Here is Max at Chicago's O'Hare. We had one flight down and were waiting out the first of the 2, 4 hour lay overs. You know what happened for there rest of the day.
Here is dad playing with Max on our first day. It was a beautiful sunny day (notice Max in shorts and no socks!). We took it easy on our first day, checking out the RV park and doing some outlet mall shopping in the afternoon.
We went to the Gladys Porter Zoo. It was a nice zoo, not too big and it is part of a Species Survival Plan, which basically means they are helping to breed endangered species in captivity. Tammy had the great idea of renting one of the strollers at the zoo, which made it easier for Max to sit up and check things out. He really seemed to like it. I think he is looking at some tiny monkeys in this shot.
Stopping for Max's lunch break.
After the zoo we headed into to town (Brownsville that is) to look around and have some lunch. Max was wonderful and slept through the whole thing! We had some incredible Mexican food. You get fresh salsa and tortillas when you sit down. And I am talking just chopped up fresh salsa and warm out of the fryer tortilla chips. We didn't know what was on the menu, so we all ordered something different and loved all of it.
On Wednesday we went to Mexico. It's the most surreal thing. You park your car, walk across the Rio Grand, which is the natural border between Mexico and the US, you put 35 cents into a turnstile, and... you are in Mexico! No, seriously. Coming back into the US is obviously a little more complicated with border guards and US customs. We shopped and had some more great food. Max was great considering he really isn't a fan of shopping. At the restaurant, Max was manhandled by everyone, which was something I got used to very quickly. Good thing I am not weird about strangers touching my child. I went to the bathroom and when I came back Max was in the arms of a strange woman. She was the owner and we had seen her while eating, but Tammy said she basically walked over and took him out of her arms.
This is Max showing Hobo his new rattle that Tam bought him in Mexico. Oh, and Mom and Dad on the patio.
On Friday we went to the beach. We packed up a lunch and the whole family, Hobo included, headed to South Padre Island. The weather was gray and windy, which was probably better than full sun. When the sun did peek through a couple of times, it was really hot. I don't think Max would have done very well in the full sun. The beach is hard packed and you can drive up on it. This made it very easy to push the stroller, so we went for a nice long walk. Max loved watching the waves and the birds flying around.
Max even got to dip his toes into the Gulf of Mexico. It was a quick dip as the water was really cold. He didn't seem terribly impressed by it all but seemed to like the fact that his toes were sinking into the sand.
On our last day we went to see this very impressive basilica, where Max discovered that if he yelled his voice would echo. He got louder and louder and I tried finding an exit faster and faster as there were several people in the chapel praying. Max thought this was a wonderful game. Mom also took us to her favorite Texan barbecue place. It's basically a shack made of plywood and corrugated metal, but man the food was good and you got a whole lot of it.
So there you have it. A week of flip flops and palm trees. It was a great vacation which went by super fast. Thanks again Mom and Dad. And a huge thanks to Tam, whom made the two very long days of travel possible. I don't think I could have done it without you.
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