South Padre 2011

Every year my family takes a trip to South Padre Island, TX. It's been happening for 13 years now, and although the island changes a little every year, it's still such a nice tradition to go back and relax on the same beach and drink pina coladas at the same on-the-beach restaurant.

We went last weekend, leaving bright and early on Friday morning to maximize our beach time! My parents and sisters stayed until Tuesday, but we had to come back on Sunday night because I had four law firm interviews scheduled on Monday!

[Speaking of interviews, we just finished what's called "OCI (on campus interviews) Week," and I did 15 interviews with 15 law firms between Monday and Friday! Such a crazy week! The good news is that I've already received some invitations for callback interviews (longer, in-office interviews), so it's going really well!]

Anyway, we had a great time in South Padre with my parents and sisters! When we got there on Friday, we fixed some sandwiches and immediately headed out to the beach!

Mom & Kristen

Karoline & Jeff

My sister Kristen is a dancer. She's double-majoring in dance and business, which is super impressive, but what amazes me most is just the genuine beauty that she projects when she's dancing. Even when she's dancing on a beach in South Padre, in a bathing suit and cover-up. :o)

So pretty!

Mom & Dad

We had dinner Friday night at a restaurant on the beach that we go to every year. They have great burgers and seafood, and you can listen to the waves while you're eating. Just perfect!

Eventually it started to get late, so we walked back down the beach to our rented condo. Is there anything more gorgeous than moonlight on the ocean?

On Saturday we went out to the beach again!

This is Jeff while he was under the tent putting ice on his knee. He was out in the water, and a particularly strong wave knocked him into an unexpected sand bar, which resulted in his leg bending in a not-supposed-to-happen way. He went to the doctor when we got home, and it turns out he tore his ACL in his left knee. Apparently it's not a bad tear, so he's doing physical therapy to get his range of motion back. Fingers crossed that it works and he doesn't have to have surgery!

My parents and Kristen and Jeff played some sort of game with hoops and balls and a giant 8-sided dice-like-thing that told you to do stuff like throw your hoop from a seated position or something. I didn't really get it because I was too busy playing in the waves with Karoline!

We're like boogie-boarding experts. Yep.

Karoline and Dad built a fancy sandcastle...

Much relaxation was had by all...

Saturday night we drove out to the end of the island where there are no buildings and the road stops and it's just sand and dunes and waves.

Every year we find the tallest dune we can, and Kristen and Jeff and I race to the top of it. This year Jeff obviously couldn't participate due to the whole torn ACL thing, but Mom and Karoline decided to give it a try!

Run, run, run!

So high up!

Kristen and I tied for first place. :o)

The most fun part is the run back down!

Dad brought his little portable grill, and we grilled burgers for dinner and made a fire and cooked s'mores and drank wine out of plastic cups. It was a great evening! And of course, Kristen did some more dancing and although it was really dark so lighting wasn't working well, I got some more pretty pictures! 

While we're on the subject of Kristen dancing, I have to show you a photo from our South Padre trip in 2009. Isn't she amazing? This is one of the best photos I've ever taken, I think. I just love it!

After going to church Sunday morning at the cutest little Catholic church called Our Lady of the Sea, we had a delicious lunch at a place called Dirty Al's (fried shrimp, fish, chicken, and a bunch of yummy appetizers like fried zucchini and mushrooms!), and then it was time for Jeff and I to drive the six hours back home. 

It was a quick trip, but I think we both really needed a vacation, and it was so much fun to hang out with my parents and sisters. See you next year, South Padre!