South Padre Island

One of the perks about living so close to Mexico is that we actually live about an hour away from the Gulf of Mexico so that means the beach is not far away. It's a place called South Padre Island which is a big tourist island. It's a major spring break destination but luckily we didn't have to worry about that. It's been so nicebecause in the few weeks we've lived here, we've been able to go twice. The kids have never experienced the beach before (B went when she was too little to remember.) so they had a BLAST! The older two couldn't stop running into the waves with Kyle. They kept wanting to go further and further out while Graham got to hang out with me on dry land. The only down side was a hurricane came in about an hour and a half after we got there so we had to make it a shorter trip than expected, but all in all it was a great family day.

Dad with his kids. It's some of the first authentic smiles I've seen from them (while taking pictures) in a while. They were in heaven.

They built a sandcastle with a moat and everything. The construction crew was very proud.

What beach trip would be complete without burying someone in the sand? Porter was a more-than-willing volunteer.

We were also lucky enough to go with some new friends from the ward the week before. The kids had fun but not nearly as much without dad.

It's a good thing we have another rotation by the shore (we're moving to Florida in a few months) otherwise I don't know what these beach bums would do!