Jellyfish at the Beach

Do we really have to wrinkle our nose every time someone stops us to take a picture?

Yes, I guess we do!

This past weekend, we went on our annual trip to Corpus Christi so that we could frolic in the surf at Mustang Island. And, wow, what surf it was! I can't remember the last time the waves were that big! We watched a few surfers go way out and actually surf for a very long time. We do love the beach!

Our usual budget for this trip is $500. That includes everything and we take my parents. This is a trade off of Mother's Day and Father's Day for myself, my mom, DH, and my dad. So, $500 for four presents isn't bad. This usually includes two hotel rooms for two nights, most meals, gas money, annual beach pass, and any miscellaneous flotsam and jetsam picked up at the beach stores. My mom would usually bring a cooler full of drinks and sandwich stuff for picnicking on the beach.

This year, due to the not thinking before speaking habit of DH and a whole lot of family politics, we ended up only spending one night in Corpus. Yeah, I'm not really going to go there, it'll just make me angry again. So, we had a new plan. A cheaper plan. Ah, hindsight, baby, hindsight....

We drove to my parents' house on Thursday night, as they live just under 2 hours from Corpus. We spent the night and headed out late the next morning. Along the drive, my mom kept Hoot busy in the back seat cutting paper and making tiny crabs with her paper punch kit. They must have made close to 100 of those little crabs as we found them all weekend long!

Upon arrival, we had lunch at Joe's Crab Shack over the water along Shoreline Drive. It was a blast and Hoot jumped up to join the floor show when the waiters danced. It was wonderful. I spent $93 including tip for the five of us. Not bad, as this was supposed to be our big expensive meal out for the trip.

After lunch, we headed out onto the island, but didn't want to change into our swimsuits in a gas station bathroom. So, we spent $16 to get us into the State Park. We changed, but since the park was busy, decided to head back out to our usual spot off of Beach Access Road Number 2. We love being able to back right up to the water with all our gear to set up camp. Thankfully, my mom's new Trailblazer had four wheel drive. The sand was so loose this year because they've had no rain. (I made her drive. I haven't driven on the beach since I had to get a beach hunk in a big truck pull the bug out in 2006!... but, oh, what a hunk....) Then, we popped off another $12 for our annual beach parking permit.

The water was fantastic and we stayed for hours. Hoot is still so fearless in the water. The waves knock him down, he pops back up. Lather, rinse, repeat. I know people always stare at him in his life vest, but he's too quick and fearless to go without it. We'll have to upgrade a size before next year.

We checked in to the Holiday Inn Convention Center out by the airport. This is a very nice hotel, and I Pricelined two rooms for one night and it came out to $114 with taxes. We cleaned up and headed out to dinner, stopping to put $48 in gas in the Trailblazer along the way. Wow, what a big improvement over the money in gas we put in their old truck last year!

No one could quite decide what they wanted for dinner, but we were super hungry! I don't know who spoke first, but when the word OUTBACK came up, everyone got excited. Um, not quite the budget meal I had hoped for, but okay. I mean it's vacation, right? Yeah, $123 later, I announced that I hoped everyone enjoyed it because tomorrow meant bologna on the beach. And you know what? They didn't believe me! Will they ever learn?

After dinner, we headed out to the cheesy beach shops on North Padre Island. We were looking for shells to take to Hoot's Jellyfish class. I spent $28 on 20 shells, two t-shirts, a metal Space shuttle toy, and a light up shark. Not too bad, really!

Back at the hotel, DH took Hoot for a swim, slapped him in jammie's, and we dropped him off with the old people. We then headed off to the bar. Wow, out for a drink. Just like grown ups! We spent $20 on four drinks and enjoyed the last period of the Stanley Cup finals. In a bar. Just like grown ups. Oh, had I mentioned that? Sorry. (just like grown ups.)

After checking out, we headed back out to the beach. I stopped at CVS and spent $15 on drinks, chips, and bread. Unfortunately, they didn't have any sandwich meat or cheese, so we had to stop again at another small store for those, which came out to $12. They laughed at me, but for lunch, I fed them bologna sandwiches on the beach!

We had a great afternoon, but then everyone got really tired. At the last minute, as I was breaking camp, the wind snapped one of our beach umbrellas into an early retirement. Well, I say early, but the thing was at least ten years old. I shall search for a replacement at the end of the season, or maybe upgrade to a small canopy if the price is right. My dad kept coveting the neighbors canopy, even though I know they can be a pain to anchor in the sea breeze.

Everyone was snacky hungry as we left, and we wanted to wait until we got back to my parents' house before we ate, so we pulled in to Whataburger for a round of shakes that set me back $14.

I also need to add in the gas for my car ($28), two convenience store stops on the road (totaling $16), dinner when we got back late Sunday night ($13), and the kennel costs for Miss Luna since we took our dog sitters with us on this trip ($78.)

So, let's see how we did. I figure we were way over in our quest to save money.

Yep. WAY OVER! The grand total comes out to $630. See, sometimes to save money- like staying only one night in a hotel, makes you seem like you have more money to burn. That sure seemed to be our attitude this time. Its almost easier to stay two nights, take two cars, and bring more picnic stuff from home. That makes us a little more careful. Lesson learned.