Island Time

 

18 holes of mini-golf near the Gulf. 

When we asked the young adults what they wanted for Christmas, they said they wanted a family vacation. It just so happened, this was the week which accommodated everyone's schedule. 

The vacation destination came about through about two weeks of bantering. Branson and New Orleans are both 5 hours away. St. Louis 8 hours. Chicago 10. Nashville, 8 hours. Pigeon Forge 10 hours. And then, some brilliant person pointed out we froze our buns off in Eastern Tennessee last year and how about going somewhere warm? 

And hence, Galveston was tossed on the table as a vacation destination. "You going to be okay if there isn't a theme park involved?" I asked the three other Sunshines. And what do you know!? They assured me they were fine. 

We've been hanging out in Galveston for the past four days. There's been about 23 miles of walking (I tracked it), which has included museums, axe throwing, two hours of a Catholic priest stand-up comedian, miniature golf, walking by the seawall, bike riding, and board games. There's been great debates: such as can one find a better food scene in a democrat or republican-run city. The unanimous consensus is democrat-run cities. We've talked about childhood friends, extended family and their future dreams and goals. 

As for Marty and me, we are eating up all the extra time we have with our grown children. We know this time is coming to an end at some point.