I can tell.

After the excitement of the stingray, the fishermen came home and we prepared for our trip to the beach. The sun had finally come out, after mostly overcast skies thus far, so we figured this was our best shot for ocean playing.

This was also a fishing trip, of course, as were all excursions while we were there. The younger two children wore their swimsuits, although I was not confident the water would really be warm enough for swimming. The older two said they were just going to fish and didn't want their swimsuits.

(Do you think they didn't really get in the water? All you parents out there know how this is going to end.)

We went to the beach right next to one of the jetties and once again split up. A. took the older two boys to the jetty to fish, while I set up camp on the beach with the younger two children.

Those two children were delirious with excitement and raced directly to the water.

OCEAN!

The water was indeed cold, but not frigid. The sun warmed the air enough that the children could play along the edges of the water, where they didn't get completely soaked and thus were warm enough. This was perfect, because I didn't have to worry about them going in too deep. I just sat there on the sand and watched them run in and out of the water.

I did roll up my jeans and get my feet wet, but that was about the extent of my interest in water play.

Even A. waded in.

About as far as I did.

Those children were absolutely thrilled with the waves chasing them and the sand to play in.

Queen of the world.

We were there for about three hours, during which time I just sat there on the beach, drinking seltzer and singing in my head, as I usually am, a slightly adapted song.

I got my toes in the water, toes in the sand

Not a worry in the world, a cold seltzer in my hand.

Life is good today. Life is good today.

Because I am a rookie beach-goer--and because getting our crew out of the house is always intensely chaotic--I completely forgot to bring towels. Whoops.

Luckily, there was enough junk in our van that I could find some substitutes. Poppy's little pink blanket made a good place to sit in the sand.

Seltzer and barbecue kettle chips on the beach can't be beat.

There were a couple of sweatshirts too that worked for wrapping the chilled swimmers when they emerged from the water for snacks.

The fishermen of the family, meanwhile, caught a few catfish that A. decided to keep. He wanted to see if they taste any different than freshwater catfish.

After they were done fishing, they joined us on the beach for a half hour or so. And did those boys who insisted they didn't need their swim trunks stay out of the water?

I'm sure you all saw this coming, didn't you?

They rolled up their jeans and stayed on the edge for approximately five minutes before abandoning all restraint and running right in up to their waists to battle the waves. 

Thoroughly soaked in their Wrangler jeans and shirts. Naturally.

At this point, the sun was starting to set, so we gathered up our soaking and shivering brood and headed back to the rental house for hot showers and dinner.

A. prepared the catfish as part of our dinner. They taste just like freshwater catfish, in case you were wondering. Then we had an ice cream smorgasbord, in which all of the children got to have a scoop of every one of the four flavors of Blue Bell ice cream we had chosen. And then! They got to have seconds!

Joy abounded.

And that was our second (and final) full day at the sea. Tune in tomorrow for Part 4, in which we have one last adventure in Port Aransas and then journey home.