Beach Boys and Water Babies

So we are in Houston, well technically The Woodlands, and since we can't ski or go rock climbing, the boys favourite activities, we have to come up with something else.  The hiking is limited, it is pretty flat around here, and it is hot and there are a lot of bugs but we have a pool and we can head down to the gulf coast.  Galveston is about 85 miles from our house and while the water is kind of brown, not exactly Caribbean blue, the waves are small and there is a light breeze if you stand 5 feet from the waters edge.  So, for 4 or 5 consecutive Sundays we loaded up the car with cold drinks, lunches, towels and beach blankets and headed down to Galveston.  We bought a small tent awning to provide a little shade, mostly appreciated by Lhotse and also a casting net.

The casting net was a huge success, with it we could catch grey mullets, gulf shrimp and even a catfish.  In a single cast we would bring in anywhere from 3 to 8 fish.  For us the fun was in dumping the fish into a large sterilite bin filled with water and watching the fish.  The kids would then try to catch the fish with their hands and release them into the ocean.  Little did we bargain with the other occupants of the beach, there were many who wanted the fish to eat and not wanting to seem frivolous or incapable I found myself many a sunday afternoon in my bikini at the waters edge killing and cleaning the mullets.  All the while I was furiously trying to think up reasons that I could not possibly take home more than 1 or 2 of the fish, while the cat could eat some fish, the family rejected the strongly fishy tasting oily mullets.  The shrimp were fun to eat but the catfish we released.  When not chasing the fish the boys were busy boogie boarding, a sport they also tried in the pool.
Reidar trying out his boogie board in the pool.  He was determined to stand on the board when we first got them and no one could tell him that he needed to lie down on his tummy.
The little waves in Galvestson were perfect for the boys.