Musings on Surfside...We had a wonderful time at Surfside Beach, which is about 30 miles southwest of Galveston. The water was much clearer and the beach less crowded. We rented a house with Lizzie's family. The house was absolutely gorgeous. It was new and cutely (is that a word?) decorated. We swam every day and ate way too much, but what a great time.

Dh and the brother's-in-law went deep sea fishing. Dh was the only one that caught a fish, a mackerel. He then proceeded to throw up everything, but the boat, the rest of the trip. He had to take a full day to rest afterwards. We fried half the mackerel and grilled the other half. We all agreed that the fried was better.

I love nature and so I am remembering all the animals that I saw. While out swimming one day I looked out about 30 feet and there was a Pelican sitting in the water. It was just sitting there, it was huge. When it took off it's wingspan was about 4'. I could not believe how big it was. The pelicans were fascinating to watch skim the water. They literally play follow the leader. If the leader is flapping its wings the bird behind starts flapping its wings, if the leader stops, then the fellow behind stops. They are flying in a row each following the fellow in front of him.

We also went crabbing every evening. The water was so clear that we could be walking along in the shallows, with the waves rolling in and see a little crab scurrying across the bottom of the ocean. If you leaned down, they would curl up inside their shell and you could pick them up. I also caught a stone crab. The kind that bury themselves in the sand with only their eyes showing. I saw it dig down, got my shovel out and sure enough it was a crab about 3" wide.

Then of course being the great homeschooling mom that I am I forced my daughters to go with us to visit the cemetery where Stephen F. Austin is buried. For the uninitiated in Texas History. Stephen F. Austin is the father of Texas. He brought the original 300 Anglo settlers from Tennessee. Dd #1 was not happy with me. She says "It's just a bunch of dead people...why do I have to go?" I brooked no argument. We all went. Of course when we got there it was raining, because after all we are 20 miles from the ocean and the mosquitos literally almost carried us away. Ah well, it'll give them something to tell their therapist in about 20 years. More on the trip tomorrow. Hopefully I can figure out how to load pictures onto this site.