One of my hopes for homeschooling was that if Mark had to travel for work, which he occasionally does, the boys and I could travel with him, or if not “with” him, then meet him at said town and spend time learning about that area. It seems like such a great idea, but I still haven’t pulled it off. His first trip this winter was to south Texas, but the weather was supposed to be rainy the few days he was there, and of course, we all got sick, so that didn’t happen. In mid-March, he found out on a Thursday that he would be leaving on Monday to go to North Dakota. Perfect! Spring Break here we come. Except, it wasn’t perfect because he was going to an area over run with pipeline workers and would be staying in a “man-camp”. Cue pity-party and the wild desire to blow thousands of dollars on a last minute trip to Disney world.
After a day of moping around quick realization that Girlie couldn't go with us either due to her school schedule, I did remember that since before we started our Ocean Unit study, the plan was to end it with a trip to the ocean. Said trip hadn't been booked because we just couldn’t work it out thanks to Mark’s unknown, going-to-happen-sometime-in-the-future travel plans. He's not a lounge on the beach kind of guy anyway, AND we were finishing our study..... mid-March! Convincing my mother, Nana, that she needed to go to the beach with us, my father to baby-sit my niece for her, and my cousin that she needed her travelling babysitter Girlie for the week, and VOILA! Galveston, Texas here we come! Girlie gets to go to Chicago, boys and I get to go to the beach, and Mark doesn't have to take a road trip (which he hates). Win-Win-Win!
I know the thought of an eleven hour car ride with three boys seems, well, not fun to most people. For us, armed with a DVD player, Nintendo DS’s, snacks, and plenty of pit stops it was easy-peasy. The most frustrating part was when we finally made it to Houston, (almost there!) we hit traffic, bumper to bumper, barely moving for miles and miles and what seemed like hours and hours. It was a little stressful, because by this time the boys were slap happy, and alleviated their boredom by being really loud which is not good when I’m trying to avoid getting rear-ended by the IDIOT guy behind me.
Even though it was Texas’ spring break week, I easily found us a hotel room with an oceanview balcony. After the long car ride Monday, we decided to just chill there that night rather than venture out. We had pizza delivered, a luxury not available for us non-city-dwellers, and enjoyed listening to the waves crashing onto shore. We listened rather than watched because the thickest fog EVER rolled in right after we did.
Tuesday we hit Walmart for boogie boards and picnic supplies, then found a sweet spot on the beach. Again, for Spring Break, it wasn’t crowded at all. We saw no one drinking, very few string bikinis, and no gaggles of college bros and…girls being all spring-breaky. Galveston is basically one long narrow strip of beach, for about 8 miles, with parking up on the Seawall and steps leading down to the beach. By the time we got there it was noon and the fog STILL hadn’t burned off like it does with sunrise at home, but it had lifted enough to sit on the beach and see the kids in the ocean. We unloaded, slathered up with sunscreen, and the boys hit the waves with their boogie boards while Nana and I soaked up the sun. I did need to get some good shots of the boys’ ocean time, so I stood at the edge, awaiting the blissful feel of ocean water washing sand off my toes. The water was about the temperature of Antarctica. Ok, maybe not Antarctica, but definitely creek water-ish. This bothered the boys about as much as snow at Christmas, and when we finally coaxed them out for lunch, their lips were blue. Truly. By the end of the day, despite repeated sun-screen applications, we were all sunburned, happy, and starving. Dinner was at Tortugas Mexican Restaurant (no mystery why the boys wanted to eat here, Captain Jack).
Wednesday we celebrated Middle’s birthday at Rainforest Café, rode the Ferry, saw dolphins swimming wild and free, and spent another afternoon on the beach. Thursday, we packed up and drove home.
As field trips go, it was super relaxing, and they learned that seagulls will catch and eat pizza crust if you throw it to them off a 3rd floor balcony, but will drop lettuce. That’s education, homeschool style.
