When I think of vacation, I think of blue skies, a nice sandy beach, warm ocean water, and of course this year for our first family vacation, I had thoughts of us being in optimal health to enjoy all that lovely weather.

Well…(and I’m sure it won’t look like it from all the following pictures) the last thing on my mind was being sick on vacation, but that’s exactly what happened. Our first family vacation and it was full of runny noses, sneezing, coughing, sore throats, and basically fighting to enjoy all the good that comes with taking a much needed break.

I’m not talking about just myself. We were all sick wit’ it. However, we still managed to have fun at the end of the day.

Hubs and I knew we wanted to go to the beach (we always want to go to the beach lol). We also knew we needed to keep it budget friendly. After doing some research I landed on a Texas beach. It just so happens that South Padre Island has some of the best weather in the down season. In September the water is a perfect 84 degrees and with no Summer or Spring Break crowds to grapple with we got the place to ourselves.

I found a nice ocean front condo on Vrbo that fit our specifications. It was spacious, well stocked, and within walking distance to the beach. Down season meant no noise, so the condo was nice and quiet just for us 😊.

I couldn’t wait to experience us as a family going to the beach together for the first time. Stuffy nose and all, as soon as we got unpacked, we headed straight for the water. A big smile immediately spread across Buzzy Bee’s little face as we got closer and closer to what I would refer to as a giant tub.

We walked right in and she giggled and laughed splashing around like she’d done it a million times before.

We continued to play until little one was tuckered out. Didn’t take much since she was congested.

For the next couple of days, all we did was hit up the beach, and to be honest, that’s all we really wanted to do. If you’ve ever considered going to Padre or have already been, it’s not about the food or nightlife, it’s literally about the beach.

One cool thing we got to experience that was on my single item to do list was go to Sea Turtle Inc. It’s a sea turtle rescue and rehabilitation center. It was located right across the street so we walked on over and paid the $6 to get it.

They’ve upgraded it to a newer larger facility in the back, but the front houses pools for turtles recovering from ocean pollution to injuries. The staff also has short write ups to inform guests how long each turtle has been at the rehab center and when their expected release date is.

One thing I was so amazed with is how large sea turtles can get. I always think of Crush from Finding Nemo and in my head those turtles are always small. We saw some pretty large resident sea turtles that literally sized me up!

The largest turtles are the Leatherback Sea Turtles which are one of the rarest. They can get up to 8ft tall and weigh 1000 pounds! Imagine swimming next to that in an ocean! Yikes!

Bee got a kick out of it though. She enjoyed pointing at the turtles and seeing them up close. It was a very educational experience for us all and I’m glad we went.

After all that learning, it was time to hit up the beach again one last time! We caught some baby waves and the mister made his first structured sandcastle. It ended on a high note for us.

One thing I learned this first family trip is that a vacation truly is what we make it. We could have pouted and been grouchy about feeling ill the whole time (and believe me it was hard not to), but in the end, it was worth it just to go and be a little family having fun. A memory we will never forget.

Now excuse me while I go clean up from my kid using me as her human hanky 😂🤦🏾‍♀️