Vacation Activities in Corpus Christi/North Padre?

Corpus Christi has a wonderful Aquarium that has special featured shows with otters, seals, dolphins. You can even go under the tank of the dophins and watch them from the under water vantage. A lot of the "critters" are rescue and rehabilitated success stories. There is also a ship very close to the Aquarium (The Lexington) which you can go on board and tour at your own pace. It has a flight deck with planes and helicoptors to see. There is a flight simulator and a I-Max 3-D show. Enjoy Your Trip!

The USS Lexington is really neat! www.usslexington.com. Be sure to drive by it at night too (at some point). It was called the Blue Ghost and they light it up in blue. The Tx State Aquarium is definitely worth a visit as well. We took our 4 year old about 6 months ago. He loved it. www.texasstateaquarium.org. I also like the Water Street Grill. You most likely will not find any restaurants as great as something you'll find in the "big city" but I like this one pretty well. www.waterstreetrestaurants.com. You can order sweet potato french fries with the kid's meals and I always enjoy the fact that I can get a side of good mixed veggies with my meals. Landry's is kind of fun because it's on a boat in the water. There are also some little dives right on the water (near the aquarium and USS Lex) that I have been to once or twice. Great casual places to get a burger, fried seafood, oysters on the 1/2 shell and a beer or margarita. The beaches in Corpus aren't as great as South Padre Island but you can definitely get some good sand castle building in. Hope you have a wonderful birthday trip! Maybe you can catch a barge coming into the channel (from the parking lot of the state aquarium) if you time it right. Pretty cool! My son got a kick out of that. Oh, and take some old cherrios with you so your daughter can feed the seagulls (if she's never done that before). My favorite activity as a kid at the beach.

You have already had some great advice! You will be super close to Port Aransas and it is the neatest, coziest little town. Jay's Seafood and Spaghetti Works is fabulous! It is right on 361 the corner to your left when you come in to P.A. Trout Street Bar and Grill is always yummy and sits right on the water. Service can be a little slow, but lots of beautiful sport yachts to look at!Castaways and Crazy Cajun are really good too! There used to be a cute little place where children could make their own pottery. I am not sure if it is still there though. Check out this site http://www.portaransas.org/. Have fun!!!

The Texas State Aquarium and the Lexington are great places to visit for a family. You can maybe even rent one of those buggies and drive as a family along the Bayfront area. Here is a link with other Corpus Christi attractions: http://www.cctexas.com/?fuseaction=main.view&page=1634
The Museum of Science and History is great and it looks like there's a treasure hunt going on this weekend.
Hu Dat Restaurant (Dat Nguyen's family owns it) is a great place for Asian food: http://www.hu-dat.com/corpuschristi2/ as well as Imperial Cafe and Sushi Bar. Imperial Cafe has the best sushi!
Kiko's Mexican Food and Cantina is a good place for Mexican food, but be prepared to wait for a table.
These are just a few recommendations, but I hope this all helps. Enjoy your trip, and happy birthday!

You could always tour the aircraft carrier. It is quite awe inspiring for the whole family. I know there's an aquarium there somwhere. Have fun!!!