We're back from the beach. Our departure yesterday from the beach was a lot like our departure for the beach - rainy, cold, windy, sleet, ice, yuck. Luckily in between our travel days, we got some pretty sunshine and a bit of warm here and there too.
There were eight of us total - two families of four. We rented a house on the bay side of Galveston, which also had a view of the ocean and an easy walking path to get there. Our friends and I filled our days with the beach, the hot tub, the aquarium, The Strand and of course the grocery store. We filled our nights with great wine, cuisine magic in our kitchen, the kids playing marvelously together and lots of laughs.
We introduced our friends to a travel tradition we have - the A to Z game. At the end of the trip, we line up a sheet of paper and fill out all the letters A - Z from top to bottom. Then we talk about the trip and fill in each letter with a memory from our trip. It's a great way to remember what we've done and a keepsake afterwards. So here's a look at our A to Z list:
A - Aquarium - as mentioned above, we visited a local recommended stop called Moody Gardens.
B - Beach - the beach was the point of our trip. Though we didn't enjoy it in the traditional sense of bathing suits and swimming, it was no less entertaining.
C - Cranium and Chips - Two "C" words made the list. We had a little boardgame fun and we ate a LOT of chips. :)
D - Drinking - we did this too.
E - Eggs - you'll start to get a sense of just how much we ate on this trip. Nobody went home hungry.
F - Foosball - our house had a foosball table that provided entertainment for all ages.
G - Gubby and Glutton - Gubby is Cheekers newest nickname and Glutton - again, more food!
H - Hot tub - an extra special treat at the beach club we had access to. The pool was frigid, the hot tub, just right.
I - iPad - our friend celebrated her birthday on the trip and scored a new iPad. We all enjoyed taking turns playing with her new toy.
J - Jogging - thankfully we jogged to counter the eating.
K - Kroger - our store that provided all of our food.
L - Laundry - this never seems to end - even on vacation.
M - Moody Gardens, the destination we visited while in Galveston.
N - Nachos - it was Superbowl weekend...so again, more food. We had grilled pork, jalepeno, pepper jack and pineapple nachos - hello!
O - Orange tomatillo sauce - our friend made a tomatillo sauce and initially us gals thought he put too much orange juice in it.... turns out, it was mighty tasty in the end, served with scallops. Delish!
P - Polar Bear/Pointe West/Pandora - A few of us did a polar bear jump from the hot tub to the freezing pool and back in the hot tub again. Sydney was the champion Polar Bear. Pointe West was the area where we stayed. And Pandora provided a lot of musical entertainment for us in the evenings.
Q - Quality time - and that it was!
R - Rum cake -I made a rum cake for the birthday girl!
S - Steelers - we had a lot of "S" words, but I picked this one. Unfortunately, things didn't turn out like we hoped.
T - Ticket - as in speeding. Soooo, yeahhh, I got a speeding ticket while there. This is not a fun "T" word.
U - Unsalted butter - "U" words are hard, but this was an item used.
V - Vodka tonic - had a few of these.
W - Windy - we had to endure a lot of wind on this trip.
X - XLV - the roman numeral of the Superbowl.
Y - Yummy food - this is an understatement. Again, we had shrimp, scallops, steaks, twice-bakes, chili mac, wings, etc... I am in food withdrawal today.
Z - Zebra shark - one of our shark finds at the aquarium.
So, there's our list. I love to have the post-trip lists, and then it just makes me want to be on vacation again even more.
I definitely can't wait until the next trip! Good times!
