South Padre Island 2021

 For Christmas, my mom "adopted" a sea turtle for Georgia through Sea Turtle Inc in South Padre. We told her that we would plan a trip to see the sea turtles. I had NO idea Texas has such a large population of sea turtles (granted, South Padre is a stones throw to Mexico) until we had that ridiculous freeze and Sea Turtle Inc saved so many turtles that were cold stunned. Like, in the thousands. 

All three of my kids are just crazy about animals. Especially Georgia and Barrett. Their love of animals is just next level. I told them they all three need to open up their own vet clinic. South Padre Island also has a dolphin life center and an alligator sanctuary.  We were scheduled for those on Sunday and then we were going to head home but Barrett woke up with a fever so we sadly had to skip out on those and hit the road back to Conroe. It is so worth a trip ALL the way down to South Padre. Especially if your kids are animal lover like mine. 

People assume because Jonathan works in education that he has summers off but he actually does not. Trying to actually find the time to book this trip was so difficult. Jonathan has so many meetings and conferences and does so much hiring and works all summer. So we squeezed in a super quick trip. Got a ticket on day one and on day three Barrett got a fever but it was a very fun trip.

On the first day we got checked into our house, grabbed our beach stuff, and headed to the water. We were worried because we went to 30A back in October. (the day after a hurricane) and Barrett HATED the beach and the waves. It was so sad. This time though, Barrett loved the beach and the water so much. It was so dang cute and I was so happy that all three loved the beach this time around. (Although, truth be told, me and Jonathan aren't super huge beach fans. I know, we're in the minority here!)

Milam and I both have THESE hats. Mine is the adult size and his is a "big kid".

From the beach we walked over and ate at Clayton's, which was just typical bar food, live music, and a huge open area venue type place.

There was this super cute lifeguard stand (kind of in front of the Hilton) that I thought would make a great photo back drop. The kids were so mad at me for taking them away from the waves. Ha. Crying faces and all.

On day two we headed to Sea Turtle Inc. It was hot but we had a great time and were all so surprised how BIG they were! There are "resident" turtles that are not able to survive on their own and then the other turtles are helped and released.

After naps we ventured out to Port Isabel to see the light house and enjoy the amazing views. The water was so great.

Like y'all. This is TEXAS. Mind blown and I've lived here (nearly) my entire life.

Fun fact, I lived just outside Chicago for about nine months in kinder. #texasforever

The lighthouse in Port Isabel was great and the view was amazing. I think there is a similar picture on Texas Monthly maybe.

We shopped, walked, and ate on the pier after we visited the light house.

The next day is when we were supposed to visit the two other wild life centers but our baby bear was sick so we decided to head home early.

Best dad ever riding in the back on Father's Day with grumpy bear. 

I would for sure recommend SPI if you want a Texas beach destination!