summer

Galveston ’25 – Kids’ summer getaway

| patmcg

With Claire being off at college most of the year and working a summer job at home, plus Molly being busy with cheer stuff, it’s been hard find a time we can all take a trip together. But after scouring the calendar, we finally found a few days that work.

And we make a road trip to good ol’ Galveston, my personal favorite nostalgic childhood beach town, and where we last went two years ago.

We’ve stayed in a few types of places in Galveston over the years:

  1. A historic bungalow in town – good town access, no beach access
  2. A beach house with a lazy river and a giant pool way out on far end of the island – good beach access, no town access
  3. A condo with a giant pool closer in, but separated from the beach by Seawall Boulevard – decent town access and annoying beach access
  4. Plus a variety of day trips from Houston back in the way

With all that experience behind us, I finally decided to get it right this time and get a spacious condo close to town with a giant pool and a lazy river and direct beach access with no Seawall Boulevard in the way. 👌

Did I mention it was for perfect for swimming in the morning and shaded by later afternoon? The nights out there were gorgeous too.

Once we had our perfect castle, it was time to play. The lazy river was amazing. Moly saids she would be out there three hours every morning if she lived there. I actively considered buying our condo. 😆

The beach was soft and sandy, and the water was the perfect temperature. I didn’t get many beach pics because I generally left my phone in the condo. 😊

During the steamy, sunny, tropical afternoons, we retreated inside and played Hey, That’s My Fish!, played guitar, napped, or watched LA Confidential. We also gorged on key lime pie.

And we explored the classic spots in town in the evening. Plus we discovered a new one for is: Maceos’ Import & Spice Co for po boys. (I still need to get these girls a proper muffaletta sandwich.)

We walked from the strand to The Original Mexican Restaurant (circa 1911), which was one of my dad’s favorite restaurants.

The only real problem was we had to get back to normal life and didn’t stay long enough. We still wanted to do mini golf and have pho. At least we have this song to remember you by.

T8!

| patmcg

Molly nudges me into taking her to the Tate McRae concert at the Moody Amphitheater.

I wasn’t real familiar with Tate McRae, who came out wearing oversized hockey shirt with “T8” emblazoned on the front. 😆

But what can I say? T8 was gr8!

This river rat does not back down 🤿

| patmcg

Molly always knows how to make a fun day happen. She’s been on me for a while to go to San Marcos and actually swim in the river we have driven by many times on the way to the best Kerby Lane Cafe. “We should swim in that river.,” we always say. 😉

And with a warm and sunny weekend finally upon us, we made it happen today. 🙌

We put in downstream from Sewell Park and slowly inched our way into the frigid spring-fed water while discussing our common dislike of frigid cold water.

But we persisted until the clear green water (yes, it’s clean and green) became downright refreshing. And the wild rice grass in the water all around us became not that weird any more. “I wonder how many people have been lost to the grass,” I joked.

After a few minutes of wading and adjusting, we got out of this cool flow and made our way up to the actual Sewell Park proper and put in again. This time it felt even better, swimming upstream against the current a bit so we could float back downstream in a relaxed way. 🛟

And then we got out and scouted the park a bit more. I suggested that next time we put in up the river and float all the way through the park. It would be like a lazy river at a resort. But we’re done for the day (right?), because Molly seemed tired.

But Molly said, “No. Let’s do it now.”

And so we wound our way down the cool, narrow river and back down to where we started. It was beautiful and refreshing. 🙌

We wrapped up the day with ice cream a short walk away in downtown San Marcos. Nothing says summer like ice cream in a wet swimsuit (and a cowboy hat in my case).

It was pretty damn close to a perfect way to kick off the summer. Btw Claire passed up the trip and understandably chose to rest back at home after her graduation and festivities yesterday. She can suit herself – she’s an adult now. Save all the fun for us kids. 😉

Swimming on SoCo

| patmcg

Today was our first real swim since before the goddamn pandemic hit.

We’re easing our way back to “normal”, in this case meaning a more fun summer than last. ☀️ I jumped on a pool pass at the Austin Motel (“So Close, Yet So Far Out”). This hotel pool turns out to be less crowded and more fun than neighborhood social club the High Road, which we tried the summer before last.

One thing I love about Molly is that she’s not trying to be an adult yet. She made a “sea raft” out of swim noodles, held together with goggles. We played with our pool toys, Sammie the Seamonster and Ollie Octopus.

And we took lots of underwater photos, using my iPhone as a bit of a pool toy itself. I guess it could use a cleaning anyways. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Watermelon Bowl🍉

| patmcg

Molly enjoying a watermelon bowl, noting:

  1. The watermelon is bigger than her head
  2. This is “the only natural way to eat a watermelon”
  3. She has no idea how this whole thing fits in her stomach
  4. A yet Molly persisted and ate the whole thing, while Claire only ate half of hers (and gave the rest to me 😋).

Inside Can be Fun Too

| patmcg

What have Claire and Molly been doing with all their free time now that they’re out of school for the summer?  Besides playing in the rain, having friends over, swimming, and watching Jessie, here are a few pics of their indoor activities so far this summer.

dsa

Rainy Summer Days

| patmcg

With all the rain we’ve been having lately, the backyard has turned into a water park for the girls.  Molly, in particular, loves going outside to play, especially when it is raining.  She likes when it is raining really hard best of all.  She and Claire will spend hours at a time out there just splashing around and playing with their toys.

They even set up a water park for their My Little Pony toys.  The park is inspired by Schlitterbahn and features a giant water slide with a big pool at the end of it.  There is also a “natural pond”, which is basically a big puddle.  And the Swamp of Doom in the muddy grass area.  Claire made a map of the park and even added a snack stand for refreshments (it’s alternately a smoothie place, a fish taco place, or Benny’s Fish ‘n’ Chips).

dsa

Thanks For the Great Summer, Jackie!

| patmcg

Here is Claire’s note to her nanny, Jackie, who spent most of the summer with Claire.  Claire loved having a nanny for the summer.  She could have friends over, go summing, go shopping, cook, or just take it easy.  Jackie took special care to make sure Claire had a fun summer and did not sit in front of the TV very much.

Front of thank you card
Front

Inside of thank you card
Inside

We kept Molly mostly in her pre-school routine throughout the summer, although she did get to come home early some days and had the last week of the summer off with Claire and Jackie.

Jackie would later tell us that this card was the sweetest thing she had ever received, and it made her cry.