Our big Christmas present from my parents this year was a family vacation to Galveston, Texas. After much planning, we finally went May 9-16. We got to spend time with my parents, my sister and her boyfriend, explore a new place, and just relax, which is always nice. Its also nice to know that we only live about 4.5-5 hours away from a beach!

Day 1 (May 9)- Travel Day

On May 9, Mike and I packed up the car and Cecil to begin our vacation! Cecil went to go visit friends and was excited to go on adventures and play, but most of all, we all felt good knowing he'd be with someone he knew. We stopped for lunch at Blue Baker (one of our favorites) and then were on our way to the beach! It was a weird day weatherwise, kind of gloomy looking. As we were driving, we hit both rain and traffic so it took us a little bit longer than we'd expected. We arrived at the beach house just before dinner and in between rain so we unloaded quickly and got things settled in. Mike and I searched out dinner options near us and found that we were limited, so we grabbed some Subway and went back to wait for the others to arrive. Finally, after 16 hours of travel time, the rest of the family arrived and we were ready to begin our vacation fun!

Day 2 (May 10)- Relax and Settle in Day

After a relaxing night of sleep, I enjoyed breakfast and coffee with my family on the porch. We made a grocery list and Mike, Mom and I headed to Walmart. Walmart is one of my least favorite places and this one was no different. It was super crowded and shopping was not fun. We made it out without me exploding and finding everything we needed and more! Saturday we chilled at the house and on the beach. That evening we went out to eat dinner at Marios, an Italian restaurant. We all enjoyed cocktails, seafood, pasta, pizza, and later for dessert-gelato. It was also a great people watching spot.

Day 3 (May 11)- Relax and Mothers Day

Sunday was Mother's Day and we opted for a relaxing day at the beach. We slept in, enjoyed breakfast on the porch, had lunch and spent some time at the beach. We decided to celebrate Mother's Day Texas style and we ordered BBQ from Leon's and would go pick it up later. It was a cloudy day, but still decent beach weather. One of the things that made this beach a little different was the huge amount of seaweed. There was a huge wall of it, which made getting into the water difficult. Once we found a place to cross it, the water was a bit murky for my taste. We were staying near private beaches so they were less likely to be cleaned than some of the more public beaches. Mom and Dad went to go pickup dinner and we got the table ready and made margaritas. Leon's BBQ was pretty good and had some great sides. It was not the best BBQ I've ever had, but it was pretty good. We made plans for the week so that we could make the most of our vacation.

Day 4 (May 12)- Moody Gardens

On Monday, we went to Moody Gardens. We went in with low expectations and really not knowing what we may be going to visit. We were definitely surprised by how amazing Moody Gardens was. It was broken up into a series of pyramids with different activities to check out. Some of our favorite activities included the rainforest pyramid, where animals and butterflies were roaming free, the boat ride, a pirate exhibit, and an amazing aquarium with fish, sea lions, and penguins. Moody Gardens was neat because it was very interactive and there were lots of workers there to answer any questions we might have. It was also nice that it was Monday and school was still in session so it really wasn't crowded either. It was definitely a place for all ages and had lots to keep everyone interested. We probably would have stayed all day if it hadn't closed early for a special event. Its also located next to Schlitterbahn (a water park) and you could obviously spend a few days between the two places. For dinner, we hit up Tortuga, a Mexican restaurant on the seawall. The food was decent and we were able to catch the Cardinals game while we ate. We finished off with Rita's Italian Ice.

The New Austonian