On our way back from Galveston, I saw the exit of for Kemah, Tx. I have been planning to go for a while, so just decided to take that exit instead of stopping in The Woodlands, Tx like we originally planned. I am so glad we did!
We arrived at about 10:30 A.M. and there was not much going on at the boardwalk. We took a quick stroll around, checking out a few shops, including a pretty awesome candy store. The kids took a a splash through the splash pad.
I knew that we wanted to eat at the Aquarium restaurant, which is a part of the same chain that does the Rainforest Cafe that my kids love. I suspected it would get pretty crowded close to lunch we headed over. For about $6 each you can enter the Aquarium area on the lower level of the restaurant. Its not huge, but the main attraction is the sting ray touch tanks. We also bought fish to feed the stingrays.
They had a large variety of Sting rays. The staff was excellent and spent a great deal of time talking with my kids about the string rays. It took a good deal of coaxing but I finally got Amber to put her hand in the tank and touch the stingrays. It was hands down, the highlight of our entire trip. Oh, it also convinced me I want to do one of those swim with the string ray excursions on a future cruise. Amber is not ready for that yet!
Our next stop was lunch at the Aquarium restaurants. We were seated right next to the huge aquarium that is in the center of of the room. This kept all three kids pretty entertained. Even at 13,9, and 4 they are pretty easy to please when it comes to entertainment.
Lunch was good but overpriced, which was what I expected. Afterward, we headed back out to check out the rest of the boardwalk. It was now crazy crowded. The boardwalk was beautiful and I could have spent a lot longer walking around. Amber was getting hot and whiney so I knew we wouldn't say longer.
Lunch was good but overpriced, which was what I expected. Afterward, we headed back out to check out the rest of the boardwalk. It was now crazy crowded. The boardwalk was beautiful and I could have spent a lot longer walking around. Amber was getting hot and whiney so I knew we wouldn't say longer.
If we had more time and money I would have splurged on the speedboat ride. I even offered to let the kids ride some of the rides but they were ready to go. We did stop to feed the catfish. You can buy fish feed (dog food) out of the machines but there was an older couple who gave the kids bag of bread crusts to feed the catfish and birds. The fish and birds preferred the bread so if you go take some bread or crackers.
Our final stop before hitting the road home was to to go back to the candy store. We ended up spending $30 on candy. Certainly a splurge, but they had so many fun strange things that we could not resist. Joshua chose the Been Boozeled Jelly beans , Amber wanted the candy toilet, and I had the maple bacon chocolate. Check out that enchilada flavored sucker. I got that for me brother. He was not impressed and said it did not taste like enchilada.