Every year Jason's side of the family gets together for a family vacation. This year we went to South Padre Island for Memorial Day Weekend. Usually the family gets together later in the summer, but with three pregnant woman all due from late summer to fall, we opted for an earlier trip.
We both had never been to South Padre Island before. If you can believe it, neither of us ever made it down there for Spring Break. We had a great time, especially at the beach, and would recommend it for a quick weekend getaway to anyone.We arrived in South Padre late Thursday afternoon. After checking into our bed and breakfast, Red Fish Inn (wonderful place, highly recommend it), we headed off to dinner. Jason's sister, Jennifer, had read about a restaurant called the Shrimp Haus in a Texas Monthly and it was given good reviews. Unfortunately, I don't think anyone thought it was all that great. On top of that, Jason and his dad both decided to try the hot dipping sauce for the shrimp and nearly passed out. It reminded me of Pluckers in Austin, but instead of wings, it was shrimp, not my cup of tea. After dinner we walked down to the beach and enjoyed walking in the water.
The next day we drove to Brownsville and went to the zoo. I love going to zoo's or aquariums, so I was excited! Unfortunately walking around on the sidewalks at the zoo with barely any shade to be found, it was extremely hot (and let me remind you I'm carrying around some extra weight). 
The chimps were the best exhibit. It was so interesting watch the older chimps interacting with their young. Something for both Jason and I to look forward too!
On the way home we stopped by the South Padre Island Lighthouse (not sure if that's the technical name). Jason and I decided not to walk up, I was dying of heat at this point and just relaxed in the grass (also who would have taken this great photo of the people who did make the climb up to the top??).
That night we all went on a pirate ship cruise on the bay. At first I thought it was going to be pretty silly and more interesting for kids, but we had a blast! Jason, Brian (brother-in-law), and I definitely got the most into the activities, playing with water guns, musical parades, and check out the video below of Brian and Jason participating in a game of limbo.
The next morning we headed off to the beach. We got there pretty early, so the crowds weren't to bad. I was really impressed with the size of the waves and had a blast floating around in the water. We decided to break into teams: the Moore's, the Witgen's, and the Dzubinski's and have a sand castle contest. Cameron (our nephew) decided to be on our team. He did a great job washing off the seashells for me to decorate our castle with. Jason's parents were suppose to be the judges, but some people felt they might just award their first grandchild the prize, so Jason went off and found two strangers to judge. I still don't know where he got these people, for some reason they thought the Witgen's castle was the best?!? :) I'm not sure what type of people wouldn't pick this adorable kids castle. It was really fun in the end and I think Cameron had an awesome time playing in the sand and building his very first sand castle. On Sunday, Jason, myself, and his parents headed out looking for a paddle boat to rent. We were unsuccessful finding a place, but we did find a four person bike to rent that made it nearly impossible for me to fall. I was actually really excited that Jason and I got to continue our tradition of renting bicycles everywhere we travel. Later in the day, Jason and I were able to squeeze in a quick trip to the beach to get in a last minute dip in the water.
We spent a couple of our nights playing games outside on the porch of the bed and breakfast, with the cool air and nice breeze. It was so nice to just relax, even though the Dzubinski family can get quite competitive when you bring out the Cranium. I thought my side of the family was bad, but I'm pretty sure we will never be able tot play that game again without bringing up the question: Is indian a proper noun????? Hahaha....I had a blast and at least Jason and I won one thing this weekend :). We both had a wonderful time on the vacation and can't wait til next year when we have not just one little entertaining guy, but four!
