Feelin' Beachy

Fake beachy, that is! During Anaka's stay, we decided Galveston was in order. Per the rec of our friends the Youngers, we decided to try out Palm Beach at Moody Gardens. It was a blast. Honestly, had I known it was so fun, Turtle and I would have headed down that way more than once this summer. A season pass is ridiculously affordable. I hope to make it back at least once before it shuts down for the season. Moody Gardens also has an aquarium and some other attractions. They are all housed in this weirdo pyramids. This shot was taken as we pulled in to the parking lot.

Heading in and waiting for Daddy to get our tickets

Basically, Palm Beach is the best of both water worlds: beach and swimming pool. There are 2 large pools that deepen very gradually- perfect for little ones. They have gorgeous white sand all around them and lots of trees. There are about a million chairs and umbrellas. Since we went on a Thursday, we had no trouble getting a good spot with shade and a quick walk to the water.

Ready to swim!

This is the smaller of the 2 pools. The large is just to the left on the other side of the rocks. It is about 3x the size of this one. This pool is actually deeper, but there were a lot less people so it was also a lot calmer.

There are two other areas in addition to the pools. Unfortunately, the little kid part was not working. It has just a little standing water and a lot of apparatus where you push buttons or turn wheels and water sprays out. We really wanted to have some play time over there, but oh well. Luckily, the water slide area was in full swing! There are 2 slides, big enough to be fun, small enough for little ones. Turtle certainly didn't ride alone, but by next summer he will without a doubt. There were a lot of squirting things and water cannons and a big water tower that rained down on everyone ever few minutes. Really great!

Turtle experiences true toddler bliss on his 1st water slide; Anaka takes her turn

Anaka and Truitt wait for another go; the water tower

Going down; Turtle is cool as a cucumber. Ha!

End of the road

We did stay to eat lunch. Your typical fried beach food. It wasn't going to last much longer though, so we loaded up after lunch for the hour drive home. What a fun morning, but as you can see here, I had a tired boy on my hands.

You can always tell it was a fun day when the scene in the car looks like this. I took a cat nap as well and Daddy was left alone to drive us all home. He's a good sport!