BEACHIN /// 5 TOYS FOR THE BEACH

We LOVE to have fun and surround ourselves with friends that are down for a good time. We also love water, beaches, and getaways, even if it is only for a weekend and an hour away from home. We've said it many times before, in order to survive a Texas Summer, you must stay in the water. Here are some of our favorite toys to take with us to the pool, lake or beach.

> "ride-on" floats have always been a thing for us. We even use to take them sledding in Colorado back in the day.  This Swan float has been the life of the party! Never too old for floaties.

> Something good to read. We are both currently reading the same book.

> Underwater camera. We use a lot of disposable cameras when we are on trips, but lately we've had a lot of fun playing with this guy. And if you don't have this Case for your phone you really need to get it! All photos above taken with this. See, so much fun right?

> A backpack that can look rad and take a beating. Brandi and I are in love with the 'American Adventurer' backpack.

> Surfboards and some kind of board on wheels in case the surf is dead (we live in Houston). We usually long board, but have loved riding these this past year.

///The Goods///

SEVEN GIRLS HEAD TO THE DESERT: El Cosmico

It's hard to say what the funniest moment of the trip was, but arriving to El Cosmico about 10 minutes before all hell broke loose (weather wise) was somewhere up there. Sure we've all been camping, but none of us have ever put up this particular 8 person tent and it probably didn't help that we had two jam packed cars to unload and take to the campsite by wagon. Stuff was falling, stuff was flying, voices getting higher and there was a whole lot of laughing. We new there was no way we were going to win this race, so we did the best we could...

Then the West Texas wind rolled in and it was total chaos. Not only was it raining, it was now starting to hail a bit. Although our skin was taking a beating, we all couldn't help at laughing at how ridiculous this all was. The other campers must have thought we were nuts.

Visibility, zilch. Note to self, no glasses in the rain, especially during a camping trip. Also, the rain in Marfa is freakin' ICY! We were freezing.

Check out that sad tent. hahaha. Oh man... Five of us were staying in the "waterproof' tent and the birthday girl and sister, Josephine, rented the actual waterproof Safari tent, so we all piled in there to wait out the rain, dry off, and pop a few corks to start the celebration. The rain was intense, but didn't last long. We were quickly off to snapping photos and getting our tent dried out and set up for the evening.

Cost per night at

El Cosmico

Tee Pee $80

Safari tent: $65

Bring your own tent: $12 / person

Did you see the amazing Teepee rainbow photo on Instagram?

@axandapple

@lisenbesquared

Dang crazy mop.

How the tent is suppose to look... See, we know what we are doing ;)

Lucy

Then my battery died. That's right. My new car and (what I thought was) a good battery died in the desert. Thank God for Colt, Logan, (Cobra Rock Boot Company) and their external battery! If they weren't in Marfa, I don't know who would have jumped my car on a Sunday morning in a small town where everything is closed on a Sunday.

El Cosmico was such a fun, beautiful place and the folks that work there are characters... Brandi and I had a good laugh because anytime we told the front desk gal some of our stories (tent fiasco, car battery, etc...) she'd reply with 'yeah, but your having fun and it's an adventure, right?!' with a smile. She was right, it was an adventure.

"THANK YOU INDIANS!"