Texas Essay

Texas

My dad was born in Texas so we all went there to visit a couple of times. The last time we went we stayed for a week. My great-grandmother owned the house that my dad was raised in. We stayed at her house for a few days, her house smelled like flowers. Her backyard was covered in flowers and plants. It was beautiful. She had a fig tree that she picked from every morning and cut them up to put in her cereal. She was an amazing woman. He taught my dad a lot about gardening, then he tried to teach everything to my brothers and I. It was more of our thing, we used to plant things all around my parents yard. I like to plant just because it reminds me of the days my dad and I used to garden together, it was our thing. I think that us going to his childhood home and going to all the places that he used to go to was pretty cool. I am a born and raised Missourian, he was raised so much differently than me. I learned a lot about my dad. My mom showed me the Walmart that she met my dad in. They used to work together and my dad asked her out, which was kinda a big deal for him because he was super shy.

Most of the time we were there we stayed on the beach. My parents bought a huge tent that had two rooms, one for them and one for my brothers and I. The first night we got to the beach there was jelly fish all over the sand. My parents told us not to touch them because they can sting even after they are dead. We all ran into the water and the waves brought a jelly fish into the water and it got wrapped around my brother, Austin’s thighs.

He screamed and Jake and I tried desperately to get the stingers off his leg but it kept stinging us. Finally the water moved it and we all ran out of the water. My mom brought Austin to hospital to help him. They just gave him some ointment to take the sting out. My mom and I set up the tent while my dad and my brother built a fire. That night we all ate s’mores and watched the stars twinkle off the ocean. I’ll never forget the salty smell and the sound of the waves rolling off the shore.

The next day we all woke up and my mom made us eggs on our portable stove top. Then we set out to go swim in the Gulf of Mexico. The water was so salty that it made our throats burn and our eyes melt. My dad had us all wash our eyes out with the bottles of water and we drank a lot of water that day.

My brothers were very old so my parents didn’t really allow them to go very far in the water without a floaty. My niece was just a baby so I spent most of the time with her. She wanted to dig holes in the sand and cover herself with the warm tan colored sand. She also liked walking to where the water slammed against the sand, she got scared a couple of times. That was my favorite spot, sitting in the cool wet sand next to the water only getting splashed every few minutes. It was so relaxing, smelling the salty water and listening to the music of the ocean, feeling the warm sun on my skin.
One morning when we were there we saw dolphins jumping in the colorful sunrise. The sky seems so much prettier next to the beach. The orange, red, pink, blue, and purple colors reflecting off the ocean.
My parents had one of those floats that is like a bed on water, they didn't lay on it they just both put their arms on it and went pretty far in the water and left me and my brothers in the shallow water and my niece stayed on shore. I tried to go as far as they did but the waves were overwhelming and it was hard to keep my head above water. I wasn't used to having such salty water in my eyes or my throat. It was ridiculous how much salt is in that water! I think that's why my niece didn't get in the water much, she was probably only three years old, she got in the water once and the water burned her eyes and throat then she didn't get in again. The reason she was with us was because my sister (her mom) couldn't go because she had to work but she didn't want Sierra to miss out on the opportunity to go to Texas and sleep at the beach.
 This is the place I chose because this was one of the few vacations that I have been on and everyone always wants to go to the beach, and everyone should go at least once in their lifetime. I want to make memories like these with my daughter.