the beach in January

My friend Katie & her two girls went to the beach with my girls plus Katie's friend Madison!   The weather said it was going to be 71 degrees... and we thought "perfect!"

So we left at 8:00 that morning, stopping at the grocery store for kites and any other thing we had forgotten.  We packed food, towels, and our books (and magazines!) and took off for a 2.5 hour road trip to North Padre Island! 

On the road....

We get to the beach, and it's cloudy ... windy ... and COLD!!!  We were thinking it was in the early
60's?  Maybe even 50's!  Hardly anyone was out at the beach with us ..... it was just us and a bunch of dead fish and jellyfish that washed up on the shore.

The cold doesn't bother Maddie & Natalie one bit (she's the little 3 year old).  Her poor lips were purple at times and she just shivered... but was completely happy to be at the beach!

1-2-3 JUMP!!

Here is my friend Katie .. she loves the beach as well.  We walked up and down the beach in search for shells.  Shells that weren't broken, that is!

Here we are... with me covering up my .. uh... cleavage.  :)

Natalie builds a sand castle all by herself!

The one type of shell found a LOT is the sand dollar.  Broken pieces are found EVERYWHERE.  I was told when we first came to this area of the ocean that you have to go out to the first sandbar in order to find complete sand dollars.  However, that first sandbar is like... far out!  Thank you but NO!  Sharks in the water... and jellyfish!

By now Maddie is upset with me for not going in the water with her.  It was freezing cold!!! 

The kites were a great idea ....

The girls also played on the sand dunes (behind the girls in the pictures).  Lovely to see posted signs warning people to watch out for snakes.  ::shudder::

Finally at 4:30 we called it a day ... and left for home.  All the girls in the back row (including Natalie) fell asleep on the way home.