Saturday, April 16th – Padre Island and Corpus Christi, Texas – Day 65
Our schedule left us celebrating Easter today. We were debating between Saturday and Sunday. Saturday had the better schedule of events so off we went to Corpus Christi. Since it was Easter, we needed a shower to not feel sticky. We managed to sneak into the campground and shower, which was delightful.
We headed to Journey Church, a 55-minute drive, where they were throwing an Easter event complete with Easter egg hunt. They went all out. Upon arrival, the parking lot was full, and the place was busy. As we wandered up, the kids instantly started pointing to the different activities. We started with the pony rides and petting zoo. Charlotte had been dying to go horse back riding which, for the record, I’m against. Horses are an expensive, addictive habit which lead to injury; in my humble opinion formed with the benefit of working with horse people for many years. Grandma is offering to take her riding when we get back to Ontario. Regardless, a two-minute pony ride won’t push her down a rabbit hole of horse riding, but it did make her smile. We took the opportunity, while Gen waiting in line, to pet the rabbits, puppies, chickens, and goats that they had in their mini petting zoo.
While in the petting zoo, I noticed the enticing aroma of chilli cheese dogs. Could it be so? It was. Gen jumped in line to get some food while I got in line for a picture with the Easter bunny. John refused to sit with the Easter bunny unless he could go on his lap. Gen asked if it was okay, and the Easter bunny said from in the suit “It’s fine with me if you are okay with it”.
Next, the room of bouncy castles. The kids threw off their shoes and dived right in. After a while we convinced them to get into the ring for a gladiator battle. Only one child was welcome back into the trailer. Fortunately for them it resulted in a tie so they both slept outside, but only for a night (just kidding… two nights).
There were multiple games that rewarded the participants with candy. Once John and Charlotte found this out, the fun was on. John tossed hula hoops over wooden horses. Charlotte played plinko and tossed a ring on a bottle. I ate another chili cheese dog. I could crush about a dozen of these, but I ate two and finished tidbits of kids (full disclosure, I was waiting for a third when they ran out of hot dogs). I also dunked a poor little girl into a dunk tank with an exquisitely placed fast ball; it was extremely satisfying.
Saving the best for last, the Easter egg hunt. With so many kids attending, they separated them by age group and dumped eggs onto the lawn for the youngsters to pick up. John hunted for a couple of minutes and then said “I’m finished” even though there were a ton of eggs still to pick up.
We then drove to our second Easter festivity. This was at the Simmers Ranch and Rescue, another 30 minutes out into the Texas countryside. It is amazing how we could be camping at a humid, warm beach but then drive an hour and a half and we are baking in the dry, hot front lawn of a ranch.
The celebration was not as over the top. The Christian music blaring at Journey Church was replaced by songs about the Easter bunny. The kids were able to decorate and dye a hard-boiled egg, participate in a sack race, knock over stacks of cans with bean bags, guess the number of jelly beans in the container and take a picture with hay bails and Easter decorations. The free lunch was, you guessed it, hot dogs with a side of juice and chips. It was simple but fun.
The Easter egg hunt was similar. Children divided into age groups; eggs dumped on the ground to be picked up. They did ask adults to save the plastic eggs and remove the candy. After the hunt, we sat in the sun removing candy from eggs. Charlotte kept getting more eggs and piling them at my feet to empty. They received lots of candy, some little plastic cars and toys, and their favourite, the sticky, stretchy hands that you flick at things and the hand sticks.
We were over heated, exhausted and overly full with hot dogs by the end of it so we decided to pack up and head back to the campsite.
When we arrived at the beach, we were amazed by how many people had taken the opportunity to spend the day at the beach. Our lonely camper was there and for some reason people had given us a wide berth. The Raptors were playing their first play-off game, I took the car and went to a local sports bar to have some wings and watch the Raps get their lunch taken from them by the Philadelphia 76ers.
Back at the beach, the weather had finally improved so Gen spent a fantastic late afternoon with the kids swimming in the water, building sandcastles and playing in the dunes. When dusk approached, our neighbour, Dra Melissa, thought our camper was too dark so she brought over two Luci lights for the kids. These were small inflatable solar powered lights that are fantastic. The kids loved them, and Gen made friends. When I returned, they were sitting around their campfire eager to tell me about the lights.
Melissa and her daughter, Sochi (I’m probably getting the spelling wrong) were from a small US town on the border of Mexico, Laredo. She was a gregarious, voluptuous (her words) Mexican woman who worked as a Chiropractor. We stayed up late, even when Sochi went to bed (millennials…), and chatted about health and wellness, the life of undocumented Mexican workers in the States and more. It was interesting hearing about her life and perspective. When it was too late, we said goodnight and went to bed.
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