TWO-thless

It was exactly 2 weeks later, same scenario, different day, different tooth.

I am not sure why it was so stressful this time around, he had just done it 2 weeks before, but apparently it was...

and then as soon as it was over....  nothing but grins

not sure if he is excited because he is now TWO-thless or because that fairy will come yet again and he is gonna be RICH ha ha

check out that hole!!!!   so fun!!!  Congrats Sam!

releasing of Kemp's ridley sea turtles

One of the things I had seen when i was looking for things to do in Corpus Christi was the release of the the sea turtles.  Here is the wiki  and the Padre Island info page.  Apparently there are not very many releases and only a few open to public viewing.  What are the odds that we just happened to be there when it was both a release and open to the public?  I was very excited.  I really wanted to go, Kirk was rather uninterested and the kids, well, they were not really aware of the whole event.

 It was early, very early, too early to be up and about while on vacation, so I was planning on going either by myself or with the kids. But what a good sport Kirk is... he was planning on coming all along :)  See the darkness in the picture above?

We got up, got dressed (in clothes and shoes other than white per the rules) and piled into the car for the 20 minute drive.  We were able to get an ok spot...  thankfully some older people allowed the kids to get in front of them so that they could see.  I could see ok, but not great.  Kirk was able to look over the heads of people...  so that meant it was then his job to take the pictures/video.  He had 1 job to do, and little did I know, he did his job VERY,  VERY well.  He filmed almost the whole time we were there...  Way to go Kirk!!!  so, I will give you a little of what we saw...

It was fun even though it was early.

We saw the sun come up, we felt the warm water splash up on our legs (a little more disturbing to the littles than for me...  but I guess it was going up higher on them than me) and we found sand crabs.

 It was Friday, we had been going long days all day long all week, so it was only natural to have a melt down or 5 before breakfast...  so we all went back home, took a short nap and were able to regroup in order to have a fantastic last day at the beach !!!

see---  check out those precious smiles

toothless

 We have been waiting, and waiting and waiting for this day.  Sam has been claiming that his teeth have been loose for months now, though it was not true ~~but if you believe, it WILL happen... just ask him!
You see, all of his friends have lost several teeth by now.  And Sam, well, not a wiggle, not a twitch... and then it happened...  Not just 1, not 2, but 4 teeth had a little give to them.  We were so excited and thought he was gonna lose them all right away.  But they just hung on and then 3 teeth had firmed back up again.  Sam had a trip to visit his grandparents for several days and I was sure he would lose that first special tooth there.  Everyone knew not to touch that puppy, and thankfully for me (I know, I am a little selfish)  it remained in his mouth, very loose.  and on Thursday June 21st all of the waiting came to an end.

It was ready.   It was practically wiggling all by itself.

 Kirk was "wiggling" it, and Sam got very, very nervous.  For it seemed the time had come, but had apparently grown fond of this tooth and had decided he wanted to keep it.  So while he was in a mild  panic, and trying to convince Kirk why he should not pull it, Kirk had pulled it and I was dabbing away the blood.  It took him a while to realize that the said tooth was out, gone, vamoosed.

 But he was pretty excited about it once he realized it.  We had to make the calls to the grandparents, he was all grins.

 Plus he couldn't wait for the special person who would sneak into his room and leave him money--  kind of creepy if you ask me, shouldn't this scare a child?  I mean really, a fairy comes in while you are sleeping ---  how do they not have nightmares over this?!

oh well, I guess it was worth it, he made cash and now has a cool hole in his mouth :)

corpus--2012

One thing I LOVE about summer... VACATION!!  It was one of my favorite things growing up (well, unless we had to go somewhere "educational--  it might have been a bit boring for me as a child)  We always had fun (and typically something unusual and eventful would always occur) Then as an adult and living on my own, my best friend and I traveled all over.  Once I got married, Kirk and I were able to go on a few awesome adventures as well.  Then the kids came and for some reason we have not gone on many vacations-- though we did go to the beach 2 years ago.  we went to Destin with my parents, I looked, but could not find any posts about it?!  not sure why?  It was a great trip (all except for the fact that Molly was not a big fan of the ocean, or the sand, or the sun etc...)  Molly is 2 years older (and a much happier little girl), Sam is growing up, so it was time to once again have a vacation...  at the beach... in the hot sun of Texas...

What an awesome week!  It came and went so fast and we had a lot of fun in between.  I will warn you now, I have tried my best to restrict the photos in this post, but it was a FUN weeks worth of camera snapping so here ya go....

 We saw cotton growing in several fields, it was so neat to see these little cotton buds.  We pulled over in a parking lot and took a closer look at the cotton field.  We did pick 2 pieces from a plant in the weeds.  It actually felt like a cotton ball that you buy.

 We were able to go to the Texas State Aquarium.  It was really neat.  Very hands on and interactive.  we tried and tried to touch these sting rays...  They had apparently been handled too much already that morning.  BUT if you try and try and go deep enough in the water you can actually get one!

 And then we realized there was another place to touch them, it was shallower and they came closer to the edge...so much nicer and easier--- all 4 of us got to feel them.  The kids got to feel small sharks as well.

  The dolphins were so cool to see.  We were able to watch their show.  Then we went down below and were able to watch them "play"  they would come right up to the glass.  I like how this one looks like he is smiling at Sam.

 And what kind of place would it be without a giant dolphin mascot? 

 Then there was the ocean.  It was fun.  The kids loved the waves, the water, the sounds, smells and the sand.  (which made me love it all the more)  Molly was not a huge fan of the "salty water" smacking her in the face, but took it anyway.  Then there is Sam who LOVED when the waves would crash on him and get all in his face (odd child, I know---  he was like that in Destin 2 years ago as well)

 

For one who did not like to be splashed in the face, Molly loved laying down in the sand and having the waves roll right over her. (I know, did not make much sense to me either)

 We were fortunate to be in Corpus when they had a turtle hatch-ling release.  (I will write another post about that)  On our way out Kirk and Sam were able to spot some sand crabs---  so of course we had to hold them :)

And then last but certainly least (yes, I said least) was the "world's largest whataburger)  I had read about it when looking up "things to do in Corpus"  It was a "must see" on my list...  and well, I gotta say, it was 2 floors, but sis not seem all that big, the 2nd floor had a nice view to the beach, but well, let's be honest, it was still just a whataburger...  oh well, at least we can say "we went, we saw, we ate, but we did not buy the t-shirt"
Come to think of it, we did not buy 1 single thing on this trip (aside from food)  not a single thing... how did that happen?